“Dang it! It snowed again!!!” How many times have you heard--or said--that?

There are quite a few ATV journalists, and we know most of them.  Some are excellent racers, some are good technical writers, and most are good sports.  Few enjoy other outdoor sports as much as we do however, and we guarantee that the writers from ATV Illustrated are the only ATV journalists who can tell you the opening day of deer season, and about every buck they’ve brought back in the past decade.  Hunting is our passion too, and just like our love of riding, it will be a lifelong relationship.  As many hunters have discovered, one of the great things about ATVs is

We'll always be ATV riders, but the ability to haul tons of gear, a passenger and venture deep into the woods makes Side-x-Side vehicles truly amazing. For packing gear to a hunting or fishing camp, or simply moving stuff around the job site or farm, there are very few vehicles that are as easy to operate and can perform half as well.

With 1200 pounds of machine, 26-inch tires and a 650cc hemi engine, Arctic Cat's Prowler XT effortlessly pushes piles of snow that even the largest ATV can't budge. Designed and engineered exclusively for the Prowler, the Arctic Cat / Curtis heavy-duty plow blade measures 72 inches wide by 18 inches high. Standard features include a ¼"  x 5' reversible high carbon steel cutting edge, skid shoes, five-angle positioning and strong (wire is 5/16"  x 10" ) burly trip springs.

Arctic Cat has hit the convergence of two advantageous segments with the Prowler: it's both a UTV and a Side-x-Side, the only one of its kind in either segment. It can be classified a UTV because of its dimensions and larger cargo capacity than the Rhino or RZR, but it can be considered a Side-x-Side (albeit a large one) because of its bucket seats, speed, good legroom and go-anywhere demeanor. Arctic Cat has somehow managed to bridge the gap between full-on work capabilities and true Side-x-Side recreational fun.

Agri-Cover, Inc., manufacturer of the Snowsport plow system was established in 1981 to manufacture covers for grain trucks. Over the next ten years it introduced various pickup truck products, most notably the EZ-LOC Roll-Up Tarp and the revolutionary Access Roll-Up Cover, the best-selling roll-up tonneau in North America. Adhering to its philosophy of making products that make sense, Agri-Cover introduced the SnowSport Utility Plow in 2000.

If you have a long gravel driveway, a hardpack parking lot, need potholes filled or a tool with which to level a hardpack surface, Road Runner's grading blade / maintainer MS series is your best choice. It can be attached to a three-point hitch or towed by any vehicle with a drawbar, and is the best way we've seen to take care of your hardpack / gravel areas.

Buy them for the load capacity and puncture-resistance factor, but enjoy them for the added clearance and traction.

VIDEO Click here

If you could travel in the backwoods and never worry about coming up against logs lying across the trail, mudholes or gnarly terrain

Thousands upon thousands of ATV enthusiasts converge from all across the country every year to the exceedingly inviting town of Winchester Bay, OR, for what can only be described as the world's largest organized sand happening: DuneFest! This was my first time attending, and for me it meant 20 hours of driving time and a well-deserved $400 speeding ticket (do not tow a trailer above 55 mph on a California highway!) before I would ever touch sand. Just 12 hours into my journey, as the CHP officer sped off ahead of me, I was beginning to wonder if this trip was going to be worth the time and hassle put into preparing for it.

Long-Term Review

We're sold on EPS, but what about the rest? Last fall we were treated to our first ride on the new 2007 Honda FourTrax Foreman with Electric Power Steering (EPS). Our testing consisted of several laps around a mile-long obstacle course at Honda's ATV training facility in Colton, CA. Honda packed a lot of rugged terrain and hurdles into that short course, and editors from all the top North American ATV publications were blown away by how well the concept of power steering on an ATV worked, especially on an ATV that none of us thought needed help in the steering department to begin with. The difference in handling was amazing! We couldn't wait to get this newfangled technology out in the real world, though, to see how it would handle natural-terrain trails or how the steering would react to

Through the years 4x4 ATVs / UTVs have gotten bigger, more powerful, more sophisticated and, consequently, more functional. Important improvements include more horsepower, more reliable drivetrains, better suspensions, raised ground clearances and better traction systems. They have evolved over time into vehicles that are capable of working in ways that the machines of ten years ago could not.

Nimble, work-oriented, fun-to-drive 4x4 Utility Terrain Vehicles (UTVs) continue to grow in popularity for both personal and commercial-use applications. In particular, though, it's "baby boomers" with several (or more) acres of land who are leading the surge in demand for these vehicles. UTVs can be used for just about any outdoor work project, and the new Gator XUV 4x4 has been designed and engineered to meet the needs of the still-evolving UTV customer base.

Company Backgrounds

Tarter Gate, parent company of Terrain Tough, is the nation's largest manufacturer of farm gates and animal management equipment. C.V. Tarter started the company in 1945, selling hand-made wooden gates to farmers around his hometown of Dunnville, KY. Still headquartered in Dunnville, Tarter Gate is expanding, with a new facility opening in Utah. Tarter Gate's other branded product lines include American Farmland, Billy Goat Gruff, Equestrian World and Secure Estate, which are sold in more than 6,200 farm and ranch stores nationwide.