Ice transportation

[plugger]

This past weekend I hauled out the old skidoo, first time its been used since my daughter went to college. With a major crack down on quads lately snowmobiles make alot of sense. With a snow mobile I can, drive down the road from the paking area a hundred yards, or from home for that matter, carry a passenger, never worry about getting stuck, cross a little water if need be. I realy like using a quad but it just seems like the DNR has a major push to end their use in many places. Older fan cooled machines make great ice transportation and can be bought very reasonably. Might be time to take a step back in time.

[outsider]

Or get some additudes and laws changed :mad:
OUTSIDER

[plugger]

The problem with trying to get laws changed is that the people using quads are primarily interested in fishing, they dont belong to clubs ect that have any legislative clout. Many snowbile laws were enacted before people were so anti evrything. I dont go out just to ride a quad but they used to be safe simple transportation, very seldom have I ever seen alot of hotroding or reckless use by ice fisherman. At some point the manufactures may bring some influence to bear or risk losing sales. Its many older guys dream up here to retire, buy a quad, ond go ice fishing in comfort.

[Fishfoote]

I think the manufacturers of quads need to shift their marketing strategies a bit - when's the last time you saw an ad for a quad showing it on the ice with fishing gear? Maybe in a magazine selling the gear :confused: The quad manufacturers show them tearing up some stream bed or ripping through some forest, just giving the anti's more to talk about. I've had a quad for two years now, I don't think I've had it over 15 mph more than two or three times.

[skulldugary]

Check out this site ATVOFFROAD.NET....

[UNCLE AL]

Remember the 3-wheeler, they were outlawed because there was to many people injured riding them. They will try to do the same thing with the quads.

[FishinJoe]

Ok my quad will be sittin right next to my guns when they try to take them too:lol: I bought another quad this year mostly for fishing and hunting. But, I have been known to hit a mudhole or 2 when their just a little bit out of the way. But seriously guys that just take their quads on the ice, get out and ride some of the beautiful trails in Michigan, nice and peaceful to just go rolling down.

Joe

[Ed Michrina]

Good point on the old sleds. We did have more snow on the lake than normal this winter. also good point on crossing an open crack in most cases an atv is stuck on the other side.

[plugger]

Yesterday I saw a yamaha ovation advertised here for 600 bucks. The ovation is a great ice fishing sled, it would go places no quad will ever see and legaly haul two people. I love a quad because it is easier to haul equipment on the racks but the laws sure dont favor them.

[JJ Mac]

1. Snowmobiles can drive right up to the gas station and fill up without any problems. Try it on an ATV, and you're asking for trouble.

2. Snowmobiles do not require a trail permit for ice fishing if you are running directly onto a frozen lake. ATV's on the other hand require an ORV sticker.

3. Snowmobiles have designated trails that even get groomed for them. But take an ATV on a Snowmobile trail and there is hell to pay.

4. Snowmobileers can drive right down the side of the road without any hassles, but if you get stopped on a quad, you'll probably get a ticket.

Great comment on the ATV mags. They commonly depict quads tearing up the wilderness. Not the best marketing tool for us icefishermen. When the truth is, most ATV's are used for utility, not for riding.

It pure discrimination I tell ya! I want my equal rights. :rant:

Having said that, I sure am glad to live in country where this is the biggest "injustice" I have to get upset about today.

[Plug Tug]

Plugger, The ORV sticker is the biggest bunch of Bull that I can think of if your not ridding the trails. What do they do for me with the money?? Do they groom the lake so I won't get stuck when it snows 10" or more ect. My blood pressure goes up 200% every time that I have to buy one.
I fish Lake St. Clair most of the time in Fairhaven . I was fishing about 2 miles out one day all by myself no one around for a 1/2 mile. So here comes Joe C.O. where is your helmet? in my Clam Scout see, Where is your eye protection , on my Quad handelbars look. Where is your ORV sticker?? on the fender of the Quad, Got any fish ?? no just got here. So now it's my turn. Do you mean to tell me you just drove through 2000 people Drag racing their snowmobiles at over 100 miles per hour on marked off 1/4 mile tracks ( 3) of them this year with open beer sitting on their pickup tail gates and in their hands just to see if I had a ORV sticker?? Yes. Well you can see that all those snowmobiles are not fishing shouldn't they have a trail sticker?? They arn't on a trail so thay don't need one.. they are on public property. So why in the %%%$#$#@### do I need one .Caues it's the law. Where does my 16.50 go. I know most of the ORV trail are maintained by the ORV clubs not the DNR. Well did you ever hear of Rails to Trails?? Yes. Well that where the state gets most of it's money to give to the townships to maintain the trails. Oh!! so you mean that all those Yuppies can ride their mountin bikes and walk their fat behinds off and tell me I can't hunt within 500 feet of the trail. Yes OK how do I change that?? How do I get it changed so I don't need a ORV sticker to go Ice fishing. ?? First you have to belong to a big Outdoor Club they have a lot of pull with the DNR. Well I don't belong to any club but maybe the MUCC or all of the Michigian Sportsmen could raise hell and get rid of that stupid sticker for fishing. OK OK I'm done venting now just don't get me started on ORV stickers!!

[Burksee]

Plug Tug, I hear yah! But dont think its only the ORV owners that have that stick it in and broken off feeling. I think and can go along with ORV stickers belonging on vehicles that are utililizing the system they were designed to support, not anywere else. I also feel the same way about "trail permit" stickers for snowmobiles. If your not on a "trail" why should I be required to have them? I own four snowmobiles, my wife and I are usually the only two riders. Two of them are kept upnorth, two down here; We dont ride all that much, on a good season maybe 2 to 3 hundred miles a winter on the ones up north and most of thats done on the lake and on private property, not the "trails". Down around here there is no "trail" system, the best and only real safe place to ride is on the lake. Again, we ride those on occasion, maybe 50 to 75 miles on a good winter. But to be "legal" I've gotta have "trail permits" for both those as well. For four sleds thats a hundred bucks a year in "trail permits" so I can ride around the lake a half a dozen times a winter, all sleds together totaling around 500 miles just I dont have to worry about "getting busted"!

Lord knows I've spent and/or wasted more money than that on much worse and even stupider things but its just the point! Thanks for allowing me to vent and rant a little! :rant:

[Marrble Eyes]

don't get me started on Snowmobilers....

The LAW says they must stay within the right of way along roadways.

I challange ANYONE to show me a snowmobile track left that stays within that right of way. BTW that right of way legally is defined as 33 feet either side of the center of the road.

Why do I now this, because every freaking year my property gets destroyed by these idiots who are out violating the law by running over my trees I planted.

The excuses I get from these morons, 'Oh sorry didn't see em, Hey dude I didn't see any signs.' or FO you @sshole. Yeah the Orange snow fence and the red Keep out Trees Planted is pretty hard to see. The best one was my neighbor who after watching my wife and I plant that field for five weeks straight tell his kids when I jumped on him for running through it, 'It was our fault because we planted the trees to close to the road.'

The ONLY reason the quads get bashed and the Sleds get a free pass is the MONEY they snowmobile association and dealers throw at advertising and buying politicians with large campaign contributions.

The running on the rightaway is just a lazy way for law enforcement to be able to turn a blind eye to the total assault on private property along any roadway. They have a hell of a time catching them so this way they don't have to.

Don't believe me? Drive down any roadway and look at where the tracks are. If they are 10 feet back of the mailboxes they are outside of the right of way.
If there is one within it, give it a mile or so. The first open field, large yard or what ever they come across away they go. Tresspassing means nothing to the majority of these riders that I see their tracks.

I also thing the idea that I have to buy a permit for a quad on the ice but not a sled is BS. BTW I own both...