4WD Needed

D

Deltaboy

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Joined
Oct 10, 2013
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59
Location
Mississippi
My brother and I are heading to Colorado in October for a 2nd rifle season elk hunt and our 4WD transportation just fell through. I have contacted a couple of the national car rental companies about renting anything 4WD and haven't been successful in nailing anything down yet. We are traveling from out of state but plan to pick up the vehicle (if we find something) once we get to Colorado, maybe Denver.

Any advice on securing 4WD transportation would be appreciated. Already asked for permission to buy a new truck. Wife said no.:(
 
Get a rental and drive it like you stole it. You will definitely be able to find a 4wd rental in Colorado if you do some looking.
 
National Car at DIA has a ton of 4WD vehicles. You might have to work through a messy phone tree to actually talk to someone in Denver.

I rent cars from there more than I care to admit - and finding a 4WD truck in the 'Emerald Aisle' is pretty easy to do. You'll want to try and reserve something though.
 
Rent a four door Subaru with a luggage rack (to tie down your elk carcass), it's the perfect hunting rig because it can double as an ATV!
 
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u haul and some of the moving companies sometimes offer pickup rentals. also I cant believe you cant find a 4wheel drive rental at the usual companies, don't look at just the airport, many times they have other locations with additional cars just a few miles away
 
Make sure and get the damage waiver for God's sake!!! Oh and see if they have an option for tire chains :)
 
Thanks for the tips. The problem I keep running into is that I can't seem to get a direct line to a local office. I keep getting routed to a call center and they have no idea what is available.

Silly question, but I am assuming that I need a 4WD. We are headed to Unit 43, South of Carbondale and plan to just park at a trail head. The boy scout in me says be prepared but is it necessary to have the 4WD?
 
Subaru rental

muledeerjunkie said:
Rent a four door Subaru with a luggage rack (to tie down your elk carcass), it's the perfect hunting rig because it can double as an ATV!
Click to expand...

Make sure you take a pic of your quarry tied on top of that subaru and send it to their
corporate office. They are donors to various anti-hunting organizations.
:D
 
I just got through renting a Dodge 1500 King Cab 4wd from July 15-July30 from Enterprise. It cost me about $740 bucks and I put 5700 miles on it (unlimited mileage at Enterprise) I drove it all over the place out there, on the forest roads and two tracks while out fishing and looking at some of the elk areas in Wyoming. I had a logging truck throw a rock into the windshield on a forest road. It put a place about the size of a quarter on the driver side window. I used my own full coverage insurance. The windshield didn't cost me a darn thing. We also averaged about 24 mpg too (it had ecoboost) and I drove the living guts out of the thing. I'm sure you could work something out for out there through them.
 
By the way, I just looked at enterprise.com. They have 5 branches in the Denver area. It looks like they have the trucks available too for 2nd season, but I would probably not wait on making a reservation too long if I were you. I'm sure there will be other hunters wanting them as well.
 
Shop kayak.com. I have had very good experiences with Enterprise at the Denver airport. I have another vehicle booked through them for this elk season. One note, if you shop SUV's, some of the smaller ones are front wheel drive only, so keep that in mind.
 
When you make a reservation, try to make sure it is really a reservation - as in there will be a truck there for you when you arrive. Here's a frustrating story:

I made reservations for my parents to have a full-sized car in June when they flew to Reno. They got there, and no cars.. period. Of any type. The kid at the rental desk said they could "take a taxi to a hotel, and maybe they would get a car in tomorrow." Well, since my parents had already paid the full amount and made RESERVATIONS for a car, they pitched a fit and about 2 hours later the kid had a Nissan X-Terra for them. However, the X-Terra cost about $200 more than the car they had reserved, so they had to pay the difference. Hotwire.com, where we made the reservations through, is supposedly going to pay my parents the $200 back since the reservations were made on Hotwire. But, last time I asked, my parents still had not gotten any checks from Hotwire.

I'm sure for every bad rental experience, there are probably 100 good ones. It would be a real bummer, though, to get out there with a limited amount of time and be held up without a vehicle.
 
I would definitely rent a 4 wheel drive. I just spent a few days in 43 and several of the trailhead roads were poor in the rain and I was thinking that they were going to be awful in the event of a little snow. I don't think you would need a truck, but 4 wheel will save you in the event of any weather - even on paved roads and the freeway. A Subaru would be perfect and I'm proud to say that a bull elk will fit in the back of one and you can tie another down on the top if quartered. I also travel extensively and the absolute cheapest car rental place out there is Fox Rent A Car. They have an office at DIA. They get awful reviews as their cars aren't the newest or the best, but they work for hunting trips. I always ask to be put through to the office I will be renting from so as to confirm vehicle type and to ask for an in-house deal. I typically rent a small SUV for any hunt that I fly in to and Fox works perfectly well.

A takeaway from many hunting trip car rentals is be certain to wash the exterior of the car if you are taking it on any dirt roads and get it really muddied up. Also never admit that you took the car off of pavement. Most extended coverage options the car rental places will try to sell you on do not cover any damage sustained on non-pavement surfaces and some places will try to charge you a service fee if they can tell you have been "off roading." Also, a little carpet cleaner and a sgueegee and a toothbrush are perfect for removing blood stains - even when 5 bags of ice mixed with antelope blood have melted and leaked on to floorboords of a brand new Escalade (they screwed up our reservation and made the mistake of giving us an upgrade). We returned that Escalade with a bent rim and flat tire we filled and re-attached right before we drove in to the lot. That vehicle also had a bent frame resulting from a city boy using a 50 ton hydraulic jack on the ranch without any supervision - also the same city boy who locked the keys in the car in a remote area where OnStar wouldn't work which resulted in the blood melt mess. As a result of our cleaning efforts we passed the check-in test and never heard another word about that Escalade.

LOTS of bears in 43 so think about picking up a bear tag. I also recommend hiking in and hunting the national forest areas immediately behind private property in that unit. Try to find spots that are a bit of a hike in but behind private and you should get into some action. Lots of guys go high but many of the animals will funnel right down to the private ground as soon as the shooting starts. Also glass the heck out of the scrub oak country.

-Cody
 
nmelktrout said:
I would definitely rent a 4 wheel drive. I just spent a few days in 43 and several of the trailhead roads were poor in the rain and I was thinking that they were going to be awful in the event of a little snow. I don't think you would need a truck, but 4 wheel will save you in the event of any weather - even on paved roads and the freeway. A Subaru would be perfect and I'm proud to say that a bull elk will fit in the back of one and you can tie another down on the top if quartered. I also travel extensively and the absolute cheapest car rental place out there is Fox Rent A Car. They have an office at DIA. They get awful reviews as their cars aren't the newest or the best, but they work for hunting trips. I always ask to be put through to the office I will be renting from so as to confirm vehicle type and to ask for an in-house deal. I typically rent a small SUV for any hunt that I fly in to and Fox works perfectly well.

A takeaway from many hunting trip car rentals is be certain to wash the exterior of the car if you are taking it on any dirt roads and get it really muddied up. Also never admit that you took the car off of pavement. Most extended coverage options the car rental places will try to sell you on do not cover any damage sustained on non-pavement surfaces and some places will try to charge you a service fee if they can tell you have been "off roading." Also, a little carpet cleaner and a sgueegee and a toothbrush are perfect for removing blood stains - even when 5 bags of ice mixed with antelope blood have melted and leaked on to floorboords of a brand new Escalade (they screwed up our reservation and made the mistake of giving us an upgrade). We returned that Escalade with a bent rim and flat tire we filled and re-attached right before we drove in to the lot. That vehicle also had a bent frame resulting from a city boy using a 50 ton hydraulic jack on the ranch without any supervision - also the same city boy who locked the keys in the car in a remote area where OnStar wouldn't work which resulted in the blood melt mess. As a result of our cleaning efforts we passed the check-in test and never heard another word about that Escalade.

LOTS of bears in 43 so think about picking up a bear tag. I also recommend hiking in and hunting the national forest areas immediately behind private property in that unit. Try to find spots that are a bit of a hike in but behind private and you should get into some action. Lots of guys go high but many of the animals will funnel right down to the private ground as soon as the shooting starts. Also glass the heck out of the scrub oak country.

-Cody
Click to expand...

Thanks for the insight into the unit. I never considered there might be bears roaming around. If I don't get a bear tag, would bear spray be in order?
 
dcopas78 said:
I just got through renting a Dodge 1500 King Cab 4wd from July 15-July30 from Enterprise. It cost me about $740 bucks and I put 5700 miles on it (unlimited mileage at Enterprise) I drove it all over the place out there, on the forest roads and two tracks while out fishing and looking at some of the elk areas in Wyoming. I had a logging truck throw a rock into the windshield on a forest road. It put a place about the size of a quarter on the driver side window. I used my own full coverage insurance. The windshield didn't cost me a darn thing. We also averaged about 24 mpg too (it had ecoboost) and I drove the living guts out of the thing. I'm sure you could work something out for out there through them.
Click to expand...

Did you call the office directly or go through the national call center? I supposedly have the DIA local office number but keep getting routed back to the national call center.
 
Deltaboy said:
Did you call the office directly or go through the national call center? I supposedly have the DIA local office number but keep getting routed back to the national call center.
Click to expand...

I usually go through the local branch rather than trying the national number. I'm affraid of an experience like LCH pointed out if I try to go through the national number. I would rather talk to be people I will be talking to when I go pick up the vehicle. Always make sure you write down the name of the person you make the reservation with too. I do this with everything I schedule in advance. It can come in handy, and result in you getting an upgrade or discount if something goes screwy. I haven't had any trouble when I've made a reservation for cars/trucks though. That being said, I will probably be eating my words when I try to reserve one in the future :rolleyes:

BTW I found (303) 342-7350 as their number
 
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dcopas78 said:
I usually go through the local branch rather than trying the national number. I'm affraid of an experience like LCH pointed out if I try to go through the national number. I would rather talk to be people I will be talking to when I go pick up the vehicle. Always make sure you write down the name of the person you make the reservation with too. I do this with everything I schedule in advance. It can come in handy, and result in you getting an upgrade or discount if something goes screwy. I haven't had any trouble when I've made a reservation for cars/trucks though. That being said, I will probably be eating my words when I try to reserve one in the future :rolleyes:

BTW I found (303) 342-7350 as their number[/QUO

Thanks. That's the number I have for the local office. I'll keep trying them.
Click to expand...
 
No need for bear spray. Talked to the terrestrial biologist earlier this summer who informed me that they have a very high bear density in the area right now. That and I've seen a few this summer including a couple of good color-phased bears and 2 legitimate giants. Deer densities are not what they should be but there are still some really big deer in that country. Also getting to be a few moose so make certain of your target assuming you will be hunting elk. There are some good bulls killed in 43 every year though you shouldn't hesitate to shoot the first legal bull you see. You will definitely need to put in some miles hiking and do a ton of glassing to pull this hunt off as you will likely have a good bit of competition in every easily accessible spot. I always seem to glass up animals in the steep scrub oak draws and it seems that a few bulls always like to hunker down in that thick stuff. Best of luck and don't abuse your rental car too badly!
-Cody
 
quackaddict said:
I'm surprised that a hunter from Mississippi doesn't have a 4wd already...I thought that was a law?
Click to expand...

They are issued with your hunting license.:D

I have a 4WD pickup but its 20 years old and has over 200K miles on it. I'm not confident that it would make it to CO much less drive through a few mountain roads.
 
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