If you go 4-wheeling enough you get to learn all the various ways of recovering stuck vehicles -- both good and bad. About the funniest one I've seen was on YouTube where a guy got his jeep stuck in the mud and his buddies tied the winch to his roll-bar and proceeded to rip the body of his truck right off!

I've never seen a pull go wrong if a stretchy recovery strap was used properly. Between mud and snow I've probably pulled two or three dozen cars and trucks with snatch straps. Not all of them required a running start, but several did. But if you've mastered the static-line pull then I guess stick to what works best for you. In any case, it's not as controversial as suggesting to use paracord to rappel in an emergency. ;^)

Burying your spare is a well known trick with off-roaders and is mentioned in most courses on the subject. Saw a trail buddy use a Pull-Pal once and it worked OK after it finally bit into the sand (he wasn't stuck, just showing off his new toy). I'd like to get 30' of that nice dynamic recovery rope from MasterPull, but at over $100 I'm hoping Santa is reading this forum tonight because I've been an exceptionally good boy this year!