Rider's night at Cow Camp

Phil and Ivy McChesney, Keith Murphy, Rod Merrell of Wild Life Services, and Bobby Gilbank joined us for a night of booze and steaks. It was a fun get together. We were sorry Todd Sterns didn't make it. It's hard to get everyone together. Thought you might enjoy the pictures of these guys, however.

Fall at Cow Camp

Dell drank my water as I was painting a little watercolor of our cabin!

We had 1200 head of cattle trying to head south when it snowed. It's a wonder we didn't loose this corner. A few hours later we had them scattered.

It's gorgeous at cow camp these days. We did turn our cows loose yesterday...the annual Green River Drift is in progress. For those of you who haven't seen it, it's worth a trip.

We had the riders to cow camp last weekend for a steak dinner. It was good to have (almost) everyone there. Todd was unable to make it. Later I'll post pictures of everyone.

The snow is gone...but we'll have more. Just yesterday..yes, the day we turned them loose, we had two more confirmed bear kills and one more confirmed wolf kill. It's never ending.

Last night we had such a fun night at the Box R. It was Irv's last night of the season...and there was some old timers there to enjoy the event. Many yarns were spun, old times rehashed...and some awful good music and food. Jeane and I have plans for next summer...God willing!

Cow Camp Visitors!

This has been a very social week at our cow camp. Sunday night Betty and Brent showed up. We ate, and laughed, and told jokes until dark, and they needed to head out. A low key fun evening. I/we enjoyed it so much. The next night, Brian and Krishna came for dinner. Krishna had never been up there, so that was an experience for her. They enjoyed the leaves, and left hoping to bugle in an elk. We don't know if they did that or not! Anyhow, we were glad to have them up there.

The next day, Irv brought his bunch up, and we moved cows. Boy did we move cows north. Twenty five of us spread out across the north east pasture, and we pushed almost everything north. Then we rode to the cabin for lunch. I had made up some sloppy joes from Bob's elk meet, and Jeane from the Box R brought much other stuff to go with! We had such a fun day. The next day they came up and Bob took them up on Bacon Ridge for a sight seeing trip. The smoke kept us from seeing the Tetons, but it was still a neat ride. I got to know some of the people we rode with, and enjoyed them so much. Bobby came along as they were loading up at Mosquito Lake and lent his own character to the day.

The plan continues...I'm down for groceries..gee, I wonder why. And we are having the cow camp riders to the cabin for dinner on Sunday. We are certainly looking forward to that evening...hopefully laden with stories from all. I usually plan this for after cow camp is over, but it tends not to come together..so we're trying for now.

High Country Color

We are getting some gorgeous color these days...we think early in the season however. This is the brightest picture I took. The color is all fantastic, but the pictures come out subdued because of all the smoke. The smoke lays in the low areas heavy.

Wildlife services has killed five wolves in our general area lately. Only yesterday Bob and I saw a wolf track. They are still around. Also fresh bear scat, and later tracks.

We had lots of company at camp, and they all brought food! Especially late in the week, it's a good idea, as our supplies tend to run low.

The summer has gone so fast. It's hard to believe it's almost over. We're thinking about hunting these days...Bob was bugeling elk yesterday. Not much response. One bugel, and some tracks. Saw several moose and lots of deer.

Fires at cow camp..NOT ours!

Wolves that were taken out of the Black Butte pack. There's a male, female who has not had pups, and a pup in this picture. Sorry, I didn't get it all in, I was leaning over the side of the Wild Life Service's pickup. They got another on Pinon Ridge the same day.


Thought you might like to see how close it came to Phil's camp. The Kendall crew saved it however. The fire line was in his corral.

We're dealing with bears and wolves..same ole same ole! We have 20 verified wolf kills and 17 verified griz kills. Seems like we find something everyday.

The leaves are turning, the bugs are gone, and it is gorgeous. Hunters are hoving in. I guess it's bow season on the west side of the Union Pass road.

Gyp Creek Fire as seen going to our camp!

This fire almost got one of our cow camps. John Blaha from the Boulder fire department no less, was there and kept the cabin watered down. They saved the cabin. Phil's horses were turned out to go where ever. They were caught and taken to Les Fluckiger's place later that night. We saw the beginning of the fire from our camp, and beat it down the hill to try to save a few of his treasures. ie, his wife Ivy has a pair of spurs that Roy Lozier made for her decades ago. The forest service would not allow us to go up to his camp. We'd also planned to hook onto his horse trailer and bring his horses out. Again..no go. I guess it all worked out. Phil, as it happens, was not there. He was in Washington D.C. with his wife who was taking an IRS class there. Dave Fluckiger and his dad Les were riding for him.

Things at our camp are smoky. We are sitting between the Purdy fire and the Gyp Cr. fire. We are in no danger. We moved pastures yesterday and today. Long days. However today, I was one of the hosts for Artist Guild, so we planned to get done a little early. We got back to camp just as a cold hard storm hit. Good timing. Bob decided to come out with me, as in that mess, he couldn't shoe horses. Yes, it was trying to snow as we left camp. And there were yellow leaves in the road. In August no less.

The leaves are changing...and as always, it's gorgeous up there.

Artist Guild at Elk Ridge was a joy. We had a lovely lunch...view, and good company. And speaking of company, Madeleine Murdock and Barbara Budd were there. They were the joy to have with us, for sure.

Go Vote!

We came down from cow camp to vote. I found two dead calves yesterday..one was verified as a bear kill this morning...the other "carcass" will have to be soaked a while to determine it's cause of death. Bobby had 3 others over at Fish Creek. It's never ending.

The days up country are beyond gorgeous...I love this time of year. Last week I saw grizzlies, a wolf, deer, elk, moose and antelope. How good is that?

Jane and Scott are off to Africa. The 21st my mother would have been 92, along with our other Willow Creek neighbors who were her same age, Walt Lozer and Amie Reynolds. Ahh well, those were the days.

Scott's trial was last week, and as it should have been, he was acquitted. He should have never been brought up on charges. He is now packing for a new life at college in Laramie. He's a fine young man, who I'm so proud of! Go Scott!

My girl's youngest half sister gets married on the second. They were nice enough to send me an invitation...I love those kids. I'll not make it in person, but I'll be there in spirit. Go Kelly! :)

Two Bits holding walking wounded.

I tried last night to get this picture on, but was unable to upload it.

The day began with Bob staying in camp with his darn back that was still out for the fourth day. He was very out of sorts, not only from the pain, but because suddenly there is a lot of work building up that he wants to have behind him. Anyhow, in a light drizzle I left camp on my little mare that I call Toots. Her name is Two Bits, but to Bob’s chagrin I call her Toots. I pushed a small herd of about sixty away from camp, north to an area we call the Baron Flats. There was a large bunch spread out there already, and there was no pushing these guys further. I began riding the cows, looking for whatever. Soon I came across one of Stan Murdock’s calves that either a wolf or bear tried to kill a couple of nights ago. He was in bad shape. I gave driving him and his mom in to camp a shot, but was soon to learn that wasn’t going to work. The calf couldn’t travel well, and his mom could travel only too well, in all the wrong directions. Now, enters a problem with walking woundeds...they don’t stay put the way dead calves do. I would need to bring Bob and whom ever back to it. So of course the obvious answer is...rope it and tie it up.

I have never been able to rope. I’ve ranched and ridden all of my life, but I have no eye hand coordination, and I’ve always maintained that I can catch something, but I can’t rope. O.k., problem # two enters into the equation. Toots is no rope horse, which of course is no fault of her own...her rider just doesn’t rope. Yesterday I ran into exactly the same situation, only I was riding a horse you could rope off of. It worked out.

Well, first loop...I rode up on the calf which in spite of the fact it can’t travel, it is like all sick cattle, they can’t go anywhere, but when you take a rope down, suddenly they get mobile. I missed, and Toots did a 180 in the sage brush. Loop # 2, same thing. Only she did a little stampede. Loop # three..I caught the calf, both of us in a long trot...Toots decided to leave the country, and I didn’t have much rope tail to work with. I did get my dally with a six inch pig tail, and Toots having a fit. She’s all but screaming, “I don’t like any part of this!” I made her face the calf, but she would not walk up on it so I could get a shorter hold. She is not liking this a bit, but she did stand. I got off, and tied my lead rope around her neck and the rope to keep her facing the calf. I got the calf off it’s feet with my pigging string, and tied up. These calves are wieghing about four hundred pounds these days, so that was no small trick. He kicked me in the hand the first time I got a loop around his back foot and gave it a jerk sideways. After much huffing and puffing I did get him down and bound. I tied the lariat to a nearby willow bush...remember we have Arctic willows, so this isn’t much of a bush. But it’s just a little security for keeping him put. Then I rode in to camp.

Bob was upset that we had another walking wounded. To add insult to injury, he couldn’t get a hold of Wild Life Services either. Then he wanted to know about the ear tag. I told him it was # 52. Well, what color. Jeeze, darned if I know. I couldn’t believe after what I’d been through, I found the thing, roped the thing, tied it up, knew the brand and ear tag number, and what he wants to know is the color of the ear tag? Some days are like that. I’m just lucky it isn’t me with the bad back I guess. I rode another three hours, Wade of Wild Life Services did come, and he verified it another wolf depredation.

Well, I just checked out Sally's blog, and one of the pictures I was going to post is on there...the one of Sally, Louise and I in the cabin. Their visit up there was a hoot, and it's so fun to imagine they were really there.

This past week has been busy. We've had many bear and wolf kills, with Rod at camp checking out stuff daily. Several walking woundeds too. We saw another grizzly, a monster one. Tracks daily.