Riding during hunting season
- Thread starter dan1608
- Start date
- Aug 29, 2004
- 2,958
- 0
during rifle season (nov. 15-30) this is true ......you are allowed to ride at specific times , im not sure the times but i think t is between 6-9am and 2-5pm its useless to make a road trip for that. bow season ive always ridden but ill keep eye out here for 2trakr to shed light>
This topic pops up every year. The rule book or DNR website is where you want to go for the latest rules. Last year you could still ride in October. Only during rifle season were the trails shut down and only for certain times. Of course the bowhunters won't be thrilled.
I sure wouldn't want to be one tempting fate by riding during rifle season. It's been a LONG time since I hunted with a rifle, but what I recall is by 10am some of the guys in the woods well along into a liquid breakfast and couldn't focus clearly on the hands in front of their face, let alone differentiating a deer from a dirt biker.
You can legaly ride anytime during bow season (right now)
The last 2 weeks of November (the 15th and on) the woods are basicaly closed. You can ride till Sun up I believe. Then from 11:00am-2:00pm (lunch) then again after dark. So basicaly you have a 2-3 hour window in the afternoon to ride.
Me personaly I let the hunters have the woods for those 2 weeks. We do have the woods the rest of the year. Let the hunters have it for those 2 weeks, stay home, and do some bike mainenantce for a change.
Another option is night riding. This is when some of the best rides start to form. Every year there is at least one night ride going on during riffle season. Its a riot. And a legal way to get in some trail time without pissing off the hunters. By the time its dark the hunters are all back to there cabins popin the tops off a few cold ones and are no longet a threat to us like they could be if you tried riding during those 2-3 hours in the afternoon.
The last 2 weeks of November (the 15th and on) the woods are basicaly closed. You can ride till Sun up I believe. Then from 11:00am-2:00pm (lunch) then again after dark. So basicaly you have a 2-3 hour window in the afternoon to ride.
Me personaly I let the hunters have the woods for those 2 weeks. We do have the woods the rest of the year. Let the hunters have it for those 2 weeks, stay home, and do some bike mainenantce for a change.
Another option is night riding. This is when some of the best rides start to form. Every year there is at least one night ride going on during riffle season. Its a riot. And a legal way to get in some trail time without pissing off the hunters. By the time its dark the hunters are all back to there cabins popin the tops off a few cold ones and are no longet a threat to us like they could be if you tried riding during those 2-3 hours in the afternoon.
Being an avid deer hunter for many years as well as at least a novice woods rider has giving me some insight into the minds of my own worlds..
FIrst off, Bow hunters tend to be a little more serious about the actual "hunt" when it comes right down to it. A big part of a bow mens sport is "scouting" for sign, fiquring animal movement on run ways and the times they are doiong so is a big part of this. Of course, sizing animals is another art.. That being said, when I was hunting with Bow I would rather keep the rituals going that the deer had become used to in the area that I was hunting. Deer are a creature of habit. You can litterally set your watch by their movements. If ANy hunter that is worth a knickle that is hunting in an ORV area will have or riding planned into his activity far in advance of the season!! Same goes with snowmobiling.. THere should b e NO reaason to stop normal riding activities up till November 14th..
Gun season is different because of the obvious. I personally enjoy the extra noise and activity during gun season. The woods are generally all fouled up from people coming and going anyway so the deer are no longer on their natural trail schedules. A smart gun hunter would recognize the benifits of have riders in the woods pushing game around.. MANY deer have been killed by "driving" and us being in the woods on dirtbikes is virtually the best "deer driving" method you can find!!
The downfall of this is that there are a lot of hunters that dont participate in our sport and that really dont have a clue of the effect that machinery in the woods have on animals. Many hunters believe that once a machine (bike/quad/car/boat) goes near the area they hunt that the deer will not come into the area for days, if not weeks until the area "cools down". I always get a kick out of this comment because the auto insurance industry has been lobbying for years for the DNR to kill off all our game because of the HUGE increase in deer/car accidents. If you think about what I just typed you should be able to see an oxymoron staring you in the face. If the deer, as the hunters say, LEAVE the area for weeks at a time when a vehicle goes thru because they can smell the car - how come they are any where near roadways in the first place.. Further more, if you have ever ridden in the winter time I am sure that you have noticed that deer use our packed down bike trails for their trails as soon as we pack them down. Same applys to sledding!! I once came upon a group of 6 deer walking on the bike trail and I was the one who had to take a different route so they could come thru - they didnt want to move!!
Anyway, IMHO - ride till your heart is content till Nov 14th, stay out of the woods during the daylight hours for the 2 weeks of gun deer. Law really is kinda irrelevant when it coomes to guys with guns.. Its kind of the same thing when arquing a car - bike accident. Yea the bike had the right of way b ut he ALWAYS loses cause the driver of the car has TONNAGE on his side.. I would rather donate my right of way and live to tell my grandkids about it!!!!
Oh yea, if you are giong to be Dual Sporting the Mi two tracts during this time of the year - WATCH THOSE CORNERS!!!!!
Woodsy :ride:
FIrst off, Bow hunters tend to be a little more serious about the actual "hunt" when it comes right down to it. A big part of a bow mens sport is "scouting" for sign, fiquring animal movement on run ways and the times they are doiong so is a big part of this. Of course, sizing animals is another art.. That being said, when I was hunting with Bow I would rather keep the rituals going that the deer had become used to in the area that I was hunting. Deer are a creature of habit. You can litterally set your watch by their movements. If ANy hunter that is worth a knickle that is hunting in an ORV area will have or riding planned into his activity far in advance of the season!! Same goes with snowmobiling.. THere should b e NO reaason to stop normal riding activities up till November 14th..
Gun season is different because of the obvious. I personally enjoy the extra noise and activity during gun season. The woods are generally all fouled up from people coming and going anyway so the deer are no longer on their natural trail schedules. A smart gun hunter would recognize the benifits of have riders in the woods pushing game around.. MANY deer have been killed by "driving" and us being in the woods on dirtbikes is virtually the best "deer driving" method you can find!!
The downfall of this is that there are a lot of hunters that dont participate in our sport and that really dont have a clue of the effect that machinery in the woods have on animals. Many hunters believe that once a machine (bike/quad/car/boat) goes near the area they hunt that the deer will not come into the area for days, if not weeks until the area "cools down". I always get a kick out of this comment because the auto insurance industry has been lobbying for years for the DNR to kill off all our game because of the HUGE increase in deer/car accidents. If you think about what I just typed you should be able to see an oxymoron staring you in the face. If the deer, as the hunters say, LEAVE the area for weeks at a time when a vehicle goes thru because they can smell the car - how come they are any where near roadways in the first place.. Further more, if you have ever ridden in the winter time I am sure that you have noticed that deer use our packed down bike trails for their trails as soon as we pack them down. Same applys to sledding!! I once came upon a group of 6 deer walking on the bike trail and I was the one who had to take a different route so they could come thru - they didnt want to move!!
Anyway, IMHO - ride till your heart is content till Nov 14th, stay out of the woods during the daylight hours for the 2 weeks of gun deer. Law really is kinda irrelevant when it coomes to guys with guns.. Its kind of the same thing when arquing a car - bike accident. Yea the bike had the right of way b ut he ALWAYS loses cause the driver of the car has TONNAGE on his side.. I would rather donate my right of way and live to tell my grandkids about it!!!!
Oh yea, if you are giong to be Dual Sporting the Mi two tracts during this time of the year - WATCH THOSE CORNERS!!!!!
Woodsy :ride: