for all out durability you cant beat a honda foreman 500. no slipping belts, strait axle, carb. ive had mine for a year now and love it.

 

Dpending on your needs.
The two wheel drives with the strait axle require the least amount of maintenance.

 

We have an Ozark 250 that we use for working around the home/trails/and hunting. It does it's job very well. Could easily haul a 260lb guy and some gear. If you need to compete for size with everybody else it obviously wouldn't work but the price was very nice.
as far as 4x4 to avoid getting stuck, it's all in how you ride. I've taken 2 wd sport quads where 4x4s would get stuck but it was fast and lift the front to go through. The little Ozark has gone through quite a bit of crap out there on the trails and never gotten stuck yet. My wife rides it out on trails when we go riding. I ride a sport quad.
The obvious answer is stay away from 2 stroke anything. Sport quads in general are not good for hunting.
Personally I do not like Polaris quads at all, but it's a personal choice. Many people love them. Yamaha I've had decent luck with. Suzuki has been my go to quad for years. Kawasaki runs right up there with suzuki. I haven't ridden a Honda ATv in many years although when I had them they were foolproof. I do have a Honda mototrcycle and it is typical honda. perfect.
The vinson 500 mentioned above would probably be the absolute best for you if you can find one. That is of course without me knowing you in any way, just judging by what you said you wanted.

 

Im a sport quad guy myself but if your looking for utility with racks than I would say to take a look at the yamaha grizzly. Also ****** a copy of Quad magazine and do some reading.

 

Well, found a bike. Going to pick it up Thursday once the funds are available from the boat's sale.

It's a Blue 2004 Polaris Sportsman 400 4x4. 1000 miles on it. Seems to be in good shape. Everything is tight, shifts well, runs/idles well, adult ridden. Throwing in an aluminum ramp, extra tranny belt, set of jets for high altitude as well as the jets that are in it for this altitude. $3350. Which will leave plenty for all the oher stuff I'm going to want/need.

 

Awesome choice. FYI our ranch is at 4500 ft elevation, and both our polaris sportsman bikes never skip a beat.

Our 400 4x4 is blue also, with 4x4 written in red/white. We probably have the exact same quad.

 

Thanks for all the help guys! Here she is!
I know it's dirty but that will be remedied tomorrow.
Boy short bed + toolbox = tight tight tight fit.

 

Looks pretty good from here.
Adult ridden

 

Excellent choice. I had a Polaris 400 4x4 that I rode around the mountains of Montana last year. I rode it from about 5000-7000 ft elevation, just playing around in the mountains. It would have been nice to have a more powerful machine for some of the climbs, but it was adequate and very dependable. Have fun.