When do you need to take winter conditions seriously on mountain roads?

[Choupique]

not sure if I'm just being a wuss...

Wait till you're having to back down a switchback that's snowed over with ice everywhere and a thousand foot drop on the downhill side to decide if you're a wuss or not.

I had to learn the hard way, but we've been fairly smart about it. Our rule is that the chains are for getting out, not getting in. If we have to put the chains on, we take the next opportunity to turn around and the truck isn't going any farther than that. We see people ripping up the moutain in busted ass Nissan trucks dragging a trailer full of shit with no chains, but those locals are nuts and obviously much more practiced than I am.

Have chains, know how to put them on, and once you need them, you've gone as far as you should go.

 

[cjdewese]

Thanks for checking in and all the advice from everyone. I got one set of chains (only one set was recommended for my vehicle by the manual) at Les Schwab but they weren't needed as the road was still dry. Happy to have the chains in case anything comes up in the future. Wilderness area I was accessing was a bust because I think the deer had migrated downslope. Lower down there were tons of road hunters (including the biggest asshole I've ever encountered while hunting, that might be another thread), the deer seemed completely nocturnal, and now I'm eating tag soup. Only my second year going after big game so I feel like I learned a lot and will be in a better position next year.

Sounds like you learned a lot. I am on year 5 of big game hunting in California and feel like I learn a little each year.

Keep at it, its not easy here, keep learning and try to get out after season I see quite a few more bucks during the rut than I do during our season and have found a few places they hold up in just haven't figured out how to get a vantage into those areas yet.

 

[Taudisio]

Wait till you're having to back down a switchback that's snowed over with ice everywhere and a thousand foot drop on the downhill side to decide if you're a wuss or not.

I had to learn the hard way, but we've been fairly smart about it. Our rule is that the chains are for getting out, not getting in. If we have to put the chains on, we take the next opportunity to turn around and the truck isn't going any farther than that. We see people ripping up the moutain in busted ass Nissan trucks dragging a trailer full of shit with no chains, but those locals are nuts and obviously much more practiced than I am.

Have chains, know how to put them on, and once you need them, you've gone as far as you should go.

Huh……I’m trying to think where I passed you in my Nissan? That thing goes everywhere, and I don’t have chains. I do have some traction boards and an inreach if I do get in a pickle.

 

[Taudisio]

Thanks for checking in and all the advice from everyone. I got one set of chains (only one set was recommended for my vehicle by the manual) at Les Schwab but they weren't needed as the road was still dry. Happy to have the chains in case anything comes up in the future. Wilderness area I was accessing was a bust because I think the deer had migrated downslope. Lower down there were tons of road hunters (including the biggest asshole I've ever encountered while hunting, that might be another thread), the deer seemed completely nocturnal, and now I'm eating tag soup. Only my second year going after big game so I feel like I learned a lot and will be in a better position next year.

It’s your thread….I want to hear the story!

 

[Choupique]

Im the idiot in the dodge 4 door long bed diesel 4x4 dragging the 18' trailer full of shit

I use the big spikey chains

 

[Taudisio]

Im the idiot in the dodge 4 door long bed diesel 4x4 dragging the 18' trailer full of shit

I use the big spikey chains

See about 7 of you every Friday and Sunday.

 

[Choupique]

Correct. I am one of them, complete with annual elk tag soup.

Have managed to not slide my truck off a cliff yet though. Vbar snow chains are incredible.

 

[taskswap]

There's a lot of good advice here so I won't repeat it. Let me just offer a Plan B. (I'm a guy that likes a Plan B, maybe even a C, D, E...)

Bring an extra week's worth of water, food, stove fuel, and an extra gas can for your car. Bring extra blankets and a box full of hand warmers. Make sure you have a satellite radio like an InReach, and folks back home know where you'll be and your plan. (Plus chains and a shovel obviously.)

Go. Be smart, but go.

Just like buying a bear tag is the best defense against actually seeing bears, being extra-well-prepared is the best defense against getting stuck anywhere. Jokes aside, if you're well prepared, suddenly instead of a life-threatening situation, you're just stuck in a longer-than-hoped delay.

You said you're in California, but not where. Since you said 6500'+ I'll assume it isn't San Bernardino. Either way California is very densely populated. There is almost nowhere you can go there without at least SOME folks bitching commenting about "pressure from other hunters." With very few exceptions (maybe right along the OR border?) all of those forest roads are going to get SOME traffic. It may not be 9am and you might miss lunch in town. But it's not going to be 2 weeks before other folks are poking around back there for similar reasons.

Here in CO in a (moderately) remote spot about 6 years ago I got whacked with 18" of snow while I was out on a Rifle 2 deer tag. I tried that morning to get out and got stuck - one of my tire chains had actually broken (pro tip: don't use tire chains for pulling stumps...). It took 3 hours to dig myself out and back down to the main roads. On a whim, the next day I went back just to see if I could poke around lower and fill the tag. The entire road was clear. So many people had gone up and down it that even without being plowed it was easily drivable even without chains.

Experts are born from newbies who overcome obstacles. Pack well and get out there. You'll regret it if you don't.

 

[MuleDeerMike]

I learned as a high school kid going snowboarding with my buddies after school and hunting all Fall in the Cascades... I'm sure you have many more years behind the wheel. Go learn and good luck on your hunt, hoping you fill your tag

 

[Steve300xcw]

Wait till you're having to back down a switchback that's snowed over with ice everywhere and a thousand foot drop on the downhill side to decide if you're a wuss or not.

There is a time to aim for the ditch an keep the momentum going.

I had to learn the hard way, but we've been fairly smart about it. Our rule is that the chains are for getting out, not getting in. If we have to put the chains on, we take the next opportunity to turn around and the truck isn't going any farther than that. We see people ripping up the moutain in busted ass Nissan trucks dragging a trailer full of shit with no chains, but those locals are nuts and obviously much more practiced than I am.

Have chains, know how to put them on, and once you need them, you've gone as far as you should go.

Thats not much fun.... I generally dont toss chains on until I'm already in a bind, and doing that neat lil sideways shuffle towards the outside edge of the road. But get the iron on and yer good to go. I always liked snow, as for the most part as long as you are still on the road. A shovel an chains can get you out of most of it. Having a saw handy so you can stack some wood in a ditch thats just not cooperating can come in handy as well....

 

[cb2176]

Glad you went. The experience you gained was invaluable and you'll build upon it.

 

[tekhintsi]

It’s your thread….I want to hear the story!

Okay so about ten minutes before first light, I'm stopped by the side of the road overlooking a bowl with some clearcuts I intend to glass. I have my tripod with binos set up on the hood of my vehicle and just made a cup of coffee. There is an unmaintained dirt road from the clearcuts that goes into the bowl next to my vehicle. This is a pretty big area and there are a lot of similar spots. A Can-Am SxS drives by me - the only other vehicle I'd seen all morning. Everything seems normal.

Then about two minutes before first light, the SxS reappears having apparently turned around. It turns down the dirt road a few feet from my vehicle and into the bowl I'm clearly glassing and stops about thirty feet down the road shining its lights into the bowl. I think there must be some misunderstanding, so I try to walk up to it, but it drives off deeper into the bowl. I continue to think there's some misunderstanding, so I keep glassing, watching the SxS bust does and think maybe the driver is just inconsiderately going through the area to reach some other destination. But the SxS zig zags around the bowl multiple times, basically blowing up the entire area.

Then to make the intentions extra obvious, the driver, an older guy, gets out, stares directly towards me, and takes a shit (on the surface, of course) in a completely wide open area.

After a while I head out because I realize a) there don't seem to be bucks in the area and b) if there were I wouldn't be able to kill them because of the SxS. Later that day I'm stopped in a different area by the side of the road having a snack and about to get out to hike to an area away from the roads when the SxS reappears and stops next to me. It's the older guy plus an older woman and two dogs in the vehicle.

SxS driver: "Well you sure seemed real patient just sitting there this morning."
Me (in a polite tone): "Hey, yeah I didn't really appreciate that I was clearly hunting that area but you just drove right through it."
SxS driver: "I've been hunting that spot the last five weekends! You should go somewhere else!"
Me (at this point I kind of laugh in his face): "Wow five weekends in the same spot without tagging out! Maybe you should give somewhere else a try then."
SxS driver: "Maybe you should sit somewhere else!" and then he hit he gas and drove off.

This is my second year big game hunting, my fifth year hunting overall, and I've been fishing my whole life. I've met some prickly characters, but this was probably the first time I've been thinking "this can't be happening, is this guy serious?"

 

[Steve300xcw]

SxS explains everything

 

[PointlessArcher]

Now thats a power move.. sure showed you

 

[Thebigbaby]

send it

 

[jimh406]

Not related to the story, but it snowed fairly low in the Rockies last night ... about an inch at 4400.