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Buckshot's Article
Trading In A Trappers Truck
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Buckshot's Article
Trading In A Trappers Truck
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I finally had to do it. Get a truck that had more parts and body held together with welds and bolts instead of trap wire and a few prayers. Not, to say my old 4 x 4 was worn out, but the salesman's said it best. "You drove this on the Highway??? What happened to your rear bumper?
You mean all the rust or that tweak in the middle or that high left side? Well, I was beaver trapping in a place I should not of gone. I think it was a road once, anyways when I turned around to leave there was a stump that jumped out and stopped me cold. The bumper was about a foot higher. Now it is only 6 inches higher after using a sledge hammer on it. Salesman: "You used a sledge hammer on your truck?" Me: "Well how else do you get the bumper back down so you can open the tailgate ?" These new salesman today just don't understand. I continued, "The tweak in the middle was when I was deer hunting and tried to cross this small stream. Anyways, it was a little deeper then I thought and the front half of the truck was underwater and the come-a-along tweaked the bumper when I was winching it out." The salesman sputtered, "The front half of truck was underwater??" Where in the world has this guy been. It is a 4 x 4. That means you get it stuck. You use it, not look at how pretty it is.
"Oh yeah before I forget", I continued, "There is a little wire with two alligator clamps on each end in the glove box. Ever since it was underwater the starter sticks sometimes and you have to take that wire and clamp it on the starter and then make sure it is in neutral, the key turned on and touch the battery's positive terminal." The salesman looks horrified, I continued, "You see there is some mud in the starter and every once in a while it sticks so you have to give it extra juice." But, then again it could have been that time I rolled it on it's side trying to cross a beaver dam and the passenger side was underwater. But, don't worry the wire works every time. The salesman is looking at me like I came from another planet.
We walk up the driver side and he sees the little tweak (about 6 inch deep 18 inches long) in front of the driver door on the front fender. The salesman, "What happened here?" Well, I was fox trapping on this farm and to get to the back 40. You had to drive down this road on a side of hill, well, it was snowing and raining and the road was slick and I thought one more time I could make it back. Well, I slid off the road and hit this tree." Then he saw the missing drivers side corner of the front bumper, he asked, "Where is that part? I answered him, "I think it is still on the farm. You see the farmer pulled me out with his tractor and the corner of the bumper got caught on the tree and ripped off."
The salesman looked amazed and keep asking me if I drove this on the highway. Of course I did, the truck was in great shape and still ran like it was new. We walked around the front of the truck and he saw the passenger side front corner of the bumper was missing too. That was when I was beaver trapping in December and we had a nasty storm, whiteouts, howling wind with gust to 60 mph anyways, I was back in the bush so far it would take you 5 days to find me. Well, the wind had knocked over this big pine tree across the road and I lined up the bumper on it and started pushing it when it broke. The broken part came back and stuck in the bumper corner. You know it takes some torque to break a tree and the truck flew forward when the broken end caught that corner and broke it off. I was amazed the salesman was not impressed with the power and how great this truck was. We walked around the truck and he noticed that the drivers side bed of the truck was lower then the passenger side.
What happened there, he asked almost afraid to hear the answer. "Well, I was pulling out my beaver traps one day and had the back full of beaver and traps about 800 - 900 pounds worth and I was driving over this creek on a bridge made out of logs and it was covered in snow. When the back end slid off and I gunned it. I just made it across and with a big bounce, when I came back down the drivers side rear spring broke. I had to unloaded the bed of the truck and jack it up and just luckily I had that muffle clamp and clamped the spring back together. I guess it needs a new spring but, heck it still works. The salesman was horrified and was shaken his head. "He was muttering something about your crazy for driving this truck on the highway.
Then we climbed in to go for a test ride. First thing he says, "What in God's name is that smell?" I smiled with pride, "Doesn't it just remind you of trapping season?" That I think was when I was stuck once and tossed the shovel in the front and the sharp end poked a small hole in the gallon jug of coyote urine. Good thing I caught it. Only lost about a pint. He rolled the window all the way down. But, then again I spilled some beaver lure once. Can you smell that beaver castor, isn't that great? Makes me want to go out trapping everytime I smell it. He tried the levers for the heat and I had to explain that to him. You see for some reason it broke and I stuck the flow of air for half defrost and half for your feet, now to control how much heat you have to stick your hand under here by the glove box on the bottom toward the middle feel that little lever, you push it forward for heat and pull it back to shut it off.
As he drove the truck with his seat belt on as tight as he could get it, he asked if the truck had an airbag. No this is a trapping truck, no new fangled toys in here. He paled and looked worried. He was driving 25 all the way back. The speed limit was 45. Every little noise he cringed and asked, "What is that? Oh never mind, I don't want to know." We took a short drive and he jumped out of the truck as soon as we returned. He asked what I thought the truck was worth and I said the blue book said it was worth $2000. He laughed so hard he almost fell over. Guess he didn't appreciated all the memories of the truck and the engine and 4 x 4 still worked great.
Well, after much haggling we worked out a deal and I can say for one thing he got the best end of that deal because he didn't give me anywhere near $2000. Some people just can't appreciated a good trapping truck when they see one.
Buckshot
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