A quick note on where we wheel.

[HaleYes]

After hearing of an incident that took place this past weekend, I thought it'd be a good time to touch on the topic of "Where we wheel". The incident was local to me and no....I was not present. It did involve another Jeep club that I am not affiliated with.

What it all boils down to is: Make sure you have permission to wheel where you wheel. If you don't know or think you might know....that's not good enough. You need to personally speak with the land owner. When someone gets "ran off" or told to leave that does not have permission to be there, it makes everyone......everyone look bad. Everyone that wheels. We all need to be 100% certain of where we are and that we have permission to be there. If there is any question at all; you don't need to be there.

This even includes the places that some claim, "Well, everyone has wheeled there for years and years. Noone has ever said a word to anyone". Just because it's a local "hot spot" does not mean that the land owner wants people there. Check with the land owner first.

I don't want to hear of anyone getting "ran off" from any wheeling spot, especially if they've got a MWC sticker on their Jeep. Respect others. Get permission. Represent the MWC well.

 

[Prepmech]

A land access permission card can be found here:

http://dnr.state.il.us/law3/

 

[4wdParakeet]

Very well said and I can't agree with you more. We had an issue like this in my local club, we took the stance than any member or prospective member found on illegal wheeling spots will be stripped of club membership and not eligible for reinstatement.

Make sure you have permisssion to be there and get involved with a national orginization like blue ribbion coilition. Make sure that you do your part to ensure that our gov't sponsered parks and private parks don't get closed and unuseable for us and our sport.


Parakeet

 

[philagony94xj]

Well put Hale! I've been invited to participate in some so called "illegal" offroading and I always revert back to what has been talked about here. I ALWAYS say NO and try to talk them out of it. I'm just waiting for the day when they get stuck and need help so they dont get in trouble and call me up, then i can say I TOLD YOU SOO!

 

[WI88XJ]

This is a very good point you brought up, Mike. This should be made a sticky.




Forever

 

[FlexdXJ]

Glad you brought it up too, Hale. I have been in a couple situations like that years ago but NEVER was I driving and I didn't even own a Jeep when it happened. I've learned my lesson about it and it will NEVER happen again. I think we should adopt the policy that if you are caught wheeling or like some other idiots POST PICTURES you should get the banstick.

 

[bmyohn]

i was at an exhaust shop today and was invited to go illegally wheelin by one of the guys at the shop with the jeep. i told him no and said if he ever wanted to go to redbird, badlands, or haspin to give me a call and that i dont go wheelin on someone elses property illegally. he told me, "well we just go at night so we dont get caught" i paid my shop bill and left. doubt ill ever go back there again.

suprisingly not fifteen minutes later at the locla auto zone a guy in a silver XJ who works there told me he was going to "goose" a local ILLEGAL place to wheel and asked if i wanted to go. he told me that if they catch you there that he knows a back way out that they wont catch you. I'm not the confrontational type, so i just politely told him i would pass and left

 

[HaleYes]

i was at an exhaust shop today and was invited to go illegally wheelin by one of the guys at the shop with the jeep. i told him no and said if he ever wanted to go to redbird, badlands, or haspin to give me a call and that i dont go wheelin on someone elses property illegally. he told me, "well we just go at night so we dont get caught" i paid my shop bill and left. doubt ill ever go back there again.

suprisingly not fifteen minutes later at the locla auto zone a guy in a silver XJ who works there told me he was going to "goose" a local ILLEGAL place to wheel and asked if i wanted to go. he told me that if they catch you there that he knows a back way out that they wont catch you. I'm not the confrontational type, so i just politely told him i would pass and left

See, I would have had to (politely) give them a speech on why what they're doing is wrong and how it makes the guys that do play by the rules look bad. That is the only hope that these guys start playing by the rules.....try to make them feel gulity. You've got to throw in something along the lines that we're not tree huggers and, we have a good time and do it legally. This isn't a 10 min. speach. It's got to be short and sweet. You've got to keep in mind who your dealing with and their allotted attention span.

 

[IllianaXJ]

i was at an exhaust shop today and was invited to go illegally wheelin by one of the guys at the shop with the jeep. i told him no and said if he ever wanted to go to redbird, badlands, or haspin to give me a call and that i dont go wheelin on someone elses property illegally. he told me, "well we just go at night so we dont get caught" i paid my shop bill and left. doubt ill ever go back there again.

suprisingly not fifteen minutes later at the locla auto zone a guy in a silver XJ who works there told me he was going to "goose" a local ILLEGAL place to wheel and asked if i wanted to go. he told me that if they catch you there that he knows a back way out that they wont catch you. I'm not the confrontational type, so i just politely told him i would pass and left

That will make the Bloomington tree huggers happy if it gets out people are illegally wheeling in the area.

Maybe you should try an exhaust shop a little farther away that has a legal wheeler working there

 

[IllianaXJ]

I will admit, in HS I wheeled several times illegally, but have since amended my ways and try to steer people away from it whenever I can. Around here we usually just get people mudding in cut fields, but there is a spot in town I try to keep an eye on for illegal wheeling.

 

[poorboy87]

Wheres that at Byron??? :laugh3:
JK im not that dumb lol

 

[FlexdXJ]

That will make the Bloomington tree huggers happy

Haha, Nothing will make them happy! I'm surprised they haven't tried to get Redbird closed.

 

[funk_1964]

i wonder who you heard that from:sure:
here is a quick note:
know all the facts!

 

[HaleYes]

i wonder who you heard that from:sure:
here is a quick note:
know all the facts!

I may not know all the facts. The fact remains that there was an incident. Noone is pointing fingers. No names were mentioned or the club or anything at all to place blame on anyone. I felt it was a good idea to bring the topic up as a friendly reminder. If you don't feel that it's a good idea to bring up this kind of thing, I guess I don't know what to tell you. :dunno: It's not near as fun talking about the not-so-fun things that sometimes get associated with wheeling, as it is the good times. However, there is still certian topics that need addressed every now and then, like it or not. This happens to be one of them.

Please don't come here to defend yourself or anyone else on this. It's just not the place for it. I'm not a judge nor is anyone else that is in the MWC. You have nothing to prove to any us here. All my concern is focused toward the MWC and .

 

[funk_1964]

The bottom line is, publishing something like this is counter-productive to your own cause.... it is fine reminding people that they should not break the law, but citing a specific incident referring to the actions that took place as illegal, when in fact no laws were broken, only adds fuel to the environmentalists' fire.

You are right, this is not the place for discussion, but i would appreciate it if you edited your initial post to elevate the possibility of misconception by anyone.


See you on the trail!

 

[HaleYes]

The bottom line is, publishing something like this is counter-productive to your own cause.... it is fine reminding people that they should not break the law, but citing a specific incident referring to the actions that took place as illegal, when in fact no laws were broken, only adds fuel to the environmentalists' fire.

You are right, this is not the place for discussion, but i would appreciate it if you edited your initial post to elevate the possibility of misconception by anyone.


See you on the trail!

Sorry, not going to happen. Nowhere in my original post does it say anything about illegal wheeling. I said there was an incident. No more. No less. YOU are the one assuming guilt is being placed and, nowhere did I place any guilt on anyone.

This one is done. I think the point has been made. It'll only go downhill from here. We don't need any drama lamas showing up.