There’s a new electricity in the winter air. Snow-churning, tree-dodging, modified machines called snowbikes are supplying the spark.

Motorcycle riders are no longer confined to the fair weather months. They can now purchase kits that swap out the front tire with a ski and replace the rear wheel with a track that resembles a smaller version of those on a snowmobile.

Interest in the motorsport is steadily accelerating.

“After Polaris bought Timbersled in 2015, that’s when things took off,” said Brad Abbe, owner of Power Sports Tech in Roberts, Montana, who used to sell the kits but now manufactures products for modifying snowbikes.

Timbersled, which started building the kits in 2008 in Ponderay, Idaho, had risen to the top of what’s becoming a competitive field among small businesses manufacturing the conversion kits. Polaris is one of the big manufacturers of UTVs, ATVs and snowmobiles. By buying Timbersled, Polaris focused attention and advertising revenue on what had been a niche in power sports.

Converted

Mark Hoffman has found his sweet spot in that niche. For almost two decades he built high-end, high-powered snowmobiles at his Clyde Park, Montana, business Crazy Mountain Motorsports. In 2015 he dropped snowmobiles completely, moving on to snowbikes. After riding one, he no longer wanted to snowmobile.

“They’re way easier to ride because it’s narrow,” he said. “It’s not trying to fall over all the time” when stopped on a steep sidehill.

Hoffman said he’s seen 20 percent of the Crazy Mountains in his backyard on a snowmobile and now plans to see the other 80 percent on a snowbike because they can go where his snowmobile couldn’t, and with less of a workout for him. On a snowmobile he was constantly leaning, pulling and lifting while riding, but not on a snowbike.

“I’ve always been a motorcycle guy,” Hoffman said. He started riding when he was only 4 years old and has raced motorcycles.

Yet he put his daughter’s friend, who had never ridden anything motorized, on his 450 KTM and she was immediately cruising around a meadow doing figure eights and giggling, Hoffman said.

“The snowbike market is in its infancy right now, but it’s exploding,” he said. “I’m just really excited about the opportunities.”

Takeoff

Hoffman and CMX aren’t alone in seeing a spike in snowbike interest.

“We saw a decent increase in sales in the last couple of years,” said Travis Burian, owner of Yellowstone Motorsports in Bozeman, Montana, which sells the Timbersled kits.

Abbe began snowbiking in 2012. He was one of the first to sell the Timbersled kits out of his shop. Every year the company’s sales doubled. But motorcycles aren’t made for winter. Abbe would see his engine temperature drop in one minute from 180 degrees to 80 when he’d drive off-trail and into powdery snow that cooled the motor.

“I noticed right away bikes had problems,” he said, so he started making parts for his own use.

Now Abbe manufactures four products to make motorcycles more winter friendly, including a motor cover that keeps snow out and a thermostat to keep coolant at the optimal temperature. He started making the items for himself, then friends, and is now producing them for a worldwide market.

Riding

Burian and Abbe had also both snowmobiled before jumping to snowbikes. Converting motorcycles to be snow friendly machines pushed several buttons, the biggest being the maneuverability.

“It’s a riot,” Burian said. “You can make your own line wherever you want to go.”

Abbe said the bikes need a firm base of snow to ride on, otherwise they will chainsaw down. Ideally, 6 inches of fresh snow atop some hard pack is the best riding, he said.

“They’re so agile,” Abbe said. “You’re able to get into places you never would get into with a snowmobile.”

“It’s just like riding a dirt bike in the woods,” Burian said. “It changes how you ride in certain zones.”

Chilly White, writing in a 2018 article posted on bikebandit.com, explained the experience of riding snowbikes this way: “For those who have never ridden a snow bike, the best analogy I can think of is this; it is like riding a Jet Ski on sand dunes. There is a freedom unlike anything else I have ever done.”

White recommended a strong bike since the “the track and deep snow suck horsepower.” Burian rides a Honda 450. White also advocated an electric start, since “kick starting a snow bike requires some balancing technique. The rider is an extra foot or so in the air, so no touching the ground.”

Pockets of devoted riders have sprung up in places like Bozeman and Kalispell, Montana, Abbe said. Many of them are older, looking for something different from snowmobiling. But he’s also seen groups of riders with a wide-range of ages — from 16 to 60 — because snowbikes are so easy to ride and fun.

History

The idea of snowbikes has been around a long time. Searching the internet turns up a snowbike built by BMW in 1936, called the Schneekrad. The only problem was it couldn’t be steered. That has been followed by several other creations with catchy names like the Sno Go, which mounted two skis to the front of a motorcycle’s wheel, without taking the wheel off, and a twin track to the back; the Sno Shoo, which featured a ski on the front and a wide track on the back; the Sno Byke and Sno Blazer, resembling modified scooters, and the Shrew, Sno Job, and Alpenscooter — all early motorcycle-snowmobile hybrids. Chrysler even got into the business by buying the Sno Runner from a Japanese chainsaw manufacturer.

In 2001 A.D. Boivin, a Canadian company, introduced the Snow Hawk, which never quite took wing and was sold in 2011.

It took the X Games to launch the sport to a wider audience in 2017. White, the bikebandit.com writer, credited 2 Moto with creating the modern snowbike kit, but said Timbersled took the invention to the next level by making its kit better at plowing through backcountry powder. Yeti, MotoTrax, Camso, and Montana’s own Crazy Mountain Sports are other kit manufacturers. Riders in online chat rooms extol the benefits and downsides of the different kits.

Locally

Crazy Mountain Motorsports touts a kit with a proprietary 12 ½-inch wide track that sports 2 ½- to 2 ¼-inch lugs for gripping the snow. The wide track is all about flotation atop the snow, which is especially important to backcountry riders. In the front, CMX offers its own 11-inch wide ski.

“They do go really well in handlebar-deep snow,” Hoffman said.

He touts his track for its lack of roll resistance, it moves easily when you push the bike, which means the engine doesn’t have to work as hard to turn the track.

Despite its Star Wars look, the technology is fairly easy to install, Hoffman said. Prices for his new kits start at about $7,600 and climb depending on track size and add ons. He recommends hand guards, an engine blanket and thermostat at a minimum. A brand new bike tricked out with all the coolest stuff and ready to ride could cost $21,000.

“The kits keep getting better and better,” Abbe said, just like snowmobiles have advanced with better technology.

“It’s fun to be involved because it’s changing. People keep coming out with new ideas,” he said.

The take season for male mountain lions has closed in Game Management Units 66A, 75, 76, 77 and 78 in Southeast Idaho effective Dec. 9. Please note the following in relation to mountain lion hunting in these same five units:

• Hunters will be allowed to keep male mountain lions taken in these units prior to this closure and must report them within five days of harvest.

• These units are still open to harvest for female mountain lions only, consistent with limits established in the 2019-2020 Big Game Proclamation.

• A dog training season (pursuit only — no harvest) for male mountain lion in these units is open, effective immediately, and shall close March 31, 2020.

The most current information on whether a quota has been met or the season has been closed for a particular game management unit anywhere in the state can be obtained by calling or stopping by any regional Fish and Game office or by calling 1-800-323-4334 (24/7 toll-free line). Information is also updated regularly on an Idaho Fish and Game website at bit.ly/2LQk9aq.

Kelly Canyon Ski Resort’s recent announcement that it will set aside a free parking area for people seeking access to National Forest land has several winter recreationists happy.

The parking area is on the west end of the lower parking lot and will be open 24/7 once the resort opens Thursday. In recent years, the resort charged $8 per person for a nordic/biking/snowshoeing pass to park on resort property.

“We think there will be about 20 to 30 (parking spots) depending on how unselfish people are when they park and depending on how cooperative individuals are so that the area can be maintained and plowed,” said Dave Stoddard, co-owner of the resort.

Avid Nordic skier and snowshoer Christine Weimer of Rigby called the change “great” news. She said she has joined family and friends on many trips to the Kelly Canyon area in the past before the resort charged for parking.

“It’s just the best place around,” Weimer said.

Stoddard said creating the new parking area has been a multiyear project working with Jefferson County, the Army Corps of Engineers and Rocky Mountain Power. He said power poles needed to be moved, a culvert put in and permits obtained.

“Now that everyone has signed off on all of those things and no more monitoring is required, we’re in a position where we are able to move ahead with the plans that we’ve wanted to do for a long time,” he said, “to make an area available on a 24/7 basis that would be for the biking, hiking, cross-country skiing, snowshoe recreationists.”

In the past, gates were locked when the resort was closed to prevent vandalism, but closing gates would eliminate parking.

“So if people wanted to come early in the morning before they opened or late in the evening or possibly spend the night at the (warming) hut … then they couldn’t because the parking lot was closed or on Sundays it was closed,” said Colby Jacobson a ranger for the Palisades Forest Service District. “Having this parking lot that’s going to be open 24/7 will be really nice.”

The National Forest land beyond the resort boasts several miles of backcountry ski and snowshoe trails.

“It would be convenient to be able to go up there for a short day, just to get out,” said Donna Whitham of Idaho Falls. “Too bad they won’t allow leashed dogs.”

Besides the dog ban, the resort lists a few other prohibitions on its website under the “What To Do” “Nordic” headers for its free parking area.

“No trailers, oversized vehicles, motorized recreational vehicles or pets are allowed in the parking area or anywhere else within the resort special use permit ski area (including the road between the resort and the Y Junction) or on the private property of the resort,” the website says.

Jacobson said the Forest Service is building new signs to indicate where the free parking is for National Forest access.

“We have a lot of people calling and just wanting to be able to get up there,” Jacobson said. “They have been a bit confused on what they are supposed to do. We do expect to have a lot more people coming up there.”

Stoddard said Nordic skiers and fat bikers are invited to check out the resort’s “Shred Trails.”

“The bike trails we made in the summertime, the anticipation is that we will groom those trails for Nordic purposes in the wintertime,” Stoddard said. “A single lift ride up on the chairlift would take people to a spot where they would be able to enjoy some really terrific terrain. It’s all part of the Shred trail system.”

Matt Dungan’s highly successful ice fishing gear business started when he was a boy trapping possums in the woods of Tennessee.

“I was always figuring out trigger mechanisms,” Dungan said. “I would make live catch traps.”

Then as a student at what was then Ricks College in Rexburg, Dave and Gerald Oldham took him ice fishing for the first time at Island Park Reservoir.

“They were just looking at their rod tip and waiting for them to bounce when the fish bit,” he said. “I thought, there’s got to be a better way.”

He made up devices that used the bent rod as a spring with a trigger mechanism to hook a fish when they nibbled on the bait.

“I caught three or four fish with them,” he said about that outing.

The idea was put on a shelf while he studied nursing, got married, bought a house and began working. After a few years, he was living in Rigby and working as a nurse in Idaho Falls. He went ice fishing again with a friend, this time to Strawberry Reservoir in Utah.

“I made up a couple more of these devices, and I caught five or six of these nice cutthroats,” Dungan said.

No longer a poor college student, he entertained ideas of making and selling a device that would give ice fishers the ability to set hooks without hovering over their holes. He called it the JawJacker.

“I thought it was kind of a catchy name,” he said. “A little different. It sets the hook in their mouth and kind of jacks their jaw.”

The device would go on to sell thousands each year and eventually make more money than his nursing profession.

“I just started tinkering,” he said. “I’d always built traps and stuff. I had a drill press and table saw, and I made some prototypes.”

Hook-setting devices have been around since the 1800s, but they were often huge and cumbersome, ill-suited for ice fishing.

“I wanted to make this thing light and compact,” he said. “When you go ice fishing there is a lot of stuff you have to take on the ice. You don’t want something big and cumbersome.”

After coming up with his design, an engineer neighbor who had CAD software helped him draw up designs. He obtained a patent on his trigger mechanism in 2007. Then he found a manufacturer in Texas who could create plastic injection molds and build and box the final product in his China plant.

But before the JawJacker could become reality, Dungan needed money.

“It cost me quite a bit of money,” he said. “I basically took a second mortgage out on my house. I had $50,000. It was enough money to buy the injection molds that I needed.”

The first year he made 1,000 JawJackers and sold about half online and the rest at Sportsman’s Warehouse. Each year afterward his business grew with new connections with Bass Pro Shops and other outdoors stores and word of mouth. The JawJacker retails for $45.

“That’s actually advertising, when you get into the bigger stores. It kind of validates you as a good product and not just a gimmick,” he said.

Ice fisherman Chris Dougan of Idaho Falls, who admits to having thousands of dollars worth of gear, says he uses the JawJacker.

“The JawJacker is definitely worth the money,” Dougan said. “What happens when those fish hit, it’s such a light hit sometimes you don’t even realize you got a hit. If you have four or five poles out, and you’re watching the one that you’re jigging, the JawJacker comes in super handy. When you’re in the tent you hear the JawJacker go ‘bing’ and you’re good.”

Dungan’s latest product hitting the market this past ice fishing season is called the Jigging JawJacker. The JawJacker attaches to a motorized base that raises and lowers the rod, line and jig automatically to attract fish.

“I sold it for the first time last year,” he said of the Jigging JawJacker. “It’s done pretty good. I sold everything I had last year. I had about 5,000 and sold them all.”

He also sells a selection of jigs and ice fishing rods on his website. The jigs are made for him by “a guy in Minnesota” and the graphite rods are made for him in China. His marketing strategy has been to post YouTube videos online to demonstrate the JawJacker. His video helpers have been family and relatives.

“People learn I’m a one-man show and it encourages them to buy it to support me rather than their money going to some big company,” he said. “I do a lot with my father-in-law at Fort Peck (Montana) Reservoir. Those are my kids and brother-in-laws and their kids on the videos.”

Samples of his videos can be found at jawjackerfishing.com.

With the success of his business, he’s been feeling the pressure of perhaps giving up nursing and going full-time with his JawJacker. He’s had orders from as far away as Russia and Sweden.

“It’s getting to the point where it’s hard to manage both,” he said. “I’d rather put my time into the JawJacker.”

WEST YELLOWSTONE, Montana — Somewhere between 600 and 900 Yellowstone bison will be culled from the population this winter.

Most of those animals will likely end up dead, either taken by hunters or shipped to slaughter. Some will stay alive, sitting in corrals and being enrolled in the park’s brucellosis quarantine program.

Yellowstone National Park biologist Chris Geremia said the park estimates the population sits at about 4,900 bison now, based on two counts this summer. Geremia said removing between 600 and 900 animals would result in a decreasing population.

How many end up getting culled depends entirely on the winter migration — how many animals actually move north out of the park in search of forage. Geremia said people should expect a big migration at some point this year.

“No matter what the weather brings there will probably be a fairly substantial migration into the Gardiner basin,” Geremia said.

The winter plan was finalized during a recent meeting of the hodgepodge of state, federal and tribal government agencies involved in managing bison under the Interagency Bison Management Plan.

The group, which meets three times a year, typically finalizes the winter culling plans this time of year as hunts managed by seven tribal governments and the state of Montana get going. Already two bison have been taken by hunters, according to the Buffalo Field Campaign, an advocacy group that closely monitors the annual hunt.

The range of between 600 and 900 bison is the same goal managers set in three of the past four winters. It has come with varying results.

More than 1,100 were removed in winter 2018, while fewer than 500 were removed this past winter.

This winter’s plan includes putting as many as 110 bison into brucellosis quarantine, a process of isolation and repeated testing for the disease. The program is meant to produce disease-free bison that can be sent to the Fort Peck. Certifying the animals as free of brucellosis — a disease feared by the cattle industry — clears barriers to transferring live bison from Yellowstone to other places.

Fort Peck received two shipments of bison from the Yellowstone region this year and more may soon be on their way there. Ryan Clarke, of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said there are 14 cow-calf pairs at APHIS corrals near Corwin Springs that will be tested again this month and could be sent north soon after.

The two shipments earlier this year and the likelihood another will clear space for more bison to enter quarantine. If 110 were to be put in quarantine, park managers would likely have to capture at least double that amount and test each animal for exposure to brucellosis. Only those that test negative could go into quarantine, and biologists estimate about half of Yellowstone’s bison have been exposed to the disease.

APHIS and Yellowstone would split the quarantine bison, with some going to the park corrals near Gardiner and others going to the APHIS corrals near Corwin Springs. But there’s only so much room at the two facilities, prompting some officials to wonder how the program can expand in the future.

“There’s a capacity issue there,” said Cam Sholly, the superintendent of Yellowstone.

Idaho Fish and Game recently finalized a land acquisition in the Bull’s Fork area east of Idaho Falls. The property adds an additional 1,552 acres to the Tex Creek Wildlife Management Area and is open to the public for hunting and trapping. The funds for the acquisition were part of a mitigation agreement reached between Fish and Game and the Bonneville Power Administration.

The new acquisition consists of sagebrush steppe, aspen forests and riparian bottoms along the Kepp’s Crossing and Skyline roads.

“Not only does the new property provide additional access to hunting opportunity, but it helps provide long-term protection of lands that are critical to maintaining migration pathways for mule deer and elk,” said Ryan Walker, Tex Creek biologist. “It connects large portions of the surrounding public lands to several pieces of private property that are already enrolled in the Access Yes! program.”

Fish and Game staff will be placing signs on the new property to remind users that off road motorized use is not allowed on Tex Creek Wildlife Management Area.

Every fall, Idaho Fish and Game Magic Valley regional staff respond to calls from concerned residents about white sturgeon stranded in area canals, shallow pools and below impoundment structures, such as dams.

When irrigation season ends, canals and dam spillways begin to go dry, leaving behind shallow pools, often full of various types of fish. In some places, the pools are large enough that the fish will survive until irrigation water begins flowing again in spring.

Due to sturgeon’s large size and small population numbers, Fish and Game staff wade into these remaining pools to rescue these fish and release them back into the Snake River.

On Oct. 22, Fish and Game captured four white sturgeon below Minidoka Dam and released them into the Snake River at Massacre Rocks State Park. The four sturgeon were stranded in isolated pockets of remaining water after passing through the Minidoka Dam sometime during the summer months. The fish were captured and transported (using a two man sling) to a holding tank filled with oxygenated water.

These fish were then transported 42 miles upstream and released. The sturgeon ranged from 2 to 6 feet in length.

Prior to release, each sturgeon had a PIT-tag (Passive Integrated Transponder) inserted under their bony plates, that is slightly larger than a grain of rice. The PIT-tag gives each fish a unique identification number that can inform biologists of its size, and when and where it was tagged and released. A small bony plate, or scute, found on the side of the fish was removed to mark each fish. Marking allows biologists to know if the fish was caught previously, and has an implanted tag.

Biologists from Fish and Game are working to help conserve Snake River white sturgeon. One goal of sturgeon conservation efforts is to ensure sturgeon populations are robust enough to allow for recreational catch and release sport fishing.

Angling for these giant fish has become very popular throughout the Snake River. Cut bait, squid, herring and shrimp are all popular baits and are usually fished on the bottom of deep holes; but don’t overlook the success of night crawlers.

By regulation, barbless hooks with a sliding sinker rig must be used in Idaho. For additional information on sturgeon fishing rules and tips, check out page 52 of the 2019-21 Idaho Fishing Seasons and Rules.