A Real Tough Way to Start a Tough Hunt.

[mattys281]

Everyone jokes about their own bad luck. Mine is real, however, at least as far as bowhunting is concerned, and I have proof.

 

Case 1: Jan. '07, archery Javelina & Coues deer combo.

I'd scouted my butt of for & hunted the same area through Dec. '06 to get ready for this one & even took a week off work & swapped one of my visitation weekends with my kids so that I could have 9 days straight to put into it. What happens? The day before I leave I get a call from the piece of (censored) that my ex was having an affair with (hence the divorce & visitation weekends) & he, now also being an "ex", informed me that the new boyfriend she has, who's living in the house with my kids, is a convicted sex offender from California!

 

Obviously my hunt plans underwent a sudden change, as I spent the next 3 days talking to lawyers, police detectives (from both Phoenix & Sacramento, where he came from), and filing papers with courts & waiting for an emergency hearing. Incidentely, I lost my petition for an emergency change of custody, as his crime was not against a minor and he didn't have any outstanding warrants (in this state at least, he had two in Ca.) that might lead to the police storming the house, so he did not necessarily pose an immediate threat to my children.

 

I lost a couple more days to crappy weather and ended up only hunting I think 3 out of my 9 days. I was pretty unmotivated & found it difficult to buckle down & focus, but did manage to arrow a javi.

 

Case 2: Sept. '07, archery elk.

 

Again, the night before I'm supposed to depart for my 10 day hunt, a near tragedy strikes. While on her way to Flagstaff from her office in Lake Montezuma, my girlfriend comes up on a couple of semi's pulling up the hill. One is driving erratic & swerving, so she goes to pass him. While passing, he swerves over into her lane, she swerves to avoid him, hits the dirt on the shoulder, loses control & rolls the car. You can see the result from the pictures below.

 

First and foremost, she's okay. Banged up & sore, but nothing broken & no internal damage, thank God. I cut my hands at least 6 different places while cleaning out the car at the impound yard, yet she managed to escape the thing w/out a scratch from all of that exploding glass. As for the driver who ran her off the road, both he (or she) & the semi that was behind her at that point took off. Neither stopped. She was taken to Flagstaff Medical Center by ambulance & I drove up as soon as I found out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyhow, here's the part I need help with. Her business partner was a few minutes ahead of her on the I-17 & did not see the accident, but she did see the same truck swerving in & out of it's lane. The description that they gave of the truck is that it (the trailer at least) was white and had the company name written on it in green cursive style writing. They said that it was two words & the first began with an "L". Does anyone have any idea what that company name might be? I've tried googling for trucking companies, but haven't found a match yet. I figure that if we can get the company name, we might be able to trace down the drivers. Since they didn't actually make contact, our legal council says it's classified as a "miss & run" accident, & it's still illegal for them to flee the scene of an accident. Besides, there's no way in heck the truck behind her didn't see what happened, & she's cofident that the one that swerved over on her also saw it. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks guys.

[Huntn coues]

That sure does suck (both stories) .Glad she is ok.

 

The driver of those trucks need a serious a$$ stomping. Hope you find em.

 

And to think alot of truck drivers complain about us

[azryan]

sorry to hear about that...glad to hear your wife is ok...

my brother works at a truck stop ill give him a holler and see if it rings a bell

[Outdoor Writer]

Here's one list I found:

 

Trucking Companies beginning with "L"

[BML]

Sorry to hear of the misfortunes.

 

I own a courier route and I drive that particular stretch of highway every single day. I will keep my eyes open for you.

[bowcrazy]

Sorry about the bad luck right before the hunt we have alot of trucking companys here at work I will ask around and see what i can find out, so how did the hunt go?

[mattys281]

I really appreciate everyone keeping their eyes open. We talked about it last night & Ingrid (my GF) said that it was dark, the lettering could have been blue or black, but she's pretty sure it was green. I know the description is pretty vague. It just pisses me off that they didn't even stop. Her car came to rest on its lid & she was unconscious hanging upside down in there. What a couple of class acts there. Since they didn't actually make contact, it's going to be her word against theirs, but I'd at least like the opportunity to speak with their employers. I figure that w/ log books & all their records, if we can i.d. the company, it shouldn't be too difficult to reach the a-holes behind the wheel.

 

Thanks for the list Tony. Only a few had website links & I didn't see any photos of their trucks that looked like a match, but I'm going to have her & her business partner go through them & see if any of the names look right.

 

I did get to hunt for 5 days. A friend of hers volunteered to stay w/ her for a few days so I could go for at least part of my trip. The hunting was hard. First it was hot, then rainy, then windy.... Opening weekend there were hunters camped on every road & there was a lot of activity. The bulls clammed up. I had a nice 6x6 come into a wallow I was sitting on my second day, but as I had a cow tag it didn't do me much good. Still nice to look at though. On the forth day I woke to heavy fog & 3 bulls screaming in the drainage right behind my tent. I got up & got dressed (it was already daylight - I over slept) & then hauled but down there. I stopped at the top & cow called which brough an immediate response from a bull below me. Sounded like he was way down in the bottom, so I went in pretty quick. Ended up getting busted by my own impatience & inexperience. They were a lot closer than I'd thought & once I got to within about 30 yards that bull's cows hauled butt outta there. He stuck around long enough to scream at me & then followed them. I didn't get much action, but it was real exciting when I did get in on something. Hopefully things go smoother next year.

[muskrat]

Glad Ingrid is OK, Matt. Glad you got some field time in as well. There are some pretty ignorant people running up and down the roads.... good luck in your search.

[Outdoor Writer]

Thanks for the list Tony. Only a few had website links & I didn't see any photos of their trucks that looked like a match, but I'm going to have her & her business partner go through them & see if any of the names look right.

 

Yup, few links but if you google the names, you'll find many of the others have web sites, too. I did a couple that way but none showed the writing or colors as you described them. Glad to hear your GF is fine, though.

 

BTW, I had a similar incident happen to me in 2006 on the OK Turnpike when I was on the way home from a writer's conference. I was driving my wife's 2003 Durango rather than my truck, and the sky opened up with a torrential downpour. Traffic had slowed to about 35-40 MPH. I came up on two semis and because of the water they were kicking up, I could hardly see, even if I stayed 100 yards behind them.

 

So I pulled into the left lane and slowly tried to pass them both. But as I got about half-way alongside the first one, he decided to pass the truck in front of him. At that point, all I could do was say, "Oh s__t, hit the brakes and swerve as far left as possible toward the concrete barrier, which is like the one on I-17 here -- about 3.5' high and unmoving.

 

Welll...bad idea. There was so much water on the concrete pavement, the Durango hydroplaned and began turning in circles. The left front bounced off the concrete barrier at about a 45 deg. angle, then the car turned another 360, and the left rear hit the barrier. After one more loop, I finally was able to gain control and bring the Durango to a halt just before I would have gone down a steep embankment on the shoulder side.

 

The semis just kept on trucking and probably never even knew what happened. A trucker behind me did stop to check on me. He couldn't get stopped until he had gone by at least a 1/4 mile. By the time he got back to me, he was drenched.

 

Even though I didn't have my belt on, I was none the worse for wear. Besides cleaning out my pants, the only damage was a slight bump in the head when it hit the side window as the first impact occurred. I was really fortunate the airbag didn't deploy on that one.

 

I just sat there, waiting for the rain to abate a bit. Then I got out and checked the damage. Most of what I could see was sheet metal, but it did take out the left headlight. So...I drove it along the shoulder for a few miles to make sure, then eventually got back in traffic to reach the next service plaza, where I called the OK state cops and reported the incident.

 

The officer listened to my story and just gave me a blank citation with his name and phone in case the insurance company had a question. He told me if he wrote a real report, he would have to cite me for driving faster than the conditions allowed or some such thing. All worked out fine with Farmers, however, to the tune of almost $8,000 in repairs.

 

It was dark when I got home. The worst feeling occurred the next day when my wife, who was driving my Dodge Quadcab, came into the house from work and asked if I had noticed the tire on the OPPOSITE front from the side that had made contact with the wall. I went out and saw that the tread of what had been a fairly new tire was worn right down to the steel belt. In fact, parts of it were already frayed and sticking out every which way. When I thought about cruising down the Sunset Point hill into Black Canyon City at 85 mph, I got a bit queasy. The other tire was also badly worn on the outside edge because the front end had gotten WAY out of alignment.

 

Obviously, it ain't as banged up as Ingrid's car, but a lot of the damage was hidden, especially at the back end, which was worse than it looks in the photo. Besides the obvious, the entire frame around the radiator, the hood, grill, both left side wheels and several front-end components needed to be replaced. At the back, the whole bumper system and door frame around the hatch was replaced. -TONY

 

 

 

[Redbeard]

This whole thing is horrible.

 

Glad the GF is OK but get those kids away from that ex and sex offender. If that isn't grounds for you getting custody I don't know what is. Must be a CA court.

[mattys281]

This whole thing is horrible.

 

Glad the GF is OK but get those kids away from that ex and sex offender. If that isn't grounds for you getting custody I don't know what is. Must be a CA court.

 

 

Prescott, Az. The honorable Judge Mackey.

He seemed to choose his wording very carefully. I think he knew he was on touchy ground & felt his hands were tied.