Rockcon
I got my MudBugs today and my bud is mounting them on the rims this evening. I share your plight! If you shop hard you can get the Bugs for near the amount of money your talking about.
You really don't have many choices though. The BigHorn's just can't hang with the clay base Florida mud we have. They load up immediately and then they're stuck. Other than their dismal performance in our mud, I think I would run them.
You could get the 25" MudLites. They are a pretty good tire, fairly inexpensive and very light. Unfortuneately, the 25" MudLites only have .75 inch lugs on them. You may as well stay with your stockers as buy these! In order to get the 1.2" lugs, you have to move up to the 26" size. Butttttt-there's another problem. MudLites do not come in anything narrower than a 10" tire in the 26" size. That means you have to run 10" in the front which not only makes for a noticeably heavier steering effort but also provides for a little more mud slinging outside of the fenderwells.
That brings you to the choice I made. The 25" MudBugs are actually a few ounces lighter than the 26" MudLites. The Bugs come in a 8" width for the front and the best part is, the 25" tires have the 1.2" lug heighth. These tires ride very nicely on roads, trails and rocks. Do a search on any of the forums and you will be hard pressed to find any negative comments. There are better mud tires like the Outlaw, Mudzillas, etc, there are better trail tires like the ATR, BigHorn, etc., but I am unaware of a better all around tire for all of it!
Sorry for the long post--just my 2c!