Mountain bikes and hunting.

For flat or gently rolling country: Cross-country hunting walking in open country is about two miles an hour. "Just travelling" walking is around three miles an hour.

Many a day I've left camp around sunup and gotten back around dark. Commonly, I'd drive to some place in a pasture and make a two-hour or three-hour loop, sometimes finding Bambi, sometimes not. Go back to camp, grab a bite of lunch and go do it again.

You can sorta figure how I look at the idea of "wheeling" for a half-mile or so...

:), Art
 
I did some experiementing with various ways to carry a rifle on a bike, Vertically on rear rack, vertically on front rack, along the top tube and across the bars. I ended up going with slung across my back.

Since I don't actually hunt on my bike, I just use it to get beyond the crowds I'm thinking about getting a breakdown rifle in a hunting caliber and stowing it inside my pack.

My last day of hunting this year I used a handgun with the bike. Perfect combo. I didn't see anything I could put a tag on but I was in range of several other deer.

A few years back I saw two guys cart a bear back to camp on their bikes lashed together. They said it worked pretty well. My plan for deer was to field dress, postion the deer like it was sitting on the rear rack, saddle inside the abdominal cavity legs and head lashed to the bike and roll it back to camp that way.
 
I have yet to try it, but next fall, I plan to bring my mtn bike on one of my favorite hunts. Its gated road that runs parralell with some killer state land. Anyways, its a minimum maintanence road, and the more ground you can cover, the better the odds. Next fall I am going to hop on the trek and give it a whirl. I plan to keep the gun in a slinged case and rock and roll.

cheers

-boe
 
Boe, I've always done better when I either figure out where Bambi is sleeping and go there and kick him out of bed, or sit quietly and wait along a travel path area.

I've watched deer behavior when they hear vehicles. It's not the motor noise, it's the tire noise. They hear the sorta crackly sound, and levitate behind some sort of brush or big shrub. As the vehicle goes by, they pivot around the bush and keep it in line with the Bad Thing. So, folks go by and never see a thing.

I imagine that bicycle tires are quieter, but there is still the problem of visible motion, which is ungruntling to most deer...

:), Art
 
I imagine that bicycle tires are quieter, but there is still the problem of visible motion, which is ungruntling to most deer...
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I've been a mountain biker for nearly 20 years. I've almost had to push them out of the way they're so curious or nonplussed by bikes. I think it's mainly because they understand bikers aren't usually a threat. I've also gotten pretty close to bears while on a bike. That's a bit more nerve wracking though. :eek:

If my favorite hunting areas weren't so bike unfriendly, I'd give it a try. Put the 357mag in a holster and run the deer down in the forest. ;)

Chris
 
I'm with mtnbkr on this one. You see a lot of deer when riding and they don't seem to spook as much. I haven't had to push em off the trail but I've ridden by em without them giving me much more than a glance.

I had given up hunting when I started riding mountain bikes but I did note the amount of game I would come across. When I resumed hunting I knew I had to figure out a way to do it on my bike.
 

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