2. (25 mile) two-way radio's
3. Extra gas (attached to the 4-wheeler)
4. New tires on the truck -or at least some with decent traction
5. A battery for your cell phone --or an extra cell phone, or at least make sure the battery is fully charged before you leave home.
Why am I telling you these things?? If you read to the following story, you'll know why.
Saturday morning I awoke with great hopes of harvesting my first elk. Jeremy, Sid, and I headed out in Dad's old grey truck, bundled up and ready to find some elk. The first hour of the ride was not looking like the day would be a success. After slipping and sliding our way through the woods (because the tires on the truck were bald), we came to a tree that had fallen across the road. It was a pretty large tree, but not so large that an ATV & Winch couldn't move it.
After about 20 minutes, we were off again, and not more that 200 yards away was another fallen tree. This tree from a distance seemed very large, and turned out to be 2 tree's stacked on top of each other. After several attempts, they weren't going anywhere. After hearing several gun shots from a distance, Jeremy made an executive decision that I should hop on the 4-wheeler with Sid in search for the 200 head of Elk that were known to be roaming the hills.
Sid and I left with a (2 mile) two-way radio and after coming to an open valley, we received a call from one of Sid's buddies from work. He and his companion had just shot an elk, and he said he knew which direction they were heading and if we hurried we could probably catch up with them. Sounded good to me. So we called Jeremy, told him to drive the truck out the way we came, and up the other side of the mountain. There shouldn't be as much snow, and he shouldn't have any problems finding us. We told him where to meet us, and off we went. After meeting up with Sid's buddy and helping them load their elk in the truck, we were off on the chase. A few 100 yards down the road we ran into ANOTHER fallen tree. I could not believe it. Was someone telling me to just go home??How in the world was anyone suppose to go anywhere if there were tree's in the road?? This tree was very large, and even though Sid attempted it, it would not budge. So we took an ax (that his buddy brought) and chopped a path around the tree.
After several miles and hours of following the elk's trail. We came to a stop. We had lost there tracks, and figured that the elk were on a fast run, and had probably changed directions. By this time we had been gone for several hours, and were worried about finding Jeremy. He was probably wondering where we were.
Meanwhile..... Jeremy is driving my dad's old farm truck (--remember the bald tires) up the mountain, when he was almost to the top he had to drive through a 2 to 3 foot deep snow drift when the truck lost all traction and slid back. Jeremy was stuck in this spot for over an hour before he was able to make the final 20 yards to the top of the mountain. HURRAY!! By this time, Sid and I are trying to call Jeremy on the radio's and the cell phone. We had received a message that said, Hi Sid I'm............ -the call goes dead. Jeremy's call was cut short, and our phone had just lost it's last bar of battery power. What now??
While Sid and I were stopped by the side of the road, some friendly hunter's stopped to see if we needed any help --they were so nice, and willing to give us food and water, and even gloves because I had left mine in the truck. We denied their offerings but asked them (and several others) if they had seen Jeremy, and no one had. We decided to go back the way that we had come, but there was one problem. We were very low on fuel. We decided to take our chances. After driving back the way we came, there was no sign of Jeremy, and he was not answering the radio. We were almost to the highway, but we were running on fumes. We stopped at a home/cabin to see if they had any gas that we could borrow (don't worry, we knew them.) No one was home, so we drove to the entrance of the road that we told Jeremy to take. We would wait there, and try to hitch a ride back to town to get another vehicle to go and find Jeremy.
Without waiting long, a ride had arrived, (I'm so glad it was someone I knew) and Sid sent me down the hill for another truck. When I arrived home I called Jeremy and he informed me that some friendly hunter's had told him that we were searching for him and which direction we had gone. He had gotten a hold of Sid on the radio, and was heading down the mountain. He also tells me of the heard of elk he saw while stuck in the snow bank. That's how my luck goes. At least we were in contact again. What a relief!!!!! After kissing my kids, I headed off to the shower.
When Sid and Jeremy arrived home, we swapped stories and laughed about our hunting adventure. Although I was not successful at harvesting my elk, I have memories that will last forever. I also have another month until the hunt ends, so maybe I'll go back. I'll just make sure to have the supplies I need.
Sid and I left with a (2 mile) two-way radio and after coming to an open valley, we received a call from one of Sid's buddies from work. He and his companion had just shot an elk, and he said he knew which direction they were heading and if we hurried we could probably catch up with them. Sounded good to me. So we called Jeremy, told him to drive the truck out the way we came, and up the other side of the mountain. There shouldn't be as much snow, and he shouldn't have any problems finding us. We told him where to meet us, and off we went. After meeting up with Sid's buddy and helping them load their elk in the truck, we were off on the chase. A few 100 yards down the road we ran into ANOTHER fallen tree. I could not believe it. Was someone telling me to just go home??How in the world was anyone suppose to go anywhere if there were tree's in the road?? This tree was very large, and even though Sid attempted it, it would not budge. So we took an ax (that his buddy brought) and chopped a path around the tree.
After several miles and hours of following the elk's trail. We came to a stop. We had lost there tracks, and figured that the elk were on a fast run, and had probably changed directions. By this time we had been gone for several hours, and were worried about finding Jeremy. He was probably wondering where we were.
Meanwhile..... Jeremy is driving my dad's old farm truck (--remember the bald tires) up the mountain, when he was almost to the top he had to drive through a 2 to 3 foot deep snow drift when the truck lost all traction and slid back. Jeremy was stuck in this spot for over an hour before he was able to make the final 20 yards to the top of the mountain. HURRAY!! By this time, Sid and I are trying to call Jeremy on the radio's and the cell phone. We had received a message that said, Hi Sid I'm............ -the call goes dead. Jeremy's call was cut short, and our phone had just lost it's last bar of battery power. What now??
While Sid and I were stopped by the side of the road, some friendly hunter's stopped to see if we needed any help --they were so nice, and willing to give us food and water, and even gloves because I had left mine in the truck. We denied their offerings but asked them (and several others) if they had seen Jeremy, and no one had. We decided to go back the way that we had come, but there was one problem. We were very low on fuel. We decided to take our chances. After driving back the way we came, there was no sign of Jeremy, and he was not answering the radio. We were almost to the highway, but we were running on fumes. We stopped at a home/cabin to see if they had any gas that we could borrow (don't worry, we knew them.) No one was home, so we drove to the entrance of the road that we told Jeremy to take. We would wait there, and try to hitch a ride back to town to get another vehicle to go and find Jeremy.
Without waiting long, a ride had arrived, (I'm so glad it was someone I knew) and Sid sent me down the hill for another truck. When I arrived home I called Jeremy and he informed me that some friendly hunter's had told him that we were searching for him and which direction we had gone. He had gotten a hold of Sid on the radio, and was heading down the mountain. He also tells me of the heard of elk he saw while stuck in the snow bank. That's how my luck goes. At least we were in contact again. What a relief!!!!! After kissing my kids, I headed off to the shower.
When Sid and Jeremy arrived home, we swapped stories and laughed about our hunting adventure. Although I was not successful at harvesting my elk, I have memories that will last forever. I also have another month until the hunt ends, so maybe I'll go back. I'll just make sure to have the supplies I need.
2 comments:
Seriously Shalayne, you win the wife of the year award hands down! What a trooper! I feel like such a whiny, spoiled wife now...
What an adventure. You have so many cool stories to tell at parties though, so maybe it was all worth it. Maybe. :)
you weren't meant to get that elk!!
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