Turtlebunting, Good morning. I have to respectfully disagree with you. Out here in the west, the rise of ATV use and abuse has been like a spread of a virus. I agree with Chainsaw completely when He suggests that they should be banned from National forests and BLM land during hunting season. I don’t even really have an issue with the OHV crowd as much as I do with hunters who insist that the ATV is necessary equipment while hunting season is on. Some of the abuses that I have personally witnessed: Cutting fences to trespass on private land, going off road into Roadless areas, retrieving game on an established trail that has been designated for hiking/horse use only. And this crime was done by five hunters who knew that they couldn’t take ATV’s into the Roadless area and they punked out and went in anyway. God forbid that they could have taken out the elk in one trip with backpacks! Sir, I respect your opinions on the subject, especially if you are one of the few ATV hunter users who conducts themselves legally. I just ask you to respect my thoughts on it as well. Many of us who occupy this site love wild places and are outspoken advocates of protecting wild places and the animals that live there. The ATV is a complete intrusion into this mindset. Or what I deem the “land ethic”. I want to walk into the National Forest or Wilderness Area with longbow in hand, listening to the most beautiful sounds of the woods. I want to hear the haunting bugle of the bull elk, the wheeze of a spooked deer, the symphony of wild birds awakening to the morning light. The ATV destroys this beauty and wonder. I will not claim that I know what it is like in Illinois where you live, and again, I respect the right to your opinion but for this westerner, ATV’s and hunting do not belong in the same sentence. God bless, T
