I have had probably the worst 2 days of hunting I have ever had.

Left Slave Lake around 7 Wednesday night. Stopped in Westlock to fuel up at the full serve Husky. Little Filiipino woman says I need a liter of oil so I tell her to put one in. Pay the bill and Im down the road. 600 km later I pull up to Oyen and back into a nice quiet approach to sleep for a few hours before daylight. There is steam pouring outta my hood. Look at the temp gauge, yup shes hot. So grab the flashlight and take a look, leak seems to be dead center of the rad, right in front of the fan. Hmmm. Oil fill cap is missing. Further investigation shows a chunk out of a fan blade and pieces of fill cap in the bottom of the fan shroud.  2+2= full serve attendant dropped the cap down there, at some point the cap hit the fan & took out the rad. Lovely. So I limped over to the gas station and shut the truck off before it overheated. Its 1am and not a single business is open, nothing. All the motels are full. So I got dressed up in my warm stuff and spent the night in my truck. 8 am comes and I put 8L of water in so I could get it to a shop. Get there and find out hes closed til Monday. Make it over to the only other shop in town (just as she overheats again) to find out they cant get me in til Tuesday. Gettin a lil frazzled now. So I phoned a landowner that seemed like a super guy on the phone to ask if he knows a backyard mechanic with a shop that will do it (with the wind it was like -35). He dosnt but offers me his 1200 sq ft shop and tools. So now I just need a rad. Bumper to bumper in Hanna (115 km West) can get me one the next morning. So I grab a ton of water and head for Hanna. Get there like 5 hours later (lots of stops to refill the rad). Had some supper and got a room for the night. (Plugged my truck in cuz my old diesel will not start after +2 unless its plugged in). So 6 this morning I go to start my truck and its froze up. The breaker flipped on the plug I plugged into. So I plugged it into a different plug and 2 hours later shes running. Pick up my new rad and 4 hours later Im back in Oyen.  Got the rad changed out and Im back in business, and just in time to make the evening hunt. So out I go and I get a call from a landowner, apparantly hes looking at a monster muley on his land. Things are looking up He gives me directions and I start heading over there. The drifts on the twp rd Im on are getting deeper. And deeper. And deeper. And then I got stuck. Really stuck. Couldnt wiggle an inch. So I call him and he says hel come pull me out. An hour and a half later he calls and says hes stuck 1/2 mile west of me. So I start walking his way to help. Get about halfway there and watch a beautiful 180ish Muley chase a doe by me at about 80 yards. My rifle is in my truck. Now Im mad. So I get to his truck and help dig him out. Hes driving an F450 dually so he cant go hardly anywhere. Borrow his shovel and walk back to my truck. Got mine dug out and start heading back west. Find him stuck again. Pull him out. Then pull him out again. All total I pulled him out 7 times. We get back to clear road and say our thank yous etc and part ways, 2 minutes after legal light ends.

Ive been here 2 full days, spent $1300 and have yet to go hunting.

bummer for sure
been there

Well I tagged out. Not the monster I was hoping for but all things considered I am more than happy with him.

Ya it was a stupid mistake and I paid dearly for it lol. Almost cost me alotta years of waitin for a tag lol

I phoned them and the manager is not cooperating at all. Without any solid proof theres not much I can do but smile and eat the bill. Such is life. Im gonna have a little plaque made to go under the shoulder mount that reads "The Radiator Buck" or maybe "The Full Serve Buck" and I'll have a hell of a memory to reflect on lol.