Who uses a UTV for hunting?

Tudenom

Tudenom

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After helping to pull some rahter heavy moose qurters out of a cut block I thought it might be time to start thinking about an ATV for hunting. My hunting partner and I started talking about ATV's when he brought up the side by side UTV's.

It made a whole lot of sense in some ways. Supposedly they can get into most areas where ATV's go, but they have a much greater carrying capacity and can also give you protection from the elements. As a bonus you can transport two people comfortably.

I'm thinking a UTV might also be really good for Canadian Ranger exercises as well since you probably could get away without a trailer for long ATV trips.

How is the noise as compared to an ATV?

Does anyone else use theirs for hunting? Any major issues? What models are you using? I'm thinking the Polaris Ranger 400 mid size might be a good compromise.
 
I personally would avoid the Ranger,after having experienced very poor reliability with the small fleet of Rangers at our work site.On the other hand,the Honda is slow,but very reliable.The Rhino has also proven to be reliable,and faster and more agile.
 
The ultimate moose hunting, go everywhere, do anything vehicle, is an Argo. The only problem with them is that, although they are very capable, they are just not much fun compared to a quad.

Side by sides cannot go some of the places I went last week elk hunting on a Honda quad. Even quads are getting too big IMO for some hunting trails.
 
The ultimate moose hunting, go everywhere, do anything vehicle, is an Argo. The only problem with them is that, although they are very capable, they are just not much fun compared to a quad.
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They are also much slower,and ride much rougher,since they don't have an actual suspension on the wheels.
 
The farm we hunt at had a Polaris Ranger, I think it was the first model year. We used it a lot to pull deer of the trails and in the fields.

It would not go places that my '04 Sportsman ATV would go. I didn't have the clearance or the power and the winch was not strong enough to pull it out of the mud that my ATV could go through.

Now the farm just got a new Ranger and it looks better. I have driven it around the camp and it has more power and appears to have higher clearance. However we have been told by the farmers wife we aren't allowed to drive it in the mud :(

Hopefully that wears off :D
 
rral22 said:
The ultimate moose hunting, go everywhere, do anything vehicle, is an Argo. The only problem with them is that, although they are very capable, they are just not much fun compared to a quad.

Side by sides cannot go some of the places I went last week elk hunting on a Honda quad. Even quads are getting too big IMO for some hunting trails.
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Also an Argo requires much more maintenance than a quad/utv.
 
I have a last years model 700 Ranger and like it. I put a 4000lb winch on it and only have about 600 miles so far. I haven't hunted with it but have hauled dirt and gravel and it works pretty good for that.
 
stubblejumper said:
I personally would avoid the Ranger,after having experienced very poor reliability with the small fleet of Rangers at our work site.On the other hand,the Honda is slow,but very reliable.The Rhino has also proven to be reliable,and faster and more agile.
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I have a prowler, it works great for hunting and will go places a quad won't dream of going.

The rangers are a bit bulky and would get caught up alot, and had a few issues.

stay away from the honda as they are very heavy and will get stuck!

Avoid the rhino like the plague, i go out riding regularly with 5 people who own rhinos and not one trip has been made where one if not more has had problems, also compared to the arcticcat they are very slow and underpowered.
 
I have a prowler, it works great for hunting and will go places a quad won't dream of going.
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If you think that your Prowler will go where a quad won't dream of going,it is you that is dreaming.The Prowler is heavier,and has the same sized tires,so it will sink more.It is longer with less ground clearance ,so it will hang up easier.It is wider,so it won't fit between trees that a quad will.In short,it may haul more than a quad,but due to it's size and weight,it won't go places that a quad will.
 
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stubblejumper said:
If you think that your Prowler will go where a quad won't dream of going,it is you that is dreaming.The Prowler is heavier,and has the same sized tires,so it will sink more.It is longer with less ground clearance ,so it will hang up easier.It is wider,so it won't fit between trees that a quad will.In short,it may haul more than a quad,but due to it's size and weight,it won't go places that a quad will.
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I hear people say this all the time, MOST have no experience with utv's in the bush or couldn't drive a stick up a dead dogs arse.

Almost an time a tight spot is found in a trail it can be went around, also the prowler has more ground clearence than most quads, and seeing as it is wider and longer it finds traction sooner when in a mud hole than a quad, the last trip i went on every quad got stuck "every single quad got stuck" one a kawi brute force 750 blew its transmission, the prowler drug the dead quad through all the same holes the quads were getting stuck in and NEVER GOT STUCK.

So yes if you drive like a nancy they will not go where a quad will, but if you grow a set and learn how to drive they will beat a quad about 80% of the time.
 
Almost an time a tight spot is found in a trail it can be went around,
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Sometimes you have to go a long ways to get around a tight spot,and if your Prowler can go around,so can a quad.

also the prowler has more ground clearence than most quads,
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It doesn't have more ground clearance than my Grizzly 700.It has about 2" less ground clearance.

and seeing as it is wider and longer it finds traction sooner when in a mud hole than a quad,
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Seeing that it is longer and wider,with less ground clearance,it high centers more easily.When crossing extreme terrain,shorter and narrower is an advantage because it doesn't high center and get hung up as easily.
It also sinks more in mud and muskeg due to the extra weight.Since it uses similar sized tires,it has no more available traction than a quad.

MOST have no experience with utv's in the bush or couldn't drive a stick up a dead dogs arse.
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What you do with dead dogs is up to you,I don't have any experience in that area,and I don't want any.
 
your grizzly has 16'' of ground clearence, i would like to see that because my prowler with aftermarket tires has 16'' of ground clearence. Oh wait a minute just looked it up a grizzly has 11.8'' of clearence.

So yeah i will go where you have 4 tires stuck in the air.

I have owned every single brand of quad out there, and owned the prowler i won't be going back to a quad as they are inferior machines to what the prowler will do.
 
your grizzly has 16'' of ground clearence, i would like to see that because my prowler with aftermarket tires has 16'' of ground clearence. Oh wait a minute just looked it up a grizzly has 11.8'' of clearence.
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A stock Prowler has 10" of ground clearance with 26" tires,

http://www.arctic-cat.com/prowler/HDX700.php


To gain 6" of ground clearance you need to either use a tire that is 12" larger in diameter(are your tires 38" in diameter?)or install 30" tires and a 4" lift kit.You never mentioned a lift kit at all in your previous post,and most available lift kits are only around 2".

With my aftermarket tires installed,the clearance to the bottom of my skid plates is 13".

Also being longer and wider the weight is displaced over a wider area so it doesn't sink like a quad.
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Apparently you are misunderstanding the concept of weight displacement as it applies to an atv.


All of the weight of each atv is distributed over the four tires.The lbs/square inch on the ground can be calculated based on the weight of the atv,and the bearing surface of the tires on the ground.It doesn't matter if the tires are 4' apart or 6' apart,the tires bearing area doesn't change if you lengthen the wheelbase or widen the stance.


Your Prowler is listed at around 1200lbs stock compared to my Grizzly at around 600lbs.

Unless your tires have twice the bearing area of mine(they would have to be huge,almost twice as wide as mine if your tires are close to the same diameter as mine ),the pressure the tires exert per square inch will be more than with my Grizzly.More lbs/square inch means more sinking in the mud or muskeg.
 
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''
 
I have used both Quads and Argo, If your looking for a work horse to get in and out of areas then i would take my argo over all others. Yup, there are slow, and can de rough , but with that big old cow moose being pulled out of them old stumpy cutblocks, that machine praacticxaly floats over the rough uneven ground.
 
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:
 
outlan22 said:
I have used both Quads and Argo, If your looking for a work horse to get in and out of areas then i would take my argo over all others. Yup, there are slow, and can de rough , but with that big old cow moose being pulled out of them old stumpy cutblocks, that machine praacticxaly floats over the rough uneven ground.
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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!
 
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