Chances of seeing kids and adults riding around deer camp are almost 100 percent.

Increased use of off-road vehicles (ORV) as a hunting tool raises increasing problems for wildlife managers and more traditional hunters.

Consider this story told by Utah hunter Bill Love in an excellent Izaak Walton League of America report called "Collision Course? Off-Road Vehicle Impacts on Hunting and Fishing" available at www.iwla.org/ohv.

"Hunting in the LaSal Mountains of eastern Utah is becoming more difficult each year due to ATVs dislocating game from accessible areas," according to Love. "ATVs have moved the elk from the lower areas of the mountain to the high ridges that can only be reached by a two- to three-hour hike and where the animal cannot be retrieved without horses. The deer are moved into heavy timber before opening day by the noise from ATVs driving all the roads two or three days before."

The report, while trying to accommodate ATV use, includes not only similar anecdotal stories but disturbing opinions from fish and game biologists.

"The challenge is how to minimize the negative impacts of off-road vehicles so that hunting and fishing remain unimpaired while still allowing the majority of ORV users who drive responsibly to enjoy their activities in the great outdoors," wrote the report's authors.

ATV owners who don't think their vehicle use affects hunting and fishing might be surprised at the results of a survey of biologists from 34 agencies representing 27 different states conducted last summer.

Among the survey's key findings:

* 83 percent of wildlife managers have seen resource damage to wildlife habitat caused by off-highway vehicles while 72 percent cited disruption of hunters as another ORV impact.

* 61.1 percent of wildlife managers strongly agreed that ORVs negatively impact hunting and habitat.

* 57.2 percent of state fisheries managers responding to the survey agreed or strongly agreed that ORVs negatively impact fishing and fishing habitat while 53.3 percent surveyed believe that existing standards do not adequately protect fishing.

ATVs have a place on public lands but, due to their high potential for damage to watersheds and wildlife habitat, also need to be responsibly managed. Land managers and state recreation agencies must do a better job enforcing existing laws, designating legal trail systems and closing sensitive areas to use of ATVs.

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* TOM WHARTON can be contacted at wharton@sltrib.com. His phone number is 801-257-8909. Send comments about this story to livingeditor@sltrib.com.