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Join others from across the country and post your story today!
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Written by Mark Bumgarner, MT
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"My family and I love to ride our ATV's but when the weather keeps us indoors we watch programs about ATV's on the TV. We use to watch DAVES ATV WORLD but I got so disgusted with it that I refuse to even turn on the TV when this show is on. This program shows folks speeding around the country side tearing the hell out of everything. They bank the trails and create dust not to mention bury their rigs in mud holes that should be left alone. Shows like this set the example that it is okay to ride like fools without ethics or morals. I think this program should teach, by example, good riding ethics. Nobody even mentions the words TREAD LIGHTLY or TRAIL COURTESY. Even the commercials advertising ATV's show professional riders ripping up the land jumping and going as fast as they can blowing stuff everywhere. Why can't they promote the only thing that will keep our trail systems open and that is "TREAD LIGHTLY" keep the speed down and if you want to baja through the humps, bumps and dips do it on the track not in the mountains. We don't need riders to grab onto the throttle and leave everyone behind just to climb a rocky hillside to get to the top where they cannot go any further. If they have to tear up the country just to get there than they should turn around and find a more friendly route. Riders who take ATV's off trail and ride like madmen are going to destroy what we have. We are going to lose our opportunity to ride anywhere if this type of ethics continues to be taught by the media and the makers of ATV's."
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Written by Mark B., Butte, MT
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"My wife and I are avid ATV riders. We try to get out as much as we can to enjoy the trails and the great outdoors. During our rides (almost 3,000 miles) we have encountered many responsible riders. They pull over for others, keep it slow, enjoy the wildlife, and practice good safe ethics. We have also encountered the renegades. A large amount of them are riding high performance race machines. These machines belong on controlled tracks and trails where competition is allowed - not in the mountains. Many blame the youth for tearing up our country. I blame the adults who are just as bad as their kids. They drive under the influence and fail to teach their children courtesy and trail ethics. I have seen ponds, marshes and hills torn up by these riders. I agree with those who want to make it a law that a ATV rider should have a license along with a certificate of completion in a "Tread Lightly" course. I also strongly believe that good ethical riders should police their riding areas and take a strong active position on turning riders in to the authorities. We have to take action or suffer the plight of the dinosaur: "EXTINCTION."
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Written by Jerry C., Beavercreek, OH
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"From my observation and participation on the trails and having ridden over 2000 miles on various trails in the last 2 years, it is obvious that..."tread lightly" is not being followed by some of the ATV riders and hardley ANY OF THE "DIRT BIKE" groups. The responsible riding is totaly ignored and it is infecting the environment and trails as well as public opinion of the riders.. Industry advertising is also contributing to the image. Just watch some of the ATV and Dirt bike ads and see what they show: NOT TREADING LIGHTLY... at all. I do not have a solution, only that if this sport don't clean up their act, we'll all loose out."
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Written by Mark P., La Grande, OR
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"I was working in the woods during a rifle elk season. Two guys came by on ATVs and passed barely 10 yards from me. I had just came out of a stand of trees and was out in the wide open with an orange vest and white hardhat. I waved but neither of them saw me. I later saw them in camp and stopped to say hello. They went on a rant about how there were no elk in the area, and blamed it on cougars. The truth is, I saw several groups of elk that day about a half mile off the road. These guys could not see a full grown man wearing orange in the wide open, so how could they possibly see an elk? I laughed, but it really is a sad testament to the kinds of "hunters" that are in the woods these days."
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Written by Michael K., Billings, MT
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"My 1st hunting trip upon my retirement from the Navy after 29 years in Montana in 2006. I had been looking forward to this for years needless to say. I obtained my license and permission slip to hunt Elk on the Bair Ranch east of Checkerboard. I left camp at 0330 and drove to a parking spot and walked back approximately 5 miles and set myself up. 10 minutes prior to legal shooting time 4 hunters on ATVs started driving through the woods following the game trail I had just traversed. I watched for an hour with disgust as these "hunters" drove aimlessly through the woods hollering at each other over the roar of their engines commenting on the absence of any game. The absent game [4 bulls and 7 cows] had hightailed it over the top at the 1st sound of their engines. Knowing my chances of a shot in this area was doomed I left my spot and walked back down the trail after 5 minutes one of them finally spotted me and drove up to ask if I had seen any "sign." I looked at this "Hunter" and told him to look at the ground, there's signs all over trodden over by him and his partners' tracks. I ran into this same bunch every day doing the same thing for a week trying to get a shot from the back of their ATVs. They had no concept of walking in to a spot as this was how they "were taught" to hunt from their fathers. It's sad to see but Hunting is a lost art form in Montana, if the "hunters can't get a shot from their 4x4 or ATV they are not going to get one. ATV's should be banned except for possibly the post harvesting of game and for the handicaped. Otherwise shanksmare is the only acceptable form of hunting transportation.
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