DAA
02-04-2007, 08:26 PM
Not too sure whether this should go here, or in the offroad forum. But it was a hunting trip, so I guess it ought to go here :mrgreen: .
Me and my buddy Tim went out to do some coyote hunting yesterday. As it turned out, the wind blew and howled all day long. We got the Jeep stuck three times. We didn't kill any coyotes. Our camera shit the bed and needs a $500 repair.
But we had too much fun!
Started out in a corner of the country we have never rolled through before. Wind was just flat HOWLING before it even got light. Country we were in had lots of bunnies and coyote sign. But the brush was taller than the Jeep and few places to get a setup with any kind of shooting lane. Plus, with that wind, and the tall brush, our sound wasn't going to go anywhere. So we stayed in the Jeep and just did some exploring. After the sun came up, we couldn't stand not hunting, so we made several stands but it was hopeless, the wind was just way too much.
We had been cutting the first tire tracks in weeks old snow for 30 miles by mid morning and found ourselves in a good looking draw when the wind just decided to let up all the sudden. Yipee! We walked a short distance and setup. Got a group yip howl from maybe 500 yards away almost as soon as I started the jackrabbit distress sound on the Foxpro. So I started giving them some non-agressive puppy howls. A couple minutes later I spotted three coyotes trotting on the top of a spine ridge. At the time I estimated them to be 400 yards, but they were further, probably more like 500. Anyway, all three of them sat up there on the ridge in plain sight and howled back and forth with me for awhile. I switched to more aggressive dominant howls and could see the largest coyote getting pretty worked up. But none took a step our way. Finally I decided to give them a little rabbit again. One of them immediately did an about face and ran away. The other two started backing up and side stepping. No doubt, this crew was wise to the rabbit blues... Went back to the howls, but they were just fixing to leave. So I took my best shot at the big male. Misjudged the distance and missed him.
We got in one more stand, then the wind came back, harder than ever. It was blowing so hard that the few stands we made just seemed like a waste of time. So we just pointed the hood of the Jeep towards more ground we'd never seen and did some exploring.
By late afternoon we we had navigated most of a huge loop (about 100 miles) through the desert and were heading back towards the pavement. Again, we were on an unfamilar two track, and cutting the first tracks in old snow. Nobody had been on this two track for weeks, at least. Came upon a spot in the road that was washed out and just an ugly looking mud pit. Decided to go for it. Didn't make it...
http://photos.imageevent.com/daffleck/rubiconunlimted/websize/Stuck-1W.jpg
Once I felt the frame rail on my side start sinking in the mud, I stopped. We weren't even to the "bad" part of the mud hole yet. No sense getting stupid on the skinny peddle and just digging in any deeper and making it worse. Thank goodness there is a winch on my front bumper, and I always carry a Pull Pal (no trees or anything to hook onto). Mr. Warn made short work of pulling us through the mud hole. Score one for Dave and Tim vs. our hated enemy Mud!
Here's a video clip (http://photos.imageevent.com/daffleck/rubiconunlimted/PullPalWinch1.wmv) of the Jeep winching out of the mud.
Got only about two more miles up the draw and got stuck in a snow drift...
http://photos.imageevent.com/daffleck/rubiconunlimted/websize/IMG_0875W.jpg
Had a good tree to anchor on this time, and again the winch got us out easy and saved us some shovel work.
http://photos.imageevent.com/daffleck/rubiconunlimted/websize/IMG_0879W.jpg
Got only another 800 yards before we were stuck in another snow drift... We were getting short on daylight. Still had about 10 miles of this two track before we would get to a "good" dirt road, which would still leave us another 10 miles to pavement. I did a little recon on foot, and the road ahead just got worse. More and deeper snow drifts ahead. We really didn't want to turn around though, as it would have added a couple more hours before reaching pavement. So we got out the tire chains and chained all four tires. We figured we'd just see what kind of justice that would get us trying to go forward. But that if we got stuck again, with all four chained, we were going to turn around, go back and winch ourselves back across the mud hole and just take the long way back to pavement.
We need not have worried about having to turn around! With both axles locked, and chains on all four tires, the Jeep was like a little bulldozer going through the remaining snow drifts. Our forward progress did get stopped several times. But all we had to do was forward/reverse/forward/reverse until the chains dug down to the frozen ground and got some justice to grind our way through. I had my window rolled down, and in a couple spots I could almost touch the top of the snow we were going through.
Tim and I really had a lot of fun getting through all that mud and snow! It was a blast. Have to admit though, that as much fun as we had, it still felt REAL good to get back on the good dirt road and be able to take the tire chains off. By then, it was full dark. We had about a four hour drive home ahead of us. I cranked up the heater an extra notch, lit a good cigar, settled back in the seat and pointed the headlights towards home feeling totally pleased with the events of the day, even though we hadn't scored a single coyote. We listend to the Jazz beat the Suns on the Sirius and that seemed like the perfect way to cap off a fun day.
- DAA
Me and my buddy Tim went out to do some coyote hunting yesterday. As it turned out, the wind blew and howled all day long. We got the Jeep stuck three times. We didn't kill any coyotes. Our camera shit the bed and needs a $500 repair.
But we had too much fun!
Started out in a corner of the country we have never rolled through before. Wind was just flat HOWLING before it even got light. Country we were in had lots of bunnies and coyote sign. But the brush was taller than the Jeep and few places to get a setup with any kind of shooting lane. Plus, with that wind, and the tall brush, our sound wasn't going to go anywhere. So we stayed in the Jeep and just did some exploring. After the sun came up, we couldn't stand not hunting, so we made several stands but it was hopeless, the wind was just way too much.
We had been cutting the first tire tracks in weeks old snow for 30 miles by mid morning and found ourselves in a good looking draw when the wind just decided to let up all the sudden. Yipee! We walked a short distance and setup. Got a group yip howl from maybe 500 yards away almost as soon as I started the jackrabbit distress sound on the Foxpro. So I started giving them some non-agressive puppy howls. A couple minutes later I spotted three coyotes trotting on the top of a spine ridge. At the time I estimated them to be 400 yards, but they were further, probably more like 500. Anyway, all three of them sat up there on the ridge in plain sight and howled back and forth with me for awhile. I switched to more aggressive dominant howls and could see the largest coyote getting pretty worked up. But none took a step our way. Finally I decided to give them a little rabbit again. One of them immediately did an about face and ran away. The other two started backing up and side stepping. No doubt, this crew was wise to the rabbit blues... Went back to the howls, but they were just fixing to leave. So I took my best shot at the big male. Misjudged the distance and missed him.
We got in one more stand, then the wind came back, harder than ever. It was blowing so hard that the few stands we made just seemed like a waste of time. So we just pointed the hood of the Jeep towards more ground we'd never seen and did some exploring.
By late afternoon we we had navigated most of a huge loop (about 100 miles) through the desert and were heading back towards the pavement. Again, we were on an unfamilar two track, and cutting the first tracks in old snow. Nobody had been on this two track for weeks, at least. Came upon a spot in the road that was washed out and just an ugly looking mud pit. Decided to go for it. Didn't make it...
http://photos.imageevent.com/daffleck/rubiconunlimted/websize/Stuck-1W.jpg
Once I felt the frame rail on my side start sinking in the mud, I stopped. We weren't even to the "bad" part of the mud hole yet. No sense getting stupid on the skinny peddle and just digging in any deeper and making it worse. Thank goodness there is a winch on my front bumper, and I always carry a Pull Pal (no trees or anything to hook onto). Mr. Warn made short work of pulling us through the mud hole. Score one for Dave and Tim vs. our hated enemy Mud!
Here's a video clip (http://photos.imageevent.com/daffleck/rubiconunlimted/PullPalWinch1.wmv) of the Jeep winching out of the mud.
Got only about two more miles up the draw and got stuck in a snow drift...
http://photos.imageevent.com/daffleck/rubiconunlimted/websize/IMG_0875W.jpg
Had a good tree to anchor on this time, and again the winch got us out easy and saved us some shovel work.
http://photos.imageevent.com/daffleck/rubiconunlimted/websize/IMG_0879W.jpg
Got only another 800 yards before we were stuck in another snow drift... We were getting short on daylight. Still had about 10 miles of this two track before we would get to a "good" dirt road, which would still leave us another 10 miles to pavement. I did a little recon on foot, and the road ahead just got worse. More and deeper snow drifts ahead. We really didn't want to turn around though, as it would have added a couple more hours before reaching pavement. So we got out the tire chains and chained all four tires. We figured we'd just see what kind of justice that would get us trying to go forward. But that if we got stuck again, with all four chained, we were going to turn around, go back and winch ourselves back across the mud hole and just take the long way back to pavement.
We need not have worried about having to turn around! With both axles locked, and chains on all four tires, the Jeep was like a little bulldozer going through the remaining snow drifts. Our forward progress did get stopped several times. But all we had to do was forward/reverse/forward/reverse until the chains dug down to the frozen ground and got some justice to grind our way through. I had my window rolled down, and in a couple spots I could almost touch the top of the snow we were going through.
Tim and I really had a lot of fun getting through all that mud and snow! It was a blast. Have to admit though, that as much fun as we had, it still felt REAL good to get back on the good dirt road and be able to take the tire chains off. By then, it was full dark. We had about a four hour drive home ahead of us. I cranked up the heater an extra notch, lit a good cigar, settled back in the seat and pointed the headlights towards home feeling totally pleased with the events of the day, even though we hadn't scored a single coyote. We listend to the Jazz beat the Suns on the Sirius and that seemed like the perfect way to cap off a fun day.
- DAA