Snowshoes for coyote hunting

winmagman

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I'm curious as to how many of you gents use some type of snowshoe to get around when the snow gets deep.

After 3 hrs of plodding through up to waist high drifts and dropping through the ice twice, I figure its time to make my life a little easier. So...what do you like for styles or sizes? Any insight ***. or neg. would be appreciated.

Chris
 
I recently retired a pair of 36" Outside Edge snowshoes and picked up a pair of surplus magnesium snowshoes and I've only put about 5 miles on them so its too early for me to give you much input on them other than the fact that they do have more flotation than the old ones.

Gus
 
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I use them alot. I feel like an old trapper everytime I put them on.
 
Speedo,

How noisy are the metal frames when going through the brush, do you get alot of "tinging" from small branches and such?

JLK,

How are those shoes when you get into the timber/woods, can you move around without to much trouble or do you really have to pay attention to where your feet are going?

I like the thought of wood frames, feel like they should be quieter, but I also like the shorter shoe from a maneuverability stand point. Of coarse I'll admitt to not knowing squat about snowshoes thus the questions.

Thanks

Chris
 
I use the surplus metal w/cable lacing. The innovation that made them work was a harness I cobbled up from a snowshoe web page.

Floatation is very good. I'm 270#s w/pack and rifle.

I think that I would be more pleased with what JLK is using. (Longer/Narrower) However mine work well in sage brush with plenty of terrain.

PS: no more noise than the wooden ones my buddy uses.
 
How are those shoes when you get into the timber/woods
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They are 10"x56" and go thru stuff like this all the time. You just have to look ahead and plan your route. The rubber bindings are Bob Maki's but you can make them too.I like them.
 
I use the surplus metal w/cable lacing. The innovation that made them work was a harness I cobbled up from a snowshoe web page.

Floatation is very good. I'm 270#s w/pack and rifle.

I think that I would be more pleased with what JLK is using. (Longer/Narrower) However mine work well in sage brush with plenty of terrain.

PS: no more noise than the wooden ones my buddy uses.

The metal ones with the cable lacing are the ones that I use. I'm going to have to modify them for climbing hills on packed trails, I may have to build my own bindings with some kind of a claw on the bottom. Going down hills and sliding isn't good but sliding backwards down a hill is more excitement than I need. Right now I'm using the bindings that are made for the snowshoes but they could be improved upon. Do you have a picture of the ones that you made?

Gus
 
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Speedo,

Sorry, no pics. The shoes are in ID and I'm in UT.........

The ones that came with were impossible for me to use.

The ones I made are so simple I doubted there usability but they are fine.

I'll scrounge around and see if I can locate where I got the idea.
 
Speedo,

Sorry, no pics. The shoes are in ID and I'm in UT.........

The ones that came with were impossible for me to use.

The ones I made are so simple I doubted there usability but they are fine.

I'll scrounge around and see if I can locate where I got the idea.

Thanks, did you incorporate any kind of a claw or have you had any problem going up hills.

Gus
 
Gus,

No claw, no problems......Snow is usually deep and powder. In crusted snow they gripped pretty well. However, they are still snowshoes.....:)
 
I use MSR Denali Evo Ascent with the 6" tails. They are light, maneuverable, and have serious gripping power on the crusty hills. I paid around $240 for the setup. I am 6'2" and weigh 215lbs. The shoes measure 28" long and I have no problem getting around in the powder.

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I kind of feel like I led this thread on a tangent away from winmagman's original question. If you're going to be doing any distance in deep snow a pair of snowshoes will definetly make your life easier. Narrower 'shoes will be easier to walk in and if you are going back and forth on the same trail some kind of traction aids, like the ones shown on the MSRs are a real benefit if you have any hills to climb. The pics of the ones that JLK posted are some nice 'shoes with good flotation and he still made it through some timber but you do have to look ahead and plan your route, backing up in snowshoes ain't easy.

Gus
 
You definitely want something! Aluminums generally support much more weight as they have no lacing. The plus of these is they are light, manuverable and a small shoe will carry a much bigger person. As for the noise I can't speak to that as I am a traditional wood guy. I use a set of Bearpaws which are for slow walking in heavy cover..they let you pick your whole foot up and turn very easily. For open country I have a set of Alaskans that are at least 46" long with a upturned toe that helps it ride up on the powder when your taking a step.
I am looking at picking up a pair of aluminums in the next year...Even if they do make noise it's easy to fix with some tape or moleskin.
Good luck. Don't hunt winter without em.
 
Thanks guys.

At least now I have a little better idea of what to look for in a shoe.

Most of my hunting is in relatively flat to gently rolling farmland where I'm going from or through small tracts of timber (sub 50 acre) to creek bottoms or swamp edges. Since I'm 6'2" and pushing 230-240 lbs with all my gear and rifle I'd say floatation is a bit more of a concern than ease of getting through heavy brush.

Although I have to admit any purchase is probably going to wait till next year, we're in the middle of 3 straight days of 35 to 45 degree days, snow is going fast.

Thank again

Chris
 
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