Who uses a UTV for hunting?

crazydave said:
According to my manual for my machine ground clearance stock is 12.6 inches, the suspension travel is 10 inches, as far as the weight distribution you are partially correct as ground pressure is constant but distance between pressure points makes a difference.

Try standing in muskeg with your feet placed right next to each other, chances are you will sink but if you spread your legs you will not sink as much, the ground pressure did not change but the way the weight is distributed did.

As i said earlier actual measured ground clearance is 15.4 inches (i rounded it up to 16) with 27'' tires filled to their proper pressure for the machine 13 psi (mud lite xtr's) with no lift installed, the factory tires on the prowler are junk and are full of sag measuring only 25'' with 10 psi in them even though they are advertised as 26'' tires, so if they were actually 26'' tires the factory ground clearance according to my manual would be 13.1''
Click to expand...

You certianly are no engineer eh??? If you stand with your feet tight together you create more surface tension and therfore would stay ontop, take a step and down you go. The width of the stance makes no f"in difference. PERIOD. It comes down to surface tension and lbs per sq/inch, your is dble what the quad is on the same tires. plain and simple. math and physics cannot be manipulated by you or anyone. Why do skidoos sit on top of the snow?? ah yes daniel son, SURFACE TENSION.
To the OP, there is only one way to go in the ATV or UTV world for reliablity, comfort, and POWER that is CAN-AM. best power to wieght ratio in every class. No need to up grade tires until you where the first ones out. CAN-Am has the best and most funded R&D, in fact they soend more money in R&D then all others combined. Drove a 1000 COMANDER the other day and i ordered one! 85 hp, Prowler 69hp, there is that math thing again. Do your research BRP did.
 
senior said:
Stubble; You can't win with someone with the I own it so it must be best IQ:cool:
I have played with a Prowler, a Rhino & presently own a Grizz 700.
The Grizz will go a 100 places the Prowler wouldn't think of.
The Rhino will go 50 places the Prowler wouldn't think of, due to it's lighter weight, narrower & shorter body.

16"s of ground clearance...that's funny! :popCorn:
Since half of the tire is above the axle you would need 32" tires, but since there's always, A-arms & drive gear hanging below centre my estimate would be about 36-38" tires to get 16"s.
Don't forget some manufacturers list their ground clearance at the footpeg of an ATV to make people think they have more GC than they do. Maybe Cat measures theirs at the seat bottom w:h:
Click to expand...

This coming from someone with said attitude, as i have said actual measured ground clearance to bottom of skid plate 15.4 inches.

As far as the grizzly going more places, just doesn't happen but i see i am wasting my breath on people, in my above post where i mentioned dragging the kawi around 2 of the other quads that were getting stuck were grizzlys, a 660 and a 700 so you can praise your quads all you want, i won't argue anymore.

I 'll just take comfort i have a better machine.:D
 
senior said:
I owned a 6 wheel Argo once. It would go some places an ATV wouldn't but also wouldn't go a few places an ATV would. They suck in deep mud, & hang up easily with minimum ground clearance.
Not much fun either!
Click to expand...


True about the deep thick mud Senior, tracks will help some in that mud. I dont think they have built the one great machine that will do all, but when having to cross creeks, rivers or flooded areas, it would still be my own personal choice ot transport.
 
crazydave said:
According to my manual for my machine ground clearance stock is 12.6 inches, the suspension travel is 10 inches, as far as the weight distribution you are partially correct as ground pressure is constant but distance between pressure points makes a difference.

Try standing in muskeg with your feet placed right next to each other, chances are you will sink but if you spread your legs you will not sink as much, the ground pressure did not change but the way the weight is distributed did.

As i said earlier actual measured ground clearance is 15.4 inches (i rounded it up to 16) with 27'' tires filled to their proper pressure for the machine 13 psi (mud lite xtr's) with no lift installed, the factory tires on the prowler are junk and are full of sag measuring only 25'' with 10 psi in them even though they are advertised as 26'' tires, so if they were actually 26'' tires the factory ground clearance according to my manual would be 13.1''
Click to expand...

From Prowler website Ground Clearance 10 in / 25.4 cm
From BRP website 11-inch of ground clearance
AC does not even list the power of their UTV, it is an embarrasment
85 hp for the 1000
Comander is 176lbs lighter, and has 16 more hp, That is a lot in this field, A LOT!!!
 
outlan22 said:
True about the deep thick mud Senior, tracks will help some in that mud. I dont think they have built the one great machine that will do all, but when having to cross creeks, rivers or flooded areas, it would still be my own personal choice ot transport.
Click to expand...

True that but getting in a pond & out can be two different things.
I have found myself having extreme difficulty getting out of the water unless you can find a nice gradual bank. Best method is to lean way ahead & back out, & then lean back as the rears start spinning on bottom.
 
senior said:
True that but getting in a pond & out can be two different things.
I have found myself having extreme difficulty getting out of the water unless you can find a nice gradual bank. Best method is to lean way ahead & back out, & then lean back as the rears start spinning on bottom.
Click to expand...

Agreeded,, LOL unless you can convince the wife to crawl over the front and run out the front winch :) "was a very interesting conversation we had"
 
True about the deep thick mud Senior, tracks will help some in that mud. I dont think they have built the one great machine that will do all, but when having to cross creeks, rivers or flooded areas, it would still be my own personal choice ot transport.
Click to expand...

I see that nobody has mentioned snow yet.With a track kit,a quad becomes an absolutely amazing snow machine.While testing an atv equipped quad in the mountains,it would go anywhere that a snowmobile would go except for high marking.Places where the snowmobile would get stuck if it stopped,the quad could stop and go again with no problems at all.The only real negatives with the tracks,was that with tracks,quads are much slower and more difficult to turn than on wheels.

True that but getting in a pond & out can be two different things.
I have found myself having extreme difficulty getting out of the water unless you can find a nice gradual bank. Best method is to lean way ahead & back out, & then lean back as the rears start spinning on bottom.
Click to expand...

I found the same problem,if the banks were steep,we needed to winch the argo back on shore.

From Prowler website Ground Clearance 10 in / 25.4 cm
Click to expand...

How would Arctic Cat even know the ground clearance for the Prowler?After all,they only manufacture it and sell it.

You certianly are no engineer eh??? If you stand with your feet tight together you create more surface tension and therfore would stay ontop, take a step and down you go. The width of the stance makes no f"in difference. PERIOD. It comes down to surface tension and lbs per sq/inch, your is dble what the quad is on the same tires. plain and simple. math and physics cannot be manipulated by you or anyone. Why do skidoos sit on top of the snow?? ah yes daniel son, SURFACE TENSION.
Click to expand...

Don't confuse the issue with math and physics,apparently they don't apply to the Prowler.
 
crazydave said:
This coming from someone with said attitude, as i have said actual measured ground clearance to bottom of skid plate 15.4 inches.

As far as the grizzly going more places, just doesn't happen but i see i am wasting my breath on people, in my above post where i mentioned dragging the kawi around 2 of the other quads that were getting stuck were grizzlys, a 660 and a 700 so you can praise your quads all you want, i won't argue anymore.

I 'll just take comfort i have a better machine.:D
Click to expand...

Get a picture with a measuring tape, that will shut everybody up.;)
 
senior said:
I owned a 6 wheel Argo once. It would go some places an ATV wouldn't but also wouldn't go a few places an ATV would. They suck in deep mud, & hang up easily with minimum ground clearance.
Not much fun either!
Click to expand...

I agree that they don't have the ground clearance of a quad but the newer ones aren't as bad as they used to be. Mine has 8" by the tires where the chains are and 10" under the belly. I like mine.

IMG_0327-1.jpg
 
Interesting comments.

For extreme terrain and mud bogging then I'm guessing the UTV won't do some stuff as well as an ATV. I'm thinking it's a matter of being smart about the terrain you're getting into and what your machine is capable of.

I'm not into mud bogging, getting stuck on purpose and letting mud fly in all directions isn't fun to me. I tend to go around that sort of thing and if I need to cut some brush out of the way to avoid a mud pit then I'll do it. For extreme terrain where I'm pushing a machine to the edge? Well I'll skip that since I'll never be able to get a critter out of there anyways. I also don't like beating up on my stuff if I can possible avoid it. Repairs and parts are expensive after all.

I think I've left my extreme stuff to my old dirt biking days when I was young enough to heal up over a weekend :) So with that in mind I'm thinking a UTV is probably a better choice for me than an ATV.
 
I rode a Kawi quad for years, and it served me well. Last year I upgraded to a Teryx UTV and I am very impressed. So far it's only been stuck once and that was only because I took it into a mudslide (read: bottomless soup) before the engine was properly broken in, and I didn't want to throttle my way out. Other than that, it has gone everywhere my old quad would go. Even in the tight trails, you just have to plan your line better. And on the open roads, it tops out a little under 90. Plenty fast to keep up with the quads. The biggest problem I find is the rollcage. When theres a tree down across the trail, that a quad rider can duck under, the cage hits it everytime.
I also find it a much nicer ride over drops and dips in the road due to the longer wheelbase. A 2-3 foot drop that would stand a quad on its front bumper, or worse a rollover (done it) doesn't affect the SxS nearly as much.
I would stay away from the smaller engines though, as these machines are considerably heavier than a quad and need a good bit of power to keep the ride fun.
 
^ What are you doing here, that post made sense.:p I'd never go back to a quad, but that is for me and my family's needs. There are 3 of us and we can comfortably ride in the Ranger and it actually has 3 sets of seat belts. It rides nice and goes where we need, hauls a ton of stuff and my 4' long shooting table easily fits in the box with my range gear.
 
careful with the 2 people thing in the UTV. In Ontario you can't travel on a road with 2 people in a UTV or even on a Quad that is designed for 2up travel.Illegal in some instances.
There are also new Cops called S.A.V.E. (snowmobile ,ATV, Vessel an Environmental.) They get there jollies off bustin UTV and 2up Quads with 2 people on em.

A buddy of mine when on a big ATV-UTV ride / get together. 150 KM ? there abouts. All the UTV's came back after 1/2 way around. Trail got too narrow and when it came to the rock climbing no go. They were pissed as they paid the same rate.

I have a Kawasaki 700 Prairie. Tires till the snow flies. Then my Commander tracks go on. At that point I look for the deepest powder and drifts in deep ravines. Unbelievable !

Cheers
 
Out of curiosity, with the trend - or at least a new marrket segement of UTV's being on the rise - does anyone use a Jeep to hunt from anymore? The side by side nature, the ground clearance etc., the legal issues regarding use on a road, and the costof a used one vs a new UTV would make it a cost effective alternative would it not?
 
If you're a road hunter, sure, but a Jeep is still quite a bit wider and heavier than a UTV for riding on trails.
 
No I am not a road hunter. Not yet anyway. I tend to drive to my hunting(bow/muzzleloader) area, get in as far as I can and then do a lot of walking to my stands. I was just more curious to hear if jeeps are on the radar - at least the older models - or not - given the cost of UTV's. The $10k starting price vs the $5k for a jeep is quite a difference.

For me the big issue has always been retrieval of the game and moving my stands around.

Just interested in other peoples ideas on the subject.
 
Last edited:
Rhinos rock. I'm not sure who has all these reliability problems, but they are MUCH more reliable that any other UTV out there.

Granted, mine is no longer a 'hunting vehicle' since I put on a 4-seat cage, but it kicks arse ripping up logging trails and roads! :)

Here's a pic before the 4-seat conversion...
Rhino1.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom