Or, you could call it an encounter with the Missouri Mud Monster. :eek:
Okay, this one is a bit different than you might be thinking. No, I didn't go out west or into some sort of wilderness area. I went out for an evening hunt on property I've been hunting for years. things did get a little squirrely though. Really thought I might be in some sort of trouble several times in one hunt.
It started out with me going to my usual hunting property but with no real plan on a stand sight. Just figured I'd head out and check the wind then decide where to go. I've been hunting there enough years that I've got a pretty good grasp on places to set up. Turned out the wind was from the southwest so I planned on going into an area where a couple of draws join together behind a creek bottom. Figured I'd set up in a little pinch point where one finger ridge comes out close to the creek as it's a natural funnel and there are usually several creek crossings in that area. There are also some oaks up on the ridge and I thought I might catch some movement of deer crossing the creek to get to the ridge.
For any of you who have never hunted this part of the country, most of the creeks are really just big deep mud ditches that have eroded over time until the banks run deep, steep and greasy. On this particular creek, the banks are about 12 to 14 feet deep and the water is currently about 3" to a foot deep. The banks are black gumbo and run from about 45 to 80 degrees on average.
The other thing that was different on this hunt was my planned method of getting up in the tree. About a month ago I bought a set of tree climbing gaffs at a pawn shop and I planned to give them a try. Should have tried them ahead of time but I figured how hard could it be?
I got my stand loaded up at the car and had the gaffs and a fanny pack tied down to it. Definitely a lighter load than when I'm packing my rapid rails. Mine are the steel ones and weigh a bit more than the aluminum ones. Anyway, off I went. Had about 3/4 mile to get to the area I wanted to hunt. About 1/2 mile along, I began to parallel the creek and looked for crossings as I went in case something new was in the works this year. Saw a few places with sign but nothing special. I decided to go ahead and get down into the creek bottom and walk in the water to eliminate my trail. I've done this dozens of times in the past and it seems to work well. I began the descent and got about 2/3 of the way down without slipping but then the "grease effect" kicked in and I slid the last 5 or so feet. I managed to keep my balance and coasted to a stop in the water at the bottom with no harm done. On a whim, I turned the opposite direction I'd planned and walked upstream to look for crossing sign. The bottom was a mix of mud, clay bars and coarse sand here and there. The clay bottom was nice and firm, the mud was squishy and I was sinking about 4 inches into it before I hit bottom in most places. The sand was tightly packed and hard. That is, until I hit a spot on a curve in the creek that had what looked like a cut worn into the clay bottom that was filled level with sand. I hit that sand and my foot just started going DOWN and FAST. No idea how deep it was but by taking two or three very fast steps I got out of it. I'm sure I went in a good foot and a half and I never felt the bottom. I was wearing some elastic gaiters that are simply a wide band I pull over my boots and wear them half on the boot top and half on my pants above the boot to keep out seeds and stuff. I went in past the gaiter and all the way to my knee. Didn't really scare me too bad but I certainly was surprised and wondered what would have happened if my reaction was slower. That was "thrill number one"....
After continuing a bit I turned back in the other direction to go to my originally planned spot. As I went by the bad spot I stopped to look it over. There was zero evidence I'd ever stepped into it and it just looked like coarse sand. I carefully snuck up on it and put my foot back into it again. At first it felt solid but then the sand just started to give way and my foot was able to just sink real easy. It was like the sand was suspended in some way, possibly it was mixed with some of the mud but it didn't look like it. It was just real loose and laying in the water.
Hmmmmm I thought, do we actually have quick sand around here????? That's just jungle stuff ain't it?
Next I proceeded to sneak downstream until I got about where I wanted to be and there was some great crossing sign in two places about 15 yards apart. Perfect. I figured I'd go past the crossing about 20 or 30 yards, climb the bank and walk back to near the crossings and get up in a tree. Uhhhh, NOT. I spent a half hour trying to find a place I could climb up the bank and no dice. The banks were simply too steep and too slippery. Well, maybe if I go farther down stream?
Finally, there's a good spot! Nice gentle slope for about half the distance then it got fairly steep but I figured by the time I got that far the bank would be hard enough that I could manage it. Again, NOT! I got about 6 feet away from the water and the bank had only risen about a foot and a half when I again hit DEEP mud. The bank was all cracked looking about there and in hindsight I guess the dirt has got so soft it slid down towards the creek and that gave the look of a gentle bank but it sure wasn't firm! The surface looked fairly dry and there were leaves scattered about so I figured it had been that way a while. About my third step into it my left foot just started to drop out of sight. I tried to turn back but my boot was stuck and I felt my heel slip upwards in my boot as I spun back towards the creek. About that time, my right foot was trying to catch up to the left one on it's way out of sight and I was loosing balance fast. In the end, I completed the spin back towards the creek and kept my balance but lost both boots in the mud. So there I was standing on a mud and sand bar in my stocking feet with a tree stand and quiver on my back, my bow in my hand, mud up to my knees and still not on top of the bank where I needed to be. F$#%^!!!!
All I could do was put a careful stalk on my boots and try to sneak up on them without the mud monster catching me. I got the right one out by grabbing it with my multi-tool pliers then rinsed it and my right foot off in the creek, wrung out my sock as best I could and put that boot on. Stalk number two was harder as the left boot was about 3 feet farther beyond the border of the mud monster's realm. The left boot was in a real bad place. I think the mud monster had it in his teeth but by moving slowly and reaching to my full limit I was again able to get a hold of the boot edge with my multi-tool pliers and slowly retrieve it. It was touch and go there for a bit. Kinda like pulling a giant night crawler out of his hole in the yard at night. He pulls back so hard you just know something is gonna break but if ya don't overdo it and manage to get him moving a little, he gives up and comes on out.
Once again it was time to wash my boot, sock and foot in the creek. Sure am glad it was a warm day! Eventually, I found a spot that was a little less steep and had a few tree roots hanging down the bank to use as hand holds and made it up.
I back tracked to the creek crossing area and picked a real good tree, put on the spikes and said, "here we go!" Well, again, it ain't as easy as ol' Warren Womak made it look years ago when he posted a video about using gaffs to get up into a tree. He went from standing on the ground to sitting in the stand up in the tree in about a minute and a half. It took me a little longer than that.... Okay, a lot longer. Especially since I'd never tried them. I figured it out as I went though and by taking small steps and not trying to really mash them into the tree it started to get easier. Just a gentle downward push set them quite well. They feel funny but I think that with more practice they'll become quite a good accessory.
So, I got up the tree, got settled in and took the gaff's off. My biggest fear was that I'd drop one and not be able to get back down without doing the "hug and slide" routine. Oh, by the way, the trunk was covered with poison ivy... I don't usually get it so I never worry about it being on a tree but I don't know if I could hug a trunk covered with it then slide down and get off scott free.
Next came the long, uneventful sit with not even a squirrel in range. I milked it out until nearly full dark and started to get down. That was when I realized that my flashlight was in my other pack... DoooHHHhhhh!!!! The climb down actually went a lot better than I feared it would in the dark. Again, baby steps seemed to work best.
Once down, I got everything packed up by using my cell phone as a light and decided to go down the bank in the same place the deer were using since it was the closest spot. I took the easy way out and just did the sit-n-slide method with minimal mud contact, just the palm of my left hand. Now began the ordeal of trying to get up the bank on the OTHER side of the creek.... Three times I was over half way up the bank and it gave out on me and I slid back down. By then, my hands, legs and butt were a muddy mess. The third time got ugly as I ended up on my back laying in the creek on top of my tree stand and side quiver. Of course, wouldn't ya know it, it was one of the deeper spots in the creek too.
Long story longer.... (Hey, maybe I should have done the "Charlie Lamb story drag" and did this in installments eh?)
There was simply NOT a place I could get up that bank. Finally, I had to go upstream past the place where I had my first encounter with the bottomless sand only this time I was doing it in the dark. Hhhhhhhhmmmm...... Got lucky and remembered exactly where the bad spot was and avoided it. about a hundred yards farther up the creek I finally came to a spot where another smaller ditch dumped into the big one and had a notch cut. Unfortunately, it was crisscrossed with tree roots and I had to crawl under the first couple until I got to where the ditch was getting shallower and I could start getting on top of the roots. A couple feet into it, my stand snagged on a root, I slipped and landed face down on my belly. By then I felt like dang Swartzeneger in that Predator movie where he is all covered in mud on the creek bank and the Predator can't see him. Finally got up on top of the root mess, got up out of the feeder ditch and onto solid ground and back to the field road.
Man! What an evening!
Oh yea, I also left my water bottle in the car... I sure was thirsty by this point but from here on out the walk was real easy and 30 minutes later I was back at the car and draining my water bottle. Still had some ice in it too!
Luckily, I had an old army poncho in the trunk to put over the seat of the car for the drive home. I stopped at Arbys for some sandwiches to take home for the kids and the girl at the window saw my bow in the passenger seat and asked if I killed anything. I said "No, but I came close to killin' myself!"
Dang it was good to get back to the house and cleaned up!
The End...
p.s.
I've got no idea if there is any such thing as actual quicksand in this area or how deep the places were that I stepped into but I certainly don't want to find out the hard way. I can't imagine it's deeper than knee or thigh deep but who knows?
I did so many stupid things on this hunt it's really embarrassing to admit to it all but I figure we always talk about being careful with sharp broadheads, climbing up and down trees etc etc. But I've never heard of someone getting stuck in the mud before. It was just strange enough of an evening that I thought I'd pass it along.
Anybody else ever have a similar experience?