The title sounds like a great joke in a movie.....rent Ford Focus....get full coverage......take mudding and offroad....return.

 

In the lower 48, drive your own vehicle it’s significantly cheaper and logistically easier. I do it every year. I only fly when I go to Alaska or meet up for hunt with someone who is already at the destination.

 

Until you break down in your 1 year old truck 600 miles from home like I did 3 years ago on a trip to Oregon. We’re going out there again in a few weeks and I’ll be renting. With the difference in gas mileage, it’ll only cost about $500 more to rent, and save the miles on my truck, and if there’s any problems, it’ll be their headache, not mine. Trust me, it’s a nightmare to be broke down that far from home with no rental cars close by.

 

There are probably better options, but for work I rented a white Cadillac Escalade with street tires. Six of us maintenance guys needed to get into the mountains by Rifle Colorado to look as some used drilling equipment. Early spring, still some snow and ice and muddy. The farmer leading us to the equipment laughed at us when we showed up and asked if we really wanted to try and make it in that. I asked him if he had a tow strap in his jacked up 3/4 ton and he said yes. Well let's go find out then then because this is the only ride we have, I told him. We proceeded to off road/go mudding for the next hour to get where we needed but made it. There was no open car wash to take it to before we had to leave the next morning so we took it back the next morning. So when I returned it I parked where they couldn't see it, handed in the kays and ran!

 

The big rental places usually have a small pickup or van option. Get the extra insurance and send it.

 

Anytime I hunted Colorado or Wyoming you had to park at a trail head or camp in designated spots. No off-roading.
Wilderness=no wheeled vehicles
seen a guy get a ticket for off-loading an ATV off a trailer in a designated Wilderness area.
well there was one place in the San De Cristo mountain range, highway runs down the valley from Salida and trails going off in each direction.
just rent a SUV or a CUV like a Sabaru,

how do you plan on getting your hunting gear to where you are going? Tent/camp stove hunting equipement etc....

 

full size AWD would work fine

https://www.hertz.com/content/dam/hertz/global/resources/choosing-car-screencapture.jpg

 

Jeep Wrangler 4WD? Surely someone will have one to rent. Google it and good luck.

 

We use midsize and full size AWD suv's and do fine. Just be sure to insure it!!

 

LOL

https://turo.com/us/en/truck-rental/united-states/hebron-ky/tesla/cybertruck/2581527?endDate=04/08/2025&endTime=10:00&searchId=8rPcVLUy&searchRegion=IN&startDate=04/05/2025&startTime=10:00&utm_source=google

 

Pile all your gear up for the hunt, see how checked baggage will handle that cost? 2 years ago my new rebel diesal blew up before 2 long hunts. Rented 4x4 pickups, washed, reurned them. Or hire a guide. Btw, unless you are building pts. In multiple states Goodluck drawing a tag anytime soon. It's draw season now. Applying to state#4 next week. 4 more after that. Went 0/41 in last year's draws.

 

I rented an extended cab 4wd dodge pickup in Colorado Springs in 2023 while my jeep rearend was being rebuilt. Took it up and scouted all over the place (It was a week before season started). Drove it in everything I'd take the jeep on and it was fine. I'd do it again in heartbeat. It was actually really cheap at like $70 per day. Every road I was on was a named/numbered road even though it would be considered off roading by some. Hell Id take my Subaru up most of it.

 

They rented a chevy Lumina and ford Taurus in Days of Thunder. Seems like solid cars.

 

run it thru the wash before returnig..should be fine

 

I saw a low budget Alaskan hunting video where the guy was hunting caribou and didn’t have a 4WD truck so rented the U-haul F150 for his duration. Maybe look into that

 

u haul is the cheapest and they don't ask questions we rented a trailer last year for 30 days for our jeep we drove 9000 kms (40%+ off road) no trouble at

 

Do you know what the difference is between a 4 wheel drive and a rental car..?

A rental car can go ANYWHERE..!!



Clearly you underestimate the capabilities of a rental car..!!! (And now you know why I would never buy a rental car when they retire them and sell 'em...)

 

I took a hyundai rental into the CO mountains one time, under powered but it did OK. Smoked a huge rolling tumbleweed at 80 MPH on way back to Denver airport on 25.

dropped off the keys and booked it out of there...

 

I rented a jeep wrangler from Avis in 2019 to scout for sheep. At the time they also rented 4 runners.
Wife and I took a couple camping trips with the jeep, had enough room and was able to get into most areas I needed to get into.

 

Dunno how the rest of Alaska works but, in the interior, the rental car agencies except for one have road restrictions; pretty much cant go north of Fairbanks and you need to stick to pavement. Do people do that? Absolutely, but you’re on the hook if you wreck it or need a tow plus the fees from the rental agency. I know a guy who rented a u-haul truck to hunt on the North Slope. I dont know u-hauls exact policy on that one. You could always call the rental car agencies and ask them if they recommend a company.

 

we were coming back from Colorado in a pickup with trailer full of gear an meat and antlers. in the middle of western Kansas at 11pm Ka-boom. Rolled to a stop, opened the hood and there was FIRE, poured my Mt Dew on the alternator that was on fire. One of the guys had triple A , called, we lucked out, a town a few miles away had a flatbed truck and GM shop. So Saturday night while the kids were cruising main street, all of 2 blocks, we had the alternator changed out. Some of the kids stopped to chat and look at antlers...
We got to pay the Saturday night special price $$$ but we were on our way.
My buddy told the guy replacing the alternator, that it goes out about every 6 months, well he was using rebuilt ones from the guy down the street. He had that truck for another 6 years and the OEM alternator never went bad.

I just sold my 2017 truck with 125,000 miles as I take trips and was afraid it would leave me stranded in the middle of nowwhere as I am old. Thermostat went bad in Kansas last fall. but that was easy, a 10mm socket and box end wrench...

 

Wrangler, Pickup, or a Land Cruiser will all do.

 

whats the plan to get the meat and cape home though?

 

Strap it to the top like Aunt Edna!

 

We spent three weeks in Costa Rica in a Suzuki vitara and it survived. Honestly there were times we thought the wheels were gonna fall off but it made it. I wish I had some after pictures after three weeks of dirt roads. They also spray molasses on the dirt roads to keep the dust down it looked like tar on the sides. Just get insurance and let it rip!

 

Rental cars aren’t anything magical. They’re the same in real life and I’m pretty sure you know what vehicle can handle a given condition.

And fyi…a geo metro can drive down a gravel road just as good as a 2500.

 

Subaru station wagon

 

Our plan when we would go to Colorado elk hunting was to fly from Atlanta to Colorado one way ticket. We would rent a truck or suv with a different drop off location and drive back to Georgia. The price is a little more but we could leave early on the flight and have camp setup before dark the same day. It also gave us the flexibility to stay longer or leave early depending on our success. We would stop and pick up some coolers when we landed an fill with ice and maybe some beer. That way we were not in as big of a hurry to get meat cooled down plus a Miller Lite sure taste good after a long hike.