In this edition of ‘OUTDOORSMAN’ John Arkwright follow up on his last topic about his hunt camp. Read an excerpt below taken right from the pages of All-Terrain Vehicle Magazine!

I took a substantial amount of flack for the title I put on my Outdoorsman editorial in the last issue of this magazine. It was entitled The Camp, It’s A Guys Thing.

I forgot that Jim Brogan has four daughters who all hunt and fish, and then there’s my daughter, Carrie, who loves to fish and has just recently successfully completed her gun course.

The truth is, there are more girls hunting than ever before. Mark and Ted Dobbs, friends of mine, own a camp not too far from us, and several women hunt with them every season, too.

The evening jawing and bragging sessions around the campfire have gone in a whole new direction as women talk in a lot more detail about their shooting exploits than men do. How times have changed!

One thing the girls all agree on is the appeal of UTVs: the Rangers, Prowlers and Rhinos. Last year we had a Polaris Ranger in camp and basically the girls took ownership of it.

Side by sides are so easy to operate and with independent suspensions have such a comfortable off-road ride, plus it’s a lot easier to carry packs and rifles on them.

Read more in Volume 9, #2 of All-Terrain Vehicle.

In this edition of ‘HIGH RANGE’ Motorhead Mark Lester talks about the growing problem of government regulations against youth ATV’s. Read an excerpt below taken right from the pages of All-Terrain Vehicle Magazine!

We’re annoyed at the misinformation we’re hearing across North America right now surrounding the topic of youth ATV safety.

The common denominator in jurisdictions using the “B” word (Ban) is, almost without exception, the occurrence of a senseless youth ATV incident, usually without parental supervision and/or proper safety equipment being used.

We’re not minimizing the agony of these accidents, however, ATVing is not the only activity that has seen tragedy with children. Bicycles, skateboards, ice skating, snow tubing, wakeboarding, hockey, football and at least a dozen other kids activities have all experienced tragedies at one time or another.

What about the thousands of children who get incredible joy from participating safely in these activities? Kids like to do stuff and sometimes, activities with the potential for risk are an important part of becoming a responsible adult.

The issue will not be resolved by simply saying “outa here” with youth ATVs. Allowing the opportunity for kids to learn responsible off-road riding at a young age is not only huge, it’s necessary.

In fact, if these beginner models are banned, it merely postpones the advent of even more serious problems later on. Any responsible ATVing parent will tell you they’d rather their kids learned to handle a properly sized and underpowered kids ATV under supervision than wait until they’re sixteen, pumped full of testosterone, to get on a powerful, full sized model for their very first ride.

My own sons, now adults, both started their off-road careers at single digit ages on youth ATVs.

Both learned responsibility, safe operation, proper care of the environment and experienced firsthand the invaluable lessons of control and respect for others in a way only motorized recreation can. Are they exceptions? Absolutely not!

Is the youth market rife with irresponsible, unsafe use worthy of banning these vehicles? No, it is not.

Read more in Volume 9, #2 of All-Terrain Vehicle.

In this first edition of ‘Outdoorsman’ All-Terrain Vehicle Magazine’s John Arkwright shares one of his many stories about his hunt camp in Northern Ontario. Read an excerpt below taken right from the pages of All-Terrain Vehicle Magazine!

My longtime best friend, Jim Brogan and I have hunted and fished together for over 30 years. It was always in the back of our minds to have a camp of our own but those opportunities are few and far between.

In December 2004 I got a lead on one not 20 miles from home. We snowmobiled in to check it out. The camp was under three feet of snow but it seemed to be in decent shape. The main building was 16 x 20 with a porch on the front and a lean-to attached to the back.

We were like a pair of school kids. Could we afford it? Not really, but that didn’t stop us. In order to come up with my half of the money, I had a yard sale and sold six snowmobiles, five of them were vintage Polaris TXs from the ‘70s that I had planned to restore for way too long. February 2005 came and Jim and I were the official owners of Long Lake Hunt Camp.

The camp had only been used one week of the year for deer hunting. The other 51 weeks its tenants were mice, bats and squirrels and, let me tell you, they were not toilet trained. We quickly found out on our first night in camp; the more the building warmed up, so did the odor of those rodent droppings.

We filled half a dozen aluminum pie plates full of warfarin and the party was on. When the propane lights were put out it was like Prom Night for a bunch of over-hormoned teenagers. Those pie plates were rattlin’ and shakin’ and full of mice.

Turn on a flashlight and all these little pairs of red eyes were staring at you while they were literally chowing down on their ‘Last Supper’.

Read more in Volume 9, #1 of All-Terrain Vehicle.

In this edition of High Range Motorhead Mark Lester talks about the explosive side by side segment. Read an excerpt below taken right from the pages of All-Terrain Vehicle Magazine!

Let’s take a walk though the facts. While the Big Seven: Honda, Yamaha, Polaris, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Arctic Cat and Can-Am claim new unit sales have dropped by as much as 10 percent in the last year, a closer look reveals an opposing reality.

As far as adult-size 4-wheelers go, only these seven actually report and share their sales numbers. The legion of off-shore Asian brands increasing every day more than makes up that 10 percent shortfall (thought to be about 80-100,000 units per year).

Throw in off-shore youth ATVs and the situation becomes even more interesting. This market, while also unreported, is believed to be over 200,000 units annually. Yikes!

Here’s the juggernaut. The side-by-side UTV biz, which includes models from four of the big seven ATV makers plus a growing number of brands from names like John Deere, Kubota, Land Pride, Husqvarna, Club Car – the list goes on – is growing in a way that can only be described as explosive.

A year ago industry estimates put the UTV biz over 200,000 units. We think that’s conservative – but this segment of the ATV industry doesn’t report sales either. Do the math and it’s possible to come up with 500,000 unreported ATV and UTV units annually.

Regardless of reported sales, here’s what’s going on in the side-by-side marketplace. Buyers who cut their teeth on 4-wheeled ATVs are flocking to buy side-by-sides.

It’s no secret more and more families own what amounts to fleets of ATVs, with Sport/Utes for adults, Pure Sports for younger family members and mini ATVs for the kids.

Guess what other vehicle is being added to these family fleets? You got it; a side-by-side UTV.

Read more in Volume 9, #1 of All-Terrain Vehicle.