ive seen some people with dirtbikes using paddles in the snow. seemed to work well

 

Maxxis 4-snows work well because they grow and that gives you much better ground clearance.

 

I used mine in the snow at the dunes, I wouldn't run paddles on hard pack, once you break through the snow, you'll tear the paddles up. With snow on the trails, I just use dirt tires, you just have to work your quad in order for it to travel.

 

I've never tried chains on a raptor, but in my experience with chains, it wasn't worth the effort. I think the main draw back you are going to run into with any sport quad is the lack of ground clearance in the rear. Even with big 22inch tires on the rear, you are still dragging a lot of metal in the snow. I rode my blaster a lot in snow before I traded it and had mixed results with my holeshot XCRs. I'm going to run Realtors on the rear of my raptor this winter, they are taller and a lot wider than the XCRs so that should help out, plus they have a decent paddle design that is a lot stronger than paddles made for the dunes. just my .02 cents