I bought an e-bike for a hunting club I was a apart of. It was a game changer for me. No more being drenched in sweat by the time I climbed my tree in the middle of winter and then proceed to freeze until the sun was well up in the sky.
Those little motors have unbelievable torque. I’m north of 200 lbs plus my hunting gear/stand at 30-40 lbs, depending on weather, and then a cart with a 100-175 lb deer in it wasn’t a problem. Granted, we don’t have steep hills/mountains in west TN, but gearing can help with that.
My biggest con was the derailleur. My first excursion occurred after a heavy rain. The logging roads of the club became gumbo clay and were extremely difficult to navigate even with the fat tires on my e-bike. So, I stuck to the shoulder of the road, which was choked with weeds. The mud and weeds combined and wrapped around the rear cassette and derailleur and promptly snatched the derailleur from its moorings. As a former bike mechanic, I was able to take some links out of the chain and direct drive it to the cassette and continue on my way, but it wasn’t ideal.
The manufacturer warranted the derailleur and I put the new one on. However, after cruising part way through a slightly overgrown cow pasture I noticed grasses building up on the cassette and derailleur. I stopped and cleaned it off. I had to do that several more times until I got to my ultimate destination, which was probably a half mile or so. Im sure if I didn’t stop, I would have shredded another derailleur.
I alleviated this issue by having a new rim laced up with an internal derailleur. I went from a 7 speed to a 3 speed. There are 7+ speed internal derailleurs available, but they’re pretty pricy. I only lost a couple mph on the top end (25 down to 23 mph), but I picked up gearing on the low end.
I don’t ride it much anymore because I haven’t joined that hunting club in a couple of years. But I do break it out a couple of times a year, and it always brings a smile to my face to whip around the neighborhood on that thing.
We had an unusually heavy snow this past winter here in west TN and I broke it out and pulled my wife, son and neighbor around the neighborhood on skis in the dark about 10:00 at night. We had a blast!…until I got a little overzealous with the speed and out drove my traction. Ended up cornering too hard and wiped out. Bent a pedal and severely bruised my hip. I was black, blue, yellow and green from my waist down to my knee on my right side. The coloring faded to normal after a month or so, but the hip is still a bit tender, even to this day and this was back in February.
E-bikes are great for hunting if they’re allowed in your area, so check that out first before spending a bunch of money. Depending on your conditions, a fat tire e-bike will probably be the most versatile. And I highly recommend a bike with an internal derailleur if you going to be on anything with tall enough vegetation.
I hope this helped. More specific questions or a general idea of your intended use and terrain might get you better information.