Carbs aren't a bad way to get fuel into a vehicle, but modern day fuel with ethanol in it attracts moisture over time and this activity gums up a carburetor in a way that if you don't run a carbed engine regularly, it will require a very annoying disassembly and cleaning each time you need the vehicle. Other problems include rusting out the gas tank, if it is made of metal. I have an old 1980 Yamaha DT175 dirtbike with a very rusty tank. I need to buy a generic replacement tank and do a little TIG welding to attach the correct mounting plates for this model. There was so much rust in it when I bought it that it was choking the fuel pickup at the bottom. I ran a vinegar cleanup on it, with a bunch of BB's and such to scrape out rust flakes. But it's still pretty awful in there.
One way to prevent the carb gumming up is, when you are done with a carbed vehicle, turn off the fuel at the petcock or fuel input line to the carb, and let the engine suck all the remaining fuel out of the bowl of the carb until it dies of fuel starvation. Either that or drain the carb's fuel bowl with a drain screw if available.
Another way to prevent this is to only run 100% real gasoline in your carbed vehicle. This might mean buying gas by the 5 gallon can at a powersports store, at much higher octane than you actually need. But at least it will be ethanol free. Unless you have a real gas dealer somewhere nearby.
If you want the least amount of drama, honestly I suggest you just get a fuel injected ATV. Aside from gumming, there's also tuning the carb for whatever altitude you intend to operate it at. If you live below 2000ft and hunt at 8000+ft you're going to need the carb tuned very differently than if you live and hunt at the same altitude.
I'm a motorcyclist and not very well versed on ATV's, but my impression is they are not exactly designed and tuned for performance in the way that motorcycles are. EFI has become desirable on motorcycles for performance and emissions reasons, but honestly most of the ATV market has a much greater focus on low cost than motorcycles IMO. Carbs are way cheaper than fuel injection. Not sure if/when ATV's started getting fuel injection as standard. Even now, looking at new Hondas, I see that the FourTrax series is not completely fuel injected. The 229cc Recon model appears to not mention fuel injection, so is most likely carbureted. The larger engine machines are fuel injected. I couldn't guess what year to look for as a cutoff when looking used though.
