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Gilson Bounty Hunter Review: Flat vs. 3D — Which Base Is Better?

Steve Weber Updated 07/18/2025 Posted 02/09/2025

The Gilson Bounty Hunter is an excellent all-mountain freestyle board that’s perfect for charging groomers and riding all over your favorite resort. This board has a true twin shape, a traditional camber profile, and a slightly stiffer than medium flex pattern at a 6/10.

The Bounty Hunter has a smooth, cruisy, and incredibly stable feel to its ride.  It’s the type of board you’ll feel confident riding, so you’ll want to push yourself to ride it a little harder and a little faster than you normally ride.

If you’re an all-mountain freestyle rider who loves going fast, launching off jumps, and you need a stable feeling board that can handle anything the resort throws at you, then this deck is for you.

Pro tip Over on the Gilson Snowboards website, you can use the coupon code boardoftheworld for a 10% discount on your Bounty Hunter.

Click the button to copy the 10% off Gilson coupon here.

Summary of Key Specs of the Gilson Bounty Hunter Ronin:

• Profile: Full Camber
• Riding Style: All-Mountain Freestyle
• Who It’s For: Perfect for all-mountain freestyle riders who like charging down groomed runs, blasting off park jumps, and launching side hits
• Skill Level: Intermediate to Advanced
• Flex: 6/10 (Nose to Tail), 5/10 (Torsional)
• Core: Lightweight Poplar
• Base: Sintered
• Glide: Felt noticeably fast when it’s waxed and noticeably slows down when its dry
• Shape: True Twin with Blunted Tips
• Weight of Board: Felt Average
• Sidecut Radius: Deeper than average (7.29 m in the 152 I rode)
• Effective Edge: Longer than average at approximately 73% of the board or 111.14cm in the 152cm size I rode (The benefit is that it feels stable and can make both tight and wide turns.)
• Waist Width: Average

Version Reviewed:

I reviewed the 2025 Gilson Bounty Hunter snowboard in the 152cm size. For this review I tested the Bounty Hunter in the flat base (non-3D/soft edge) option.

Where I Reviewed the Bounty Hunter:

I reviewed this board for an extended demo that took place in late January 2025 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Conditions Tested:

The riding conditions ranged from groomers and ice to powder stashes and choppy, rutted terrain

Pros

• Fun to Carve With – Surfy yet locked-in carving experience
  
• Outstanding grip on ice
  
• Excellent pop off jumps
  
• Responsive / Stable feel
  
• High-speed stability
  
• Perfect for either short tight turns or wider medium turns
  
• Made in the USA with a 5-Year Warranty

Cons

• Need to wax it often to keep its fast glide.
  
• It’s not the dampest feeling board, so you will feel vibrations in choppy terrain. Pair this with a damp binding like the Union Ultra or Falcor for a damper feel.

Type of Rider the Gilson Bounty Hunter For

The Gilson Bounty Hunter is ideal for intermediate to advanced all-mountain freestyle riders who want a board that’s fun to carve with and is stable and snappy enough to blast off jumps in the park. This board is a great choice for riders who want a stable, responsive, predictable, and snappy feeling ride.

This board is for the rider who thought Gilson boards sounded interesting but was waiting for a traditional camber option. This is that board.

Two Base Options for 2025: 3D or Flat Base

Gilson Snowboards now offers the Bounty Hunter with two base options:

1. A forgiving 3D base with a soft edge, which is ideal for beginners or riders looking for a more playful, forgiving feel.
   
   
2. A traditional flat base is great for its locked-in feeling edge hold on ice, stability, and responsiveness in varied conditions.

For this review, I tested the flat base version in the 152cm size.

Learn which base type is right for you here.

3D vs. Flat: Which Base is Better for You?

Between the flat or 3d base, this should help you decide which option of the board to consider.

Which Version Do I Prefer, the 3D Base or the Flat Base?

It’s a personal preference, but I definitely liked the flat base option more.

Outside of buttering, the flat base significantly improved the board’s versatility. For me on the East Coast we get a lot of ice, and the flat base option adds an extra level of grip and response to help me navigate the rougher conditions we tend to get out here. I found that the flat base option gave me the confidence to charge a bit harder and power through any type of conditions the resort offered up.

Park-wise, even though the flat-based option isn’t as “catch-free,” it was still outstanding in the park.

For jibbing, I could lock into features just as easily as with the 3D base, and it offered more grip while landing spins off jumps (so I wouldn’t keep reverting or spinning once I landed). The only drawback I ran into with the flat base was that buttering took a bit more effort. While butters are still doable, they required more of a conscious effort to make sure I always shifted my weight up hill just as you would with any other snowboard that doesn’t have a 3D or spoon-like base.

For some context, I’ve ridden the 3D-based version on my Gilson Undead for the past three years, and the 3D base is very easy to get used to for riding anywhere and everywhere.

Overall, I prefer the consistent feel of a flat base between the two options. The flat base made the deeper sidecut radius and longer effective edge come to life, so I recommend that option if you’re an intermediate to advanced-level rider who is looking to charge with your Bounty Hunter.

Review Rating of the Gilson Bounty Hunter

The Bounty Hunter was rated using our All-Mountain Freestyle scoring system. This rating scale prioritizes carving and versatility, along with balanced park performance for jumping and jibbing. The weighting column of the score indicates how much each consideration contributed to the overall score.

Editor’s Rating: 4.27 out of 5 stars for the Gilson Bounty Hunter Snowboard

Review Summary

Here’s a two-minute video summary of me riding and narrating how the board feels to me.

I rode the 152cm size, and I am 5’6″ and 142 lbs with a size nine boot for reference. I rode this board in Jackson Hole, Wyoming for the last week of of January 2025. Conditions were well groomed with the occasional icy, rutted out patch.

Gilson is a smaller Pennsylvania-based board brand that is primarily known for its 3D base/soft edge technology. They’ve gotten some feedback about their edge tech appealing to more of a niche rider because some feel it has a looser, less grippy feel when compared to a traditional flat-based board.

Well, Gilson heard the feedback, and now they offer a traditional flat base option, too. I reviewed the new flat-based version of the Bounty Hunter.

This board has a traditional camber profile and has a flex of 6/10 lengthwise and a slightly softer 5/10 flex toe-to-heel. This combination makes for a board that is perfect for hitting jumps – the pop is definitely above average (I’d say about 10% more than the typical deck). It’s also surprisingly jib-friendly and forgiving thanks to that softer torsional flex. Nose presses are a bit challenging, though, due to the camber profile – you really gotta lean into it.

So what’s the real appeal of the Gilson Bounty Hunter? Its carving experience, thanks to its unique shape.

This board has a deep sidecut, long effective edge, and wide contact points that extend like wings. The result is a board that is so fun to carve with. It’s a blast for carving through tight turns in the trees, and it can also lay down some seriously surfy, wide carves, too.

So, if you’re looking for a versatile board that can jib, jump, and carve like a dream, the Gilson Bounty Hunter is worth checking out.

Review Image Gallery

Actual Feel of the Flex

To me, the Bounty Hunter’s flex felt a little bit stiffer than medium. I’d say it felt like a 6 out of 10 from nose-to-tail (longitudinally) and then it’s slightly softer at 5 out of 10 for its flex from toe to heel (torsionally).

The softer torsional flex makes for a ride that feels both responsive and stable yet still playful when you want it to be.

• This is a board that can lay a trench and still butter relatively easily.
• The board’s edge hold is excellent, and the flex is stiff enough to handle aggressive carving.

Carving Experience

The carving experience with the Gilson Bounty Hunter feels laid-back and cruisy, yet incredibly precise and locked-in. The Bounty Hunter’s turn initiation is quick and intuitive, and the overall feel of the ride was easy to get used to—so much so that you’ll be charging on it within a run or two.

The important thing to note about the Bounty Hunter is that it has a deeper sidecut radius (7.54m in the 152 I rode) and a longer effective edge.

If you were to look at the sidecut of the Bounty Hunter, it would look like this, with the arc of the contact points noticeably extending outward.

These features work together to allow you to easily switch between shorter, tighter turns and medium-sized, longer, drawn-out turns. Typically, a board excels at one or the other, so it’s neat to have an all-mountain board that you can really lay down a trench within a wider carve when you want to.

Overall, if you’re an all-mountain rider who loves charging aggressively on groomers, you’ll love how stable, fun, and responsive the Bounty Hunter is.

Jumps & Side Hits

The Bounty Hunter is built on a snappy traditional camber profile that is just whispering you to take it through the jump line in the park. The board has an above-average boost of pop, but it wasn’t the most pop I’ve ever felt underfoot. I’ll say it’s more than enough for the average rider to clear the knuckle of a small to medium-sized (10-60 foot) foot jump, though.  

I Prefer the Flat Base Version Better for Jumping

Spinning off jumps is an area where I prefer Gilson’s flat bases over the soft edge / 3d base configuration.

While this is completely a personal preference, I found that it was easier to land my spins cleaner with the flat-based version of The Bounty Hunter. I simply dig my toe side edge in, and I can ride away clean. For me, my poor habits tend to show more on the Gilson 3D base. With the softer edge, I tend to keep spinning (reverting) when I land, and I like the ability to dig my edge in and ride away cleaner.

Jibbing

This board is generally more on the jump-leaning side of the park spectrum. However, you can still take hit jib features with it.

The Bounty Hunter can nosepress with a little bit of effort, and it’s mid flex and camber profile worked well to help you balance a little easier across rail features. Its mid-flexing Pennsylvanian poplar core worked well to cradle around the feature without any additional rebounding that would jar you or trip force you off balance as you jib.

Even with the flat base, I didn’t find the edges to be too catchy on features. However, if you’ll be jibbing often, I’d recommend considering the 3D base option of the Bounty Hunter. It will help keep your edges from catching as you slide across features.

Powder

I mainly rode the Gilson Bounty Hunter on groomers, hardpack, and ice. However, I came across occasional small patches of powder to test its float, too.

Overall, this board does okay with occasional powder stashes, but being a true twin symmetrical shape, it lacks additional shaping features to help you float in really deep snow. If you’ll be riding in powder, you’ll want to set your stance back closer to the tail or consider a board that’s specifically designed to help you float.

Regarding the Dampness (The One Con I Felt)

The only real con I had to note is that the Bounty Hunter can get a bit chattery in its tips at high speeds when you’re riding in rougher, choppier conditions. The chatter isn’t noticeable on smooth terrain or at moderate speeds. However, it is when things get rutted out and you’re going fast. The board has enough stability to power through when you keep your knees bent, though.

It’s worth noting that if you’ll be riding this board aggressively, I’d recommend pairing it with a binding that has some extra dampening properties, like the Union Ultra or Union Falcor. Both of those are built on Union’s new molecular bushing that has the same shock-absorbing foam as a running shoe.

Are Gilson Boards Good?

Yes. While Gilson is a smaller brand, they make high-quality boards that perform just as well as those from larger brands. That said, these boards are made in Pennsylvania with locally sourced wood and come with a five-year warranty, so if anything goes wrong, just reach out to their customer service team, and they will make it right for you.

Addressing the Grip: Gilson’s Response to Rider Concerns

In the past, Gilson received criticism for its patented soft-edge technology and 3D bases. Some riders claimed that the board’s soft edge didn’t offer as much grip when compared to snowboards with a traditional (or non-3D) base. The criticism was that Gilson appealed to a more niche type of rider who enjoyed the looser feel of a 3D base or having a butter pad. However, now that Gilson offers a traditional flat base option, too, that’s no longer the case.

So now you can buy a Gilson board with either base type.

• Riders who need a more traditional-feeling board can purchase their board with the flat base option.
  
• Riders who prefer the looser feel of a 3D base, soft edge, or butter pad can purchase a version of the board with the 3D base that offers a looser, more forgiving feel.

So What’s My Take?

In all honesty, I am the type of rider who prefers the traditional flat base option over the 3D base, so for this review, I rode the Gilson Bounty Hunter with the traditional flat base, and I thought it was an excellent.

Full Specs of the Gilson Bounty Hunter

The Gilson Bounty Hunter vs The Gilson Undead

These two boards cater to different riding styles.

• The Gilson Bounty Hunter has a traditional camber profile and excels at carving and high-speed stability. It is the better board for charging groomers and hitting larger jumps.
• The Undead has a hyprid rocker-dominant profile that excels at park and jibbing. The Undead is the softer, more playful board. It’s got a forgiving feel that’s perfect for pressing on rails and boxes in the park.

If you’re looking for a board that’s stable at speed and excels at carving, the Bounty Hunter is the way to go.

If park laps and jibbing are what you are after, then the Undead is the way to go.

Where Can You Buy a Gilson Bounty Hunter?

You can get the Bounty Hunter right from the Gilson Website. For the next few weeks, you can save $68.90 by using the coupon code boardoftheworld.

Pro tip Over on the Gilson Snowboards website, you can use the coupon code boardoftheworld for a 10% discount on your Bounty Hunter.