It has been a while…

So, it has been over a year since I’ve posted anything here on coyotestuff. Wow, time flies. And I’m lazy. Well, here’s a long on pictures, short on words, recap of some of what has been going on in the last year since my last post.

Coyote hunting last winter was slow. I think it was the least I have gotten out, and the fewest coyotes I have called, in as long as I can remember. Still, got out some, got a few, had a blast just tooling around and seeing what we could see.

Random coyote camp
Sunset on coyote camp

On one trip, me and Steve managed to get stuck in dust. It was – and is, just so drought blasted, parched and dry in our area of operations. Worst I’ve ever seen it. And why the coyote numbers are so down.

Stuck in dust!
One of the attempts at getting unstuck

Here’s a video of the dust stuck. Took us longer and more work to get out than I would have guessed, but, we got it.

Dust stuck self recovery video

Found some nice natural hot spring tubs in the middle of a big empty valley. Used them on a later trip – nice!

Hot tubs
Just another random coyote camp
And another coyote camp
And yet another coyote camp
And, another coyote camp, haha!
Only cottontails living in this cabin now

Drought. And fire. Those have been the themes in recent years. What you see below, is what we see way too much of now. That valley behind the truck used to be full of old growth sage. Fire wiped it all out and nothing but cheat grass is coming back. Habitat just devastated. And not coming back in my lifetime and probably not ever.

Old pump rig – have coyote camped by it many times – the background used to be healthy sage brush
Nothing but dust where there used to be a thriving sage habitat
Old ranch site
He’s not howling

Our daily average was way, way, way down last year. Ended up, averaging only a little over one coyote a day.

The one for the day
Can’t have too many pics of coyote camps, haha!
Living large in coyote camp
A rare pair – didn’t see too many of these last year

Did the annual Freeze Your Tail Off run with Expedtion Utah.

An excursion with the ExpeditionUtah crew
Three corners monument UT-NV-ID
Expedition Utah FYTO crew
Expeditionutah.com trip
How me and Tim spent New Years Eve 2020
Fire!
This old Pontiac looks worse every time I see it
A New Years Day coyote!
Another New Years coyote!

Made a trip down to do the Horse Canyon/Wolverine Loop with my friend Kevin. We sort of winged it, didn’t have a real plan. Ended up going through Cathedral Valley too.

Cathedral Valley
Horse Canyon
Horse Canyon cabin
Rail car turned into a cabin
Camp along Wolverine Loop
Wolverine
Burr switchbacks
“Butch Casady”
Copper Globe mine

So, it was on the way home from the above trip, that my Jeep had a big problem.

Transfer case broke

Front drive shaft siezed and took out the transfer case but good. Replaced it with an Atlas II, way more beef!

Nice!
Way more strength than the factory case!
And twin sticks! Can you say two low, or front digs?

But after all the work, expense and time of getting a new Atlas and installing it, I found out my transmission was hosed too. That added considerable more time and expense. All said, the Jeep was out of commission for about three months.

Transmission was wasted too…

And then, while doing all that work, I took note that a few of my suspension brackets were in pretty bad shape.

Trauma
That looks broke…
That ain’t good…

My friend Eric welded those all up and the Jeep has been getting around pretty good ever since. Here in a coupe more weeks though, I’m going to drop the axles out and take them to my friend Carl’s house where he’ll cut off all the old factory brackets and replace them with all new heavy duty ones from Artec. Should be good to go on long range patrol this fall and winter.

Was able to do a backpacking trip in Grand Gulch this spring with Randy and Jared. Always a great time! I think it’s probably our last backpack into the Gulch though. Just way too crowded in there anymore – monument status effed that whole area up.

Caprock ruin
Dinner time in backpack camp
He’s watching
Cool petroglyph
Red bear panel – looks more like a dog to me?
Nice reflected light
Well preserved ruin
Cool panel
Sheep on a skateboard
Small pueblo
Cool architecture
Line of faces
Nice ruin
Home for the night
Cool pictograph
Neat set of ledge ruins
Red deer
Round ruin

While my Jeep was down for extensive repairs, my awesome wife Cindy let me take her Jeep and me and my friend Alan had a good canyonlands trip. Part basecamp, part backpack.

Base camp
Super cool BCS panel
My ugly self for scale
Faded BCS panel
BCS figure through the tree
Interesting construction on this ruin
Granary with door stone
There’s a really cool little ruin up there!
And it has a back door. Look at all the 750 year old maize on the floor too
Cool round ruin
Big potsherds
Nice big point
View from backpack camp
Roadside ruin
View from basecamp
Another view from camp
Basecamp at night

Had a really good ‘chuck hunting trip with Steve this spring, too. With the usual amount of adventure spice thrown in. Got stuck in a little snow drift (should have gone around). Took way longer and way more effort to get unstuck than we thought it would.

It’s worse than it looks…
We got out eventually though

A little video of the snow stuck fun.

Getting unstuck again
‘chuck camp
We always eat good!
Dinner is served!
‘chuck camp again
Scenic spot to fix a flat
The things you see out there…

And of course, the Ghost Town Tour happened this year. Maiden voyage for all the new drivetrain components in the Jeep, it did great. This was I think the 7th year I’ve been leading this trip now. And this year was one of the best!

Miners cabin
Lot of old cars at this site
Another cabin
Trees have just about taken this one over
Rattlesnake
Furnace chimney
Mine site
Big compressor
Compressor shack
GTT camp night one
Climbing the head frame
Miner shack
Diverse group of rigs
Arrastra
Ooops!
Ghost town of Morey
Maybe she can read them?
Old stage stop
Belmont Mill
Tram house
Me being dumb
Kids exploring old mine shaft
Nobody had a chainsaw!
Top of the world
Hamilton
Figuring out how it all worked
GTT camp third night

So, yeah, that’s some of what has been going on since I last posted.

Coyote numbers appear to be down still, drought is still raging. But I hope to get out more this coming fall and winter anyway, just get out and see what I can find. I’ll try not to wait another year before posting!

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It's Been A While...
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It's Been A While...
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Brief recap of the last year, mostly in pictures.
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Coyotestuff.com
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18 thoughts on “It has been a while…”

  1. Dave,
    Glad to see you are back to posting some pics! It is a bit disheartening to see so much habitat in such poor condition. Looks as though your Jeep has been pretty much totally rebuilt over the past two years. Thanks for taking us with you again.

    1. Thanks for stopping by Jody! Yup, the Jeep has had some major refreshing the last couple of years. “Should be” good for awhile to come though.

  2. I have been checking back from time to time to see a new post. To my delight here it is. Thanks for sharing your adventures, and pictures.

    1. I went back to them earlier this summer and they are awesome! Sat there soaking at night, under a bright full moon, watching some lightning off in the distance. The water from the spring is HOT though. Not just warm. After filling our tubs we had to wait about an hour before they had cooled off enough to get in. But dang was it nice to soak off a long day of trail dust!

        1. Out in the middle of the desert on public land. Last thing in the world I expected to find there!

  3. Nice to see a new post. I love your page and all the adventures you share!!

  4. I’m happy you finally put up a new post. I was starting to wonder if you got Covid and moved on to the happy hunting grounds. LOL I always enjoy your posts, keep up the good work sir.

  5. Yea,,,, it has been awhile at that, and look, he’s still above ground and breathing,,,,,, and that LJ is looking good, it looked as though it was ready for some “Love”,,,,, anyway, keep on keeping on, and as I’ve said,,,,, I like your style. 🙂
    BD in Alaska

  6. Hey Dave, a guy on some site called huntmasters was going on and on about you being a foxpro leghumper and that you were also in cahoots with the biggest online predator site fraud to ever exist, none other than redfrog aka redFRAUD. This guy said you were a traitor to all predator callers. FYI basically this dude said you were a son of a bitch

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