I new  there was only one way in and out to this hole we were dropping into.  The CMR Wildlife Refuge in Eastern MT can be very inhospitable.  The spot we were hunting that day I nicknamed roller coaster because of the way your truck  goes up and down through canyons and badlands with 500 to 1000 feet verticle drops on either side of the bumpy 2 track.  There is one hill maybe 200 yards long with enough angle  it feels like your truck is taking off to the moon when you are locked in 4 low and grinding out of there.  Under the best conditions you need aggressive all terrain tires/ possibly chained to even get out of there.  I’m kind of anal when it comes to having good tires in the back country, I don’t like being stuck, one could ask my friend Joe about tires, but that’s a different story!
    Any way I took these two dudes into my favorite hunting spot.  These cats were fresh out of NYC and Italian in descent and heavy accents.  I felt like I was guiding Rocky Balboa and his trainer Mick.  “YO Brooooks, how tha F##^ do we get the deah out of this motherF@@##.”  asked Rock. We hiked in 2 miles spotted and shot a nice mule deer like 15 times.  “Yeah Mick we whacked the piss out of  the deeeah, look at that you popped him right in da knee” “pointed out Rock.  “Yeah just like back home in da neighborhood, you don’t pay me back motherF##er bamb, right in da  knee cap Huh Rock.” ranted Mick.
     The poor buck we shot took a lot of lead  The 1st shot hit a little far back liver/diaphram, it was lethal but the deer was hopping away still so these guys unloaded on it, hitting it  just above both hoove’s while shattering both back legs then finally shooting it in the neck!
     “Guys I’ll quarter this deer and put it in my pack, and carry it out, I’ll have you guys carry out the head and cape, this is how you cape and quarter” as I went to work packing this shot up deer.
    I backpacked the deer back to the truck and we started our drive out to another area.  It was later in the day and we were running out of shooting light.  When we dropped into this area in the morning there was 6 inches of fresh snow.  During the day it warmed up above freezing, the snow melted, and the road we were on turned to gumbo/ slick mud.
   We spent 2 hours trying to climb the last hill out with no success.  My truck would make it half way up and slide back down. We tried chains, shoveling, everything, we were stuck and had to walk out. Life in gumbo has become routine to hunting guides out here, it presents so many problems.  Sometime you can’t even walk in it.  It often becomes impassable and I’ve heard of guys having to leave their rigs for 5 days or so before it dries out or froze.   Usually in this situation you can wait until the ground freezes and you will have enough tackiness for your tires to grab and drive out.

      Unfortunately on this fine Fort Peck eve the temp was a balmy 46 degrees at 6:30 pm.  I had 2 choices.    1. Wait for it to freeze, if it does freeze,  and try to drive out.   2. Walk out to a ranch house about 4 miles away and call Carl Mann to come get us.  His truck wouldn’t get within 2 mile of us in these conditions so I choose option # 2.  Of course there is no cell phone coverage until you walk to the ridge top 2 miles away.

Conclusion coming soon!