Pink camo, #dadbodhunter, and a whole lotta stupid!

[Dsnow9]

Could it be any other way?

What the heck is wrong with that Toy and did you have to pay that mechanic for all the failed work?

Not sure, threw new codes when it blew. Still a coil code but a different coil and code altogether. Almost seems like it could be an ecm or something. No clue. Gonna have my mechanic look at it. The issue is that it isn’t consistent and could be a larger electrical problem. Best case scenario we can save it but it will likely be retired to a hunting truck. My mechanic thinks it might be possible but hasn’t seen it yet.

If it needs a new engine I’m out though. Looks like it would be $15k-20k for an engine replacement. 7-10 for the engine and the rest for labor

 

[BrentD]

DO NOT make it a hunting truck. These stories of truck disasters in the middle of a hunt story are hard to take. Think of us, your readers. We want to hear a good clean hunting story, not a mechanic's nightmare story. Priorities, priorities!!!

Kick it on down the road ASAP.

My one Toyo locked up in reverse one day between Christmas and New Years up along the South Coast of Lake Superior. Ended up driving it 20-30 miles backwards to get to a town where I learned a lot of really unique sociology that eventually got my car back in forward, but it was a very nonlinear path getting there. Sold it as soon as I got back to Kansas and bought a Ford (the one that burned up in the Smokeys). Been a Ford guy ever since

 

[Dsnow9]

DO NOT make it a hunting truck. These stories of truck disasters in the middle of a hunt story are hard to take. Think of us, your readers. We want to hear a good clean hunting story, not a mechanic's nightmare story. Priorities, priorities!!!

Kick it on down the road ASAP.

My one Toyo locked up in reverse one day between Christmas and New Years up along the South Coast of Lake Superior. Ended up driving it 20-30 miles backwards to get to a town where I learned a lot of really unique sociology that eventually got my car back in forward, but it was a very nonlinear path getting there. Sold it as soon as I got back to Kansas and bought a Ford (the one that burned up in the Smokeys). Been a Ford guy ever since

Yeah that’s the direction I’m leaning for sure. I just finally had it just how I wanted it… no reason to keep dumping more money into it

 

[MTLabrador]

Damnit, if this happened in Billings I could have pirated those rock warrior wheels off of it… They have just a touch more space for chains up front than the stock wheels on my Tundra, but people are pretty proud of them on the used market.

 

[FI460]

I did see a guy with a 5.7 on the Tundra forum with similar symptoms to you swap in an ecm and solve the problem.

But I vote 3rd gen. TRD Off-road comes with a rear locker. Get the PVM and ventilated seats. You'll thank me later.

 

[MTLabrador]

I don’t know if you’re looking new new, but if I had to buy something other than my 18 Tundra I really like the 2010-19ish Chevy/GMC 2500s with the old 6.0 gas V8. I used a few of those hard and I liked them a lot. Kind of like the 2nd gen tundras, they were pretty technologically old fashioned compared to a lot of the new stuff out there now but they just worked. I still prefer my Tundra though. I don’t know anything about the new GM 6.6 gas.

 

[Dsnow9]

Well, I finally had a chance to dig in and see what I could find. Coil 8 is gone for the most part and Explains the explosion and I’m sure the spark plug is too. There was never a fault in cylinder 8 when the mechanic in billings was assessing. Oil level is higher than it was and clear for a 240k truck 500 miles past the oil change due date. Mechanic thinks a bearing must have gone out and fuel leaked into the oil.

 

[Dsnow9]

 

[BAKPAKR]

View attachment 350357

HE IS BACK!!!

 

[Dsnow9]

 

[WildWill]

View attachment 350480

Saving the best for last I see.

 

[Dsnow9]

Not sure when I’ll get to this write up but we had a blast on the Hail Mary elk hunt. And she packed out the tendies for me!

 

[Dsnow9]

Saturday morning @cheesepizza called me and said that I should bring my 8 year old daughter up and hunt closing day. He had been seeing cows almost every day while holding out for a bull on his either sex tag. We were supposed to hunt together for the whole season but the truck issues messed that up.

My wife had some unexpected work come up so it was good I was home for the time I was. The sale ended Saturday night so I asked if she would be ok if my oldest daughter and I left after dinner and stayed at my parents house, hunted Sunday, and then were home by bedtime. It took her a bit to give me an answer but finally agreed. Saturday I got as many things done around the house as I could to take some of the load off the Mrs. And threw gear and a cooler in the Highlander. We left after dinner and after catching up with my parents went to bed after ten.

We were up by 5 Sunday morning, @cheesepizza and his dad came over for a quick breakfast and then we got on the road. His dad also had a tag.

We hiked in about a mile and started glassing as the sun came up.

 

[Dsnow9]

We didn’t see anything from the first glassing knob so we moved up a bit higher. The steep slopes, snow, and lose dirt were definitely a challenge for little legs but she did amazing. We got up to a pretty good glassing knob where we could see a large valley and a few different offshoots of that drainage. The wind was picking up a bit so I bundled her up and made a little couch out of our two packs. She asked if she could watch a movie on my phone while I glassed so I caved and let her. We had lots of snacks and tried to stay warm.

@cheesepizza and his dad were in a different area trying to cover as much ground as possible. Found a full cow elk carcus in the bottom of a drainage. It was an older cow based off the ivories and it could have been our new wolves based on the location or just old age. All the parts were in the same general area.

 

[Dsnow9]

@cheesepizza’s dad left about 10am while cheese did a huge loop up high and across the drainage to glass back into us. The wind was starting to really pick up and the temps were dropping. The little one and I decided to drop down off the ridge and try to get out of the wind. We ate some more food and snacks and she finished up the movie. Temps were still dropping and I could tell we needed to get moving for her. We moved down lower and even more out of the wind. We added some more layers and ate some more food. She ran around for a bit to try and get warm but the wind and temps were wearing her out. She was on the tail end of a cold.

Around 11 I made the call that we were going to hunt our way out and have my dad come pick her up. I let cheese pizza know and he said he was going to work out as well. The weather man had missed the storm and he and I did not have many layers. The little one had plenty because I learned the hard way on a previous hunt. We were working down a ridge into the flats and I would stop as much as I could to glass.

We were about 200 yards from the flats when I spotted a cow coming out of the piñons on the other side of the valley. She was about 450 yards away.

We needed to close the distance but that required us to drop into a steep drainage, go about a hundred yards through the bottom and then pop back out. The little one did amazing, I could see her fighting tears back though and she was not able to see the elk from the first spot.

 

[Dsnow9]

We made it to the spot I wanted to at about 11:30 and I set the little one up underneath a piñon and let her watch the elk for a bit. They were feeding to us. I knew @cheesepizza was working down the valley and would likely run right into these elk shortly. I was just hoping we could pull this all together and pull off the double since he put in all the work leading up to the last day. I told the little one to let me know if they all stopped eating.

I moved up on the ridge above directly behind the piñon from the elk and looked for cheese. Eventually I spotted him coming into the top of the valley. I was trying to get his attention but he was focused down valley. Then I saw him drop his pack and grab tripod and gun. At this point I had him about 600 yards from the elk.

He continued to sneak in, range, sneak, range. When he got to around 350 I saw him set up behind his rifle and I realized I needed to get on my gun. He never saw me but then continued to sneak. I dropped down to the little one and got set up. I had one of the further out cows that I didn’t think he would be able to see in my cross hairs. It felt like time was flying by and I couldn’t figure out why he hadn’t shot yet. He had to be at 300 or less by now and he was in the wide open.

One of the cows stood on the closed road broadside to where he was and no shot. I was a little confused but waited. She started feeding down into a ditch and I knew she was out of site of the other elk and thought she might be the lead cow. Here was the opportunity I was hoping for. She turned broadside and I dropped her in her tracks at about 200 yards. The other elk got alert but didn’t spook.

Then I heard what I was hoping for. The boom and thwack. I didn’t see an elk react though and started to get nervous. They started to move away and I saw blood what looked to be far back on a cow. I was worried he couldn’t see the elk and wondered if I should finish her for cheese. Then she just collapsed with no warning.

I let out a yoooop so cheese would know where we are and that his elk dropped. We pulled it off. The uncoordinated, blind double, on the same heard of about 15.

 

[Dsnow9]

It was 11:50 when we shot the cows. We got to work and started processing our elk. The little one had all kinds of questions. This was her 4th hunt and third animal but first one she saw drop. Had questions come up this time that didn’t the last couple times because she walked up and saw them dead.

Why was it kicking after it fell?

Did it hurt?

What is that part?

Can they see us?

Why does the wind matter?

What is that smell?

It was a lot of fun. When I was half way through she said she was getting cold so I said I would make a fire soon if she got some wood. After getting the wood she wanted to go see how cheese was doing and warm up a bit so ran over to him. She was there for a bit and I guess she was giving him a hard time about using such a small knife and taking so long…. Hahahahah cheese said she is definitely your kid!

I was almost done when she got back and I started the fire for her. It’s one of her favorite things! As she warmed by the fire I finished up my elk and then we pulled out the ivories together. We are going to do something with them for her.

Cheese was almost finished but I needed to get her back into the warmth. With little sleep and lots of hiking she was fading fast. We loaded her up with the tendies and hiked the mile out to the car. My dad came and picked her up and then cheese and I made two more trips to get the elk out. I made it back to my parents house by sunset.

 

[F250]

THAT was a great hunt !!! Late season cows with the little lady along. perfect !!l Congratulations !!

 

[BrentD]

I agree with @F250 . Does not get more perfect than that.

 

[Dsnow9]

Overall I couldn’t have asked for a better day. We got to learn about tracks, poop, thermals, and all the other fun stuff. We got to watch elk being elk and then take part in the whole harvest. She was pushed to her limit but not over it. And somehow we pulled out the blind, uncoordinated, double on the same small herd of about 15. Now I have an elk and three deer in the fridge to process….

Hopefully I can get the whole family in on at least a little bit of that!