El Rojo's Dope Story: Chapter 7 - It Smells Like a Skunk Around Here.

[El Rojo]

I am sorry for leaving you all hanging. There was enough response I decided to go ahead and not keep you waiting. Here are the previous chapters.

Chapter 1
Chapter 2: The Hunt is On
Chapter 3: The Plantation
Chapter 4: Law Enforcement and the End of a Successful Hunt
Chapter 5: Tragedy on the Mountain
Chapter 6: Let the Mission Begin.

We moved real slowly up through the drainage being really cautious about where we stepped and our surroundings. Brian and Kevin had ear pieces with their radios and could quietly communicate to each other as we moved up the drainage area. We eventually reached the ravine running south back up the hill and slowly made the turn that direction. It reminded me of the numerous books I have read on long range recon patrols out of Vietnam and I tried to remember as much of those stories as I could to make sure I didn’t do something stupid. We moved as quietly as possible slowly up the side of the area next to the ravine.

After about forty five minutes of making our way up the hill, Kevin tried to contact his dispatcher and see if the chopper had marked the grove with its GPS. After a short back and forth, it turned out that the chopper had not used its GPS or either the coordinates were not available. They told us the general location again and it seemed we were heading in the right direction. I began to think we might be walking around that side of the mountain all day long and never find anything. We started climbing up a little steeper slope just short of a small crest. On our west side was a deep ravine, but Kevin reported that it was dry. Al and Brian were leading in front of us a ways while Kevin was looking into the ravine. When Kevin and I started again, he suddenly had me stop.

Just to our east on the top of a small crest we could see it plain as day, big green leafy plants. We had found the grove. We signaled Brian and Al and they came back to our location. Brian and Kevin raised their rifles and slowly started to creep up to the marijuana plot. Al followed closely behind and I stayed near a tree and watched them and behind us. This plot was different than the original Bear site. Here the farmers had planted the marijuana in the middle of a patch of manzanita bushes. They would thin out the manzanita and leave just a few tall branches, then plant the marijuana right in the middle of the manzanita. This provided a good hide from observation from the air. Second, the cut down manzanita was stacked all around the plot acting as a really effective fence that appeared to keep out animals, block the marijuana from view, and to make it really noisy to get inside the plot.

Al and Brian entered the plot and then Al and I slowly caught up. We entered the plot and found about 100 plants or more in the plot. The ½ inch irrigation tubing was there again and it was all over the place. We could follow the tubing to the south back up the hill and out of that plot and into the forest. We took a few pictures and then started to follow the tubing up the hill. We were still unsure whether there were farmers around so we still continued to move as quietly as possible and to keep a real sharp eye out for booby traps and other trouble. We quickly found one more plot with its irrigation source coming from the west down towards the ravine. We took some more pictures and some video with a camera that Brian had brought with him.

Brian and Kevin film as Al moves ahead into the weed.

Brian films one of the plots.

The author enjoying the nice day in the sun.

We started following the irrigation line to the west and across the next ravine. As we followed the line, we noticed that the farmers had spent a lot of time trying to conceal it. If you were just walking through the area you would not even notice the tubing in most spots. The farmers had made it easy for us though with taking so much time to conceal the pipe. They had laid bark and branches over the tubing after they buried it and so there was a linear pile of bark and branches that ran through the forest. A line of bark and other rubbish just doesn’t happen to fall into place it the woods.

We followed the tubing for about a ¼ of a mile before we found another plot in the same manzanita style fenced off area. We fanned out and found two more plots close by. Pretty soon we began to find plots all over the hill side. We found that the irrigation line continued to run to the west towards another ravine and also to the north back down the hill. We followed the line running west in order to try to find the source for the water.

As we worked our way down into the ravine, we were amazed at how much time and effort the farmers had put into concealing that irrigation line. We still could follow the same line of bark and branches, but to the casual explorer, you would never have suspected anything was wrong. The farmers had buried most of the line and there was a good layer of pine needles over most of it. As we approached the stream, the concealment improved. It appeared that they had taken a layer of moss and grass and placed it over the line where it ran past some rocks near the small stream. We filmed as we tore out the line and tried to find the source so law enforcement could use the tape as a training aid for officers who had not yet been on a search like we were doing. We finally found the source quite a ways up the ravine from where the irrigation tubing met the water. There was a man made damn with a deep pool and the tubing was simply feeding through that pond with no filter or large opening. The damn was the most noticeable sign the farmers had left, but it still would probably have not raised the suspicions of your typical forest explorer or hiker.

At this point we decided to bring out the irrigation tubing and haul it back up to the closest marijuana plot. It was pretty easy to carry long strands of that tubing and I had about a dozen of the strands anywhere from 10 foot to 40 foot long. That was the hardest work we had done up till then. All of the time previous we had spent walking very slowly and quietly through the forest. Now I was walking up the side of the ravine and hill dragging a lot of irrigation tubing behind me. We got back to the plot and we discovered that we were actually in a different plot than the one we had left before. Brian had set down his rifle and Al’s rifle in order to check out the new plot and do some filming. Al and Kevin eventually caught up to me, but Brian had started back down the hill to the north in order to follow the new lines we had coming out of the newest plot.

We started following after Brian and I was carrying his rifle. I noticed that his selector switch had a full auto mode on it and I started to debate in my mind what I was going to do if we got into a gunfight. It turned into one of those situations where you might have spent more time wondering if you should go full auto or only semi-auto instead of just shooting. I quickly put it behind me as we had already lost most of our noise discipline dragging the irrigation tubing out of the ravine. Brian called Kevin on the radio and said he had found a base camp where the farmers had been staying. We walked down and sure enough, there was a small encampment, similar to the one we had seen over at the Bear site.

Sorry, but I am not ending this until Sunday. Stay tuned for the conclusion to this unique tale. Again I appreciate your feedback.

[ojibweindian]

Hurry up with the next installment!!!

[Skunkabilly]

The title got my intrigued....will I be casted in the movie?

[Kaylee]

so when does Elliot Ness show up??


Seriously dude -- I'm not trying to put down your courage, your buddies, or your dog (my condolences, btw).. but ain't this a lot a trouble to go through just 'cause some folks like to get whacked out on pot?

I mean -- Helicopters, M-16s, cammie jammies?
Hate to say it, but it reads to me more like a "let's play army at the expense of some dopeheads and their wacky weed patch" than a valuable (or Constitutional) operation.


Or maybe that's just my ancestral memory of Appalachian 'shiners that didn't take too kindly to rev'noors com'n in and busting up the still...


-K

[El Rojo]

That is a valid misconception about these operations Kaylee. These plantations are not simple operations of someone growing some pot on their spare time. But I get ahead of myself. I will post the last thread later tonight.

[MBG]

I have a friend who got his leg gashed open by a booby trap about 15 miles from the trail head. He only noticed the pot farm as his buddies humped him out on a make-shift stretcher. Luckily, he still has all his body parts. He does not find these farms quaint or cute.

These sound like for profit growers, appropriating public and private land. It's a little more serious that a leftover 60's hippie growing a stash on the QT. If they stray onto private land, the owner risks forfeiture of the entire property. These set up's endanger hikers and campers, as well. What do you think happens when the growers run into the random hiker in the middle of their field? Remember, it’s all fun and games until someone looses a Boy Scout troop.

Marty

[buzz_knox]

Kaylee, a lot of those "simple farmers" use lethal booby traps, and are willing to murder anyone (cops, hikers, passerbys) who happen upon their operations.

I'm also from Appalachia and have a heritage of bootleggers in my family. But most of those people were dirt poor and trying to make a living. Growers generally aren't. They choose to be criminals. And even the moonshiners weren't above killing to safeguard their livelihood.

[Skunkabilly]

Revenewers came for him, slippin' thru the woods
Dooley kept behind it all and never lost his goods

Dooley, slippin up the holler, Dooley, tryin'a make a doller
Dooley, gimme a swaller and I'll pay ya back some day

[banjo solo]