ATV for hunting

My first bike was a 350 Big Bear it will do aything you need done, I was really friggin hard on mine and it took the abuse no problem, make sure to get a winch though with extra slings for length " when it happen you'll know " Now I have a Polaris in 500 for moose so far so good. " with lots of extra cable "

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Honda Foreman 500, Warn winch. Small enough to squeeze thru tight spots, lots of power, Honda reliability.
 
My first ATV was a 300 Honda still running 15 years later my brother has it, will pull a small moose but with a big one you are quartering. My second was a 500 Polaris, will pull most moose you are gonna shoot on its own whole but you are making it work. I now have an 800 and the difference is huge. The smaller bikes will do a job and they all serve a purpose. Ride the 300 Honda for a few hours and get off and be sore as hell, but can ride my 800 all day and be comfortable and it will pull with ease a moose whole through most anything. We get moose every year on our hunts and have all came out whole but have had to use two bikes with the bigger moose till the 800s came out. All preference and budget most of the name brand bikes will do the job a 500 is a good middle of the line bike and will serve most purposes for moose hunting. Good luck with your choice, take a few different brands for a test ride and take the one you like, A Polaris guy will say buy Polaris etc etc..I know what my bike will do but they are not for everyone.
 
As a Yamaha tech in a small dealership, I would recommend the Kodiak 450 as a work quad, it liquid cooled, and has a high and low range forward gears. I am partial to the itp terra cross tires, though thats cause there is allot of open country out here. If you clean, inspect and service these things regularly they will last for many years with little parts breakage. It breaks my heart when people come in for the first service with 200-300hours on the machine.... And only a few hundred ml of 'oil' is all thats left. Sure it will run and drive just fine, but the life is shortened.
With the 700's ect and oversize/supper aggressive tires there is allot of stress on the CV joints, and they do blow up on occasion, other than that we have had little problem with them.

The honda forman's are ok too, but I would get the manual shift version, and definitely not the ES.
 
My little 450 Kodiak gets daily workouts on the farm and is great for moose retrievel duty :) The only thing I want to do is upgrade to ITP MudLites. Add a trailer and you're stylin' ;)
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Works great for dressing duty...
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And it's easy for one person to load a whole moose for the trip home (within 1.5hrs of the house here)...
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I have onbe of these trailers. The good thing about it is that the toungue is screwed on rather than welded, which means you could easily replace it for a long one. They work great.


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My uncle had a kodiak 450 before his grizz and i wasn't impressed at the time, but my buddys brother has a newer one and they seem to be improved in the low end department... But I still feel there's better bikes for the job!

On a side note , I actually managed to break my big bear today, for the first time.. Ok so it's still running fine, but the rear shock is dead! Who'da thunk putting 2 fat people on it for a 8hour ride over hell would kill it.. A friend broke her 350 big bear today, she's running 28" mud bugs on a old all orginal 1988 and she was wide open in a mud hole and got twisted up in a good sized root and broke her front drive shaft. Was a pain in the !@# to get the root untwisted from the axle. Honda 680 busted a tie rod. Grizzly 700 blew a tire. Old suzuki 300 ran out of gas, with 2 people on it so I ended up towing that for a few miles.. Was fun:dancingbanana: Oh and right high beam is burned out!!:p

Anyone know where to get a heavy duty rear shock for a 05 big bear let me know. 500-600lb rating would be nice!
 
a little warning about trailers and ATV's. They come off. Keep that hitch in good shape, and tight. Twice in the last two years, I've had to charge off into the woods to avoid being run down by the trailer ahead of me coming down the hill at me on it's own. (Two different trailers too)
ATV trailers come off not only because of poor maintenance, but because the tongue hits the ground or rocks a lot, pushing upwards on the hitch.
 
Im also on the hunt for an ATV, what kind of price is good for a used Kodiak 450 IRS in 2005/2006/2007/2008 ?

Oh I read you can buy a bar that is put in your IRS suspension so you can work with a heavy load without a compressed suspension.
 
KDX said:
You generally run out of traction before power with a quad.
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True, but power can buy you extra traction, as in the ability to run bigger tires with deeper lugs. You could put the same tires on the small quads but they won't turn them in the muskeg, never mind mud. You pin it and the tires don't turn, its funny to see.
 
Republic of Alberta said:
True, but power can buy you extra traction, as in the ability to run bigger tires with deeper lugs. You could put the same tires on the small quads but they won't turn them in the muskeg, never mind mud. You pin it and the tires don't turn, its funny to see.
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Zuke QuadRunner 250 27" Kenda Bear claws...no prob turning them.

Bike is the size of a small child and has the power of a miniature bulldozer. Can be manhandled by one person if stuck and overloaded with weight like you wouldn't believe.

BUT...its not a big belt driven twin cylinder with aluminum rims...so therefore...isn't ####.
 
NorthernPF said:
I think it's all relative to the terrain where you hunt. I hunt near Kirkland Lake Ontario and last year I shot a cow. Wasn't a terribly big cow but she was alright size. What we do is gut the moose at the kill site, tag it then tie the head to the back of the 4-wheeler and drag it out whole because that how we hang it in the garage. I shot the moose 1.5 km from the road where the truck and trailer were, I was using my uncles 2008 Grizzly 660 with aggresive tires and it took us right around the 2 hour mark to cover the 1.5km. So have a look at the area where you're hunting. I would think that a 350cc-400cc would be good enough on gas for trails but can also be a work horse for you when you need it.

My dad has an older Grizzly 600cc (98 I think) and once I learned it's capabilities, I can get pretty much anywhere I want.

PS- If you hunt where there's mud, get a winch. You never realize how valuable it is until you have a 600lbs 4 wheeler, a moose tied to the back, and none of it is going anywhere.

My dream quad is a Grizzly 700FI in the Camo body kit
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X2 on the 2008 Grizz 660, have one. Friend has the 700, guess what? the 660 is better, why? 700 doesnt have pull cord,doesnt have stainless exhaust, is only like 18cc's bigger "not a real 700"

One fellow made a good point on here suggesting the smaller bikes, I also have a 2005 Kodiak, it is a bit smaller size wise then the Grizzly but still has more then enough power to pull a moose.

I strongly, and I mean strongly advise against getting one of those Canadian Tire ATV's, they are junk, and when I say junk I mean junk. Spend the money and get a real bike.

I realize everyone has their own opinions on what ATV brand is the best, but if you do some honest research you will find in the end Yamaha wins hands down. Hondas are ok but no comparision to the power, suspension etc that Yamaha has. CanAm is ok too but I hear they are making them in mexico now.

Good luck getting yourself a nice ATV.

PS for the guy I am quoting. I am just outside of KL :)

ETA: Also, after you buy your ATV, GET A WINCH! and get the BEST. Get a good Warn winch, yes they are expensive but they will never ever let you down. And if you can afford it get one for the rear of the bike as well.
 
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I run stock Polaris tires on my 2005 Polaris Sportman 500 HO that I won thru the Wild Sheep Society of BC lottery :D anything wider will not fit in my utility trailer so I have decided that they give me the best performance that I will ever need... :(

I use it year round for propecting/hunting and I get fairly good fuel mileage as well I am hearing reports from guys that have gone to the larger engines that their fuel milage is terrible compared to the smaller units.
 
comparing my 660 to my 450. The gas consumption isnt that different. Yes the 660 eats a bit more but not by much. You gotta pay to play :D

You wouldnt want to tow a 5th wheel through the rockies with a 4 banger nissan now would you? ;)
 
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