Julie,
Any self respecting photog would have pulled herself out from under the Ranger, climbed up the creek bank, and gotten some good photos of the wreckage and the recovery effort put on by the competition
Just go word a few minutes ago...the hotel clerk that had my hunting gear confiscated by the police, also chased a man out of room 113 with a butcher knife.
They refunded my money, and they are crediting me a free nights stay
Yeah, we had quite the weekend, I think I'm just now getting my brain back in order!
As Chris alluded to, the Babes had quite an exciting hunt on Saturday. We had a decent run Friday night, one bay that broke and a couple loops that looked promising but came up dry. Fortunately the Barrs only got two skunks, which I'm pretty sure counted for negative points, especially since I had to smell a trailer full of skunky dogs while I was trying to sleep in Steve's truck :'(
When we hit the ground Saturday morning, Crystal turned her curs out and I dropped Sadie and it was game on. We had one bay that was way far off across a fence line that we couldn't get to in time. Other than that it was a very long and quiet morning. By 11 a.m. we'd covered the entire property and still had no pig. After running all night and all morning, one of Sadie's pads was getting raw, so I picked her up and waited with Krystal, Mike and Little Ugly
while Crystal, Christi and Mandi took off on an epic push through the brush. And then, 5 minutes before the contest ended, things got really interesting really fast.
After walking through a couple miles of heat, humidity and thorns, the girls had a hog. But with no creeks or tanks in sight, both the hunters and the dogs were showing signs of overheating, and we were on the other side of the property with all three vehicles and water. So we took off at top speed, me driving Christi's Polaris Ranger, to help our teammates. We had to cross a narrow utility bridge over a deep creek bed. The ATV and Mule made it over just fine, but me, Sadie and the Ranger weren't so lucky. I hung on for dear life as the Ranger slowly tipped over off the bridge. We ended up nearly upside down, the roll bar sinking into the mud and one tire miraculously caught on the lip of the bridge, keeping the Ranger from sliding down a steep incline that ended about 20 feet below. Sadie, who was sitting up front with me, was not clipped in and bailed through the windshield without getting a scratch. I was holding on to the steering wheel so tightly that I have blisters on three fingers, so fortunately my biggest injury is a huge bruise across my thighs. Even my camera and most of the beer survived.
A little stunned, I jumped out of the Ranger, grabbed Sadie, who looked a little peeved by my stunt, and scrambled up the bank. Krystal came rushing back, called the guys, said we had a "situation," left Sequoia to make sure I didn't have a delayed concussion or breakdown, and took off to help the girls, who were still stuck on the other end of the property with a hog, hot dogs and no water. Team Barr showed up almost immediately, obviously impressed with my driving skills. They were able to pull the Ranger up with a winch and chain, and with the exception of a scratch in the side plastic panel, it was unscathed. We quickly gathered up the contents of the cooler and the vet kit and took off for the rest of my team. When we arrived they had a decent little boar, officially 121 pounds, and everyone was safe and cooling down.
So, we may not have won, but the Babes definitely brought the excitement to this hunt! After all that, the cookies didn't seem high up on the list of priorities. And no, I did not take pictures of the Ranger, there are some things that just don't need to be permanently memorialized on the Internet
