Edit, you yeah this trail is technically on CFR private land. So my question is does the no spin tires law still apply?
That is a fair question that has been debated more than once and I think you can find interpretations both ways. Part of the answer is whether the area in question is in fact a "wetland". If it is, you can not destroy wetlands even on your own property.
Second, and I'm not trying to pick on you here but trying to help answer your question: If it is private property, and it is not yours, and you are not with a property owner, you must have written permission to be there.
So, as an officer could see it, you could be ticketed for operating in an erosive manner, destroying wetlands and trespassing.
As Trail Fanatic said above, most guys enjoy this stuff. But it's not legal. Yes, it used to be, now it's not. Our society and law enforcement is turning more and more towards zero tolerance. Used to be that a cop would drive you home if he stopped you for drunk driving. Now, you go to jail and it costs you thousands of dollars.
The people here who are discussing this are not trying to be jerks or making fun of you. Rather, trying to deal with a situation that continues to perpetuate and is destroying this sport. You guys go out for a few laughs, have a good time and want to show others what great fun you had. In the mean time, people who do this sport as one of their main hobbies continue to have access to fewer and fewer locations.
It is very frustrating.
95geo makes a great point. I know it's a long drive. But if there was any way you could attend the ORV meeting next week in Lansing, especially with some humility, it would be a good thing.
Our current DNR is very unwilling to work with us to reopen anything. If you are the next generation, maybe an open mind would help us all "share" the woods.
I know you said you think you wheel more than most. You are going to college so I suspect you are not a bumbling idiot. Think these thoughts: You are new to this site. You don't know anyone here. You have been driving somewhere between 4 and 7 years. You are wheeling a stock (mostly) truck and consider your wheeling in DNR pickups as a lot of your logged time. In the scope of statistics, you are somewhere in the bottom 5-20 percent (age wise) of the people on this board. You are pretty much talking about wheeling on county or forest roads where 4 wheel drive is needed to cross a mud puddle. Why do I say this? Because in the range of 4 wheeling, that is the limitation of stock vehicles.
Many of us have traveled out of state all over the country, multiple times per year "for years" doing the same type of trail riding in addition to ORV parks, on the approved hard core trails around the country and up in the Canadian bush. We are a group comprised of every type of vehicle from stock to heavily modified to comp buggies. There are people here who eat and sleep this sport.
Every year more land gets closed. Every year somebody new to the sport publishes damning evidence that we are all "red necks out tearing up the land". Every year that same somebody new thinks they know more than everyone else.
If you want to stay in this sport, please make the effort to learn the rules and help us "support the sport".
Jim