Hunting with an 8 foot bed

[Ol' Red]

You already know it takes 2 tugboats to turn it around. I've always had 2500 Quad cab 8' beds and wouldn't trade it for shorter. 2 Ram 2500's since 1996. Still on 2nd one at 201K. Yes, gas.
Pro:
Quad cabs more interior space
Can carry lot more
Long stuff no problem
Great overnight temp camper
Longest cots fit with extra space (6'4" 7' cot easy peasy.
Truck campers fit better plus longer options
Ride better with longer wheelbase
Towing bit better reducing bounce etc

Con
Can land helo on them
Turn ability poor but know that
Garages can be problem
Parking lots interesting
Close quarters interesting in traffic

Me? The positive outweighs the negative for how I use mine.

Are you talking about trucks or your hiking boots?

 

[sp6x6]

My daily driver

 

[M1A1ABRAMS]

My daily driverView attachment 550450

Is that a giant jalapeno your hauling ?

 

[sp6x6]

I had to sell that in Lou Of getting a jet boat.Wife thinks that was 2 boats???

 

[akmtnhnt]

5 foot bed make good 4x4s

This is true, but you might as well take the bed off completely or buy a jeep. People don't hard core offroad their truck any more than they haul a single bag of sand in it. It's a mini van for people too insecure to buy a mini van.

 

[100percent]

Depends on you and mostly on the trail. It's not really even a matter of opinion when it come to being on a Jeep trail, for example.

If you're trying to get down Jeep trails with a 8 foot bed, you might get lucky on some more moderate to easy ones. I got my dad down one in a 350…with no damage. He never did that again, and it was incredibly slow.

The harder trails it just won't happen without trail damage and even on the easier ones, you'll have some guaranteed pin stripping and dragging of your hitch.

On more maintained fire roads and such, you'll usually be fine, though I've been on some surprisingly messed up fire roads too.

I'm laughing thinking about my crazy friend and guide from Miles City who would vehemently disagree!
It is ALWAYS worth the cost of the hunt just to see just what he can do with his prairie limo!!!
@Phil Rizzo

 

[Phil Rizzo]

His truck rubbed bottom in all 3 places hourly.

 

[dfanonymous]

This is true, but you might as well take the bed off completely or buy a jeep. People don't hard core offroad their truck any more than they haul a single bag of sand in it. It's a mini van for people too insecure to buy a mini van.

I off-road my Tacoma all the time. Been on plenty "hardcore" trails.
I don't haul sand, but I use the bed plenty. Take steel targets out on BLM for instance. Pulls a utility trailer, boat…the whole thing. I have a Jeep too.

I'm not the only one. It's one of the top grossing trucks in the US for a reason. Smaller wheelbase than a (JT) jeep truck. More utility than the Jeep. More reliability imo. There's legit a whole community of off-roaders that use 5 foot beds.











https://youtu.be/T3eUoA5ypMg?si=XhH0Q1GQueVcKaO7

 

[P7M13]

I have a Ram 1500 Crew + 6' bed, and a '93 Land Cruiser FZJ80.
To get where I'm going, I'll crawl over logging roads and abandoned two-trackers. The truck just doesn't cut it and couldn't go the places I take the LC. My oldest laughs -- she'd be out there with her crawler, a lifted Cherokee with 37's.
That said, the truck would be waaayyyy nicer as far as hauling home my kill.
I take the FZJ80 out hunting every time.

 

[MtPockets]

It's pretty much all been covered, but my take is that it totally depends on what you are used to and where you take your truck.
I've never owned a short box and have always been able to get my 4 door longbox where I wanted to go. I'm positive that there are places that my Jeep or my wifes Xterra will go that the pickup won't, but they can't haul what I can.

Tradeoffs.

One thing I will say is that if you want to pull a fifth wheel camper or a gooseneck of some sort- GET A LONGBOX. Had a coworker ignore that advice and promptly crushed the corner ofhis Megacab trying to back a horse trailer.

 

[M1A1ABRAMS]

This is true, but you might as well take the bed off completely or buy a jeep. People don't hard core offroad their truck any more than they haul a single bag of sand in it. It's a mini van for people too insecure to buy a mini van.

Hey my Kodiak 4 Wheeler fits on the back. So no need for off-roading in the truck. And the Kodiak wouldn't fit in the minivan. Thank God. Lol

 

[comfisherman]

This is true, but you might as well take the bed off completely or buy a jeep. People don't hard core offroad their truck any more than they haul a single bag of sand in it. It's a mini van for people too insecure to buy a mini van.

Admittedly my last bag of sand was but one single lonely super sack of copper slag...

December I did a 240 mile run with my truck empty for the first time in four or five years, forgot how garbage the ride is with no weight.

The wife's buying a short box diesel truck at some point, it made more sense than an suv. Had more than a few days this year where my truck was the only thing that made it out of the cul d sac, her job doesn't have room for absence. Took 35s and lockers to plow through many inches of snow, towed a few vans, more than a couple lower ground clearance truck's, and one really bashful mall jeep owner. Lockers>bull bars and light bars....

Guess I can't make fun of diesel short box grocery getters since one is coming to a driveway near me....

 

[FEENIX]

Well, if it's a Ford…I'm pretty sure air aircraft carries turn faster…

LOL! You just reminded me of my 71 Ford Econoline (E-250) van. It was built like a tank, but the turning radius was OMG terrible.

 

[LRNut]

So what I conclude from this thread is if a guy has a crew cab with a 5 foot bed, he likely has a 6.5 Creedmoor as well.