Shooters Forum banner

New hunting rig added to the driveway

6K views 34 replies 25 participants last post by  M1894 
#1 ·
Well this week I added a new hunting rig to the driveway. It's one of the old 1970 Ford F250 four wheel drive Highboy's. For the last few years I've pulled my camper out to the woods for elk and deer season with an old 69 Ford half ton two wheel drive pickup and have always worried about getting snowed in and not being able to get my camper out at the end of the season. So now I won't have to worry so much.

Here's the old beast. A friend gave it to me cause he had clipped a deer and bunged up the passenger fender and the grill and headlight. My old 69 two wheel drive had the motor die and guess what all that stuff just bolted right on. Now I've got to move the gun rack and put the shovel, axe and bucket along with a high lift jack and a good tow chain in the back.



Talk about making my day. I've always had to borrow a four wheel drive Pickup to get my trailer up my steep gravel driveway at home. With gas prices so high I won't be driving it a lot, but I've got the little Suzuki Samari to hunt with and at 30 mpg for a four wheel drive rig it works well. Here's the little Sami coyote hunting this winter.



None of this stuff is fancy or expensive, but you don't have to worry about the brush scratching up the paint on these new 40 grand trucks either. Not only that, but they are sure easier to work on than the new computer controlled rigs. Now if somebody would just donate a four wheeler I'd put it into the back of that old pickup.

Here's a shot of our spring runoff on the Middle fork of the Clearwater and some folks enjoying it. Me I'm going to save the water to put in some good scotch.

 
See less See more
3
#2 ·
Bob,
You keep making me want to be in heaven, well maybe just Idaho right now! Your life is good!
God bless,
Greg
 
#4 ·
Nice truck. I never like to take a new truck to the woods cause I know I am going to scratch it up. That one already has the hunting dings in it. Just need a little elk blood on the tailgate.
 
#6 ·
Those are a tough old truck! My dad left me his 70 3/4 ton before he passed on. 300-6, 4 speed, and almost rust free (some at the bottom of front fenders and drivers floor). I'm gonna restore it before mom passes away. It was their first new pickup and she always liked it.
 
#9 ·
Hey Bob,

Looking good! That Suzuki Sami must be the Idaho state 4 wheeler. When I was out hunting your way 2 1/2 years ago, Marshall and I rode around in his Sami. Pretty cramped but they are reliable and go ANYWHERE. I've had a couple friends locally that have them and while they don't really do hard stuff with them, the report the same great economy and reliability. Make me want to pack up and go hunting.

Enjoy:D
 
#10 ·
In this day and age of 30 thousand plus four wheel drive rigs and gas prices those little 80's Samari's are sure handy. I've got two, a softtop and a hardtop. The hardtop is getting a new engine this summer with a little added horsepower to be able to pull my aluminum boat. I still expect it to get 25 mpg when I'm done. I simply don't know how I'd hunt without it. It gets me up on the prairie and out in the woods for coyotes, ground squirrels, deer and elk. I've got a little trailer for it to haul game with.

The little hardtop I've got is getting a Chevy 4.3 liter V-6 this summer. I'm hoping to keep the air conditioning out of the Chevy Astro-van that it's coming out of along with the original wiring harness and tranny. This will jump the horsepower from 55 to 155. I'll go from a five speed manual to a 4 speed auto overdrive tranny. It's a fun project that should give me an exceptional little hunting rig.

Of course my grand daughters both are approaching driving age and have both the little Samari's singled out for go to high school rigs. I paid less than 1500 for both of these and have driven them for several years now. Only problem I have is how to mount a gun rack in those little rigs.



 
#11 ·
Bob,
That's a fine looking '70 pickup. I don't know my engines for that period...351? 390? Is it a 4-speed manual?

I've come to appreciate the "worn in" pickup without any of the shine left on it. I have an '89 F250 w/the 460 in it, and only 115,000 miles on it. It's been body-repaired and repainted various places due to deer damage and stump damage from wood cutting, and it's quite the log skidder too! I'd be too nervous doing all that with a new pickup. It's heck on gas mileage, but if you can make a couple trips with a cord+ on the back, and 2 cords in a trailer, that's better than 6 or more trips with something that gets twice the mileage that can't tow the trailer. It mostly sits in the driveway, but it sure is tops when I do use it.

I'll bet that engine compartment in yours is a joy to work on....lots of room!
 
#12 ·
It's got the 360 and a four speed and the 5200 pound posi axle in the back with 410 gears. Should be a good woods and hunting rig. I've really been looking for a 3/4 ton four wheel drive to pull my camper to the woods for hunting season.

I don't have to go far, 30 to 60 miles gets me into the Pierce and Headquarters elk country so even with this big rig pulling 12 mpg it's not to bad a deal. It's something that I sure don't have to worry about scratching in the brush. The 360 is the same block as the 390, 410, 427. It's rated at 215 horsepower with the two barrel holly that came on them. Only thing I'm going to add is a Jacobs electronic ignition. That will pull an extra two mpg out of it. For drive around to hunting areas we use the little Suzuki that gets near 30 mpg. If we down something we can always go back and get the pickup to haul it out and we have the four wheeler to get it out to a place to load it in the pickup.

It' got manual steering and manual brakes and aside from an oil filter and points change there's nothing on it that can't be fixed pretty inexpensively. I've been using a 69 two wheel drive half ton Ford pickup and it's not only a little light, but with the 240 six that was in it pretty underpowered for a 21 foot camping trailer. The old 240 died this last fall so it's just parked ready to donate any parts I needed for the other truck. It's not got one blue fender and the 69's grill.

My old shooting partner and I are really looking to be well enough to put up an elk camp this year. We've both been to sick to hunt the last two years. He just bought another four wheeler so we'll have two to hunt with this fall and that will make it easier for a couple of old geezers to get around in the woods. I spent this afternoon helping him put gun racks and some other accessories on his new one. Both of us are handi-capped to the point we have Idaho's hunt from a vehicle placards.
 
#13 ·
We had one exactly like that when I was a kid. It's what I learned to drive in.

Per Shawn's comment about it being easy to work on; I'm a pretty tall guy but still have to just climb up in the engine compartment to do anything. I changed the water pump on ours three times in one day due to faulty replacements.

To keep it gun related, my dad shot that poor old truck three times. Once he propped his 22-250 over the hood to take a shot at something out in the pasture and blew one of the windshield wipers off, same thing sent one through the tail gate. Lastly he shot a hole in the floor with a "hair trigger" .22 long rifle.
 
#17 ·
Good health, that's been part of the problem, Last fall a heart attack put me in the hospital and a couple more stints were added to the 20 some already in there. My old shooting partner ended up in the hospital about the same time and we didn't even get out in the woods.

We did get out yesterday and found four and five feet of snow where we like to hunt turkeys. Some were out, but we only saw hens. We did see 16 deer one coyote and for me a first here in this part of Idaho, two Buzzards feeding on a deer that had been road killed. I've seen buzzards around the country like down in Texas, but not here in Idaho. I really didn't think we had any, but they were there yesterday.

I didn't take the varmint rifle so didn't even try for the 150 yard coyote. We had the turkey guns, both of us shoot Mossberg 835's with red dot sights on them. Anyway I didn't take any pix.

My buddy treated me to lunch a Pierce at the Timber Cafe. If you like big hamburger's have one of their Timber burgers, 3/4 pounds of meat on a big bun and their great and come with a pile of fries or onion rings that would feed a couple of teenagers. Most all the buildings in town have steep tin roofs so the snow will slide off. Several had snow piles up to the rafters and it sounds like we got more snow coming this week according to the weather report.

Here's the inside of that old rig. It's as clean as a whistle, but there was a mouses nest in the glove box and it was completly full of nesting material.



The tires are all brand new and should last quite a few years the way I will drive it.



Here's the blue fender and white grill off the old 67. My grand daughters helped me turn wrenches. Once we got the broken parts off both rigs they had the new rig put together in half a day.



Here's some more of what folks do in the spring runoff.

 
#21 ·
Yup Cheezy that's a trailer brake controller. It's going to be replaced with a brand new electronic one that's in the old blue pickup. There's also a class three hitch and a set of towing mirrors to go on it. It'll get registered and licensed on pay day. I'll transfer the plates off the other pickup.

Went turkey hunting yesterday with a friend. We took the little Samari and when we left town in the morning gas was $350 a gallon. We got back in the afternoon and by then it was $3.60 already. Wow even filling up the little ten gallon tank is a bummer.

Didn't get a turkey but saw a few. Just lots of snow this year in the high country. When It's all done and said I'll have about $300 bucks in the old truck. Not bad for a wood beater to pull the camper up to the hunting area. It sat since 1996. I'm going to change out the oil in all the differentials, tranny and transfer case and add power punch to them like we did the big trucks.

I figure even with gas at $4.00 a gallon I can run that rig for well under 50 cents a mile and that's about the only cost in it. It's between 30 and 60 miles to where we put up our elk camp. Once set up it will stay the whole season or until we get snowed out.

We try not to leave the camp empty except to hunt anymore. More and more vandalism going on now. Last year I had a friend and his son get both their campers broken into and stuff stolen.

The local Sheriff's dept. never did find out who did it. Folks that broke in even stole the silverware and cooking stuff. We try to park with a couple other folks for the same reason. It's sure a different world than it was when I was growing up in this country.
 
#22 ·
Lotsa fun, zero dollars.

Faucett, I have an old '82 Ford with a 300 inline 6 in it, it grunts through the hills very well, will pull any trailer within reason, and if you drive 65 or less- it gets 25 plus mpg.
I paid the same price for it $0.00, traded a 350 Chev motor for a new set of tires for it, the motor did not cost me anything,either. I have a towbar, If I want I can pull it behind the motor home I got for nothin' on craigslist. It is a class C 1978 dodge with a 318, 4000 watt genset and an air conditioner, sleeps 6!
Most of my hunting is within 50-60 miles unless I go to Grays Lake, there we stay in a buddies ranch house.
Yoou can pay for lots of gas with payments like that!
 
#23 ·
Aman Twelve. My old shooting partner just bought a new Ford four wheel drive half ton. Nice truck, but I'd be afraid to take to the woods and scratch it up. All these old rigs run good and I can buy a lot of gas with the money I'm not making car payments with.

Got a feeling that we'll be using the old Ford and the Suzuki for hunting. The new truck will get some duty when we have to run to town for something or more propane, but the old rigs will do the mud digging duty in the woods. He just bought an old dodge motorhome and I've got a 21 foot Terry camper so were about set for this fall.

Here is the Clearwater River after the ice went out this spring.



But today is flower day and here's a few in the woods. This is Camas flowers, the Native Americans dug this for the roots which they ate.



Here's our Indian Paintbrush that grows at higher elevations.



I have no idea what this yellow stuff is, but it's pretty.



I like the sun shining thru leaves, you can see all the insides of them.

 
#25 ·
never have an never will pay to take a new work truck off any lot.. trucks made for work,,and it will get worked if i own it..i figure the first 10 dings an scrapes on a new one,, would cost me about a thou a piece..it would end up with a lot more dings than that..drive a 94 nissan now that goes anywhere i can drive it.. still runs good and motor don t use at 200.000 ..i treat it good[where it matters] it treats me good..thats what i call a deal there bob ,,looks good to me..
 
#26 ·
Faucett,

I did not understand how close to Weippe you are , A friend of mine shot the biggest whitetail he has ever seen last fall over there, he won Sportsman's gun for Whitetail.
He shot it with a .35 Whelen, he thinks different than me. Butchers them at the same time he shoots them.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top