My First Recovery - Lessons Learned

[Heinz]

I had the pleasure of pulling out a stuck Ram 1500 today as I finished my last quail hunt of the season. Thought I’d share some takeaways as it was an interesting situation.

I carry extremely basic recovery gear, which was never used until today. The off-roading I do is mostly desert roads - no rock crawling, not much mud or snow, and I stay on pretty well-established trails. Well, today I ran across someone who decided to drop down off the main trail to hit a hill. When he couldn’t make it up that hill, he tried to reverse back up onto the trail he dropped off of. Back wheels made it, then he bottomed out. He was completely stuck and was blocking my only way out.

I pulled out my ARB snatch strap and soft shackles and had him out in a couple minutes.

Takeaway #1 - having the snatch strap with me probably saved hours of either digging or waiting for help. Even though I haven’t gotten stuck myself, the strap is now worth every penny because it allowed me to get home on time. Oh, and help someone else

Takeaway #2 - I’m glad the Raptor comes with factory recovery hooks in the front of the truck. It made this process super easy, as I had to pull him out in reverse.

Takeaway #3 - I carry high quality cable cutters in my hunting vest in case the dog gets into a snare (it’s happened to one of my dogs, not fun). Well, these came in handy because the guy had a trailer hitch cover held on by a cable lock he didn’t have the key to. My Felco C7 cable cutters did the trick and allowed me to drop in my hitch pin to attach the snatch strap. I’ll keep a pair of cable cutters (or maybe bolt cutters) with my recovery gear going forward. Leatherman/SOG pliers would not have gotten the job done.

I didn’t get a picture of him stuck, but snagged one after I pulled him out. As I left he said, “I’ve never been pulled out by a Ford before”, haha.

 

[John M BUNMAN]

Great Job! Thank you for sharing. If the roles were reversed, that Mfer would have found a way aroud you! Dodge Drivers are D-i-c-k-s...Baaahaa, No Offense, Just kidding (I know there are some closet Dodge folks Trolling around here
I've rescued more folks than I can remember. I carry so much Skit and redundant systems that it's pretty ridiculous. A disorder that I have, I don't even know how to use some of the stuff I carry
You are a good man, saved him a $500+ tow

 

[Heinz]

Great Job! Thank you for sharing. If the roles were reversed, that Mfer would have found a way aroud you! Dodge Drivers are D-i-c-k-s...Baaahaa, No Offense, Just kidding (I know there are some closet Dodge folks Trolling around here
I've rescued more folks than I can remember. I carry so much Skit and redundant systems that it's pretty ridiculous. A disorder that I have, I don't even know how to use some of the stuff I carry
You are a good man, saved him a $500+ tow

Ha, just hoping it brings me some good karma for the next quail season!

 

[TheCzar]

Thanks! Planning my next trip out west and have been acquiring gear that would have been nice to have on last year's trip. Already have the snatch strap and soft shackles, but wouldn't have thought of the bolt cutters, but they are on my list now!

 

[Heinz]

Thanks! Planning my next trip out west and have been acquiring gear that would have been nice to have on last year's trip. Already have the snatch strap and soft shackles, but wouldn't have thought of the bolt cutters, but they are on my list now!

Definitely not how I expected to use them, but certainly glad I had them! Also glad I had an extra hitch pin to put on this guy’s truck even though I didn’t need it for mine.

 

[John M BUNMAN]

Thanks! Planning my next trip out west and have been acquiring gear that would have been nice to have on last year's trip. Already have the snatch strap and soft shackles, but wouldn't have thought of the bolt cutters, but they are on my list now!

I’m inventorying my gear again today so I can try and remember what the f-uk I have in there it should give you a few ideas of what not to carry on the trail…lol
you never need it until you do….
I used my wire cutters to save a Big Horn Sheep that was tangled up in some dead powerlines that fell in the wind. The real amazing thing is, I called the NPS Rangers and a NDOW Biologist called, gave him the location and I’ll be damed if a week later the wires were cut down. Now if I could only get DMV to work that fast!

 

[TheCzar]

Definitely not how I expected to use them, but certainly glad I had them! Also glad I had an extra hitch pin to put on this guy’s truck even though I didn’t need it for mine.

Useful nonetheless. Only use my traction boards have seen are to level the truck at night and to keep stuff from sliding around the bed during daily driving

 

[TheCzar]

I’m inventorying my gear again today so I can try and remember what the f-uk I have in there it should give you a few ideas of what not to carry on the trail…lol
you never need it until you do….
I used my wire cutters to save a Big Horn Sheep that was tangled up in some dead powerlines that fell in the wind. The real amazing thing is, I called the NPS Rangers and a NDOW Biologist called, gave him the location and I’ll be damed if a week later the wires were cut down. Now if I could only get DMV to work that fast!

I need to inventory as well, but after a freaking snow storm its going to wait a bit... every time I add something to the truck, the tools I needed (duplicates of course...can never have too many tools) get stored somewhere in the truck as well, plus whatever I read on here and go 'yah, I need that too' and order it

 

[John M BUNMAN]

Useful nonetheless. Only use my traction boards have seen are to level the truck at night and to keep stuff from sliding around the bed during daily driving

Half the Sxit I have I have used 1x or 2X But you know….As soon as I take it out of the Raptor it will be the ONE MFING thing I need

Now for the Recovery/Traction boards?? That as the one thing I have to carry. They have saved my azzz and a few folks that I rescued. I’ll tell you some long winded stories when I post my Off-roading Essentials, for me anyway. This dam Forum has cost me plenty, I’m the same way, wow that looks useful, let’s get that, put it in the Raptor and forget I ever got it

I didn’t put a winch on my Gen2, but found a great option from another FRF member, a SuperDuty Come-Along. It will pull a Uniloader! $500 vs $2500 for my Warn. In 10yrs on my Gen1 I used it 2X, so that was about $1250.00 a pull

 

[smurfslayer]

I didn’t put a winch on my Gen2, but found a great option from another FRF member, a SuperDuty Come-Along. It will pull a Uniloader! $500 vs $2500 for my Warn. In 10yrs on my Gen1 I used it 2X, so that was about $1250.00 a pull

Yikes. $1250 a pull... that’s a bit on the spendy side. I’m just going to leave it at that, lest the thread devolve.