Posted By: Texaslawman
Skunked by being sunk. - 01/02/16 03:06 AM
Well this was a record short hunt left the house at 8:30ish and was done hunting by 9:00pm when my land cruiser sank in a huge sinkhole filled with water.
The crazy thing is I never got off the road! Now the road is just a dirt farm road but still a road we drive quite often to check on the cattle fill feeders ect. There are a few gates and fence lines to rotate the cattle ect the third gate is in a low area were there is always standing water it was muddy there even during the drought. I had just used the same road the day before to kill feeders and such. Normally we would drive this road 10-15mph but this night i was luckily going under 5mph trying not to make noise as I went to check the feeders.
As I approached the gate my truck dropped forward almost vertically throwing me into the steering wheel I gave it full throttle and got the nose and engine up out of the water but was stuck. Now I have locked front and rear axles with 37" Super Swamper tires it is near impossible to get stuck but I sure was. You can see the pelican cases floating in the rear.
After a few minutes of trying I knew I would have to winch out but my door would not open, so I crawled out through the window and instantly was in water up to my stomach. With nothing to attach a inch to I walked a couple of miles to the tractor and drove it back. The problem was even with a 15,000 winch I just pulled the tractor to me not moving the truck. I finally gave up about 5am.
Most of my thermals, drone, ect were in pelican cases and stayed dry but I lost my expensive video camera, all my camera lenses, thousands of 22lr, 9mm, 40 cal, 45acp, 6.8, and 3.08 ammo. My LWRC Repr with the zeus pro 100mm, the M6IC with eotech and the apollo pro 50mm, and the savage 22lr with the Predator thermal were all submerged for 3-5 hours. They all turned on after recovering them minus the predator so a great waterproof test just not how I had planed on testing them.
Here is my video camera and one of the many lenses lost.
Turns out the hole was 6 foot deep and filled with a type of quick sand. this is where they put in a natural gas line and it looks like the area where they dug up to put it in just collapsed. The hole was rectangular in shape and deep. I do not know if they will be liable or not, if not I only have liability insurance so everything will be a loss. The truck is at the shot getting all fluids, and fuel tank drained. But the whole rear is full of sand now so everything back there will be soaking for several days until i get it next weekend.
Here is a pic of me attaching a chain to the rear wheel the rear of the truck is actualy not in because the front acle is hung up on the ledge if it had gone back it would have been under water to the roof line.
I know I lost my cameras and lenses, my foxpro is shot, the predator thermal a bunch of ammo, Several jackets boots and other things are still buried under the sand. All the lwrc rifles just needed a water hose and the eotechs all turned on, none of the vortex scopes had any issues. Lucky for me everything else was protected by the pelican cases I cant recommend those highly enough.
The crazy thing is I never got off the road! Now the road is just a dirt farm road but still a road we drive quite often to check on the cattle fill feeders ect. There are a few gates and fence lines to rotate the cattle ect the third gate is in a low area were there is always standing water it was muddy there even during the drought. I had just used the same road the day before to kill feeders and such. Normally we would drive this road 10-15mph but this night i was luckily going under 5mph trying not to make noise as I went to check the feeders.
As I approached the gate my truck dropped forward almost vertically throwing me into the steering wheel I gave it full throttle and got the nose and engine up out of the water but was stuck. Now I have locked front and rear axles with 37" Super Swamper tires it is near impossible to get stuck but I sure was. You can see the pelican cases floating in the rear.
After a few minutes of trying I knew I would have to winch out but my door would not open, so I crawled out through the window and instantly was in water up to my stomach. With nothing to attach a inch to I walked a couple of miles to the tractor and drove it back. The problem was even with a 15,000 winch I just pulled the tractor to me not moving the truck. I finally gave up about 5am.
Most of my thermals, drone, ect were in pelican cases and stayed dry but I lost my expensive video camera, all my camera lenses, thousands of 22lr, 9mm, 40 cal, 45acp, 6.8, and 3.08 ammo. My LWRC Repr with the zeus pro 100mm, the M6IC with eotech and the apollo pro 50mm, and the savage 22lr with the Predator thermal were all submerged for 3-5 hours. They all turned on after recovering them minus the predator so a great waterproof test just not how I had planed on testing them.
Here is my video camera and one of the many lenses lost.
Turns out the hole was 6 foot deep and filled with a type of quick sand. this is where they put in a natural gas line and it looks like the area where they dug up to put it in just collapsed. The hole was rectangular in shape and deep. I do not know if they will be liable or not, if not I only have liability insurance so everything will be a loss. The truck is at the shot getting all fluids, and fuel tank drained. But the whole rear is full of sand now so everything back there will be soaking for several days until i get it next weekend.
Here is a pic of me attaching a chain to the rear wheel the rear of the truck is actualy not in because the front acle is hung up on the ledge if it had gone back it would have been under water to the roof line.
I know I lost my cameras and lenses, my foxpro is shot, the predator thermal a bunch of ammo, Several jackets boots and other things are still buried under the sand. All the lwrc rifles just needed a water hose and the eotechs all turned on, none of the vortex scopes had any issues. Lucky for me everything else was protected by the pelican cases I cant recommend those highly enough.
with the water being 6' deep you are lucky to have gotten out, drowning in your hunting rig is' nt good. Hope it all works out and your rig is ok.
