Forest Rangers on Sleds?

[Anti-Hero]

So it got brought up again today about how the Forest rangers are the best riders and that I would be impossible for a recreationist to out ride/run a forest ranger on a sled. Some folks at work think that forest rangers are like Delta Force or something and have some secret snowmobile training? From my experience I have not been at all impressed with their riding skills or abilities. What does everyone think on this subject? I do not think that they would like the boondocking!

 

[RMKcowboy]

Usually the guy riding a sled giving tickets is the same guy who drives around all summer giving tickets. From my experience (and I work for the FS) most people that are actual forest rangers only know enough about a sled to get it down the trail. You won't find them climbing chutes or playing on the hills. I would bet that those of us who ride for fun could outrun most any ranger out there.

 

[PJ-Hunter]

Need I say more:

This guy works for the BLM and the USFS!

 

[Scott]

I know a couple fish cops around there that ride a lot. The one I know is a dang good dude. I've never seen a FS employee on anything other than 550 fans and NOT leaving any trail. LOL

 

[flatlander_99]

riding in the bighorns one year we came upon a sled you pull behind a utility snowmobile sitting on the side of the trail. we stopped & looked to the meadow to the right & there was a rmk stuck but no one was around. i was the 2nd in the group & happened to notice 2 guys just around a big tree in the meadow. so our group went down into the meadow to help out these 2 guys. find out that its 2 forest rangers & the idiot with the utility sled wanted to play but got it stuck & they were working for 2 hours already & had dug 6 feet down to the ground to try to get it out. they flipped when we came down there cause they were afraid we were going to get stuck too. we pulled them out with the bungee & then rolled one of ours over to get it unstuck & away we went. they were amazed at how we rode. DUH! the stupid part is that they were pulling up trail markers as it was april & on our way back to the lodge the utility sled was stuck again but at least this time it was right along side the trail. i bet he didn't volunteer to do that the next year or he was canned!

 

[76FOMOCO]

Out here they just sit at the parking lot just at the entry of the trail and check your registration (not too many ways in or out). Never seen one on the hill!

 

[T-Bone]

The rangers around here are real nice, but neither one looks like they could do anything but ride down the trail.
It's a guy and a woman both in their 20's, not very big, and loaded down like they're gonna move out to the wilderness.

 

[edgey]

I have meet them a couple of times on the trail to and from the lodges usually just stop and check our stickers and shoot the bs. One time a buddy lost a bunch of antifreeze and the ranger had some with him and gave it to him.

 

[Wolfrun]

They have been known to follow tracks down into a hole that they thought were heading towards a wilderness area and lo and behold they couldn't get back out. It was OK, they needed overnight training anyway.

 

[Skidoox600]

This year i worked in the bighorns at a resort. We got a call and had to go rescue two forest service people that were in trees. they got themselves into a bubble. They didn't know how to ride. thats from my experience..

 

[Blu Du]

a couple years ago we were riding the park boundry south out of west and ran into about 8 of the dilldos. all dressed in black and on summit 800's. they thought we were out in the park and gave us a hard time. the head guy was a real jackass, something was going on they weren't just patroling i think they were giving a tour to someone but i don't know who the other guys just sat on they sleds.

 

[SAWYER]

around here it's the forest circus

 

[AdrenalineAddict]

A few years ago some do-gooder's were squawking about how it should be perfectly legal for the forest service to chase snowmobilers and cite them in any off limit area in the country. We had a great Sheriff at the time who was quoted and printed in our local newspaper as saying something like this "Many of the local riders are some of the best mountain riders in the world, all we need is for the feds to start hot pursuit in off limit areas, all my county time and resources would then be allocated to a search and rescue in an effort trying to find the feds who were baited into steep and technical country then left in precarious situations" I personally believe this would be the outcome from what I've seen of Forest Service snowmobile skills.

 

[grubbn]

Forest Service.. its just that SERVICE. Good family friend is a Dept. Natural Resource. The state gives him New 4x4 truck, new bike, quad and for winter months a sled. He doesnt even like the outdoors! He explains its just what he does for a living. IMO Its the best damn job a adrenaline junky could have

 

[Wheel House Motorsports]

the two i have seen around us are on a an older 700 rmk and a mountain max, and the people look like they couldnt ride fer there life, especially with all their gear on. half the time i see them out alone checking stickers, i know they have a lot of backup stuff, but going alone in the wilderness like that seems kinda stupid for people who make the laws. needless to say a good rider on a 550fan could make it away really easily, now some guys on turbos? yeah, good luck forest service. generally they seem nice, but i just keep mine registered and play by the rules.

i do beleive one time they just set up a little check station on the only way out of a very large riding area, sort of like the DUI roadblocks, so you couldnt get away or anything.

 

[Rob1334]

I work for the FS and saw the job opening last year in an email from our recreational programs. They don't have any major training to make them experts, most are seasonal employees looking for a job for the winter. Most are pretty cool guys if you don't automatically treat them like crap from the time they talk to you.

Met some last year in West, met them on two tops?, one was a fellow firefighter and the other was a rec. seasonal. Were nice guys, took pictures of us, told us some other good riding locations, and then finally told thm when they were about to leave I was a fellow FS employee. Nicest guys.

Most people don't realize that most of the employees you run into are not the ones making the decisions you might not agree with. Yet, you still take it out on a person who rides around giving out information and trying to help people recreate safely that you talk **** about. think about it before you start pointing fingers at a certain person

 

[donbrown]

The ones around places where I ride are nice to locals and are nervous around people they don't know.

Riding skills, I think the best riders of the FS I've seen are using underpowered air cooled engines. The ones who scare me are on newer 800 cc sleds and drive it like a patrol car.

The ones I don't like are shooting radar in a "speed trap" usually near people walking leashed dogs.

 

[BCDan]

Here, I have seen the FS on Edge 600 RMKs or 700 RMKs. They definitely are not heading to the high country, they are doing what they are supposed to be doing; make a presence in the area. We also have deputies that patrol in the area, they may not ride as great as some, but I know they shoot a heck of a lot better than I do!

I have found that if you treat them with respect, they pretty much return it. That's been my experience...

 

[knoba]

rangers

Blue lakes CA .some weekends they have rangers from two or three districts and sheriff from two or three districts maybee up to twelve snowmobiles including 900RMK 159 and M8 162.They also have aircraft doing fly overs most of the day just to catch snowmobiles in closed or wilderness areas some weekends they dont even write one ticket.

 

[AKSNOWRIDER]

We ran into some fish cops about 8 yrs ago...3 ft of fresh snow..2 sleds out of the parking lot infront of us...was pretty much a real minor downhill slope for about a mile..at the bottom in the creek was the two fish cops..one on a wide track one on a trail touring..both buried out of site...so we dug them out and broke trail for them to where they were headed....they had no clue on how to do anything other then ride a trail....they were very happy to see us..we could have shot an illegal animal 20 ft from them and they would have been powerless to stop us...but they were real nice guys...