mikegranger
Active member
Remember Where’s Waldo, well I had a similar experience on the last hunt. I wasn’t looking for a funny dressed guy with black glasses, but the world famous Bubba the wonder dog. But before I get to that, we have to start at the beginning.
The kids came home for Christmas a week early and were back at their respective homes by the week of Christmas. My lovely bride of 27 years had to work on Christmas Day and following 4 days, so I had the bright idea of loading the dogs and trailer and going on another extended coyote hunt. I was taking the week off between Christmas and New Years and didn’t have much to do but hunt. Christmas morning dawns bright and beautiful, said wife gives me a kiss on the way to work and I jump in the truck and head out The dogs are excited and barking their heads off, safely locked in the box (I learned my lesson on the last expedition). The snow hasn’t been too bad this year with only a couple inches on the ground in Lewistown. Unfortunately, the further I traveled, the deeper it got. Two and a half hours later I was pulling off on a dirt road looking for a good parking spot, but now the snow was 10 inches deep. This wasn’t good! I mentioned replacing the trucks transmission in the last story. What I didn’t mention was the mechanic showed me the torque converter, which was colored a nice shade of blue. His exact quote “see the blue tinge, it isn’t paint and they don’t come from the factory like that, it’s from overheating your transmission”.
He then asked if I got stuck in the snow much! Yikes, this guy was good. I sheepishly admitted to being stuck at least 8 times last year, one of which was with the trailer still attached. He suggested I not get stuck so much and for sure don’t rock the truck back and forth.
All of this was bouncing around in my skull as I drove the dirt road 25 miles down and back, looking for a good spot. I finally found a suitable location and managed to get the trailer parked without getting stuck! But, I did manage to break a front window to the trailer somehow. Did I mention that it was a balmy -15 below zero? No? Well it was and let me tell you right now, duct tape won’t stick to anything at that temperature. Tried as I may, I could not get the window sealed up and luck would have it, the trailer was pointed right into the wind. Chilly was an understatement! Anyway, I gave up on the repair job and we were out hunting by 1 pm. We saw 4 coyotes during the rest of the day but none would come our way.
Back at the trailer, the 10 gallons of drinking water was beginning to freeze and insides of the trailer was covered with frost. I got the catalytic heater working, and the gas light and burners on the stove going. The previously mentioned broken window was not doing what windows are supposed to do during the winter and all kinds of drafts were making their way around the towel stuffed in the opening. With all the open flame burning inside the trailer one would expect it to be toasty warm. NOT! Remember this is an old trailer and with the wind chill dipping to -25, I was anything but toasty. That is, except for when I stood up. Head height was unbearably hot. I looked kind of funny with a dish towel in my hands flapping the air around, trying to get the bottom cold air to be replaced by the hot, upper air. After awhile I gave up and sat down to a supper of leftover ribs, bbq beans and corn on the cob. As I was eating, the radio was tuned to Focus On the Family. Remember, this is Christmas Day and their broadcast was of individuals calling in about their most memorable Christmas. Not one was about gifts they may have received in the past, but of times spent with moms, dads, brothers, sisters and other family members. As I sat there listening to such wonderful memories my hard old heart just about broke. What was I thinking? Here it is Christmas Day, the most Holy day of the year, and I’m sitting in a freezing cold trailer, parked in the middle of nowhere, with not a soul in sight. And all for what, a ten dollar coyote!! I vowed right then and there to not repeat this mistake again. After supper I jumped fully clothed into the sleeping bag and prayed for sticky duct tape! I don’t know how cold it got during the night but it was -15 when I went to bed and the wind was blowing 10 mph or so.
The following morning the truck almost didn’t start and the dogs just peaked out of their box with a look on their face like “you’ve got to be kidding”!
I know, I’m a coyote hunting fool. Heavy on the fool part!
If it looks cold it’s because it is!
The snow was so deep that snowshoes went on my feet at each stand.
I bought these babies on Ebay at the end of coyote season last year and hadn’t had a chance to use them. Let me tell you right now, they’re tenfold better than my old wooden shoes. Now I know why everyone swears by them. The old shoes will become wall hangers now.
The hunting wasn’t going so good and by noon I had walked a couple of miles on snowshoes, called four stands and had seen only one coyote. The witching hour was now upon us and I was feeling confident. On the way into the next stand a coyote jumped up and was running was down the trail in front of us. I never shoot at these unless they’re real stupid and stop to look. No such luck.
Brrrrrr!
We get out to call and the dogs take off on the hot trail. I call them back and begin calling. Almost immediately I spot two coyotes about 1/2 mile out and they’re coming but before they could get to us another coyote comes in from the right and I dump him at 100 yards. Both dogs were so focused on the two coyotes that they never did see the one I shot. Fortunately, the shot didn’t seem to spook one of the coyotes and it kept coming. At 250 yards it decided the two dogs running out and back wasn’t natural, it turned and was leaving at a fast clip. This is where it gets tough as the dogs were now in pursuit and I had to get them stopped before taking a shot. They stopped, I locked onto the coyote somewhere around 300 yards and squeezed, fully expecting to get a double on this stand. No such luck. The coyote took off with two dogs in hot pursuit. I didn’t tone them back as I figured with the deep snow they would give up the chase in no time. Besides, I had a coyote to skin and they’d for sure be back by the time he was in the bag. Nope! Wasn’t to be. As I’m making the last cut and pulling the hide free, only one dog was coming back. And much to my surprise, it was Dash! Hmm, Bubba is much smarter than this, he wouldn’t have stayed on the coyote unless it was wounded. As we all know, a wounded coyote can run a heck of a long ways. I waited around for another 30 minutes and was getting real worried. They took off parallel to the road so I drove back to the county road and drove down it 5 miles and back. Still no dog. By now about 1 1/2 hours had passed since the shot and I wasn’t having any warm fuzzy feelings about the whole situation. I was hunting on BLM land, all the trails were impassable and there’s no cross country travel allowed. The only option was to strap on snowshoes, put a flashlight and power bar in my pocket and take off on their trail. I had no idea how far he went but was going to walk as far as I needed to find him. I topped a hill about a mile into the journey and was able to see across a large open flat and up another hill. As always, there’s a predator call in my pocket and I pulled it out and blew like an idiot. Much to my relief, I see movement way across the flat and up on the other hill. Yep, it’s the Wonder Dog and he’s slowly backtracking. I was pretty darn happy and patiently waited for him to get back to me. No telling how far he ran the coyote, or if he finally caught it. I suspect he did, but I wasn’t going to walk his trail to find out. We called it a day after that and drove on back to the trailer.
So to wrap this segment up, I don’t know where Waldo is, but I do know Bubba’s laying outside on his quilt, ready to go another day! But, the anxiety over a lost dog did add another wrinkle to this story. That’s next.
The kids came home for Christmas a week early and were back at their respective homes by the week of Christmas. My lovely bride of 27 years had to work on Christmas Day and following 4 days, so I had the bright idea of loading the dogs and trailer and going on another extended coyote hunt. I was taking the week off between Christmas and New Years and didn’t have much to do but hunt. Christmas morning dawns bright and beautiful, said wife gives me a kiss on the way to work and I jump in the truck and head out The dogs are excited and barking their heads off, safely locked in the box (I learned my lesson on the last expedition). The snow hasn’t been too bad this year with only a couple inches on the ground in Lewistown. Unfortunately, the further I traveled, the deeper it got. Two and a half hours later I was pulling off on a dirt road looking for a good parking spot, but now the snow was 10 inches deep. This wasn’t good! I mentioned replacing the trucks transmission in the last story. What I didn’t mention was the mechanic showed me the torque converter, which was colored a nice shade of blue. His exact quote “see the blue tinge, it isn’t paint and they don’t come from the factory like that, it’s from overheating your transmission”.
He then asked if I got stuck in the snow much! Yikes, this guy was good. I sheepishly admitted to being stuck at least 8 times last year, one of which was with the trailer still attached. He suggested I not get stuck so much and for sure don’t rock the truck back and forth.
All of this was bouncing around in my skull as I drove the dirt road 25 miles down and back, looking for a good spot. I finally found a suitable location and managed to get the trailer parked without getting stuck! But, I did manage to break a front window to the trailer somehow. Did I mention that it was a balmy -15 below zero? No? Well it was and let me tell you right now, duct tape won’t stick to anything at that temperature. Tried as I may, I could not get the window sealed up and luck would have it, the trailer was pointed right into the wind. Chilly was an understatement! Anyway, I gave up on the repair job and we were out hunting by 1 pm. We saw 4 coyotes during the rest of the day but none would come our way.
Back at the trailer, the 10 gallons of drinking water was beginning to freeze and insides of the trailer was covered with frost. I got the catalytic heater working, and the gas light and burners on the stove going. The previously mentioned broken window was not doing what windows are supposed to do during the winter and all kinds of drafts were making their way around the towel stuffed in the opening. With all the open flame burning inside the trailer one would expect it to be toasty warm. NOT! Remember this is an old trailer and with the wind chill dipping to -25, I was anything but toasty. That is, except for when I stood up. Head height was unbearably hot. I looked kind of funny with a dish towel in my hands flapping the air around, trying to get the bottom cold air to be replaced by the hot, upper air. After awhile I gave up and sat down to a supper of leftover ribs, bbq beans and corn on the cob. As I was eating, the radio was tuned to Focus On the Family. Remember, this is Christmas Day and their broadcast was of individuals calling in about their most memorable Christmas. Not one was about gifts they may have received in the past, but of times spent with moms, dads, brothers, sisters and other family members. As I sat there listening to such wonderful memories my hard old heart just about broke. What was I thinking? Here it is Christmas Day, the most Holy day of the year, and I’m sitting in a freezing cold trailer, parked in the middle of nowhere, with not a soul in sight. And all for what, a ten dollar coyote!! I vowed right then and there to not repeat this mistake again. After supper I jumped fully clothed into the sleeping bag and prayed for sticky duct tape! I don’t know how cold it got during the night but it was -15 when I went to bed and the wind was blowing 10 mph or so.
The following morning the truck almost didn’t start and the dogs just peaked out of their box with a look on their face like “you’ve got to be kidding”!
I know, I’m a coyote hunting fool. Heavy on the fool part!
If it looks cold it’s because it is!
The snow was so deep that snowshoes went on my feet at each stand.
I bought these babies on Ebay at the end of coyote season last year and hadn’t had a chance to use them. Let me tell you right now, they’re tenfold better than my old wooden shoes. Now I know why everyone swears by them. The old shoes will become wall hangers now.
The hunting wasn’t going so good and by noon I had walked a couple of miles on snowshoes, called four stands and had seen only one coyote. The witching hour was now upon us and I was feeling confident. On the way into the next stand a coyote jumped up and was running was down the trail in front of us. I never shoot at these unless they’re real stupid and stop to look. No such luck.
Brrrrrr!
We get out to call and the dogs take off on the hot trail. I call them back and begin calling. Almost immediately I spot two coyotes about 1/2 mile out and they’re coming but before they could get to us another coyote comes in from the right and I dump him at 100 yards. Both dogs were so focused on the two coyotes that they never did see the one I shot. Fortunately, the shot didn’t seem to spook one of the coyotes and it kept coming. At 250 yards it decided the two dogs running out and back wasn’t natural, it turned and was leaving at a fast clip. This is where it gets tough as the dogs were now in pursuit and I had to get them stopped before taking a shot. They stopped, I locked onto the coyote somewhere around 300 yards and squeezed, fully expecting to get a double on this stand. No such luck. The coyote took off with two dogs in hot pursuit. I didn’t tone them back as I figured with the deep snow they would give up the chase in no time. Besides, I had a coyote to skin and they’d for sure be back by the time he was in the bag. Nope! Wasn’t to be. As I’m making the last cut and pulling the hide free, only one dog was coming back. And much to my surprise, it was Dash! Hmm, Bubba is much smarter than this, he wouldn’t have stayed on the coyote unless it was wounded. As we all know, a wounded coyote can run a heck of a long ways. I waited around for another 30 minutes and was getting real worried. They took off parallel to the road so I drove back to the county road and drove down it 5 miles and back. Still no dog. By now about 1 1/2 hours had passed since the shot and I wasn’t having any warm fuzzy feelings about the whole situation. I was hunting on BLM land, all the trails were impassable and there’s no cross country travel allowed. The only option was to strap on snowshoes, put a flashlight and power bar in my pocket and take off on their trail. I had no idea how far he went but was going to walk as far as I needed to find him. I topped a hill about a mile into the journey and was able to see across a large open flat and up another hill. As always, there’s a predator call in my pocket and I pulled it out and blew like an idiot. Much to my relief, I see movement way across the flat and up on the other hill. Yep, it’s the Wonder Dog and he’s slowly backtracking. I was pretty darn happy and patiently waited for him to get back to me. No telling how far he ran the coyote, or if he finally caught it. I suspect he did, but I wasn’t going to walk his trail to find out. We called it a day after that and drove on back to the trailer.
So to wrap this segment up, I don’t know where Waldo is, but I do know Bubba’s laying outside on his quilt, ready to go another day! But, the anxiety over a lost dog did add another wrinkle to this story. That’s next.
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