Can-Am's All-Electric Outlander ATV Is The Perfect Midwest and Eastern Hunting Partner. Silent And Reliable
The 2026 Can-Am Outlander EV ATV isn't just quiet, it's damn-near silent, which will make every Midwest and East Coast hunter able to wake up a little later before heading to the whitetail stand.
CAZENOVIA, WI. Despite my want for adventure, and specifically for hunting adventures, I'm not normally an early riser. Dawn comes far too early, and when you have to beat the sun, even for something as fun as chasing the ninjas of the woods, aka gobbling turkeys, it takes a bit of the anticipation and excitement away.
Who the hell wants to leave the comfort and warmth of a lovely bed for the inky darkness that is 4 am and shiver your ass off for another couple hours before the sun even arrives just so if there's a turkey or whitetail within earshot, they have time to settle down and go back to unawares? Not me, that's who.
But that need for a gap between getting to your stand or blind, giving the animals time to relax after hearing the roar of an engine or your footsteps, and getting set up is one that every Midwest and East Coast hunter faces. Hell, even some of us Western hunters have faced issues with animals peacing out of the county after listening to our turbo four-strokes rumble through their habitat as we look for glassing knobs.
It's just the way things are done, and always will be. Right? Wrong.
Enter Can-Am's all-electric Outlander ATV, which isn't just quiet, it's as silent as a church on a Friday during Brazil's Carnival. That's silent, for those who don't get the joke. Folks, not only is this EV ATV capable as all get up, but I sincerely believe it'll give you the opportunity to at least contemplate sleeping in this deer season or next year's turkey season.
Get Outside
My test was on Doug Duren's family farm in Cazenovia, Wisconsin, a 400-acre gem in the Driftless Area in the southwestern portion of the state. I've been here before, too, chasing whitetail a few years prior and utilizing Can-Am's Defenders. We left empty-handed, but not for the lack of trying. The weather might've had something to do with it, though my own inexperience at the time could've also been a factor—I still dream of the doe that was in my reticle.
Ostenisbly, we weren't there to turkey hunt, though, but rather put in some work at Doug's farm, as well as help out the Aldo Leopold Foundation, which is only about an hour away.
For those who are unaware of Leopold, he's the author of A Sand County Almanac, and you likely either read it during high school advanced biology or in college environmental ethics, as Leopold was one of the main voices in the push for an ethics of land management and its stewardship. I have my own dog-eared copy that sits behind my desk, full of scribbled margin notes.
Leopold espoused a land ethic in that we, as more or less extractive beings, have a duty to serve the natural world, to take care of it as much as it takes care of us, and, to me and a number of others, he is the godfather of the concept of "Leaving it better." Duren's own mantra, "It's not ours, it's just our turn," the ethos that guides his and partner Lindsay Braun's Sharing the Land group, furthers those Leopoldian ideals.
Per Sharing the Land's foundational pillars, "We strive to convey the importance of sustainable practices, underscoring the significance of preserving ecosystems and biodiversity for future generations. This framework encourages individuals and communities to see themselves as stewards of the land, recognizing their pivotal role in maintaining a harmonious balance between human activities and the health of the natural world."
But if you haven't picked up A Sand County Almanac in a while, or haven't read it, please do so. It's worth your time.
The group at Aldo Leopold's shack in Wisconsin.
I'll have thoughts about our work across Duren's farm and at the Leopold Foundation's HQ in Barabo, Wisconsin, in the coming days, but I wanted to scribble a few choice words about Can-Am's Outlander EV first, as they're fresh and bursting with anticipation. I also want to do the work that Duren and Braun do, and Leopold did, justice. They deserve their own story.
Powered by a Rotax E-Power 8.9 kWh battery, the Outlander EV makes 47 horsepower and 53 lbs-ft of torque, which is sent to all four wheels. Doesn't sound like a lot for an EV these days, as everyone is so used to insanely powered death machines like the Stark Varg. But by reducing the overall deployment of power and torque, the Outlander is capable of delivering about 50 miles of range on a charge. More than that, it's still fast as hell, as when you select Sport Mode, you're flying. Literally in some cases. I may have flown through the air once or twice heading to a turkey stand.
But the biggest thing you notice is the Outlander's complete and total silent running.
Now, I've been privileged enough to ride or drive some electric vehicles in my time. None of them is truly silent.
There's whirring, chain noise for the dirt bikes, belt slap for those that use those, and other little quirks that make a whole heck of a ruckus. That's absolutely not the case with the Outlander, which only makes noise when you run over a stick or through a pile of old leaves. The silence is almost deafening, as you're then keenly aware of how you're manipulating the ATV through the woods, trying your best to be as sneaky as the quarry you're attempting to harvest.
Streaking through the big, hardwood oaks, the smaller saplings growing beneath them shrouding the trail's edge, you get the sense that whoever designed the drivetrain of the Outlander EV is a hunter. Or they were seeking the same solitude that Leopold was when he moved his whole family to this part of Wisconsin just before he passed away. You're practically embraced by the world around you, with only the rustle of the leaves, the gobbles of a far-off and unkillable turkey, or the light footsteps of a whitetail that didn't even know you were close to it sounding off around you. You're riding through nature in a way that most don't ever experience.
In calm and serene silence.
The only sensation that brings you back is the speed at which you can maneuver through the trails that zigzag through Duren's property. And that leads me to my original conceit.
Turkeys and whitetails are similar creatures in that you hunt them out of stands or blinds for much of the country. And in doing so, your entry and exit from said constructions make noise that can disturb the peace and quiet of the woods you're hunting. That makes it necessary for anyone looking to harvest one of these creatures to leave their house well before sunrise, so as to mask their movements and noise the best they can. Gasoline engines are rattly things, if you haven't noticed. So you're forced to leave your bed before the sun rises, and that ain't fun.
The Outlander EV eschews that reality.
It's a sneaky machine, one that was seemingly built for the turkey and whitetail woods I was hunting. Unfortunately, even the sneakiness of the Outlander EV wasn't enough to outsmart the wily turkeys that popped up on Duren's game cameras the day after we left, but I have no doubt that when I return this November with my bow, I'll come away with a different result. Hopefully.
So, for all the hunters who dream about waking up a little bit later than before the ass-crack of dawn, you might want to head down to your local Can-Am dealership for a test ride. Because this little machine, which retails only for $13,000, is going to change the game for everyone East of the Rocky Mountains.
Mark my words.
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