Despite the warning of my wife, I was up early in an effort to be first on scene at the area I'm trying for whitetail this year. We've had quite a monumental storm the past several days with a couple feet of snow and a lot of wind.
The drive out in the dark wasn't too bad despite the highways being sheer ice. The past 20 years of being an electrician in the oil patch has had me drive nearly 1 million kilometers (600,000 miles), often through the very worst conditions imaginable. My driving experience coupled with the trust I have in my truck, a 2012 Dodge 3500 Cummins with a lift and tall tires, allows me some piece of mind during days like this.
I was first in the area this morning, many roads hadn't been plowed yet and drifts were 4' deep at the entrances to many. A change of plan was in order and I found a road that would lead me to an area I was looking forward to parking and walking a few miles through some coulees and prairie. (Southern Alberta)
I nearly got stuck a couple times pushing through some big drifts, but made it to where I planned on leaving the truck, about 20 minutes before sunrise, so far so good...but that's when things went a little sideways. In an effort to park 'just a little further' off the edge of the road I had that sinking feeling as the ol' dodge slid down into the ditch.
I knew it was bad but got right to work digging out, only problem was I had taken my scoop shovel out of the truck two days prior in order to work my way through the drifts on the driveway, all I had in the truck was a short 3 foot spade, less than ideal for the situation at hand..
Undeterred I carried on, and 1 hour and 15 minutes later I had dug down nearly three feet and had things cleared away quite nicely. I set up the quad ramps I always carry, mainly to make it easier to drag a deer into the truck but they've helped in situations like this a time or two as well.
A touch of the throttle and I was inching forward, the rush of victory building in my mind! Suddenly, that all to familiar feeling and I slid down to the right again. It didn't take more than a second to realize I was really into it this time.
Another 45 minutes of digging, the snow at the front end was four feet deep now. I was nearly finished digging and preparing to try and find a farmer to hopefully come and pull me out when a pheasant hunter and his son drove up. Very lucky for me because he said he saw the drifts I had plowed through on the way in and nearly turned around. Fortunately he didn't, and his 2500 GMC was able to make short work of pulling me out.
It was still early so I peeled off my sweaty layers and drove around glassing from the truck waiting to dry off. Drifting everywhere quickly made me realize I was now a little gun shy and none to eager to chance fate again. Heading home I bought some lottery tickets and am about to get in the hot tub with my wife ("I told you this would happen...") and a whiskey.
Happy hunting everyone, looking forward to trying again tomorrow morning!
The drive out in the dark wasn't too bad despite the highways being sheer ice. The past 20 years of being an electrician in the oil patch has had me drive nearly 1 million kilometers (600,000 miles), often through the very worst conditions imaginable. My driving experience coupled with the trust I have in my truck, a 2012 Dodge 3500 Cummins with a lift and tall tires, allows me some piece of mind during days like this.
I was first in the area this morning, many roads hadn't been plowed yet and drifts were 4' deep at the entrances to many. A change of plan was in order and I found a road that would lead me to an area I was looking forward to parking and walking a few miles through some coulees and prairie. (Southern Alberta)
I nearly got stuck a couple times pushing through some big drifts, but made it to where I planned on leaving the truck, about 20 minutes before sunrise, so far so good...but that's when things went a little sideways. In an effort to park 'just a little further' off the edge of the road I had that sinking feeling as the ol' dodge slid down into the ditch.
I knew it was bad but got right to work digging out, only problem was I had taken my scoop shovel out of the truck two days prior in order to work my way through the drifts on the driveway, all I had in the truck was a short 3 foot spade, less than ideal for the situation at hand..
Undeterred I carried on, and 1 hour and 15 minutes later I had dug down nearly three feet and had things cleared away quite nicely. I set up the quad ramps I always carry, mainly to make it easier to drag a deer into the truck but they've helped in situations like this a time or two as well.
A touch of the throttle and I was inching forward, the rush of victory building in my mind! Suddenly, that all to familiar feeling and I slid down to the right again. It didn't take more than a second to realize I was really into it this time.
Another 45 minutes of digging, the snow at the front end was four feet deep now. I was nearly finished digging and preparing to try and find a farmer to hopefully come and pull me out when a pheasant hunter and his son drove up. Very lucky for me because he said he saw the drifts I had plowed through on the way in and nearly turned around. Fortunately he didn't, and his 2500 GMC was able to make short work of pulling me out.
It was still early so I peeled off my sweaty layers and drove around glassing from the truck waiting to dry off. Drifting everywhere quickly made me realize I was now a little gun shy and none to eager to chance fate again. Heading home I bought some lottery tickets and am about to get in the hot tub with my wife ("I told you this would happen...") and a whiskey.
Happy hunting everyone, looking forward to trying again tomorrow morning!
