Best Electric Bike For Hunting Deer
Quiet running e-bikes provide a special advantage for hunters. Electric hunting bikes are unique all terrain electric bikes that are specially adapted for hunting.
The best electric bikes for hunting deer have tractable fat tires, long travel suspension front and rear, and a powerful motor between 750W and 1,000W.
Powerful motors can tow heavy hunting gear across steep ridges and through forests. More importantly, you will be able to carry the deer back when your hunt is successful.
Motors of 750W and above are able to tackle rough, steep, and boggy terrain. Add storage, camouflage, and a high capacity battery, and you have the perfect electric bike for hunting deer.
There are many options to choose from when purchasing a hunting bike. The abundance of choice is fantastic, but can make selection a little complex.
In this article, we highlight important differences in electric hunting bikes and explain why you may, or may not, need some of the specialized features.
Understanding how you intend to use your electric hunting bike could prevent you from buying a tool that is hopeless for the task. Alternatively, understanding why you may require some specialized feature may save you money paying for trinkets that you may never need.
Fat Tire E-Bikes
Fat tire e-bikes are popular because they look great, but they serve a real purpose when you want a bike for hunting.
A fat tire, all terrain electric bike, can find traction in soft soil where other e-bikes bog. E-bikes with fat tires don’t cut into sand, snow or mud the way a mountain bike would.
E-bikes with fat tires smooth out the minor bumps on rough trails. E-mountain bikes may be more agile when stump jumping, but fat tire e-bikes eat e-MTB’s for breakfast if you want a little comfort on your off-road venture.
In addition, smoothing out bumps can suppress a lot of rattles from the bike while gliding over forest twigs that a MTB would snap. Fat tire e-bikes cut down noise.
Power vs Distance
When looking for the best bike, power is at the top of every rider’s wish list. There is, however, a tradeoff. The more powerful the engine on a bike, the less travel distance the battery will provide.
If you take an xtreme fat tire electric hunting bike on long trails, they are heavy. Your battery may not have sufficient charge to get you home.
Hunters have to find a balance between a powerful engine, and the distance they can travel to find their prey. If you want to cover long distances, a lighter bike that is easier to pedal may be a better choice.
Batteries
Riders can extend range by purchasing a more powerful battery, or simply attaching a battery booster pack. Larger batteries provide a longer travel distance, but are heavier, bulkier, and more expensive.
Stealth
The defining feature of an electric hunting bike is stealth. Hunting e-bikes can provide quiet access to open paths and dirt roads without disturbing nearby moose, bear, elk, or deer.
Bike size
Bike size is another consideration when buying an e-bike for hunting. You should choose a frame that suits your height and accommodates your hunting gear. The best e-bikes for hunting have a frame that is comfortable while allowing you to get on and off the bicycle easily too quickly to pursue your target.
Xtreme Fat Tire Hunting eBikes
With so many options, you may feel overwhelmed when trying to choose which electric hunting bike is best. Let’s clarify some options by looking at what makes an xtreme fat tire electric hunting bike.
Important attributes for an electric hunting bike are:
- A motor powerful enough to tow hunting gear and rider
- Good travel range
- Quiet motor,
- Fat tires that don’t bog easily in mud or snow,
- Low noise components that won’t alarm wildlife,
- camouflage paintwork to help conceal your approach
- storage capacity for your rifle or bow.
An e-bike that meets all these points will ensure that you have a top-notch electric hunting bike that can help you get closer to your game.
1000W Fat Tire Electric Bike
The engine is the heart of every electric hunting bike. The position and power of the motor determines how well your electric hunting bike will perform on rough, snowy, or boggy, terrain. The style of motor and how you plan to use it is an important consideration when selecting your electric hunting bike.
The best electric hunting bikes start with an engine powerful enough to carry a 300lb rider, tow a trailer, and pull hunting equipment.
Most hunters will agree that ideal power for an electric hunting bike is between 750W and 1000W. Although more powerful engines are nice, motors with more than 1000W begin to compromise range.
When hunting big game deer, elk, moose, or other big game, a trailer are indispensable to enable you to return the carcass. For big game hunting, more extreme ebikes with 1000W motors are more beneficial. A good management system will help conserve battery charge
Electric hunting bikes with motors between 750W and 1000W have enough power to allow the rider to cover a respectable distance when fitted with a powerful battery.
Range
25 mile range is typical for an electric hunting bike. The distance of any e-bike varies with the weight of the rider and equipment, the roughness of the terrain, the speed, and the amount of rider effort.
Most hunters would aspire to bikes that have a travel range of 50 miles, although this can be hard to reach. There are, however, a couple of common options that can help.
- The first option is to fit a battery booster pack. Battery boosters are small add-on packs that increase battery power.
- The second option is to carry a replacement battery.
- The third option is to carry a charger. It is unlikely that hunters have access to mains electricity, so solar power chargers are the most useful option for off-grid electricity.
Solar panels need to be large to provide a useful charge (and they need to have good sunlight). For most eclectic hunt bikes, access to a useful solar charger means you will need to tow a trailer with cumbersome solar panels.
Electric Bikes For Hunting Have Different Motors
For electric hunting bikes, we can divide motors into four categories.
Front Wheel Motors
Front wheel drive e-bikes have a number of issues and are not suited to any all terrain electric bike (unless it is to assist a rear wheel drive motors). The major problem is that front wheel motors have no weight over the wheel and lose traction easily off-road.
Rear-wheel motors
As the name suggests, rear-wheel motors are located in the rear wheel of the hunting bike. They are easy to maintain, produce high power for the price.
Riders opt for electric hunting bikes with rear hub motors primarily to reduce cost. If you are hunting over firm ground, then there are few drawbacks. Rear-wheel motors are, however, less effective that mid drive motors when mud plugging, as they have more rear end weight.
All Wheel Drive Motors
Motors on front and rear wheels is great for rough terrain for short rides. The problem is that two motors drain your battery twice as fast. The down side of added weight and reduced travel distance is too much of a drawback for most hunters.
Mid-drive motors
Mid drive motors are the best option for hunting e-bikes. Weight is distributed between front and rear wheels so the bike is less likely to bog on soft ground.
Jeep Electric Bike
The Jeep electric hunting bike is an exciting move for the American e-bike market. Jeep has partnered with QuietKat to produce an electric mountain bike, and it is a powerful signal that the US car giant has woken up to the potential of the e-bike market.
Until now, BMW, Bosch, Shimano and Yamaha have been driving e-bikes legislation to favor their European centric products. Unfortunately, we have already lost much of our freedom of choice as many US states impose class 1, 2, and 3, restrictions on motorized bicycles.
With Jeep promoting electric hunting bikes, there is hope that we may keep some freedom to choose more useful electric hunting bikes.
The Jeep electric hunting bike is top of the range, as you would expect for a $7,500 (fully optioned) e-bike.
Jeep eBike Specs
Weight
The QuietKat Jeep weighs a hefty 72 lbs. (33Kg). The weight is fine for a hunting bike, which doesn’t need to be nimble.
Balance
Perfectly distributed weight helps the e-bike perform. The Bafang mid-drive motor sits low in the center of the e-bike while the battery is low mounted on the down tube of the frame.
Power
The top spec QuietKat Jeep has a powerful 1,000 Watt mid-drive Bafang motor to pull it out of difficult situations. (750 Watt models for lower spec models saves $150). The motor also produces 160Nm of torque, which is enough to crank the e-bike up very steep hills.
The mid drive motor leaves space for a large 9 speed sprocket with Shimano derailleur. This gives the rider a wide selection of gears to support the motor when needed.
Battery
The raunchy 48 Volt 14.5 AH battery will supply enough juice to travel 20 to 30 miles using the thumb throttle alone. If the rider adds pedal effort, and sets power mode to “eco”, range can extend up to 50 miles from a single charge.
Full Suspension
QuietKat front suspension, and RockShox Monarch SL rear, are everything that’s needed to keep the bouncy fat tires firmly planted. The well-distributed weight, fat tires and torquey motor keep this bike planted in every situation from mud plugging to snow ploughing.
I’ll add here that there are no fenders on the Jeep. This means that you end up wearing a lot of whatever surface you travel on.
Brakes
There are 4 piston hydraulic calipers front and rear with 8” (203mm) rotors big enough to grind this colossal electric hunting bike to a stop effortlessly.
CONCLUSION
Electric hunting bikes are specialized all terrain electric bikes. The most xtreme fat tire hunting electric bikes have powerful mid-drive 1000W motors, full suspension and large batteries.
The extra power of 1000W fat tire electric bikes are best for towing camping gear and hunting larger animals. Deer, Elk and Moose are heavy and need a powerful motor to help to a trailer to
750W electric hunting bikes conserve battery use, allowing longer rides on a given battery. Less powerful motors can be better options if you travel lite carrying only a rifle on a day hunt duck for example.
Jeep bikes entering the ebike market heralds hope that America will resist conforming to restrictive European ebike legislation. For the present, we can continue to enjoy the best electric bike for hunting.
