anyone want to try the all electric version.....lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcIwrdeP21s

And even then, there is a problem.

Namely, on our traplines here, we don't just have "lakes, open field and smaller hills!" We have deep snow, mountains, trees, boulders, deadfall, sharp turns, overflow and all manner of other impediments.

This goofy thing wouldn't last more than a mile or two...

Pete

Many years ago Bolens made two versions, a smaller sleigh called a Husky with wooden cleats and a larger version called the Diablo Rouge with aluminum cleats. I owned both. They were fun to ride on flat trails and got around well in a few inches of snow. The smaller Husky with the wooden cleats on the rubber track handled a bit more snow than the larger version but both would not pull well at all on ice, where they just scooped away the snow and were stranded on the bare ice. In deeper snow they just dug down and were plain stuck. I seem to remember that Polaris had tried the same idea even earlier and had the same result.

During the same period of the 60s and early 70s, Johnson, Evinrude and John Deere, to name a few, attempted to build machines that were large and heavy. Generally they did not do to badly on groomed trails or fields with a few inches of snow. In Northern Wisconsin where I lived at that time, the lakes usually were snow covered by midwinter with several feet of snow and about 6 inches of slush at the bottom. All of the machines mentioned above when driven onto/into the deep snow on a slushy lake wound up buried and often had to be left until the broken trail froze down. Many, many frustrated owners and LOTS of frozen running gear. I know of a physician who with a son drove two new Johnsons onto a Northern MN lake to fish lake trout and who after several days battling to get the machines off the lake, gave them to the locals who aided in the rescue. So the Bolens were not the only early machines that did not perform as planned.

I have seen one of those early models sitting in a boneyard in Lake Minchumina. Not sure what brand it is. Heck I couldn't believe anyone would even try to ride something like that. Looked like trying to get through the snow with a self-propelled lawn mower.

white17: We somewhere have an old 8mm film of me with a tiny daughter seated behind me and clinging onto my waist while we are charging through a foot or so of powder on a yellow Bolens husky while dragging out our newly felled Christmas tree. Winter of 1972 I believe. I surely wish I could return!!!!!!!!!!

Someone should re-make the snow bug-great old trapping machine.

I hear ya Jim !!

Far off topic and I apologize but the memories! We have another bit of film of my wife and daughter on an old Johnson snowmobile and me on a SkiDoo Olympique pulling a sled stacked with 32 beaver crosswise from a days check trip into the Chequamegon Natl Forest circa 1979???

I could see it working for ice trapping on a marsh

I note that Sergei has not been back to defend his ridiculous assertion that this goofy thing can "go where a snowmobile can't...!"

Interestingly enough, I spent some time reaserching theses things about a year ago when a local dealer started selling them and found that they are hugely popular in Russia and if you do a little looking there are hundreds of YouTube vids of them in use in Russia and many of them homemade

I guess it all comes down to where you live and the terrain you have to deal with.

Everyone one here knows that Duke 1 1/2cs is the best trap for everything, RIGHT?

Hi, Pete!

SnowDog is more maneuverable since it's ~twice less in length, height, width, and weight. It's easy to imagine a situation, when SnowDog can go where snowmobile can't - just picture a couple of trees with 3 feet between them. SnowDog, being less than couple of feet wide will go through there nicely.

Also it provides less pressure on a surface of snow - easier to ride on the snow, not in the snow.




Hello, Saskbone!

Handle bars won't smash anything SnowDog’s design provides a downward supported floating handle bar, eliminating injury by stationary handle bars.
By the way our machines are already being used for trail grooming.

Important thing to emphasize: we don't position SnowDog as a competitor to snowmobile, it's just a different type of product. Cheaper, more agile and useful in any season.

They cost $2.799 - $3.499

I'm attaching a youtube link to give you a general impression. It's in Russian, but it's self-explaining

Hello, cohunt!
Our machine, of course, doesn't have any problems with ice, either covered by snow or bare. This is what the attached video is about.

Can pull a 600 lb payload? And the operator is part of that payload?

I'm sorry but it would be useless.

Go find a good used snowmobile and a trailer. I could see myself dieing on that thing on the ice.

Hello, Steven.
To each his own, I'm sure you know what's best in your case. Still, if you'll have a chance, test the machine, a lot of people have found it useful, after all. (I'm attaching the video with example)

More like drags a small calf moose.

P

Guess Im odd man out because I can see lots of uses for this machine. It won't replace a snow machine but doesn't sound like the makers claim it will. A few uses I can see.....it would be a great tool for remote trappers who must fly into their lines early. I know a lot of guys that go out in late Sept before the lakes freeze. Since the snowdog works on bare ground I could see a lot of uses around the cabin...wood, water, etc. They would be easy to fly too.....thats a big plus these days as new machines are so big and heavy you need a big plane. Just from watching a few videos I have no trouble believing they can go where a snow machine can't. Heres an example. Last season we had so little snow I couldn't use half my trails. One of my most productive lines goes through a real swampy area for a few miles. I got in there with my skandic but it was just to rough with all the frozen hummocks, exposed logs etc. I could see how a small light machine like that COULD get through.......riding it might be another thing entirely. Im not planning to go out and buy one, but I can certainly see that it could be very useful in some situations.

Yukon, I could see possible uses for it as well. First I would have a snowmobile and an atv. Then if I had money burning a hole in my pocket I'd consider it.

The electric one looks pretty capable (realize that they have the advantage of editting-out bad parts, though).

Stud the track for smooth ice, same as any other snow machine.

-NC