NATCHEZ — During deer hunting season, people are often tempted to hop on their four-wheelers and run down the road to the store or to their hunting camp.

But law enforcement in the Miss-Lou wants to remind people that driving ATVs on public roads is not only illegal, it’s very unsafe.

“During deer season it’s good for the general public to know,” said Franklin County Sheriff James Newman. “The deaths on four-wheelers, I’ve heard of a lot more lately, although none in Franklin County that I know of this year.”

Maj. Lane Ball, Southern Region Administrator for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, said people riding all-terrain vehicles in ditches near roads or through the woods often swing out onto the shoulder of the road, and it is very easy to be clipped or hit full on by a car or truck.

But Ball said the MDWFP’s concern with ATVs is not on public roads.

“We, for the most part, let the sheriff’s office hand that,” Ball said. “That’s not to say we don’t have enforcement powers over that. But our involvement with four-wheelers is up and down creeks.

“We actively enforce that, and on occasion they’ll get wind we’re down there waiting on them. Then they might bypass the creek and cut up to the nearest road, and in that type of situation we will absolutely enforce it.”

Ball wanted to remind people that traveling through the woods on creeks that are not on one’s own property is trespassing, and people caught doing that will be prosecuted.

Johnny Ratcliff of Roxie said he has often seen neighbors riding along the highway on their ATVs. He said they are usually carrying guns on the vehicles and are going from Adams to Franklin County to hunt.

According to Mississippi Public Notice No. W10 3174, during deer hunting seasons, no weapons are allowed within 100 feet of any public road. ATVs and off-road vehicles are not allowed on any public road that is open to licensed motorized vehicles, and no loaded weapon may be in possession when operating an ORV or ATV.

While Ratcliff has no real way of know whether the guns he sees on his neighbors’ vehicles are loaded, he suspects they are.

“I’m constantly bugged and buzzed by four-wheelers on the highway,” Ratcliff said. “There’s no safety equipment, no helmets. These hunters are causing me duress in all different kinds of ways, like disturbing the peace. I know I’ve called (Adams County Sheriff Ronny Brown’s) office eight times.”

The problem, however, is that the neighbors have never been caught in the act and cannot be ticketed.

Usually, he said, the culprits are teenagers.

“What we do is go down there and advise people that it is against the law,” Brown said. “After that, if we go down there and catch them again, we’ll tow the four-wheelers and bring them in and call their parents — it’s usually kids. We’ll take them in and have the parents come in and have a one-on-one with them.

But Brown said he does not make a big deal if someone is riding an ATV a very short distance.

“As long as they’re on the shoulder, we don’t fool with them,” he said. “The people (Ratcliff) has called about crossing the street to get to their hunting lease. You can’t stop them from crossing the street.”

According to ATVsafety.gov, the government’s Web site providing statistics as far as safety tips and information, the total reported deaths involving ATVs was 206 from 1982 to 2004, 86 of which involved children under 16.

From 2005 to 2007 there were 65 total ATV related deaths.

Ball said any complaints about ATVs can be sent to the local sheriff’s office or to the MDWFP.

“It’s basically no different than riding a lawnmower or anything else,” he said. “They don’t have blinkers, and the traffic laws make it illegal to operate them on public roads.”

And Highway Patrol District 9 Public Affairs Officer Sergeant Rusty Boyd said there are hefty fines to pay if caught.

“If we find them on the roadway, they can actually be charged with every law involved — no tags, no inspection sticker, no turn signals, all that,” he said. “But there is a law that deals with unauthorized vehicles on the roadway. Those are set different for each county.”

Boyd said there are two or three ATV-vehicle accidents each year in District 9, although none he could remember ending in a fatality.

He said it’s easy to understand why people put their four-wheelers on the road.

If they live just a short way from the store or something, it’s easier sometimes to get on a four-wheeler and ride down there than it is to get in a vehicle. And it probably uses less gas.

“But you still shouldn’t do it.”