SuperCore’s New Ride
SuperCore came down to try out his new ride, an Arctic Cat ATV that he will be using to get to the blind this coming season. It’s 4WD with an automatic transmission.
This breaks a 15-year moratorium on the farm regarding ATV riding. When Dad and I got the place back in 2001, he gave me some sound advice: If I rode ATV’s on the property, I’d have fun, and when they buried me at 73, everyone would say I’d had a good life. On the other hand, if I kept ATV’s off the property and hoofed it up and down those hills, they’d be beating me to death in my nineties. At the time, it also seemed like a good idea, because of the kids; Moose and Angus were both under 10 years old.
One thing I’ve noticed in the intervening years is that deer and turkeys do respond adversely to ATV traffic. All my neighbors rode to their stands, and you could hear them all crank up about a half-hour before sunrise on the Opener. You’d also hear a lot of deer running through the woods on their way to my place. There are fewer hunters on the surrounding properties these days, so the effect is not quite as noticeable. However, there used to be a real stampede right around 10 o’clock as the Orange Army cranked up their quads and rode out to lunch.
So why let Supercore’s ATV on the property? Look, SuperCore is in his 8th decade. If I’m still on the right side of the sod at 80, I’ll be expecting a little slack too.
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We don’t use ATV’s on our place either, except to work food plots or hang stands before the season. We had a group from Louisville that used to own the property behind us. It was a nice 50 acre piece of land. Just before daylight, three to four ATV’s would fire up, to make the 100-200 yard drive to their stand sites. I never understood it. I’m just glad those folks moved on, and the new owners have a little more sense about them.
What always fascinated me in all this is that folks will spend $300 on a Fart-lok suit, $100 on rubber boots, and another $100 on sprays and soaps and ride out to the stand on an ATV.
Having said all that, I will have to admit that some of my best deer in the early days came from trips where I drove a pickup to within 100 yards of my stand.
One thing I do know: When my neighbors ride out to their stands, I can hear the deer running ahead of them sometimes before I even hear the putt-putt of their engine.
My biggest buck to date came from a stand not 75 yards from where I have to park my truck on my Aunt’s property. Late in the season, when the leaves drop, I can see my truck from my stand. But I usually always see deer, and a lot of bucks cruising through the cedar and persimmon grove where my stand is.