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Better pull up a 6-pack as this is gonna be a long one…..
So todays the start of baiting season for me. Made a trip to the mountains yesterday to check things out. The roads where plowed all the way to the mountains and then some. The gravel forest road still had snow so I was only able to get within 2.5 miles of my closest parking area. That’s not including the near 1 mile hike from the closed gate where I park. Anyway it was a bluebird day with no wind and fantastic weather. I was feeling great to be back in the mountains again.
Some of y’all may remember my incident where I got stuck and stranded last year on a borrowed 2wd 4-wheeler. This year, I have a borrowed 4wd 4-wheeler. It also weighs 2-3x as much and would be my downfall today.
Anyway..I get about 2 miles in and the front end just dropped. The back end was off the ground and I nearly went over the handle bars. I sank in a soft hole. I could only dig and dig and dig some more to get it unstuck. I was able to go straight another 5’ or so and the snow was really soft. I knew this was the end of the line for this trip. The snow was every bit of 30” deep. As time went on the sun turned the snow into crap and the rest is more digging, cussing and getting soaked in the melting snow.
It took me over 4 hours to finally get the damn thing to a point I could turned it around. I called it quits for awhile so I built a fire and relaxed for an hour to dry off. It’s close to 5pm at this point. I try and make a ramp with loggs and pine branches to get up and out of the massive hole I’d dig myself into. It worked for about 8’ and then rinse, lather and repeat. I dug it out from being high centered and went start it and it wouldn’t start. Fiddled with it and nothing. No electrical at all. I tried to pull cord start it and when I did the cord snapped back and I jacked up my right wrist again. It was bloody hell. I was cussing to the few birds that were around. Waited by the fire for another hour and the shadows to cover the road and the snow to firm back up. I also tried walking up the road a few hundred yards to where I could get cell service and nothing. My reliable signal spot was not reliable. I tried for another half hour to find a signal. I wanted to let my wife know I was stuck and I’d be later than the established time we set. Well in doing so I fell in a soft spot nearly to my hip and tweaked my left knee in the process. I got myself out and limped my way back to my fire where I cussed a bit more and tried to figure my situation. My left knee now hurts and my right wrist still hurts. I’m a limping cluster, well you know, at this point.
I was exhausted from about 6 hours of digging already to this point. I tried once more to get the ATV going and got it started. But the snow was still soft and I just sank and high centered once again. As I got off I once again sank above my knee, my left knee no less, and this time it popped on me. I sat in the now in a real situation now. I literally crawled the 15y or so back to my fire to dry off again and gather my thoughts. It’s now well after 8pm and I’m 2.1 miles from my truck according to my map.
I knew I couldn’t walk out on my own with my gear. I had some snacks, water, warm (now dry) cloths, my pistol, a nice fire and 2-way radio. The one thing I didn’t have was a light other than my cell phone. I decided that staying put was my best and safest option. People knew where I was and they would come when I didn’t make contact and arrive home on time.
While I had some remaining light I took my chainsaw and the best I could felled 2 small dead trees near my fire and cut them into a dozen 12” plus logs each. I stacked them up so I had plenty of fire wood. I started gathering pine branches to lay on the snow so I could at least lay down by the fire and rest. Well I managed to poke myself in my left eye on a branch in the darkness. What else could go wrong at this point?!
I hobbled back to my fire, spread out a bed of pine and settled in for what could be a long night. It was about 10pm or so when a noise startled me from a near sleep. I sat up and listened. I heard what I thought was a distant whoop (a noise my kids and I make to signal each other and our location) so I whipped back 3 times. Nothing at all so I laid back down. Then I heard it again and knew it was not just me hearing things so I pulled my pistol and fired a single shot. I then heard what sounded like an air horn blast so I fired a second shot. I heard 3 blasts from the air horn and knew help was on the way.
I’d had my 2-way radio on for a couple hours already but no one was responding, even now.
We whooped back and forth a few times and I realized it was my 18 year old son. I saw his light coming down the road and felt that great feeling of knowing all was well. He was alone and come to see what was going on. My wife was worried sick about me when I didn’t contact her at all and didn’t arrive home on time. I briefed my son what all happened and that I didn’t think I walk out and a snowmobile was probably my only way out and the only thing getting back to me. He said that if my wife didn’t hear from him by 2330 she was call my buddy thats in charge of the county rescue team. He hunts my baits and so he knows the area very well.
It’s now after 2230 and a 2.1 mile walk back in the near dark was looking more and more like a reality. My son tried to get the ATV unstuck but it was frozen to the snow. I was of no help to him. He took my backpack and chainsaw while I took the shovel as a crutch. We decided either I stayed the night here and tried in the morning to get it out or I suck it up and hike it out. We decided to get the heck outta dodge. I told my so to just go on ahead and contact his mom as quickly as he could that I was alive but a bit banged up. So he took off back towards the truck where he had to drive another 10 miles to get a cell signal. I decided to just leave the ATV burrows in the snow and come back in a few days when I could. I walk out on the crusty but stable snow the best I could alone. My son got word to my wife and then he drove back and once again hiked back to meet me and help me out. I’d only made it about 3/4 of a mile at this point. It took me about 1.5 hours to walk that 2.1 miles. It was well after midnight when I got to my truck. I then had another 45 minute drive back home.
I’m very tired and sore today. My wrist and knee still hurt. I’m trying to find someone with a snowmobile to go back and help me get it out this weekend. If I can’t I’ll have to let it sit until the snow melts enough I can actually drive it out.
So with last years incident I learned a lot and said I’d never be unprepared like that again. After yesterday I know now I must wait later in the season or get ahold of a snow noble to use. I was prepared and perfectly content to stay the night in the snow if I had to. I’m glad I didn’t. I’m now really thinking about investing in one of those InReach devices so I have a real means to contact my wife and or call for help. I was far worse off last year than this time around. I played it safe and wasn’t pushing myself to exhaustion either. I guarantee that for awhile yesterday I was the only human within 50 miles.
Ok now that this long winded story is over and your 6-pack is gone I’ll post more picks of the days adventure.
So todays the start of baiting season for me. Made a trip to the mountains yesterday to check things out. The roads where plowed all the way to the mountains and then some. The gravel forest road still had snow so I was only able to get within 2.5 miles of my closest parking area. That’s not including the near 1 mile hike from the closed gate where I park. Anyway it was a bluebird day with no wind and fantastic weather. I was feeling great to be back in the mountains again.
Some of y’all may remember my incident where I got stuck and stranded last year on a borrowed 2wd 4-wheeler. This year, I have a borrowed 4wd 4-wheeler. It also weighs 2-3x as much and would be my downfall today.
Anyway..I get about 2 miles in and the front end just dropped. The back end was off the ground and I nearly went over the handle bars. I sank in a soft hole. I could only dig and dig and dig some more to get it unstuck. I was able to go straight another 5’ or so and the snow was really soft. I knew this was the end of the line for this trip. The snow was every bit of 30” deep. As time went on the sun turned the snow into crap and the rest is more digging, cussing and getting soaked in the melting snow.
It took me over 4 hours to finally get the damn thing to a point I could turned it around. I called it quits for awhile so I built a fire and relaxed for an hour to dry off. It’s close to 5pm at this point. I try and make a ramp with loggs and pine branches to get up and out of the massive hole I’d dig myself into. It worked for about 8’ and then rinse, lather and repeat. I dug it out from being high centered and went start it and it wouldn’t start. Fiddled with it and nothing. No electrical at all. I tried to pull cord start it and when I did the cord snapped back and I jacked up my right wrist again. It was bloody hell. I was cussing to the few birds that were around. Waited by the fire for another hour and the shadows to cover the road and the snow to firm back up. I also tried walking up the road a few hundred yards to where I could get cell service and nothing. My reliable signal spot was not reliable. I tried for another half hour to find a signal. I wanted to let my wife know I was stuck and I’d be later than the established time we set. Well in doing so I fell in a soft spot nearly to my hip and tweaked my left knee in the process. I got myself out and limped my way back to my fire where I cussed a bit more and tried to figure my situation. My left knee now hurts and my right wrist still hurts. I’m a limping cluster, well you know, at this point.
I was exhausted from about 6 hours of digging already to this point. I tried once more to get the ATV going and got it started. But the snow was still soft and I just sank and high centered once again. As I got off I once again sank above my knee, my left knee no less, and this time it popped on me. I sat in the now in a real situation now. I literally crawled the 15y or so back to my fire to dry off again and gather my thoughts. It’s now well after 8pm and I’m 2.1 miles from my truck according to my map.
I knew I couldn’t walk out on my own with my gear. I had some snacks, water, warm (now dry) cloths, my pistol, a nice fire and 2-way radio. The one thing I didn’t have was a light other than my cell phone. I decided that staying put was my best and safest option. People knew where I was and they would come when I didn’t make contact and arrive home on time.
While I had some remaining light I took my chainsaw and the best I could felled 2 small dead trees near my fire and cut them into a dozen 12” plus logs each. I stacked them up so I had plenty of fire wood. I started gathering pine branches to lay on the snow so I could at least lay down by the fire and rest. Well I managed to poke myself in my left eye on a branch in the darkness. What else could go wrong at this point?!
I hobbled back to my fire, spread out a bed of pine and settled in for what could be a long night. It was about 10pm or so when a noise startled me from a near sleep. I sat up and listened. I heard what I thought was a distant whoop (a noise my kids and I make to signal each other and our location) so I whipped back 3 times. Nothing at all so I laid back down. Then I heard it again and knew it was not just me hearing things so I pulled my pistol and fired a single shot. I then heard what sounded like an air horn blast so I fired a second shot. I heard 3 blasts from the air horn and knew help was on the way.
I’d had my 2-way radio on for a couple hours already but no one was responding, even now.
We whooped back and forth a few times and I realized it was my 18 year old son. I saw his light coming down the road and felt that great feeling of knowing all was well. He was alone and come to see what was going on. My wife was worried sick about me when I didn’t contact her at all and didn’t arrive home on time. I briefed my son what all happened and that I didn’t think I walk out and a snowmobile was probably my only way out and the only thing getting back to me. He said that if my wife didn’t hear from him by 2330 she was call my buddy thats in charge of the county rescue team. He hunts my baits and so he knows the area very well.
It’s now after 2230 and a 2.1 mile walk back in the near dark was looking more and more like a reality. My son tried to get the ATV unstuck but it was frozen to the snow. I was of no help to him. He took my backpack and chainsaw while I took the shovel as a crutch. We decided either I stayed the night here and tried in the morning to get it out or I suck it up and hike it out. We decided to get the heck outta dodge. I told my so to just go on ahead and contact his mom as quickly as he could that I was alive but a bit banged up. So he took off back towards the truck where he had to drive another 10 miles to get a cell signal. I decided to just leave the ATV burrows in the snow and come back in a few days when I could. I walk out on the crusty but stable snow the best I could alone. My son got word to my wife and then he drove back and once again hiked back to meet me and help me out. I’d only made it about 3/4 of a mile at this point. It took me about 1.5 hours to walk that 2.1 miles. It was well after midnight when I got to my truck. I then had another 45 minute drive back home.
I’m very tired and sore today. My wrist and knee still hurt. I’m trying to find someone with a snowmobile to go back and help me get it out this weekend. If I can’t I’ll have to let it sit until the snow melts enough I can actually drive it out.
So with last years incident I learned a lot and said I’d never be unprepared like that again. After yesterday I know now I must wait later in the season or get ahold of a snow noble to use. I was prepared and perfectly content to stay the night in the snow if I had to. I’m glad I didn’t. I’m now really thinking about investing in one of those InReach devices so I have a real means to contact my wife and or call for help. I was far worse off last year than this time around. I played it safe and wasn’t pushing myself to exhaustion either. I guarantee that for awhile yesterday I was the only human within 50 miles.
Ok now that this long winded story is over and your 6-pack is gone I’ll post more picks of the days adventure.
?
