Alone and Stuck in Avra Valley, let the fun begin!
Hedgehog
Always Off-Roading Jeeper
- Posts
- 9,370
- Thanks
- 3
- Location
- Tucson/Marana Arizona
- Vehicle(s)
- -1975 Jeep CJ5, 360 V8, Headers, Duel Exhaust,T15 transmission, D-20 Transfer case, Twin Stick Conversion, Warn 8274 Winch
-1951 Willys Wagon, 4 cylinder, "F" head, little rust, very close to stock
This is a small part of Avra Valley Arizona, an area just west of Tucson Arizona.
This is a piece of ground I'm trying to get to know to add it to my Predator Calling area this fall. It has great potential with mountains on a Reservation that doesn't allow predator hunting to the west and farm land with spread out homes to the east. Coyote, Mt. Lions and Bobcats love that kind of ground.
So I'm out there polking around , just looking for new roads and access points .... I was rabbit hunting as well.
It is hot and dry, VERY dry we haven't had rain for a long time.
The ground was flat, no big deal, but it was dry. Trouble was brewing. So, I was driving along as in the picture above came around a corner and suddenly the Jeep slowed, OOOPPPPPPs I've been there before. So I stopped in an attempt to back out of what I already knew was trouble. To the Jeeps credit it fought well, we were able to back up about 10 feet. I in the last instant we were able to get straight to the only decent tree for some distance and the Jeep just sank right to the frame.
Great, I'm a long ways from help and stuck in a way that didn't show much hope for escape. But wait there is the 12,000 lb. winch, the nice shinny new Harbor Freight winch I installed last year. The Harbor Freight winches had great reviews especially for an inexpensive unit. So I'm sitting there thinkin' "DARN IT ALL TO HE..".. well okay I said "Darn It". There wasn't much for the winch to get ahold of. But WAY over the hill there was a big healthy tree.
The Jeep was actually stuck about 10 feet in front of the camera, but you can see the tree way over the berm.
I honestly didn't think I had enough cable to reach up over the berm to the tree. I did know one thing I could bury a tire as a dead fall, but honestly with the Temperatures hovering at 100d would you find that prospect of any interest?
So with the winch in neutral I started pulling the cable. It made it to the base of the hill with plenty of cable still on the spool. At the top the story was the same and I had hope.
Knowing that the secret to not being snake bit is to see the snake FIRST I carefully and slowly cleared a little bit and dove in, by the grace of god there was enough cable.
Now try not to be too hard on me, I know I need a tree saver, but I haven't gotten one yet, soon, but not yet.
Now came the test, will the Winch perform as advertised. The one complaint the testers ahd was the speed of the winch. So I got in the driver seat and hit the "GO" button on the winch control. Things started happening right away. The cable was clearly moving, not fast but it was moving, then it got tighter and " POP" it was loose. I began worrying about the winch transmission, but then the cable started to tighten up, it must have moved a little or settled in for the fight to come. The cable tightened, the Jeep twitched, the winch slowed down, but NEVER stopped. With the jeep in gear help the winch. The Jeep moved and started to dig a new hole. I'd out run the winch. Darn this thing is slow, but steady. The cable would tighten up, I'd move the Jeep a little. then wait for the winch to catch up. Once the Jeep was out of the hole I got out and let the winch do it's work.
I wanted to gt a good run at the soft sand so I had the winch pull the CJ up the berm quite a ways.
Here's a picture of the sand we were stuck in.
Looks innocent enough, this stuff is deep, the CJ was sitting on it's frame right here.
Using a little elevation to find some speed we shot through the soft sand and I didn't stop until I knew we were safe.
By-the -way the hunt was successfull. Who says you can't eat Jack Rabbit
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