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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

A little video of the snow stuck fun.

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!

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!

• DAA