Hunting is not just about skill, strategy, and equipment; it also involves having a reliable vehicle that can withstand the rugged terrains and unpredictable weather conditions. Like any cherished possession, your hunting vehicle deserves the utmost care to ensure it remains efficient, safe, and dependable for all your hunting adventures. One of the most under-recognized yet essential maintenance practices for hunting vehicles is professional auto detailing. Below are compelling reasons detailing is beneficial to its overall longevity and maintenance:

Protection from the Elements:

Hunting often exposes your vehicle to harsh environmental elements such as mud, rain, snow, and intense UV rays. Professional detailing provides a thorough cleaning, ensuring that salt, grime, and other corrosive materials are removed from your vehicle’s surface. A well-applied ceramic coating can protect the paint from fading due to UV rays, preventing the early onset of rust.

Preserving Resale Value:

A well-maintained vehicle commands a higher resale value. Regular detailing keeps the vehicle looking newer for longer, maintaining the integrity of the paintwork, interior fabrics, and plastics. This commitment to maintenance is often an indicator to potential buyers that the vehicle has been well cared for.

Enhanced Safety:

Visibility is crucial, especially when driving through unpredictable terrains. Over time, headlights can become cloudy or foggy, which can decrease the light output. Professional detailing services include headlight restoration, ensuring that you have the best possible visibility during your trips.

Extending the Life of Vehicle Component:

Dirt, grime, and contaminants are not just unsightly; they can accelerate wear on various components. For example, brake dust and other debris can lead to premature brake wear. Similarly, mud and dirt in the undercarriage can speed up the rusting process. By having these contaminants professionally removed, you extend the life of these components and reduce potential repair costs.

Interior Maintenance:

The benefits aren’t just skin deep. The interior of your hunting vehicle sees its fair share of mud, water, and other potential hazards. Professional detailing ensures that the interior surfaces and fabrics are deep cleaned, reducing the risk of mold, unpleasant odors, and premature wear.

Improved Driving Experience:

A clean, well-maintained vehicle provides a more pleasurable driving experience. The absence of dirt and grime ensures a smoother ride, while a clean windshield and windows improve visibility. The fresh interior smell further enhances the overall journey.

Professional detailing of your hunting vehicle goes beyond aesthetics. It is an investment in the vehicle’s longevity, ensuring that it remains reliable, efficient, and safe for years to come. By prioritizing this aspect of maintenance, you not only ensure that your vehicle is always ready for the next adventure but also save on potential future repair costs.

Before hunting season officially begins it is highly advised to give your hunting vehicle a tune-up or take it in for a little maintenance. While any auto repair or maintenance is important & beneficial, ensuring your hunting vehicle runs properly and as safely as possible is important especially when it comes to hunting.  Driving into the wilderness and often times dense foilage where some of the best hunting can be done, can be very hazardous if your vehicle is not properly equipped or in working order. Not to mention getting stranded out in the wilderness is never fun and can be a huge inconvenience when you have game to bring home.

Hunting Vehicle Maintenance

Just as you need to get your gear ready the same goes for the engine, brakes & fluids within your hunting vehicle. Check out our list of hunting vehicle tune-up necessities put together by a trusted mechanic. 

Battery Check

Batteries can act up when the temperature drops or if having sat in a non-running vehicle for a long period of time. It is always best to give your battery a check-up before taking it out on that first hunting trip regardless of the circumstances. You want to make sure it is in good condition and that it won’t slow you down or worse yet, leave you stuck in a bad way. 

Fluid Checks

This is probably one of the most important things that need to be done before embarking on your hunting expedition. While oil changes should always be done routinely on any vehicle it is advised to check your oil, brake, coolant, windshield wiper, and transmission fluids. Should they need a change or to be topped off you will have done so!

Brakes

Like your fluid levels, brakes are especially important, maybe even the most important. Failing brakes or issues with your brakes out in the wilderness can be dangerous and leave you in a bad way. It is always best to schedule a brake inspection & take care of any potential issues beforehand.

Lights

Your lights (which include your headlight & auxiliary lights) need to be in working order and able to illuminate to the best of their potential. Your headlights especially need to be able to navigate dark & rough forest terrain.

Tires

Tire upgrades can be one of the best investments when it comes to adding upgrades ton your hunting vehicle. You want to make sure that the tires on your vehicle are in good condition and able to handle the type of terrain you will be hunting on. When inspecting your tires it is important to look at the tire tread and also to assess tire pressure. The better your tire pressure the more you will optimize your gas mileage.

Having a full maintenance inspection or tune-up done on your hunting vehicle should be one of the re-occurring tasks you plan for whenever gearing up to the start of that much-anticipated hunting season!

Hunting is a passion for many. However, many don’t go hunting far beyond their state lines due to fees, time, etc. However, there are some hunts that offer experiences you just can’t get anywhere else, and usually have a price tag to match. Don’t miss out on these once in a lifetime opportunities and amazing hunting trips. Some hunts you may just be able to buy, but some require you to be a resident of the state and wait to get lucky in the draw. 

Best North American Hunting Trips

• Texas- Waterfowl

Best waterfowl hunting in Texas is at Pintail Farms, just an hour Northeast of Dallas, Texas.

• Alaska/Canada- Moose 

While there are smaller Shiras Moose in some of the lower 48 states. You’ll find the trophy moose north of the border and in Alaska. If you choose to hunt in Canada there are plenty of forms you need to provide such as 

• • Passport
  • US Customs Form 4457
  • Firearm Declaration Form 909

For Alaska, if you are not a resident you need to be accompanied by a guide or an Alaska resident of at least 19 years. 

After that, you can enjoy an amazing hunt in the amazing country looking for those big antlers! If you hunt in the right season, you can even hear the bull moose bugle. 

• Alaska- Kodiak Bear

The Kodiak Bear is a type of brown bear that is the biggest of all brown bears and is only located on the Kodiak Archipelago in SW Alaska. Like Alaskan moose hunts, it requires a guide or long term resident to accompany you. You will be surrounded by the Pacific Ocean where you can do some fishing in your downtime, but most likely you will spend most of your time hunting as these bears are hard to find and harder to hunt. 

• South Dakota- Pheasants

Want to stray away from big game and be allowed to shoot more than one. Well then this opportunity is for you! South Dakota is the pheasant hunting capital of the world due to its lush fields of grain providing cover for the pheasants. In the fall and winter each year you can head up here and hunt up to 3 pheasants per day. Note that you’ll need a dog to sniff and scare these pheasants so they jump and you can shoot them. 

• Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho- Elk

Elk is plentiful throughout the western United States, but the best hunts are in the states listed above where bulls can have antlers reaching over 400”! Some of these hunts are even on protected Native American reservations, but the price can easily exceed $10,000. You don’t have to be guided for many of these hunts and many states offer over the counter (OTC) tags to residents and non-residents. 

• Colorado, Idaho, Montana- Mountain Lion

Now, this hunt certainly is different. There are only a few states that allow mountain lion hunting in the first place, but there are still opportunities. However, because a pack of hound dogs & a snowmobile is required it is highly recommended that you work with a guide to help ensure your hunt is a success. 

• Alaska/Canada- Mountain Goat

This is one of the hardest hunts on the list as mountain goats live WAY up in the mountains (above 13000 ft) and never come down. So it is your job to find that white spec among the snow-covered mountains and hike and go get them. Also, shots can range up to 700+ yds so make sure your marksmanship is on point. 

• Alaska/Canada, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming- Sheep

If you hunt in Nevada or Arizona you’ll be hunting for desert bighorn sheep, whereas if you hunt in Colorado, Idaho, or Montana you’ll be hunting rocky mountain sheep. And finally, if you hunt in Canada or Alaska, you’ll be after all sheep. These hunts are only slightly easier than mountain goat hunts so make sure you’re in shape and can shoot straight. 

No matter where you plan your next hunting trip always ensure that you are properly prepared with the right gear & staples.

If you are about to head off on your first hunt, awesome! Hunting is an amazing pastime, but first, you need to know about the importance of having the proper hunting gear, for both legal reasons and performance reasons. Thankfully, there is plenty of cheap hunting gear available to where you don’t need to spend a fortune. However, make sure you buy quality gear, so your hunting trip isn’t ruined as you freeze in your stand or blind. Here are some requirements and recommendations as to the essentials needed to go hunting. 

Hunting Gear & Legal Requirements

• Legal Requirements
  • Your Hunter’s Safety License
  • Your hunting tags to prove you’re allowed to hunt
  • Hunter orange (Each state varies, check your state’s laws here)
• Gear
• • Rifle, muzzleloader, or bow (Obviously…)
  • Ammo or Arrows (Obviously…)
  • Knife (To skin & process kill for transport)
  • Camouflage clothing (Doesn’t need to be the latest or fancy Sitka gear that is advertised in all of the hunting shows, but at least wear neutral tones on your clothes like green, tan, brown, and white (if there’s snow)
  • Jacket & Bibs (Hunting season usually occurs in the fall & winter so make sure that you stay warm as being cold is the easiest way to make a hunt miserable)
  • Boots (If there is one piece of gear that you need to spend good money on, it’s this as getting blisters and foot aches will kill your motivation)
  • Calls (If necessary for your hunt Ex. Waterfowl, Elk, etc…)
  • First Aid (From minor cuts to accidental gunshot/arrow wounds)
  • Water & food
  • Navigation items (GPS, Compass, Map)
  • Cooler to keep your meat cool

Hunting can be a great pastime to bond with friends and family and get out into the wild. However, those who are poorly prepared will likely leave with a negative perception that will cause them to never return. Having the right type of hunting vehicle & gear is important for safety & comfort. You don’t need to spend a lot of money, but make sure that you have quality gear otherwise you will regret it when you are shivering in your blind or stand wishing you would have bought a quality jacket and good boots.

When it comes to hunting there are many choices to be made in terms of hunting gear, hunting equipment, and transportation methods. Depending on the type of hunting you do as well as locations will have a lot to do with your choice of a hunting vehicle. In fact, investing in a hunting vehicle will not only make hunting more enjoyable in terms of packing gear and getting to your destination, but also with how you transport your game. 

Ceramic Coating Protection

Before making the choice on which hunting vehicle best suits you, it is also good to decide the level of protection you will choose to have. A hunting vehicle is meant to be utilized on rugged terrain, in mud, dirt and other outside elements. They are also meant to withstand the transportation of game and what the clean up with that entails. That being said, ceramic coatings for hunting vehicles are a great protection/easy maintenance investment. Tempe, Az ceramic coating experts say that a ceramic coating offers great scratch protection from rocks, branches, trees, and other outside weather elements. It also makes the cleaning and maintenance a lot easier as liquids, mud, and dirt easily rinse off due to the technology behind this nano-ceramic coating. And a Ceramic Coating can be applied to any of the hunting vehicles you may choose. That being said let’s take a look at which of the following is the best hunting vehicle for your lifestyle.   

Types Of Hunting Vehicles

ATV

The smallest of the hunting vehicles but the one that can get you closest to the action. ATV also known as All Terrain Vehicle can do just that, travel through all terrains. They are small and compact and can accommodate a group of people and a substantial amount of gear or one person and their solo minimal gear depending on which size vehicle you want to invest in. The downside of these hunting vehicles is that they are not road legal and generally have to be transported to the area in which you wish to hunt.

SUV’s

SUV’s are the next size up when it comes to best-hunting vehicles. They are bigger than an ATV but not quite as big as a pickup truck. They offer high ground clearance, a tight wheelbase, and are customizable all depending on the make and model you choose. They are street legal unlike ATV’s and offer enough space for a group of people or just yourself while also having adequate room for gear. Their limitations include while they do have cargo space it is also somewhat limited depending on the number of people in the vehicle. They also don’t offer much in the way of transporting game although it can be done.

Pickup Trucks

The biggest of all the hunting vehicles but the best for transporting multiple people, gear and game. They are also easily cleaned as they can be sprayed down, especially if utilizing the ceramic coating we discussed. They have great ground clearance again depending on the make and model of truck you choose. They are also great in terms of handling anything from moderate to severe rocky dirt roads. They do have to be parked on the outside of your hunting grounds but are legal when it comes to driving on the road. You will need to think of bulk when choosing your truck of choice as well as the fact that diesel vehicles are better in terms of fuel conservation.

The hunting vehicle you choose is a personal decision as with the type of hunting gear and equipment you prefer. While hunting vehicles are meant to be durable and handle rougher conditions it is also good to think of them as a long term investment and thus keep up with their maintenance and service.