Brittany Chukarman
Well-known member
Good hunt today for so late in the season. Didn't get into a whole lot of birds but Ranger did a good job working those we did find. He also tracked down 2 cripples a long ways.
To get to the base of the country we hunted I have to cross the river on a 4 wheeler. Getting across was bad and getting back worse. It's usually no problem but this winter the river didn't freeze all the way across. We have 2 places that are pretty good crossings, one below the house and one about a mile downriver. The one at the house didn't look very good so I tried downriver. The ice on the opposite bank ran out about 8' into the river. I was able to get the front tires up on it but I high-centered on the ice with the rear wheels still in the river. When I backed off the current took me downriver about 8' before I could get out of reverse and into forward. Here the ice only stuck out about 3 ' from the bank and luckily I was able to jump the wheeler up on it and out of the river. I had trouble in this same spot in the spring gathering cows when the water was a lot higher but it's always been a good winter crossing. I knew I would'nt be going back that way after the hunt. I checked out the crossing by the house and it looked doable from that side except for a strip of open water about a foot wide. Except for that strip the ice was about 1' thick and went 3/4 of the way across the river. I took the chance and dropped the front wheels off the ice into the river. It was just a little to deep to jump the front tires up and no room to back out. I waded the river and got my splittin maul from the house and went to work breaking ice. I broke a 4' path in front of the wheeler and was able to drop into the river and climb up on the ice. That got me 3/4 of the way across. I drove across the ice, dropped into the river into a pretty heavy cross current and made it across. I don't think I'll be hunting across the river any more this winter.
To get to the base of the country we hunted I have to cross the river on a 4 wheeler. Getting across was bad and getting back worse. It's usually no problem but this winter the river didn't freeze all the way across. We have 2 places that are pretty good crossings, one below the house and one about a mile downriver. The one at the house didn't look very good so I tried downriver. The ice on the opposite bank ran out about 8' into the river. I was able to get the front tires up on it but I high-centered on the ice with the rear wheels still in the river. When I backed off the current took me downriver about 8' before I could get out of reverse and into forward. Here the ice only stuck out about 3 ' from the bank and luckily I was able to jump the wheeler up on it and out of the river. I had trouble in this same spot in the spring gathering cows when the water was a lot higher but it's always been a good winter crossing. I knew I would'nt be going back that way after the hunt. I checked out the crossing by the house and it looked doable from that side except for a strip of open water about a foot wide. Except for that strip the ice was about 1' thick and went 3/4 of the way across the river. I took the chance and dropped the front wheels off the ice into the river. It was just a little to deep to jump the front tires up and no room to back out. I waded the river and got my splittin maul from the house and went to work breaking ice. I broke a 4' path in front of the wheeler and was able to drop into the river and climb up on the ice. That got me 3/4 of the way across. I drove across the ice, dropped into the river into a pretty heavy cross current and made it across. I don't think I'll be hunting across the river any more this winter.
