Tires for Elk hunting

[JustJustin]

I know this is an old thread.
A bit of advice from experience...

I have a 2003 Tahoe(~5,000 lbs) with 33" K02's.

There was some discussion about airing down. I think a lot of you guys sound too paranoid!

If I'm driving >100 miles I might go up to mid 30's. Normally I run ~30 psi. I'm not afraid to run 20 psi 20 or 30 miles, and I have already driven about a dozen miles on paved roads in the mid teens. Its a bit mushy and you should double check to make sure they're not melting, but you can certainly do it in a pinch.
For my setup, 20 is fine for gravel and mild trail and I don't need to air up even though I do carry a good compressor.
Mid teens is where my traction and ride really start improving. I think this pic is 15. If its very steep/rocky, 12 does give a traction advantage at the cost of a bit of ground clearance. Under 12 on rocks without beadlocks you should be very careful with tire placement. >12 you shouldn't need to worry unless you have a significantly heavier vehicle with small tires or stretched tires.(rims wider than the factory recommended width for the tire)
I have found that airing down in deep snow (or sand) makes just as much or even more difference in traction than on dirt/rocks. I saw a Silverado not close to making it up a snowy hill with multiple runs at street pressure. Aired down and it literally hardly spun!
I've aired down to 10 in soft snow and it really helps with flotation. I haven't experimented on snow-pack or ice but I think lower pressure is still advantageous at least at low speeds.

I like offroading and talking about offroading so feel free to ask any questions!

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[FishStalkerGuy]

Yokohama Geolander X-AT’s best rated tire for ND oil fields.


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[TexasCub]

The tire dilemma is sure a tough one. You want excellent traction and protection in the mountains out of your daily driver that also has to get you to work when the road is covered in ice or snow during winter. Most of the AT tires are about the same as far as traction, Wildpeaks, Coopers, Toyo’s, BFG’s etc. it would be awesome if some of the true mud terrains handled well in all conditions but they don’t! They are downright scary on icy paved roads. That’s where hybrid tires come into play like the Duratracs and Nitto Ridge Grapplers. An AT tire with larger more spaced tread blocks to allow them to remove snow or mud in off-road conditions but with good siping and biting edges to give you good winter traction on paved roads. I’ve never ran anything but an LT E rated tire on my trucks for the last 20 years. 1/2 ton, 3/4 ton doesn’t matter. The protection that LT tires offer in carrying heavy loads, towing heavy or just running up and down rough ass roads and resisting punctures is so much more assuring than the paper thin P rated garbage or XL rated tires they put on all new trucks to boost the mpg ratings. Just food for thought.

 

[Sgtusmc14]

Amp assaults work great for me! Had no issues in the dee snow or holding onto the rim of the trail with the sidewalls. 40,000 on them right now and prob won’t replace until this season

 

[Wrongside]

In the mountains and foothills around here you mostly see Goodyear DuraTracs, BFG KO2s, and some Toyo ATs.

 

[go_deep]

I've had dozens of sets of tires on all my work and personal trucks. I put 6 ply on one truck one time, replaced them with 10 ply after 5,000 miles after the 6 ply suffered 2 flat tires. These trucks see less blacktop than dirt and the couple dollars a tire is worth it.

 

[Blaw]

In the mountains and foothills around here you mostly see Goodyear DuraTracs, BFG KO2s, and some Toyo ATs.

I have had the duratracs and K02's I prefer Duratracs completely. there is also a knock off brand of the duratracs called trail hogs I believe, I could not tell the difference

 

[Mosby]

I have been looking at tires recently and the reviews are all over the board. One guy will say a Duratrac is the best tire he ever used and another will say it is the worst. That is about the same for most AT tires.

Often times you can't tell where they live, what vehicle they drive, the conditions they drive in or how many miles on the tire. A guy going 80 mph on icy roads isn't going to have much luck with many tires. A guy that drives 99% of the time in Mississippi isn't going to add much value on driving on snow and ice but they all have opinions and write reviews.

I have Duratrac's on my Chevy Colorado. They have exceeded my expectations but I can only get them in a 2 ply if I stay with stock. That is an accident waiting to happen. I am starting to feel like buying tires is like playing Russian roulette. Some tires really do suck on snow, ice and bad roads. Trying to figure out which ones they are before buying them is the hard part.

 

[sneaky]

Duratracs are the only tire I have taken off of my Tacoma and gotten rid of. May have been a bad set, but I took them off a little over 10k on the set and sold them. Went back to ST Maxx, finally replaced them with about 70k on them and trying Wildpeaks this time. The Falkens don't ride as stiff as the ST Maxx, time will tell on durability. I ran ST Maxx for about 135k on the truck with one flat, ran over a roofing tack in the driveway of all places. That was multiple trips across country, the desert, mountains, every type of surface. Lots of Duratrac fans, I'm not one of them.

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[Carrot Farmer]

I have 5-ply Michelin tires on my F-150 and have put some gashes in the side-walls from two trips to CO and some "off-road" in Wisconsin, which is mostly fields and farm paths. I am looking at replacing my tires before heading out west this fall and since I am going to replace them, I thought I would like to replace them with tires that are less likely to puncture or otherwise leave me standard on some forest road hours from town. It was suggested by a local contact in Montana to put 8-ply tires on my truck. I checked with some local vendors in WI and it seems like they don't really carry an 8-ply tires anymore and was told "ply" is an outdated way to judge tires. The two that were suggested are Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac (looks like probably 6-ply?) and BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 (10 ply?). The Goodyear looks to be a more usable "all-around" tire as most of my driving is on the highway.

I am sure a lot of guys on this forum have experience driving around the forest service roads in the mountains, so any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you

10 ply anything

 

[eshunt]

Another vote for the Cooper ST Max load range E tires. I run them on my Tundra I live in snow country. Deep snow country. And I spend about half my time on dirt roads. The only flats I have gotten were from nails picked up around town. When out in the hills on rough roads I have complete confidence in these tires. And if siped, they are about as good as tire I have used in the snow.

A couple of years ago I was out in ID about 2-1/2 hrs from anywhere. Driving up a road through an old burn that had a lot of trees that had fallen across the road. Someone had cut out the trees wide enough for a SxS or Jeep but pretty narrow for my truck. I wasn't paying as close of attention to the passenger side as I should have been and took a sharp top of a downed tree into the sidewall of the tire. The tire deflected it into the inside of my wheel well. Ended up doing some damage to the wheel well, but the tire was fine. Anything but the kevlar sidewall of the Cooper and I would have ripped right through that tire.

My dad and brother build logging roads for a living. They spend probably 75-80% of their time on dirt roads and often in pretty rough terrain. They won't run anything but the Coopers out in the woods. They have torn too many sidewalls open with other tires.

They make a little bit of noise on the highway, but overall not that bad. Nittos and BFG TA KOs make a lot more noise in my experience.

 

[TradLife406]

I put a set of Falken Wildpeaks on my 17 F-150 last fall. Ran them through deer hunting in snow and mud here in Montana. And a ton of highway miles. Probably the best tire I've had. Previous ran Cooper BFG and some Toyo style.

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[prm]

I've used the BFG AT T/A KOs LT285/60R18 (D) and then replaced them with Hankook LT285/65R18 (E) on my F150. The Hankooks were on the recommendation of a friend who manages a tire store and could sell me either. Both have performed very well. I have over 60k miles on the Hankooks right now. One place I hunt has quite a few miles of very rocky roads, multiple stream crossings, etc. The Hankooks have perhaps performed a little better on pavement as they aged, but it's close. I drive much more on road than off so that is important as well. I also tow a horse trailer. I'd happily get either when I need to replace these.

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