Personally, I would do a winch first. You know that will get you out of anything. I have also seen plenty of jeeps with a tow bar and winch.
As far as if you have a D41 or D44, it is pretty easy to tell. And oval shaped diff cover is a D41. If the sides are vertical, then you have a D44.
I'm not following which knob you are talking about, but if it is just to the right of the dash light, that is the choke, and the one just to the left is throttle. Bubba could have been in there and could have changed them up though.