Author Topic: Snowshoes  (Read 1292 times)

Offline BowHunter1527

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Snowshoes
« on: Oct 10, 2018, 01:01 PM »
Hey guys im in U.P of  MI and am wondering what brand snowshoe everyone prefers. Were looking for something very durable with good floatation. Weve tried the best metal shoes with little success and our looking for a wood construction type that will hold up to many miles in the woods. Thank you for the info.
"Did you  clip your barbs,  you remember to clip your barbs."

Offline tomturkey

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Re: Snowshoes
« Reply #1 on: Oct 10, 2018, 04:41 PM »
I went down in a dead cedar snag wearing bear paws. I had a hard time getting out of it, wrenching my back. I never used them again

What ever you buy make sure they are long. I used a pair of Alaskans, 10X 56 inches, for years trapping beaver. I would go into thick tag alders with no problem, you just need to look ahead for the best route. I learned to turn around 180* with out taking the shoes off.

The Alaskans are narrower than Michigan's so they are easier to walk in.

Offline Whopper Stopper

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Re: Snowshoes
« Reply #2 on: Oct 10, 2018, 05:30 PM »



I was given these in the mid 70's. They are WW2 issue 1942. For years I would walk 50-60miles a winter on them and they had no problem floating 200 pounds through swamps or across lakes.

The new ones unless custom made are junk. You can still find these on eBay from time to time.

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Offline Hoserman

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Re: Snowshoes
« Reply #3 on: Oct 10, 2018, 05:36 PM »
Hey guys im in U.P of  MI and am wondering what brand snowshoe everyone prefers. Were looking for something very durable with good floatation. Weve tried the best metal shoes with little success and our looking for a wood construction type that will hold up to many miles in the woods. Thank you for the info.
Don't know where you are located in the UP but I have a set of Iverson Michigan shoes and I love them They have a store/factory at E12559 Mill St, Shingleton, MI 49884
Tried ice fishing with Dynamite, UGH... where's my shanty?

Offline FG Steve

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Re: Snowshoes
« Reply #4 on: Oct 10, 2018, 10:20 PM »
Sorry, I'm loyal to a metal frame brand -- Atlas.  I have some 35" that provide great flotation, have lots of good traction underneath, and a real nice climbing bar.

I'm curious to hear more about what you tried, and about your "little success."
 Happiness is a wife who can outfish you.

Offline Whopper Stopper

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Re: Snowshoes
« Reply #5 on: Oct 11, 2018, 09:50 AM »
Sorry, I'm loyal to a metal frame brand -- Atlas.  I have some 35" that provide great flotation, have lots of good traction underneath, and a real nice climbing bar.

I'm curious to hear more about what you tried, and about your "little success."

I also have a pair of Tubbs and a pair of Atlas. They are both very nice for in the woods and you can easily walk over downed logs with no worries of them breaking. I just didn't mention them as the OP was looking for traditional.

I will say I get better flotation with my traditionals than I do with my 36" clangers. There is more upkeep involved, but that is part of maintaining wood.  I do enjoy each style and spending a day on either type is always fun.

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Offline AndyJ

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Re: Snowshoes
« Reply #6 on: Oct 11, 2018, 10:10 AM »
Traditional wood snowshoes will last a very long time if used with reasonable care. Bridging deadfall toe and tail is always a no-no. They have evolved over centuries to meet local conditions without marketing and fashion concerns and still offer the most variety of choice. If loose, powdery and deep snow is where you will use them, bigger is always better. Floatation is all about size.

Offline jethro

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Re: Snowshoes
« Reply #7 on: Oct 11, 2018, 02:51 PM »
I have some of the biggest Tubbs they made, and a small pair of Atlas that are designed for running. Everytime I wear them I realize that I would rather be postholing the whole way than wearing those friggin' things.
Quote- fishslap: I use a variety:  whistlin' bungholes, spleen splitters, whisker biscuits, honkey lighters, hoosker doos, hoosker don'ts, cherry bombs, nipsy daisers, with or without the scooter stick, or one single whistlin' kitty chaser

Ice safety link: http://lakeice.squarespace.com/

Offline BowHunter1527

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Re: Snowshoes
« Reply #8 on: Oct 11, 2018, 06:48 PM »
Sorry, I'm loyal to a metal frame brand -- Atlas.  I have some 35" that provide great flotation, have lots of good traction underneath, and a real nice climbing bar.

I'm curious to hear more about what you tried, and about your "little success."

We have gone through or broke multiply pairs of the high end metal (company you mentioned and another one of the top) mentioned in this forum. We wont go back to metal and have found wood frames to be much better.  We put many hard miles per winter on these and cant afford the downtime with repairs.
"Did you  clip your barbs,  you remember to clip your barbs."

Offline BowHunter1527

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Re: Snowshoes
« Reply #9 on: Oct 11, 2018, 06:49 PM »
Don't know where you are located in the UP but I have a set of Iverson Michigan shoes and I love them They have a store/factory at E12559 Mill St, Shingleton, MI 49884
Yes sir, they used to make custom shoes for us but have stopped recently.
"Did you  clip your barbs,  you remember to clip your barbs."

Offline mr.clean

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Re: Snowshoes
« Reply #10 on: Oct 11, 2018, 10:32 PM »
Lots of good advice already unfortunately no one style or size will work in all the varied conditions we can find ourselves in outdoors. I own a pair of Mountain Safety Research (MSR) Denali's molded plastic body with steel crampon under ball of foot and steel traction bars running length of under side of the shoe. These shoes are 22 inches long and come with removable 4 inch tails,6 inch tails  werealso sold when I made my purchase over time found out I needed greater length and would sink in deep powdery snow on late Winter Snow that has thawed and refrozen shoes work great put are loud no sneaking up on wildlife. If you have to go through thick brush to get to lakes you fish most often "Bear Paw" style is best option easier to change direction. Problem with this style is in bigger widths you have to alter your stride so you not stepping on top of the shoes and causing a fall. Below is link to a website called Winter Trekking on the home page is a section on snow shoes also if you go to forums there is one on snow shoeing. The site administrator goes by screen name of HOOP. He also has a You Tube channel called Winter Trekking he likes to hot tent camp in the wilds of north western Ontario Canada . He discusses differences in snow shoes styles and pro's-cons on some videos. Also look for You Tube videos by Lure of the North.
 You can find traditional wood frame snow shoes that use heavy monofilament for webbing over traditional leather/rawhide slightly less yearly maintenance . Just remember if there is a slush layer on the lake and you sink in slush will stick to and can freeze on any style snow shoes plus I have no idea how easy it would be to rescue yourself wearing snow shoes if you went through the ice .

      www.wintertrekking.com       

Steve

Offline jethro

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Re: Snowshoes
« Reply #11 on: Oct 12, 2018, 10:18 AM »
Just remember if there is a slush layer on the lake and you sink in slush will stick to and can freeze on any style snow shoes plus I have no idea how easy it would be to rescue yourself wearing snow shoes if you went through the ice

Everytime I have brought mine with me ice fishing they stay in the Jetsled. I stopped bringing them with me.
Quote- fishslap: I use a variety:  whistlin' bungholes, spleen splitters, whisker biscuits, honkey lighters, hoosker doos, hoosker don'ts, cherry bombs, nipsy daisers, with or without the scooter stick, or one single whistlin' kitty chaser

Ice safety link: http://lakeice.squarespace.com/

Offline lynng

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Re: Snowshoes
« Reply #12 on: Oct 12, 2018, 04:14 PM »
I’m kind of partial to these that are made in Maine.

http://www.mgsnowshoes.com/index.html

 



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