Wow - quite a variety of responses.
Maybe try and read the messages before we get into a flaming match.
The title of the post was "How rude...", not how illegal. I never said they did not have the right to do it, just that it was rude.
I can't imagine why someone would go down a road that someone else is hunting. This is walking hunting, not tree-standing. If someone is there ahead of you, your chances of magically seeing an elk that they somehow missed is pretty slim. So then you have 2 people that have wasted a hunting day - first one in and second one in.
The roads we are talking about are very loosely described as roads. They were roads once, but now a more accurate description would be a trail. Most are blocked off so a truck can't get in, but ATVs can easily navigate the berms.
Your plans to hunt there that day are no more important than another persons plans to ride their atvs there that day.
They were not there to ride their ATVs, they were there to hunt. We purposely camp on a main gravel road so we are not blocking access to anyone. There are people in that area that will camp and block off an area to keep it to themselves, and then go hunt somewhere else.
The common courtesy is if someone gets to a trail first, you go find somewhere else. There are plenty of places to hunt.
By this logic, I'd be well within my rights to block off same road with my truck so I could putt around on my quad without the distraction of those pesky hunters hiding in a blind and firing rifles all day long?
If your truck is there already, I'll go find somewhere else to hunt. That is called courtesy.
Yeah, they wonder if hunters could ruin their good ATV ride.
My OP was not intended to be anti-ATV. I would have said the same thing if other hunters walked in on top of me. But the reality is no one is going to walk into most of these areas if they know someone is walking ahead of them.
There is also a designated ATV area within 30 miles of where we are hunting for people that just want to ride, where there is no hunting. No one goes where we hunt just to trail ride their ATVs.
if you have a problem with that, then YOU need to find some private land to hunt on where it is not allowed.
Wow - where did that come from? The reason I live in Oregon is the public land. The way it will continue to work is if people show at least a little respect for other hunters in the woods.
Oregon has a great system of ATV designated trails, some beach, some mountain, some eastern Oregon desert. When we get drawn for eastern Oregon mule deer, there is a whole system of ATV trails, which is part of the reason we go there. I don't get upset to see other riders on the trail, and have no problem with them. You know where the trails are and hunt away from them.
So, flame away. I will stick to my opinion that knowingly screwing up someone bow hunting on foot is rude.
). 