Good Day Everyone I thought I would pass along some new information to you regarding SS Recovery Service LLC

Never Give Up.

By Mark Janzer

The SOG description for #6073 implied that its recovery would be a wet affair. It certainly was, and it took three trips to finally recover it.

My partner/daughter, Catherine (12), and I had initially lined up three SOGS (6073, 6077 and 6078) which were within several miles of each other, for one recovery effort. All were located very close to the shore of the Gulf of Mexico near Freeport, Texas. Two of the SOGS were recovered reasonably, one by Catherine (6077) only 200 yards from the Gulf waterline.

During our pre-trip planning for #6073, we had conjured up aerial photos of the recovery area from Lost Outdoors. We found that the SOG was about a half mile west of a levee road, directly adjacent to the mouth of the Brazos river. The SOG was also about a mile north of the Intracoastal Waterway. On the first sortie, when we arrived at the entry to the levee road, a gate about 3 miles from the SOG, barred our access.

Well, there was no way during this trip, that we would be able to get permission from the Corps of Engineers to access the road, so we gave up on this one for the day. It took about three days to locate and contact the Brazos River Lock Master and explain our need for access. He was quite obliging and gave us the proper codes to open the electronic gate.

Per the aerial photos, the next barrier that we had anticipated was a water channel that paralleled the levee road for many miles with no bridge. We hadn’t previous access and could only estimate the depth of the channel. I borrowed a pair of waders and we set out again the following weekend. The gate opened with the code the Corps had provided. We drove 3 miles along the levee road to a point closest to the SOG (about a half mile), per the read out on our GPS. I donned the waders and stiffly hiked the .35 mile to the water channel. The weather was in the low 50’s and the wind was blowing fairly briskly. I entered the water and quickly discovered that the channel was much wider and deeper than we had initially estimated. Not only recent rains, but tide influenced the water level of the channel. I could only wade out about 15 feet, of the 80 foot width, before the water level was chest high. Disappointed, but not yet defeated, we retreated to re-plan the assault.

A water craft was needed, one that could be easily carried the .35 mile distance to the channel. I contacted a surveyor friend (who had also lent me the waders) and discussed a recommended course of action. He, by chance, had a heavy duty tube used for recreational towing behind his speed boat. It was the right size, weight, configuration for the job, though it looked awful silly. Knowing that the likes of Paris Hilton wouldn’t be caught dead near a SOG, I backhanded fashion sense and borrowed the tube.

The last assault was almost child’s play. My partner stared down the Texas longhorns grazing near the Jeep while keeping tabs on me via radio. I inflated the tube and headed out to the channel. I tied a length of line to some brush, just in case I lost control of the tube. The initial crossing was uneventful, the tube worked quite perfectly! The walk to the SOG (the last .15 mile) took some time, as the marsh was very wet, muddy and the grasses tangled around each footstep.

The SOG landing site was as you see, though there is about 6” of cold water ponding below all that grass.

Having trudged back again to the tube. I used the line to tow myself across the channel.

On my return to the Jeep, Catherine took a picture, showing a tired, damp but victorious SOG hunter with gear.