Best UTV for farm/hunting

[Tbone07]

I'm trying to pick out a UTV for use on our family's tree farm in Ohio. The two Sportsman 500 quads we have aren't cutting it anymore. It'll be used mostly for work (firewood, dirt, mulch, etc.), and hunting. It has to have decent off-road capabilities, as we have some pretty steep hills to navigate.

I was looking at the John Deere UTV line, Kubota diesel UTV line, and the Polaris Ranger line. I think the Kubota has a hydraulic lift bed as opposed to electric, which I liked. But i'm not sure if it has the off-road capabilities we need. I'm hesitant to give Polaris another shot, haven't been overly impressed with their QC. But I've driven plenty of RZR's and they have good off-road capabilities.

Anybody have any experience with any farm/work UTV's?

[Skeans1]

I'm trying to pick out a UTV for use on our family's tree farm in Ohio. The two Sportsman 500 quads we have aren't cutting it anymore. It'll be used mostly for work (firewood, dirt, mulch, etc.), and hunting. It has to have decent off-road capabilities, as we have some pretty steep hills to navigate.

I was looking at the John Deere UTV line, Kubota diesel UTV line, and the Polaris Ranger line. I think the Kubota has a hydraulic lift bed as opposed to electric, which I liked. But i'm not sure if it has the off-road capabilities we need. I'm hesitant to give Polaris another shot, haven't been overly impressed with their QC. But I've driven plenty of RZR's and they have good off-road capabilities.

Anybody have any experience with any farm/work UTV's?

Clay we have a RTV 900 we can do a lot with it spraying ect the ground clearance isn't the best but you do have full hydraulics. Cons I've done many axle shafts and frontdriveshafrts. If it was me I'd buy a ranger then you're not stuck at 25 mph as well.

[Tbone07]

Clay we have a RTV 900 we can do a lot with it spraying ect the ground clearance isn't the best but you do have full hydraulics. Cons I've done many axle shafts and frontdriveshafrts. If it was me I'd buy a ranger then you're not stuck at 25 mph as well.

That's kinda what I was thinking too. Not even sure how much i'd use the hydraulic lift-bed anyways. If it sucks going off-road then it's almost a no-go

[The norm]

My old gramps has a ranger 500 with a full cab. It is a great farm/ hunting rig. We used it for a mule deer hunt last year and I can't believe how useful it was. Good luck, Loren

[troybilt]

We are a NH farm dealer, and my dad carries Kubota, and New Holland UTV's, (New Holland's are made by club car and the ones we use are diesel)  We both have the NH units and they have hydraulic lift bed that is steel, which is nice for throwing debris, logs, etc in there.  It can dump 800lbs-1000 I think.  The kubota's are nice, the newest one can do 35, but its all hydrostat transmission, which I think robs power.  My NH can run 25-28.  I've got it modified right now with kids seats in the back and a full cage I designed and made, but that all comes right off.  Its also lifted and converted to Polaris bolt pattern with wheels and tires.  Its a slick rig.  We did a full Mountain expedition with 3 of them in the Breckenridge area. They have no trouble getting around and off roading.  

[troybilt]

I've also had a Polaris Ranger and Rzr.   The Ranger was nice, not my favorite machine but it is plenty offroad capable and can haul some stuff.  I'm not a big Polaris fan, my rzr had all sorts of issues.  We also had a Teryx, and that is a damn well build machine.  Highly recommend them.  Excellent offroad and still haul some stuff.  Not a single issue with our teryx's!!  The yamaha viking is intriguing but I've never rode one.  I sure like the quality of my YZX1000...  My next farm rig will be a Honda Pioneer 1000.  Just cause I like the 4 seat capabilities and still get around tight spots, in the mountains...  We usually do a week long ride in the mountains once a year.

[2SMOKE]

I am not a fan of a diesel for hunting. Diesel smells up the woods too much. If your a hardcore hunter like me being scent free as much as possible in the woods is a must.

[Skeans1]

I am not a fan of a diesel for hunting. Diesel smells up the woods too much. If your a hardcore hunter like me being scent free as much as possible in the woods is a must.

Here's something for you out here that's how the deer know they are safe near a landing or around a guy cutting.

[2SMOKE]

Here's something for you out here that's how the deer know they are safe near a landing or around a guy cutting.

Here were I hunt we have whitetail deer, might be a bit smarter than your black tail and definitely smarter than those hopping mule deer you have in Oregon. Lol

[Skeans1]

Here were I hunt we have whitetail deer, might be a bit smarter than your black tail and definitely smarter than those hopping mule deer you have in Oregon. Lol

Got black and white here Eric if you think about it that's smart they know where no hunter can go. Lol

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[2SMOKE]

I have made mature bucks go nocturnal just from not eliminating my scent on my boots just going and changing out sd cards in my trail cams. Young bucks are stupid and hang around but who wants to shoot small bucks. Lol everyone hunts different and different species act different but no matter were you hunt or what species you hunt if you want the best chance at a mature deer it's all about scent

[2SMOKE]

Got black and white here Eric if you think about it that's smart they know where no hunter can go. Lol

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You must have Colombian white taile which is a sub species

[Tbone07]

I am not a fan of a diesel for hunting. Diesel smells up the woods too much. If your a hardcore hunter like me being scent free as much as possible in the woods is a must.

I always walk to my stand no matter where it is on our property. So i'm not really using this to get to the stand necessarily. Just hunting related activities.

I've had to put down a cigar and pick up my bow to shoot a deer before lol. But yes I see what you're saying as far as scent control

[Tbone07]

I've also had a Polaris Ranger and Rzr.   The Ranger was nice, not my favorite machine but it is plenty offroad capable and can haul some stuff.  I'm not a big Polaris fan, my rzr had all sorts of issues.  We also had a Teryx, and that is a damn well build machine.  Highly recommend them.  Excellent offroad and still haul some stuff.  Not a single issue with our teryx's!!  The yamaha viking is intriguing but I've never rode one.  I sure like the quality of my YZX1000...  My next farm rig will be a Honda Pioneer 1000.  Just cause I like the 4 seat capabilities and still get around tight spots, in the mountains...  We usually do a week long ride in the mountains once a year.

I'm skeptical of Polaris myself, we have 2 Sportsman 500's and I seem to be working on them constantly. Traveling 1.5hrs to my property one way doesn't leave much time to get real work done if you're constantly working on your machines. On the other hand a buddy of mine has a Ranger 800 4-6 seater and we whoop the shit out of it, no issues so far. I guess it's a crap shoot

I completely forgot New Holland made a UTV. We have a TC40D and 1920 SSS so it would match our NH fleet lol. I'll have to look into them.

I was rock crawling up/down a ravine and through some tight creeks on a YXZ earlier this year and hated the manual trans. I love it when you get into wide open terrain, but in the really slow tight stuff I hated it. Quality was good though

[2SMOKE]

I always walk to my stand no matter where it is on our property. So i'm not really using this to get to the stand necessarily. Just hunting related activities.

I've had to put down a cigar and pick up my bow to shoot a deer before lol. But yes I see what you're saying as far as scent control

Yeah I wasn't thinking you would roll up to your stand with it. Lol I also dont hunt like the normal hunter, we actually have a hit list every year were we target certain bucks depending on age and and potential. If a buck is not at least 4 1/2 years old we pass them up even if they have a big rack unless the potential of that buck isn't going to be high then we take them out so not to breed. We don't drive anything near our big buck areas because the mature bucks will leave or go nocturnal.