--- title: "Elk Hunting from ATVs Has Gotten Out of Hand" description: "Side-by-sides and elk hunting on public land just don’t mix. It’s time we take a step back and evaluate the damage they’re doing." date: "2026-10-27" modified: "2026-10-27" authors: - name: "Derek Horner" job_title: "Audience Development Manager" link: "https://www.outdoorlife.com/authors/derek-horner.md" url: "https://www.outdoorlife.com/opinion/elk-hunting-from-atvs-out-of-hand/" categories: - "Big Game Hunting" - "Elk Hunting" - "Hunting" - "Opinion" tags: - "Evergreen" --- # Elk Hunting from ATVs Has Gotten Out of Hand ![A USFS sign on a trail]() I’ve always been a pretty “go with the flow” type of hunter with a general mindset that if it’s legal, there’s nothing wrong with it. But then I went elk hunting on public ground during Colorado’s first rifle season. I made the 28-hour drive from my home in Pennsylvania to Colorado with my cousins for their first-ever elk hunt. I had warned them of the side-by-side presence I’d experienced on a previous archery hunt in this very unit. It was manageable then. Plus, [we’re from PA so we’re used to hunting pressure](). But as our elk hunt progressed, I felt no small amount of anger and sadness as the backcountry we were trying to hunt became a side-by-side racetrack. ## Scouting Down the Drain We arrived several days before the opener to set up camp, scout the nearby creek drainages and finger ridges, and find the elevation band the elk desired. After a long hike up and into some national forest ground, to my elation, we found a pile of elk. We spotted a few raghorns, a couple smaller satellite bulls, a bugling herd bull, and his harem of cows. They were all using a knob near a meadow for their mid-day bedding area. We watched them for a bit, then backed out of the area to continue our scouting mission. After zeroing in on the terrain features and elevation a few more times over two days of scouting and finding new elk in each location, we were feeling good about our opening day plan. When the alarm went off in my tent at 3:00 a.m. that morning, we were ready to get started on our 4-mile hike into the target area. As daylight set in, we were already at the bottom of the creek, letting the thermals pull our scent down and away from where we expected the elk to be. We spent the next three hours meticulously crawling through the creek bottom, checking the north and south facing slopes on each side of us. To our surprise, we never laid eyes on an elk by the time we crested the knob mid-morning. I was a bit confused, until we rounded the corner and a mere 300 yards from where we had seen the large herd was a guide camp with generators, side-by-sides, a large tent with woodsmoke rolling out of the stovepipe, and several easy-ups. I was frustrated, but I kept my composure and assured my cousin that what those guides were doing was legal and this kind of thing happens. They had accessed the spot via a legal access road that snakes up and around the basin we were hunting. My guess is, they had no idea they had effectively spooked an entire herd of elk by setting up their camp in that location. We hiked away from their camp in search of the elk, but were unable to locate them that day. I counted it as a learning experience for us — if a place is legally accessible by vehicle, we should expect vehicles to be in there. ## The Side-by-Side Army The next morning, we executed a plan I’d devised lying in my sleeping bag the prior evening. After some obsessive map study, I felt as though I might know where that herd of elk was pushed to. We made our approach and found the herd. Unfortunately, my cousin’s scope had been knocked off zero and he ended up making a non-fatal hit on a nice bull at only 125 yards. His shot resulted in only a few drops of blood and broken spirits. We later found out that his rifle was shooting a foot low. After re-sighting the gun and mentally recovering, we made our way to a nearby trail to begin our hike to the next pin on my map. The trail had a big sign that read, “Administrative Route — Motorized use allowed only by Forest Service Authorization.” As our trekking poles squelched down into the fresh, muddy UTV tracks, I gave a quizzical look to my cousins. Moments later, a side-by-side came ripping up the trail behind us with two hunters hauling a dead bull. We congratulated them, and they regaled us with their hunt. “We were just driving around when all of the sudden a whole herd took off in front of us, I threw the gun out the front window and ‘BOOM’, dropped this guy on the run!” I’m sure my face said a whole lot more than I could muster in that moment, because after that, they quickly said goodbye, good luck, and drove off. Aside from shooting out of a vehicle being illegal in Colorado, it’s just unethical and lacks any respect for wild bull elk, which is a critter that I hold in high regard. As we continued down the trail shaking our heads in disbelief, three more side-by-sides ripped past us. Our boots became caked in mud as we walked out of the basin, contemplating our next move. That afternoon, we loaded our truck to find a new area. To our dismay, we counted more than 50 side-by-sides either out and about, or parked near tents or campers along the main road through our unit. Every trail was rutted up, and the national forest had seemingly become a UTV mudders’ paradise, except these mudders were pursuing elk. ![A USFS trail sign at the top of a mountain]() *A trail sign indicates the trail is closed to trucks, but open to dirt bikes and four-wheelers. Derek Horner* We also encountered certain trails that were closed only to certain motor vehicles, with a width restriction in place. In essence, any vehicle under 50” was allowed through, and any wider would be stopped by two large metal poles on each side of the path. Unsurprisingly, the poles were bent out to high hell, allowing vehicles much wider than 50” to baja their way through the forest. By the end of the third day of our hunt, we were disheartened. We had been in elk every day, and able to evade the side-by-side pressure. At times we were even able to use it to our advantage. But we were not enjoying anything representative of a wilderness hunt. The lack of respect for the place and the animals that lived there really started to eat at me. **Read Next:** [**Roadless Areas Provide 10 Times Better Elk Hunting and Support the Best Trout Streams in the West, Study Shows**]() ## That’s Just Not What It’s All About As someone who grew up in the most hunter-dense state in the United States, I’ve experienced a lot of folks taking shortcuts and not wanting to put in the physical effort to go hunting “the old fashioned way.” However, driving their four-wheelers to their stands on private land is a whole lot different than ripping side-by-sides for miles on supposedly closed national forest roads in pursuit of an elk near the trail. What draws Eastern hunters like me to the West and to elk hunting is the wilderness. The untouched, unkempt backcountry where humans don’t frequent. Where you can walk up on blue grouse and where the creeks are devoid of cairns and boot prints, where you can witness animals in their natural habitat and their natural state. We dream about silence that almost hurts your ears, the yellow aspen leaves trickling down in a slight breeze, and the snow-capped peaks looming on the horizon. Most of us want our Western hunt to be wild and we want elk hunting to be hard. ![A high country meadow in Colorado]() *A beautiful, untouched high country meadow the author found off the beaten trail. Derek Horner* Elk deserve to be hunted by woodsmen who read the terrain, watch their wind and thermals, and stalk carefully into range. Elk should not be relegated to some trailside target practice. I look forward to, train for, and dream about my annual elk hunt for 11 months and 3 weeks every year. Maybe I’ve over-romanticized the beauty and wildness of elk hunting in my mind. But I also know I’m not alone. There are many of us who welcome the hardships that come with a lack of sleep, long miles, steep climbs, and heavy packs. After all, that’s what makes filling an elk tag so rewarding. So take the perspective of one Eastern elk hunter for what it’s worth. We should be prioritizing enforcement of off-road rules in our national forests and not letting the off-roaders run amok. We should not be cutting new roads into the little remaining backcountry that we have left, [simply because we can.]() And we need to refocus on what elk hunting, real elk hunting, is supposed to be about. ## Author Derek Horner is the manager of audience development for *Outdoor Life* where he manages OL’s social accounts and email campaigns, and shares our stories with the world. He was born and raised in central Pennsylvania where his father and grandfather taught him to hunt and fish. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 2018 and still lives in central Pennsylvania. ### Author social links [Instagram]()