Three of us were hunting mule deer up near Bagdad, Az. The terrain is rough to say the least. Each of us were riding mules. We needed to cover a lot of territory, we split up and each took to riding a ridge on adjacent canyons. We knew the deer would be in there somewhere. We had been riding for three days and it seemed like the deer had left the territory.
I was riding a 16 hand Apolusa mule named Chief. I had been riding Chief all year, and he was sound as a dollar. As all three of us separated, I started working down into the some draws, then up the canyon walls, and down into the neighboring draws. The three of us were never more than a half mile from each other, and we had planned what we were doing off of a good topo map, we had good radios, also.
I had a Browning A bolt in 7 Mag in the scabbard, and my Ruger GP100 was in the saddle bag on this ride vs being on my hip.
I rode into some cows that looked more like scarecrows they were so skinny. All of a sudden, Chief went bucking wild, I rode him out pretty good but he finally threw me off. I landed on a rock in the small of my back and head. I was knocked out cold, and as I woke up, I tried to roll over to get my 357 out of my cross-draw Galco holster, but it was on the mule.
I lay on the ground, screaming talking to God, while screaming from the pain. I finally rolled over on my side, screaming all the while. I got on my knees and hands, screaming and crying at the same time. I realized that my radio had been busted from the fall. I got to my feet, and I thought that I was going to pass out from the pain. Every step was a scream with Prayers for God's help.
I figured that I was 5-6 miles from the truck and horse trailer, no way for me to make it back. I pulled the map out of the pocket on my leg, and oriented the map with my simple Boy Scout Compass. There was a road about half a mile from me. I began to think of killing that mule which helped me to accept the pain. I made it to a stout fence meant to keep the cattle off the road, but I could not lift my leg to get over the fence. I cried and Prayed for God's help. I realized that the only way for me to get through the fence was to lay on the middle strand of barbed wire and just fall through the fence, as best I could. I knew that it was probable that I would get hung up on the barbed wire. With God's Grace, I fell through the fence, only tearing a pants leg with a very small slice on my leg. The Fence was on the top of a hill with the road perhaps 500 yards down the steep hill. I knew that I would probably trip and fall going down the steep hill, but with a lot of Praying and screaming, I made it down to the dirt road.
When I got down to the road, I just laid down on the side of the road and went sound asleep. Sometime later, I was awoken by three men, they happened to be Paramedics, hunting in the same area. Another Paramedic came riding up on my mule Chief, exclaiming how good a mule he was.
They wanted to take me to the hospital, but I told them to take me back to the horse trailer as I needed to wait for my two friends. I made it home, lucky to be alive. Hospital visit the next day, full recovery in three months. I sold Chief to a good friend who had seen me ride Chief many times. I told Chief's new owner to send me a check in three months if he still liked the mule. I bought another mule that I named Kansas because he came from Kansas. Kansas would go to bucking every time he stepped off into a Sand wash. After he bucked the first time, I cut a big green limb off of a tree, The next time he went to bucking, I beat his head and ears real good with that stick. After the second tune-up with that stick, Kansas never bucked again!
My good friend liked to buy cheap mules. He bought a mule at an auction named Diamond. Diamond had the largest ugly head I have ever seen on a mule. The mule was good to ride but we had to have him sedated by the vet to get shoes on him. Diamond had the crazy habit of jumping creeks and mud puddles. Craig was fed up with having his balls busted on the saddle horn from Diamond jumping like a flying squirrel.
Craig had wanted to use his new Suburban to pull the 4 horse trailer to the trailhead. During the hunt, Diamond once again busted Craig's balls on the saddle horn while jumping a creek. I thought that Craig was going to shoot the mule, but I reminded him that he would have to carry the saddle about 4 miles back to the truck. Craig was cussing and raising hell all the way to the truck.
When we arrived at the horse trailer, There was a very large mud puddle that completely covered the dirt road we were on. Craig got the idea of unhooking the horse trailer and tying Diamond with two leade ropes to the trailer hitch of the New Suburban. Craig said he was going to drive back and forth through the mud puddle until Diamond was no longer scared of the water.
Diamond was tied up to the Trailer hitch, and when he got to the mud puddle he locked up all 4 feet. As his front feet went into the mud puddle, Diamond tried to jump the mud puddle and landed on top of the Suburban! Diamond caved in the top of the Brand new Suburban, rear door, broke the rear glass, and caved in a rear quarter panel as he rolled off the top of the vehicle. This event ended the hunt for that weekend, Diamond went back to the auction.
I asked Craig what he was going to tell the Insurance Company, I never found out!
I was riding a 16 hand Apolusa mule named Chief. I had been riding Chief all year, and he was sound as a dollar. As all three of us separated, I started working down into the some draws, then up the canyon walls, and down into the neighboring draws. The three of us were never more than a half mile from each other, and we had planned what we were doing off of a good topo map, we had good radios, also.
I had a Browning A bolt in 7 Mag in the scabbard, and my Ruger GP100 was in the saddle bag on this ride vs being on my hip.
I rode into some cows that looked more like scarecrows they were so skinny. All of a sudden, Chief went bucking wild, I rode him out pretty good but he finally threw me off. I landed on a rock in the small of my back and head. I was knocked out cold, and as I woke up, I tried to roll over to get my 357 out of my cross-draw Galco holster, but it was on the mule.
I lay on the ground, screaming talking to God, while screaming from the pain. I finally rolled over on my side, screaming all the while. I got on my knees and hands, screaming and crying at the same time. I realized that my radio had been busted from the fall. I got to my feet, and I thought that I was going to pass out from the pain. Every step was a scream with Prayers for God's help.
I figured that I was 5-6 miles from the truck and horse trailer, no way for me to make it back. I pulled the map out of the pocket on my leg, and oriented the map with my simple Boy Scout Compass. There was a road about half a mile from me. I began to think of killing that mule which helped me to accept the pain. I made it to a stout fence meant to keep the cattle off the road, but I could not lift my leg to get over the fence. I cried and Prayed for God's help. I realized that the only way for me to get through the fence was to lay on the middle strand of barbed wire and just fall through the fence, as best I could. I knew that it was probable that I would get hung up on the barbed wire. With God's Grace, I fell through the fence, only tearing a pants leg with a very small slice on my leg. The Fence was on the top of a hill with the road perhaps 500 yards down the steep hill. I knew that I would probably trip and fall going down the steep hill, but with a lot of Praying and screaming, I made it down to the dirt road.
When I got down to the road, I just laid down on the side of the road and went sound asleep. Sometime later, I was awoken by three men, they happened to be Paramedics, hunting in the same area. Another Paramedic came riding up on my mule Chief, exclaiming how good a mule he was.
They wanted to take me to the hospital, but I told them to take me back to the horse trailer as I needed to wait for my two friends. I made it home, lucky to be alive. Hospital visit the next day, full recovery in three months. I sold Chief to a good friend who had seen me ride Chief many times. I told Chief's new owner to send me a check in three months if he still liked the mule. I bought another mule that I named Kansas because he came from Kansas. Kansas would go to bucking every time he stepped off into a Sand wash. After he bucked the first time, I cut a big green limb off of a tree, The next time he went to bucking, I beat his head and ears real good with that stick. After the second tune-up with that stick, Kansas never bucked again!
My good friend liked to buy cheap mules. He bought a mule at an auction named Diamond. Diamond had the largest ugly head I have ever seen on a mule. The mule was good to ride but we had to have him sedated by the vet to get shoes on him. Diamond had the crazy habit of jumping creeks and mud puddles. Craig was fed up with having his balls busted on the saddle horn from Diamond jumping like a flying squirrel.
Craig had wanted to use his new Suburban to pull the 4 horse trailer to the trailhead. During the hunt, Diamond once again busted Craig's balls on the saddle horn while jumping a creek. I thought that Craig was going to shoot the mule, but I reminded him that he would have to carry the saddle about 4 miles back to the truck. Craig was cussing and raising hell all the way to the truck.
When we arrived at the horse trailer, There was a very large mud puddle that completely covered the dirt road we were on. Craig got the idea of unhooking the horse trailer and tying Diamond with two leade ropes to the trailer hitch of the New Suburban. Craig said he was going to drive back and forth through the mud puddle until Diamond was no longer scared of the water.
Diamond was tied up to the Trailer hitch, and when he got to the mud puddle he locked up all 4 feet. As his front feet went into the mud puddle, Diamond tried to jump the mud puddle and landed on top of the Suburban! Diamond caved in the top of the Brand new Suburban, rear door, broke the rear glass, and caved in a rear quarter panel as he rolled off the top of the vehicle. This event ended the hunt for that weekend, Diamond went back to the auction.
I asked Craig what he was going to tell the Insurance Company, I never found out!
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. I dropped the blanket, got up and made my way to my stand in a hurry thinking the whole time of what in the hell just happened, and whoever put it there could still be around. So I get up into my treestand (still a good hour before light) and I hear someone walking in a straight line towards me, so I load my gun and just wait. They stop about 50 yards from me and I can't really see them or hear them anymore. Once its light enough to make them out I keep a really good eye on him until it's light enough that I can see it's another friend of mine. So finally I can relax a little, after about a hour and not seeing anything I made a grunt call to get his attention and wave him over. He gets under me and says it's still early why did you call me over. I look at him and say ....There's a dead person in the woods up on the hill coming in. He just stands there looking around for what seemed to be 15 minutes and finally says....What in the hell did you just say. So we get our stuff together and go up there and in full daylight you can definitely see that it's a body. Go down to the 7-11 and call the police and spend the next couple of hours telling them the story. The first cop to show was a rookie and when we took him to the body his hand never left his pistol the whole time lol.
mules you gotta love them
