Hatfield McCoy Trails, WV...

**Amazon Hunter** · June 2nd, 2012, 11:38 AM

So I am heading to the Hatfield McCoy Trails in West Virginia in July. I have carried in WV before since it is a recipricating state. The only problem is that the rules for the trails says "no firearms allowed". We were thinking of carrying them in some packs on our ATV's but then if we stop at a restaurant or something I wouldn't want my firearm on my ATV in an unsecure pack. I guess we will have to follow the rules and leave the firearms back. I don't like the idea of riding for miles and miles in the wilderness without my firearm. I can understand them not wanting people out there target shooting but we should be allowed to carry for our protection.

**bigdawgbeav** · June 2nd, 2012, 11:54 AM

no firearms allowed? That seems stupid considering the history of the area...

ETA: Nevermind... I see that it's not a specific tour of the H/M area of Logan/Pikeville, just a name. None-the less, are these state pars or something? Or is this some private land?

**Amazon Hunter** · June 2nd, 2012, 12:53 PM

Its a very large tract of land that belongs to several different private property owners. They obtain permission from the land owners to run ATV trails through their property. They have 7 different locations in WV. I guess we will be on private property that we have permission to ride on.

**indiandave** · June 4th, 2012, 08:14 AM

Are you team Hatfield or team McCoy?

**Amazon Hunter** · June 4th, 2012, 10:46 AM

That's a hard decision on what side to take after watching that mini series. I started out on the Hatfields side because it appeared that he was trying to make piece but McCoy would have nothing to do with it. The when I watched episodes 2 and 3 it got ral ugly. They did some crazy things to each other.

**JoshIronshaft** · June 6th, 2012, 01:16 PM

I used to ride those trails every summer.

On 2 separate trips, I was a first hand witness and part of the recovery crew at 2 accidents that could of potentially been life-ending if the rider involved was riding alone.

One was a man who flipped his ATV back on himself on a steep rocky hill climb, breaking an ankle and disabling the ATV. The man was given a ride out and the ATV recovered and towed out.

The second was a teenager that got thrown over, basically, a cliff, when his ATV hit a root unexpectedly and threw him and the ATV over the edge. It was a very steep drop down one of those WV mountain sides, and we were able to carefully recover the teenager after he clutched a branch before taking the long plunge his ATV did. Both the teenager and the ATV were surprisingly fine.

One time we had an ATV break an axle shaft and had to wait several hours while the HM officials came back in to the trails with a truck to recover it.

I was stung in the forehead by a bee while riding. That sucked.

Lot's of things can go wrong way back in the WV woods.

Never ride alone, wear protective gear, and carry some basic survival, ATV repair, etc things.