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O/T Mini van hunting vehicle

F

Fergienewbee

Well-known Member
When we moved my son home from MSU, we took the seats out of my wife's mini van. I was amazed at the amount of room. Got to thinking a van might make a good hunting vehicle for a couple of guys. I usually travel alone out of state and an air matress and sleeping bag would be perfect,even with two guys. The reclining seat would be nice to nap while switching drivers. Plenty of room for a couple dogs and other gear. I know suburbans are the ultimate hunting vehicle but 26-28 mpg sounds awful good, especially when gas hits $4.00/gallon.

Larry
 
(quoted from post at 03:26:35 01/05/11) When we moved my son home from MSU, we took the seats out of my wife's mini van. I was amazed at the amount of room. Got to thinking a van might make a good hunting vehicle for a couple of guys. I usually travel alone out of state and an air matress and sleeping bag would be perfect,even with two guys. The reclining seat would be nice to nap while switching drivers. Plenty of room for a couple dogs and other gear. I know suburbans are the ultimate hunting vehicle but 26-28 mpg sounds awful good, especially when gas hits $4.00/gallon.

Larry
Click to expand...

Popup VW vans are popular here with folks that want to have money left over to enjoy the trip (gas is $7 a gallon and tax is high on big vehicles).

I always had VW golfs and then a passat wagon. Bet they'd all go places that suburban couldn't.

Dave
 
Wow dave gas is $7 a gal over there!!! I was madd when it hit $5 here a few years ago.
Funny thing about were I live is, its a town with a deep river comin off the great lakes, the tankers unload in my town to huge round tanks on the riverside, then gas is trucked to surrounding areas some 50-75 miles away. FUNNY thing is gas cost more in my town than it does in the towns 50-75 miles away that the gas was trucked to, EXPLAIN THAT TO ME!!!!
 
By hunting, I assume you mean a bit off road?

We've got a Dodge Grand Caravan AWD we sleep in, off road, at times. Pretty useless though unless the ground is perfect. Very little ground clearance. One high stump or root and you're in trouble. Not a problem with a Suburban or K5 Blazer.

I don't know what kind of van you're going to find with ample off-road ground-clearance and 28 MPG. A Chevy Atrovan has better then average clearance but only gets around 19-20 MPG at best.
Mazda also made one, and it only got around 18 MPG.

An AWD Astrovan with a raised-roof seems about the best option, other then the low gas mileage. We have a K5 Chevy diesel Blazer with a pop-up roof and works great for us. 4wD, high ceiling, one double and one single bed, refrigerator, TV, and plenty of 120 VAC power via a 4000 watt inverter and two deep-cycle storage batteries. Gets a best at around 17 MPG.

And yeah, a Dodge diesel 3/4 4WD truck with a slide-on camper and pop-up roof can get close to the same. But it's nowhere near as handy or compact.
 
i gues it would work out if you didnt venture off road, i know of several forest service roads around here in good hunting areas, and the minivan would never make it , i dunno, mini vans and hunting, im getting this whole vision of R lee Ermy advertising a swiffer thing going roflmao
 
When minivans came out I commented "If I ever bought one I would only need one option...A noose that popped out of the headliner to hang myself".
 
The current minivans are pretty useless off road, but the earlier short wheel base Caravan with light truck snow tires was pretty surprising. Guys at work used to say I would take mine where they would not take a 4wd, and later when it was replaced with a 4wd Ranger, they said I took the Ranger places they would not walk. Yes, it was in the line of work, not playing. One thing thou8gh, you have to use common sense, which seems to be lacking when most people get off road. I have been driving 4wd vehicles since 1969, and do not believe in just barging ahead, I look over the terrain and road and pick the rout that is easiest to get through and will do the least damage to both the vehicle and the terrain. I have become pretty good at hanging on the edge of a road or the edge of deep rutse ruts, and slipping through where most get stuck or high centered, etc.
 
Guys that hunt around here in their big bad 4x4s park on the side of the road! They don't want to get their truck dirty.

If you can get past the "image" thing, minivans are GREAT general purpose vehicles.

Take all the seats out and you can haul a huge pile of stuff, or camp out in the back. Frankly, it would be a little "cozy" for my tastes with two guys.

All seats in, they are a great bus for 7 people.

Take out the middle seat, and you've got the perfect road trip machine for four. Lots of leg room.
 
I saw a person take the seats out of his van, used ropes, a tree and made a yard swing. Then the sliding door was left open and the dog used the van as a dog house. NO JOKE! Can't get any more general purpose use as that. Try to top that story.
 
Discussion at work the other day was how you could slide the door open to shoot out... Somewhere I have a picture of an all wheel drive Chrysler van we saw driving up the beach in NC so they will handle some rough terrain.

There was also a lady around that used her's to haul lamas in the back. Supposedly they would lay down for the drive.
 
I forgot to mention, we've got a tent that attaches to the rear hatch of our AWD Grand Caravan. That with a double-air mattress and we sleep two adults and little kid. Gets crowed though. That will all the seats inside, removed.

Many companies make tent attachments that go on the rear.

Our van works well in mud and sand with the AWD, but ground clearance is always a problem.

And a 2WD van? You wouldn't catch me driving one off-road unless conditions were perfect.
 
Back in college, my GF and I took one to Key Largo and camped in it. We left the seats at home and put a matress in the floor. It beat sleeping on the ground in a tent.

I wouldn't mind having an Odessy or Sienna.

Aaron
 
We had a minivan a few years back - helped daughter move her household posessions. Took all the seats out including right front, leaving only driver's seat. Amazing capacity when carefully packed. This was a Chevy LuminaAPV. Durn, I miss that car.
 
We had a minivan a few years back - helped daughter move her household posessions. Took all the seats out including right front, leaving only driver's seat. Amazing capacity when carefully packed. This was a Chevy LuminaAPV. Durn, I miss that car.
 
A guy that does fencing around here has two AWD mini vans. He has taken all of the seats out but the driver"s. He carries the little items you need to build fence with in them. He says he got them for hauling them away. Keeps things good and dry plus he can lock them up easy.

Another fellow, I see at the stock yards, has one that he hauls bottle calves in. He buys a few each week. He put a sheet of plywood behind the front seats and cleared the rest out. I asked him about it. He said that his pickup broke down several years ago and he had to get to the sale. He had this old mini van his wife had quit driving just setting there. So being short on money he started using it. He liked it so well that he is still using it. He stated that he can warm up the little young calves on the way home. He thinks that helps him keep them health.
 
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