Perfect hunting SUV

Daisybuck said:
After much wrangling I got a good deal on the wagon. I said goodbye to the truck (first time without one in 22 years). I am already counting the days until I can get my next one. The things we do for the family budget. Now, since the wife insisted we could not afford to keep the ``Fun-50'' I am eagerly awaiting the chance to bring home my deer in the back of her minivan. Heh.

``Sure honey, those blood stains will come out and that smell will subside in a few months...''
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Get your self a small light atv type trailer! You can hall a lot and is easier to load. :thumbsup:
 
I've got a '10 4 door Tacoma off road package. Gets 20.1 mpg @ 75 mph. Will see if that will go up just a bit when I put a cap on in a month or so. As long as the bed drawer I build into the bed doesn't weigh it down too bad. Will be making the haul from VA to SD this winter so I'm hoping prices on gas stay down.
 
I think mine is about perfect. Gets decent mpg, has enough room, goes through pretty much anything, not worried if I get it dinged or scratched. Has 240K miles on it, just put a new motor in it. Reliable as hell.

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I can get to 95 percent of my hunting spots with any car. A prius would work for all my upland hunting. Try and find a Subaru wagon. AWD and almost 30 highway mpg and lots of room. In 5 years, you might save 5k in gas money that you can use for your hobbies.
 
mnbirdchaser said:
I can get to 95 percent of my hunting spots with any car. A prius would work for all my upland hunting. Try and find a Subaru wagon. AWD and almost 30 highway mpg and lots of room. In 5 years, you might save 5k in gas money that you can use for your hobbies.
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A Prius wouldn't cut it out here, unless you only intend on doing fair weather hunting and not taking a lot backroads. I would think it might be a little cramped with gear and a dog. Wouldn't a Prius get a little beat up driving on gravel roads?
 
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mnbirdchaser said:
I can get to 95 percent of my hunting spots with any car. A prius would work for all my upland hunting. Try and find a Subaru wagon. AWD and almost 30 highway mpg and lots of room. In 5 years, you might save 5k in gas money that you can use for your hobbies.
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For years we would hunt in a rwd 1984 Parisienne with studded tires. It worked OK. One of my favorite places to hunt around here is the sheyenne national grasslands. There is no way a prius could make it.

I came REALLY close to getting a subaru forester. In my mind that would be the ultimate machine. 30 mpg, enough space for everything, plenty of power, reliable. Only downside is I would hate to get it dinged up, and would like a little more ground clearance for these North Dakota winters.
 
I bought the wife a Forester for Valentines day.Nice vehicles, good ground clearance. AWD is better than my 4wd Ranger. Gas mileages went from 13 in her Trailblazer to 28-29 in the Forester. All for $21K.

Subaru's will kick Ford's (I've got 2 Ford trucks) butt in reliability. I've got friends that have over 450K miles on theirs.
 
mnbirdchaser said:
I can get to 95 percent of my hunting spots with any car. A prius would work for all my upland hunting. Try and find a Subaru wagon. AWD and almost 30 highway mpg and lots of room. In 5 years, you might save 5k in gas money that you can use for your hobbies.
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I've had at least three Subaru's and maybe four. Well the wife has but I drive them occasionally. The AWD system is as good as anything on the road. I've crawled out of holes in a Subaru that not too many trucks could get out of.

Good cars, decent quality and I think I saw that they have some newer models in AWD that get over 30mpg. Was thinking about something like that for my youngest who turned 16 yesterday. She drives 20mi to school everyday and in the snow and ice and crap the AWD would make me feel better.

They aren't real heavy duty, but they're smallish cars. Wife drives one now, a Tribeca. Sort of like the Lexus RX but I like the Subaru better. More comfortable and a smoother engine. The boxer engine Subaru uses is a good motor, never had an issue and almost no vibrations.

The one thing I haven't been happy with is the front sway bar linkage always wears out. Not a costly fix but pisses me off. Got to be a constant bad design because all of them needed them at one point or another.

My hunting rig is a Honda Ridgeline. Been very happy with it. 20mpg, decent off-road ability, comfortable, easily fits four adults, 2-3 dogs and all the gear we need for a day in the field. I think it's ugly but for utility I don't think you can beat it.
 
I'm thinking about getting a Nissan Xterra pro4x. Pretty sweet rigs.
 
94NDTA said:
I think mine is about perfect. Gets decent mpg, has enough room, goes through pretty much anything, not worried if I get it dinged or scratched. Has 240K miles on it, just put a new motor in it. Reliable as hell.

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Now that's a hunting rig! :thumbsup:
 
I've got a '95 Chev K1500 (Silverado) 4wd now and when the wife gets tired of her '05 Trailblazer, that will be my next hunting vehicle.
 
Shadow said:
BC- thanks- 983 mile drive- I had to go repair the roof on the rental house
camped out with the Britt's- wife mentioned this was the 3rd trip and I should take the Bird Dogs

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Now that's a bird camp. :thumbsup:
 
Quail Hound. I've had three Nissan Xterras, a 2001 1st gen, a 2004 2nd gen and a 2007 in the last body style. I love the way they look but the mileage just sucks. Best I got with the 2007 was 18 on the highway and I babied it. The wife drove it like she stole it in town and it got 12.

I have a 07 4 door Nissan Frontier 4X4. It gets 20 on the highway loaded down with dog box, gear and dogs at about 70 mph. If you go above that it drops dramatically and if you would drive 55 (yuc) I think you would get 23-24 but I can't stand to go that slow.

We traded the Xterra for a Subaru Outback, more ground clearance than a Jeep Cherokee and we get 30 mph on the interstate at 81 mph. The AWD is pretty fantastic and it really works! We have the 2.5 L 4 cyl boxer with the CVT. Very comfortable, drives nice and has room for the 4 dogs in the back + gear for the trip to the cabin. I know a dog trainer that got rid of his big 4X4 gas hog truck, bought a Subaru Outback and now pulls a small dog trailer. He said it cut his gas bill greater than 60% on trips to trials and Montana.

I'm not sure the Subaru would go everywhere my Frontier would but I think it would go most places and it's cheaper to operate!
 
Thought I would bring this thread back to life as we plan for the 2013 season.

Recently purchased a 2005 Ford Excursion Diesel. Been doing the upgrades to make the vehicle more reliable. 6.0L is known to have issues. Wanted to get those out of the way before heading west.

Any suggestions on setting the inside up? Looking for organization ideas, equipment, etc.
 
david0311

Join AAA or get insurance coverage for road assistance-Ford man all they way I have three at this time--BUT--the 6.0 has been a disaster for the trainers and owners I know that have had them around 45-80 thousand miles--That said a few have had good luck (very few) I hope you got one of the good ones--I delayed trading in my 7.3 when I saw the problems others were having with that engine and even went to a GMC for a couple years until the 6.4 came out --on my second one now both have been great so far. I really hope it works for you though--
 
kenobi_fan said:
I've been looking at escape's, and I also came across a 2003 Jeep liberty, which I really like. I'm gonna test drive it tomorrow. Does anybody have an opinion on the liberty?
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I have been driving a 2010 Jeep Liberty. For a year now and love it. Before that i drove a Ford Escape and put 350,000 kms on it with normal maintenance the only repair was one front wheel bearing. It was great on gas and was surprisingly capable off road due to its short wheelbase. You can go into very tight trails that stop a large p/u. It is a car though so you have to be realistic with what it can absorb. With the OP also wanting it to be a daily driver I consider an Escape or Liberty very useful and sensible options. My wife also has an Escape and she's at 219,000 trouble free kms. I easily got 600kms on a fill up with my V6 AWD escape. With 4 Blizzak snow tires it was a fabulous winter vehicle.
 
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Not as big as a Tahoe or as small as the Escape but if you're looking for something around the same size as the Explore or Trailblazer I would recommend the Jeep Grand Cherokee. I have a 2000, or I should say my wife does :D, that has been good to us. Would recommend it to anyone looking for a mid sized SUV.
 
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