You definitely need a winch bumper to mount a winch. Most brush guards fit too closely to the bumper to allow a winch to be mounted. Even so, most of the brush guards mount down low and a winch sitting up higher would torque the brush guard right off the mounts before it would pull your truck any measurable distance.

An alternative to a full-out winch is to buy a Hi-Lift jack and their off-road kit. This allows you to use the Hi-Lift as a come-along, hand winching yourself out of a stuck.

It's a bit more dangerous and much more tedious than letting a motor pull you out, but I've used that combo by myself to get my truck out of a situation where I high-centered the rear-end of the frame on dry ground with my wheels in deep, thick mud.

Took about 45 minutes of dedicated work on my part, but I finally got 'er loose. Using chain for one end of the pull is a necessity, so you'd need about 15' or more of good, heavy-duty trucker's chain, but you can pick up a bucket of that at Lowes.

Extra bonus - a Hi-Lift and Off-Road kit costs about $125.

Edited to add: Link to Hi-Lift jack and Off-Road kit .

Edited again: Instructions on using the Hi-Lift as a winch.