Houston's 4 wheel drive Experience

I’m going to regret this if I don’t write it down.  Several weeks ago we had a graduate student decide to look for a job instead of working for us as a floater working on various sage-grouse projects we have going, shortly after that, we had a technician quit us (USU) working on a sage-grouse project.  It left us shorthanded.  In talking with Terry (my boss) we decided that he would hire Houston (who just graduated) and he would work for us this summer.  Houston is a good worker and has helped me out on most of our projects so he knows where they are, what a sage-grouse and sagebrush look like, how to load and unload a ATV and drive it, and also knows how to us our radio telemetry gear—which is a big plus.  So, I spent the first few days of June getting Houston geared up and a schedule lined out.

For the first few weeks, I have been sending him over to the Bear Lake Plateau on a project over there we just started—our graduate student just showed up on June 8^th and because of that we have lost track of several birds—hence Houston has been going there to help her.  I always tell him—“don’t do stupid things”.  Well……he did a stupid thing which will make for a great story for the rest of his life.

What I have been able to gather from Houston is that late Tuesday afternoon 6/16/2010 he had been looking for birds all day and had not found any and was searching the last canyon before heading home.  He took the truck (not the ATV in the back of the truck) up a 2-track up a canyon that got pretty steep and pretty side hilly pretty fast (Stupid thing #1).  Now I have to say all the times that Houston has gone with me, he hasn’t had 4 wheel drive experience, he knows when to put it in and what 4 low and 4 high is used for but he just hasn’t had any real 4 wheeling experience.  The road he was after about 2 miles just ended on a steep side hill.  When I say the road just ended, it just ended and when I say it was on a steep side hill, it was on a steep side hill and the 2-track wasn’t level on this side hill.  With all the rain we had there was a bunch of wyethia (a broad leaf forb) growing on the side hill, the truck Houston was driving didn’t have very good tires; they were worn down and slick.  He couldn’t turn around and he didn’t want to back up.   Here’s where it gets to be a good church story.  Apparently from what he said and what I could see observing the scene later—the bottom looked pretty flat and green and he thought he could drive out.

Off he went, 860 feet down to the bottom, and remember it’s a steep hill, at least 45 degree slope maybe even 55 degree.  He has the truck in 4 low and just creeps off the hill (Stupid thing #2).  Once in the bottom he soon realized that it wasn’t as flat and as green as he thought.  The sagebrush, snowberry, and chokecherry were on average 2-3 feet tall and he spent much of the time sidehilling it in the bottom as well.  Now I’m sure by this point he was totally freaked out, panicking, and re-thinking his decision but he pressed (Stupid thing #3) on down the canyon, remember its s steep hill and he’s not getting back out of the hole he’s in.

About 300 yards don’t  the canyon, his green flat pastures really run out and is in a situation now where he has nowhere to go but in his panicked mind he decides to try and side hill it to get around this one bad spot, but he didn’t make it.  His tire fell into a hole and he tried to back out (Stupid thing #4) and has he did this his truck kept slipping and before he knew it, the truck was literally on its side (passenger side) in the bottom of a 6 foot wash, with him in it.  I’m sure by now he was really freaked out and not thinking clearly so I won’t say anymore about his stupid things, we all have done them, I suspect its just not a black thing. 

I assume now he has gathered his thoughts a bit and decides he will get the ATV out of the back of the truck (which remember is on its side).  He somehow manages to get it out, load all his stuff on it and proceeds to drive it straight up the canyon, which I know for a fact I this area, has to be 55 degrees.  Well, he gets about 50 yards up the hill and looses tracking, hits a sagebrush or whatever and the ATV goes over backwards (he  jumped off) and proceeds to roll back down the hill rolling over and over landing right next to the truck.  ATV damaged, tire off rim, bars bent, handle bars bent—ATV a mess.  So (I hope someday Houston will share all that was going on in is mind) now Houston decides to walk the 2 miles back to the road.  He takes all his gear (in 2 trips) and walks out to the road. 

At 3:00 PM he finally calls me, “can you come and get me” was the first thing he said.  Of course that is never a good thing to say and now I’m a bit freaked out.  “Why, where’s the truck, are you OK, what’s wrong.”  He says the “the truck is on its side….can you come and get me”.  I forgot to tell you that was over there all day as well and had just got back to Logan (an hour plus drive) about 30 minutes prior to his call.  Where’s the ATV?  It has a flat tire—where are you?  He proceeds to give me a few short answers but I can tell he’s not in his right mind so I find out where he is, call Pat (for moral support) get all the straps, come alongs, and chains I can find and head back over the hill.

We get over there about 5PM and Houston is waiting by the side of the road.  We get a few more details from him and drive up the road.  “See that white spot up there he says, that’s the truck”.  I now see it for the first time and the only thing I can think is “what the heck were you thinking?  How the heck did you get it there!”  I’m both shocked and amazed that it’s just not rolled over and flat as a pancake.  I go to the end of the road turn around and come back, it’s a steep hill, one that made me even pucker a bit.  I/we head back down the road a bit and I see a flat spot that looks like cat/bulldozer has once gone up a long time ago.  I take it and Pat and Houston both say let us out, so they get out and I go a few hundred more yards and run out of road.  I turn around and hike the remaining half mile to the truck.  I can’t believe it, it’s on its side (literally) I just can’t believe it, I’m without words, in shock that he got it to this point.  Long story short, we leave, not much is said on the way home.  Pat is trying her womanly best to break the tension and just talk about trivial things but it’s not helping me and I’m guessing not Houston either.  We get home around 9PM, by now I have made several phone calls and I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to tell my boss and get it out without it costing us an arm and a leg.

I finally get enough courage to go and talk to Terry.  He’s fine with it, at least he says he is.  Did I mention we had another tech who rolled a truck early in April (with the ATV in the back) year and one that rolled one last year so it’s been a banner year for us with the trucks.  Terry’s advise was to get it out as soon as you can.

So I don’t sleep much that night, I’m going over and over in my mind how a tow truck is going to get it out of there and eventually came to the conclusion that there was just no way and that I need a bulldozer/cat or a team of draft horses to get it out of there.  Did I mention I didn’t sleep?  By morning I was still just sick to my stomach, how was I going to get it out of there?  While driving (when I do my best thinking and pondering) I and a very clear impression that I could call my friend Dave who works for a place in Logan called Wolford Auto Body.  Now the Wolfords are 4 wheel freaks—anything in Moab is a walk in the park for these guys.  So I call Dave and head to Wolfords.  I tell them the story, and they laugh (been there done that they all say), but yeah, lets go get it, it will be fun, lets call Al (the dad).  So about 30 minutes later I get a call from big Al—lets got get that truck.  Al meets me at my office around 10 AM in his 80,000.00 supped up modified, 12 ton, 40” tire jeep and he head up and over the hill to ‘extract’ the truck.

On scene, I can see a puzzled look on Al’s face, “no doubt about it, this is in my top five”—that was just what I wanted to hear.  So you think we can get it out I said.  I don’t know, let’s go look at it.  So Al takes his jeep and bails off, we can’t see exactly where Houston went off, but boy if he can make it in the truck its nothing for the jeep.  Right!  We are side hilling it and I’m puckering at about an 8 out of a 10 pucker factor, 10 being a roll over.  “Do you need me to get out and scout a head of you”?  How much more of an angle could this jeep handle and still stay on all fours”?  Anyway after carefully picking our way off the hill at around noon we arrive at the truck.  Again, puzzled look on Al’s face.  “I really wish I could get here and pull from there but its just too steep to do that”.   “We are going to have to position here and pull this way and hopefully we won’t do anymore body damage than there already is but I can’t guarantee it.”

So we hook on to the 12 ton winch and Al pulls, he just barley tightens it up and pulls and maybe pulls it 2 inches and amazingly enough the truck tips back over and is now on all 4’s (miracle #1).  We are whooping and hollering and high fiving and after another position now directly behind the truck, we are out of the 6 foot wash.  It starts right up (miracle #2) and upon inspection of the side that was on the ground you know that had tipped over in the wash, there was not a dent anywhere and besides all the previous and I’m sure a few new sagebrush scratches, the only damage was a crack in the mirror (miracle #3).  After a few minutes to load the ATV, pick up stuff we are on our way out.  The only think we could think to do was to try and follow Houston’s tracks out and get as far as we could by driving and winch the rest of the way out.  Al by the way wanted to take the jeep straight up and out but I talked him out of that LOL.  We made our way over the brush, over all the pot holes and up as far as I could go, Al buzzed around me and hooked me up and actually towed me up the rest of the way to a little bench where it got really steep and we could go no further in tow.

We unhooked and Al we out to ‘scout’ a way out.  He came back about 15 minutes later and said we ain’t getting out that way.  I said, well I think the road is just right there and I pointed up the hill and to the south of where he had gone.  “Really, let me go check”, he only went about 200 yards straight up the hill and turned around, came back and said, “yep, it’s right there”. 

To get us/me the rest of the way out, it was decided that I would back down a bit and all would continue to tow me a bit up a little draw and side hill it to the steep part where he would then drive up to the road and winch me out.  I back down 40 yards and boom pssssssssss  blown tire.  I change the tire and the spare is flat, Al has an air compressor on his 12 ton winch (miracle #4) and 30 minutes later, we are in tow again.  Al tows me to the steep part and we hit a bump just right and the tow strap comes off and he makes it to the road, turns around and 300 feet of winching later, I’m on the road (miracle #5).  By now its 2PM and about the time we hit the road it starts pouring rain (miracle #6), we race down the road before it gets too wet and are at the pavement safe and sound.  After a burger in Garden City, we are back on Logan by 5PM safe and sound.

I believe that the Lord keeps his future missionaries safe despite stupid things, I believe in prayer and the impressions that come from the Lord, I believe in miracles and that things would have been much different if I/we had not relied on the Lord this day to help us through our stupid mistakes.  I’m so relieved things turned out the way they did and I KNOW there was a greater hand in all these events.

Todd Black

Fathers Day 2010

February 1st 2010 Utah's Biggame Application Starts Today!

2/1/2010

It officially starts today! Utah's application period for bucks, bulls, and once in a lifetime permits starts 2/1/2010 and will run through the 8th of March

Don't forget to apply. Applications are only accepted only on line.  To get started go to Utah DNR's application web page  Once you are here the fun begins.

If you need help or assistance applying, please don't hesitate to give us a call.  It only takes a few minutes.  Be sure to have your credit card ready to go when you call us.  Call 435-770-9302 and ask for Todd.

We have listed the hunt numbers for the limited entry units we operate on in our brochure.   Here are the main ones for the San Juan Elk hunts

Archery #323

Rifle Early #369

Muzzleloader #398

Rifle Late #370

We have a bunch of exciting hunts this year including several landowner and conservation permits.  These opportunities provide some great hunts and you don't have to wait for the draw to take place.  We have listed our hunts on our web page

If we can be of assistance in helping you plan for your Utah hunt let us know.

thanks

Todd

Blog 3 January 16th 2010

I have been asked with my job at Utah State University to start working with 4H more and specifically on working with the youth on hunting and shooting sports. I had a chance to start with an article about hunting and my kids. Home you enjoy. This article will be published in the summer or spring issue of Mule Deer Foundation Magazine.

Making—willing—taking our kids into the future of hunting


I don’t know what it is, it likely has to do with generational differences and the ‘now’ generation then anything but I find it difficult to get my kids excited about hunting. It seems they are so keyed in on video games and other things that bring quick instant satisfaction that they seem too board and impatient with hunting? Why is it? I know one thing, when I was there age that is all I lived for, I ate, slept and drank the outdoors and hunting. To this day I can still remember actually crying myself to sleep when I was 10-12 years old because I couldn’t go with my dad on the opening day of the Utah general season deer hunt. Partially I’m sure it was because my dad wanted at least one day to himself but I’m sure equally it had do with my mother being scared to death to let her little boy go out there will all those crazy rifle hunters in Utah.

Man how things have changed. Today in Utah we have 60% less than the number of deer hunters we had during the heyday of mule deer hunting in Utah. There are also fewer deer and fewer places to hunt. To be honest, I have to share some of my kids’ lack of get up and go especially when it comes to hunting public lands during the general rifle hunts. I also have to be honest and tell you that their interest in hunting was much higher and more energetic when we were just hunting rabbits and birds. There is no question that the action was greater more opportunities to pull the trigger then with deer hunting. So is it a question of desire, priorities, age or what? I have noticed lately that my 13 year old daughter seems to be more into hunting and interested in hunting then my 16 and 18 year old boys, after all she specifically asked for camo for Christmas. All my boys seem to care about now is football, basket ball, girls and grades (and not that there is anything wrong with it) at least you know they are normal boys but somehow they have missed the bug that I had when I was there age and still have today. I question if it’s partially my fault as well, do I spend too much time guiding and doing my own hunting that I have somehow neglected my kids? My oldest will flat out tell me, “we are just not that into it as you are”. So what is missing, why don’t my kids share my passion? As I sit back and scratch my head I have to wonder if it’s really about the opportunity and I’m not talking about the opportunity to go out in the hills and hike around with dear old dad and hope to see a critter. I’m talking about the opportunity to really take aim and pull the trigger on something, to harvest an animal. I’ve witnessed this first hand, I saw it this year, let me tell you why I think this might just be what these kids need to have to keep hunting into the future.

I’ll start out with the archery deer hunt. My oldest had a chance to hunt deer on a piece of private ground (a cooperative wildlife management unit) that I am managing which essentially allowed him a very long season. It was close to our home and it actually made it easy to fit in (even with work and school for him and hunting, work, and guiding for me) an evening here and a morning there for several different outings. I have to admit I loved it; it was a great chance to spend one on one time with him hunting. He really wanted to take a buck with archery tackle; two years ago he missed a good buck and really wanted a chance to redeem himself. It never happened, but on one night, he had a cow moose come into the water hole that held up behind him, I think that was ‘hunting experience’ that he will not soon forget. We hunted off and on with a rifle saw several nice bucks even one 3 year old 3x3 that I tried to get him to harvest as a management buck. I was amazed at his control—if my dad would have told me to shoot-it would have happened so fast it would have made your head spin. But he held off and kept telling me “we have plenty of time”. It almost happened one night, and I wish it would have, I had my dad up (Houston’s grandpa) and we got in on a buck but just couldn’t get close enough to finish the deal and we ran out of light and time. Literally on the second to last day we decided to hit it hard again, it was a Friday evening and we only had the next day to hunt before the season closed. We had been watching one particular area for most of our outings, there were a bunch of does and a few small bucks in this area and we kept saying the closer it got to the end of October the better our chances were of having a good buck show up would be. As it happens it did, we spotted a good buck and got to within a few hundred yards. We had time to get the bogpod out and set up, relax and wait for a good shot. I was amazed how calm Houston was, relaxed, no shaking, no fidgeting, just calm as a cucumber. That was until the shot went off and we watched but buck run 50 yards and go down in sight. That’s when it happened, that’s when the adrenaline kicked in, the shakes, the high fives, and the ‘that was awesome yeah!’ expression that was let out as loud as he could yell. That’s when I knew that Houston finally felt the feelings I have so many times and for so many years.

Next is my middle child, and boy is he a middle child. Porter loves sports and playing the X-Box it seems like those 2 things consume him more than anything right now. I have to admit along with my wife that it’s much better than the girls that consumed his life 2 years ago. Porter had a deer tag as well and was focused with a bow all summer long but then football started and it just didn’t happen he didn’t hunt at all. Fortunately he was able to draw a cow tag on the same property where Houston was hunting deer. Because of football and my guiding we didn’t get much of a chance to start hunting until late November. With Porter, I had to continually force him and even drag him to get out of the house and out the door for an evening hunt but it never happened in the morning, it was always too early or ‘I’m too tired’. On one occasion we spotted a group elk and managed to get within 218 yards. Again, out came the bogpod, set up, relax and take our time but with Porter it was just the opposite of Houston, he couldn’t hold it still he was shaking so bad and I knew when the safety was on and he jerked there was just too much adrenaline to make the shot. Finally shot came twice as a matter of fact and he missed both times and with similar results on another outing although I still don’t know how he missed that one. I remember him specifically saying “man that adrenaline rush is just awesome”. I just smiled, I knew the bug had bitten but despite the bug, the mornings were still out of the question. Finally just before Christmas, we made an outing with a friend who had a client that had a tag, we found a group of cows, made a good stalk through 1.5 feet of snow and took the shots. We shot and the client shot, and we shot and nothing. Finally after a few more shots the client hit one and it went down, the elk were moving around, confused from the shots and didn’t know where to run. I had decided by then that the elk were too far for Porter’s gun so we got Porter set up with the big gun and amazingly enough he made a perfect shot at 550 yard shot with a 30-378 (wow!), the cow stumbled and then fell. Same reaction, yelling screaming, high fives, and even a trip down the bottom of the canyon and across the other side in 1.5’ of snow without even complaining. Porter was excited and maybe even hooked.

I’ve saved the best for last but it’s a father daughter thing and I guess a bit more tender when I think about it. My youngest Mariah drew a turkey tag for the spring hunt. It took her 2 years to draw the tag, she even cried the year before when she didn’t draw out and her brother Porter drew his second in as many years. Day one was a waste, too windy to even hear and too cold for what we chose to wear that day. The next day we didn’t hunt and went to church instead. On day 3 after much debate Jake (a good friend who came with us) and I made a plan to get in as close to the roost area as we could before light. Well as luck would have it I think the birds saw us and pitched off the other way but we held our ground and Jake continued to call while I coached Mariah on what to do when mr. tom came in. I was amazed; we held our position for almost 2 hours when finally Jake coxed a tom to come in. I don’t know what was more exciting watching and listening to Mariah or watching her reaction from the blast of the shotgun and the tom flopping on the ground. Again, same results, yelling, screaming, big smiles, high fives, and picture messages to her non-hunting girl friends.

Mariah also drew a doe pronghorn on a CWMU in northern Utah. She has said for several years now that she wanted to hunt an antelope. We made a trip over the mountain and actually spent the night trapping sage-grouse for a research project we are doing there. After a long cold night and only a couple of hours of sleep, we got up just before light and ventured down a ridge where we had seen a good heard the night before. Shortly thereafter we located the herd but soon realized our high vantage point was not to our advantage so we backed out and went around and in from the bottom. The wind was right, the sun was at our back, and we had a nice little draw to creep through the sagebrush to a small knoll where we then belly crawled the next 50 yards to get into position. I got Mariah in front of me, put the bipods down and got her all set up. She was ready, doe in scope, gun in position but nothing happened finally after the second or third ‘shoot’ from me, she turned and said, “dad, I don’t want to I’m scared”, not sure what she was scared of I tried encouraging her but nothing would happen. I told her that was fine and we would just go home but then she started crying and telling me I should just shoot it. I told her that wasn’t going to happen and it was okay and we would just go home. Again with the crying, finally after much discussion, we agreed on a compromise that involved me helping (more then I wanted too). We now had to move up and over a bit to reposition ourselves, we got settled in again, bipod down me now behind the gun, (bracing against my shoulder) and then I turned to Mariah and said, “okay I will hold it, you make sure the crosshairs are where you want to shoot and then you pull the trigger when you are ready.” She looked things over in the scope, back and me, “that one right there right?” she said, yes and then boom. I knew right away it was a hit but it didn’t drop, “did I miss, did I miss”, it sounded good to me, let’s go check. As we made our way up the next little ridge we talked about what had just happened and replayed the shot over in our conversation. I could sense the excitement yet the nerves and doubt came through as well. As we crested the ridge I could see the herd looking back to where they came from, a sure sure sign of doe down somewhere and as we walked a few more yards there was Mariah’s doe. Her reaction was a bit different than the boys, I don’t know if that’s just a guy girl thing or what but while she was excited I think she was more humbled by the whole thing, which again isn’t a bad thing and I still think Mariah is hooked maybe it’s more hooked on daddy daughter things than hunting but that’s okay with me.

2009, was a year I won’t soon forget, all three of my kids not only had trigger opportunity, they also had good positive harvest experiences which I think in the long run is really what our kids need to keep them hunting into the future. Our freezers are full, we just may have all the jerky we want to eat and we have pictures and video of the hunts to remember them always.
The more I think about it and as much as it goes against the whole experience of the outdoors thing, I think that what it really boils down too is this; if we are going to have a future in hunting, if we are going to get our kids into hunting we have got to make and take the extra effort and go the additional mile to find positive experiences and opportunities for our kids that are more than just being out in the hills, they’ve got to have positive hunting and I will add harvesting experiences to know not only what it’s all about but how it feels as well. Thanks Kids I really enjoyed our harvesting experiences….