October

October 8-14 Fall Gather

Monday, October 9, 2000
A big group this week! Eleven guests, the most we've had all season. We have Larry from Ca. whose here for a second visit. Joe from N.J. also a second timer. Everyone else is here for a first time visit, Esther and Sandy from Az. Larry and Everette from Oh. John and Jack from Pa. Jim from Il. Hap from Ak. and hid brother Ralph from N.H.

The weather changed fast over the weekend, from the 80's last week to highs in the 40's. Since Saturday we have woken every morning to being in the clouds with a light drizzle and temps. right at 32. The afternoons are partly sunny but very cool. These gals from Arizona are freezing. Actually so am I. I have been wearing a down coat all day.

It took awhile to get everyone saddled and mounted this morning, due to our first corral wreck of the year. I could feel it coming when we were catching up horses. It was chilly, the horses had been in the corrals all weekend due to horseshoers here, people looking to buy horses, and that hunting season is on. So there was just an energy in the air. I told Lyndsey I had a bad feeling. During saddling Travis sat back on his lead tied to the hitch rail. Something had to give and it was the rail. With a crash it broke sending Travis over backwards and Zeno who was next to him sat back on a spook and tore his rail loose. It smacked Esther a good one on the forehead where she now carries a handsome goose egg. After everything settled down and ice was on the egg saddling went fine, the tension was broken.

The gang went out in two groups with Lyndsey and Tanya into Negrito pasture looking for strays and generally just shaking down. It was cold and wet so Alan and I stayed in the cook house next to the fire and ate and chatted the morning away not feeling like we needed the practice enough to be out in the weather.

Everyone returned about 2:00, we then headed down to the shipping pens where we had seven pairs of Alan's wild cattle he found on the mountain over the weekend. Three unbranded, all over 500 pounders. I was riding Doc so I took him in the pens, he cut the cows down the alley slick as you please then the calves off the cows went too easy. As soon as I went to get the mother cows up the alley into a new pen we ran into a Problem. A big black cow with wide upswept horns that were sharp as needles. She was on the prod. She charged us once hard and fast coming within an inch of Doc's shoulder before backing down. We eased into her again, all she had to do was run by us in the 12 ft alley. She felt threatened and got hotter. Horning the other cows and stirring things up right bad. Doc was perfect easing slow and quiet down one side of the alley giving her plenty of room to run by. Run she did on a hot eyed charge, her horns within an inch of my knee. Finally in the right pen we relaxed, Doc did shy away from her charge but any horse would in that situation. He did great for his first time in the pens and having to meet with a bad cow. The rest of the branding went smooth as the gang all pitched in getting the big calves done. Took less time than we figured
All in all a dang exciting day!

Tuesday, October 10, 2000
Sitting by the fire trying to get the chill out after a day in the clouds. Woke this morning to a temp of 32 and drizzle, hard to get going. Tanya took one group of long riders and rode out from the ranch. Lyndsey and I loaded the trailers and other riders and drove out to cowcamp. Before we had unloaded in the cold rain and fog Sandy decided it did not look like much of a vacation to her. Lyndsey trailered her and their horses back with a smile on her face. My group rode into Pitchfork up past Fence tank and out to Pit tank, around up past Hay tank. We were just looking around seeing what's where. Getting ready to start gathering small pairs tomorrow. It was not too bad with the wind at your back but it got worse when I saw Tanya's group a few miles south and changed direction. By the time we met up with them Esther, Hap, and Jim had decided a cup of coffee and fire sounded good so they went back with Tanya to the trailer and headed home. Tanya with a smile. I pressed on with the long riders - Larry Jones, Larry Laymon, Ralph, Joe and Everette. We went another 3 or 4 miles to Dead Horse corral then headed back through the timbered country along the north fence. The trees took the sting out of the rain that was just a few degrees from snow. The horses took the change of direction and headed into the wind with a fast pace home. Coming down a steep canyon side I saw Elk in the timber and we soon spotted two trophy bulls. I always get excited seeing the monster bulls so we trotted and loped through the trees trying to get a better look. The elk headed back up the side after a bit and we halted our pursuit. Finally we came out of Hidden Canyon just as the sun broke through sending a shaft of light right onto the truck and trailer. It was a welcome sight to see it after over 6 hours of cold wet riding. Lyndsey was thoughtful enough to have a thermos of coffee when we arrived. Cowboy life kinda had no romance today.

Wednesday, October 11, 2000
The day dawned with a brilliant sunrise with promise of a bright day. The promise was broken as we trailered over to the neighbors' - Don and Jeanie - to help them gather a couple hundred head off a mountain pasture. It's about a 45 min drive over there and near Collins Park the road gets bad. It goes from dust to mud with three drops of rain and has no bottom to it. We made it through in four wheel drive with no problems. Lyndsey driving one rig, I drove the other. Getting unloaded and mounted up,we rode up through a beautiful little canyon with great rock formations of all colors due to the moss and lichen. We gained about a thousand feet and the clouds took us over enveloping us in a heavy drizzle becoming steady rain within an hour. We gathered the pasture which was so nice this rainy fall day. A big open park area about 5000 acres surrounded by Ponderosa forest with 10,000 ft peaks an arm's length away. The clouds hung in the tree tops leaving ghostly veils behind. After a couple hours we had close enough to 200 cattle to start down off the mountain. The ride down was spectacular back through the canyon. The cattle moved fast as we wound past stands of colorful Aspen and those crazy rocks again. Getting into Y Canyon we headed east a few miles then Lyndsey and I rode back to the trailer as the riders moved the cattle. I sure did not mind getting into that truck and cranking the heater up on high! As we moved down the road in the trucks we came behind the herd. I was wishing I had a video or every riders camera. It was calendar material as riders in yellow slickers moved cattle thru a grey day in an awesome canyon with the Aspens and Oaks adding just enough color. The temp was in the 40's, but luckily not much wind. After 6 hours of riding everyone was ready to put the cattle to water and climb in the trucks.

The rain today amounted to almost two inches. I think it will be enough to put water in the 7HL pasture tanks so we can use that pasture to gather everything into. Not having that pasture, which is the one closest to the H.Q., was really putting a crimp in our fall gather. But I think we have been saved. Tomorrow we will take a ride out and check tanks to see what we caught.

Thursday, October 12, 2000
Tanya and a few other riders went into 7HL pasture looking for water, they made a big loop checking all the tanks. They found only a little bit in the tanks, the rain was too slow to really run any water into them. But there are a lot of puddles and standing water in the streambeds, I think enough to get us through the next two weeks while we gather, sort, and ship.

I went over to Don's with the other riders to hunt up 28 head we had missed earlier in the Moraga. We rode all day and came up with 12 head that we pushed into a holding pasture. The day drizzled a bit more but not enough to catch water, just enough to make things a bit miserable. Lyndsey was sick with a belly flu and holed up in her cabin.

Friday, October 13, 2000
It cleared over night and got cold laying a heavy frost. We all went back to the Moraga hunting those strays. The day was bright and beautiful. On the way over the brakes in my truck went out so we had to stop and mess with that. Then a few miles later one truck jack knifed in the mud and got stuck. Had to unload horses and pull that out making it close to noon by the time we got in the saddle. We rode all day and came up with 8 head. Besides the rain and cold it was a pretty good week.

October 15-21 Fall Gather

Monday, October 16, 2000
Developed a nasty cold over the weekend, maybe too many hours riding in the cold rain last week. Feeling a bit better today.

Ten folks this week, Walter from Md. who has been here 6-7 times is here for two weeks.
Roseanne from N.J. also a 6 time visitor here for two weeks, her daughter Kathy who has been here once before and her fiancé Kevin. Chuck from N.C. who was here in the spring is back. The rest are a group who met each other at a ranch in Wyo. who decided they wanted to see some new country. They include Wayne and Kay from Mo, Emillia from Can., John from Oh., and Bob from Az.

Today we went over to help Don gather, we went out in three groups into the Slater pasture a kinda rough timber area. Lyndsey and my group rode about three hours and never saw a cow. We got to the the meeting spot and found Tanya's group with about 150 head they had found easily and pushed to water. After a short break we headed them up a canyon to the top of Elk Mtn. It was rough and slow going, these heifers had been moved too much over the summer and are spoiled to horses, have no fear or respect and they just don't want to move. It was as hard cattle driving as I've done through all the timber and rocks. Near the top Bob's horse Coal started to act like a colic. I turned Gambler to home to get a horse trailer. It was a wonderful ride, we went cross country traveling at a walk, trot, lope. Gambler was so dialed into me it was great. Slack reins at a lope and run not using anything but an ounce of leg pressure to turn him around trees and rocks. We both had a blast, covered 10.9 miles in just over 1.5 hrs. At the end Gambler was still fresh and ready. Got the trailer and hurried back to find Coal was doing fine. But everyone was ready for a ride home. A long Monday to start the week.

Tuesday, October 17, 2000
Alan, Lyndsey and I took a group of the riders out into 7HL, it was a beautiful day. Temp about 60, sunny, and not a breath of wind. We gathered and sorted at fence tank looking for big pairs. We got about 80 pairs sorted and Lyndsey and the riders pushed them back here to H.Q. about 10 mi. The word I got was it was a spectacular day. Alan and I then loaded a few small pairs into trailers and trucked them home as they were too small to push.

Tanya had 4 riders and went into Slater pasture gathering to water 63 head. Tomorrow we do more of the same. Fall gather is going very well.

Wednesday, October 18, 2000
Another beautiful fall day, temp this morning was 22, got up to about 60. No wind, a few clouds in the late afternoon. Tanya took Bob, Walter, and Chuck into Slater pasture. John, Lyndsey and I took everyone else out into Pitchfork pasture. We had an easy time gathering 40 pairs to move over to the H.Q. They were almost all right there at the water at Fence tank. Lyndsey and the riders were headed home with them by about 3:00 and made record time of just under 3 hrs back here. We are going to be shipping a couple truckloads tomorrow. John and I loaded and trailered back 6 small pairs. I then headed out to pick up Tanya and her group. I waited about an hour then heard them coming. It was a sight! Four riders and 250 head of cattle. They had ridden almost 4 hrs this morning before they found the first ones. They had 13 when they started up the canyon and over the next 4 hrs had picked up the rest. It was a long hard drive through miserable conditions of rocks, trees and canyons but you never saw cowboys grinning so big as when they came in with the herd. The were tired and their horses exhausted but were pretty dang proud of themselves, as well they should be.

Thursday, October 19, 2000
Light rain fell overnight and left the dawn covered in mist that soon cleared to a nice day. Everyone gathered the cattle out of the north trap and moved them into the corrals here at the H.Q. These were the ones they had pushed over from Pitchfork pasture early in the week. After gathering they all loaded up in trailers and drove over to the upper end of Slater pasture where they helped Don and Jeanie move 300 head of cattle into Collins Park. It was a long day, they returned about 6:00. John, Alan and I rode through the cattle here and picked out what calves we were going to sell and which ones were too small. A pretty easy day. Then we got word that there had been more rain down below and the semi that we use to haul cattle could not get out on the dirt roads where we drop off the cattle. So shipping got postponed.

Friday, October 20, 2000
The day promised more rain but we went ahead and started vaccinating calves and getting ready to ship. All the guests helped but Walter. Bob, and Chuck who went with Tanya over to help Don and Jeanie hunt up strays. A blown radiator hose slowed them down but they finally got out. The vaccinating involves crowding the calves in a small pen so they can't really run around and then a couple people wading through them. Two vaccinations are given so we have two people handling the dose guns and two others with spay paint of red and blue, one color for each shot given. Not till we are sure all the calves are color coded do we let them out and a new bunch in. It means a lot of stomped on toes and calf shit on the pants but works well. After all the calves were done the guests all went riding on their own as we finished sorting. Just as we got done Joe, Johns brother who drives the semi rig arrived and we easily got 103 calves loaded headed to the lower ranch where they will be corraled and fed hay as they go thru the weaning process. All the momma cows were left up here and what a noise they made through the night. Bawling and carrying on for the calves that are 40 miles away. It will be like this for the next two weeks. The day ended with rain in the area but not too much here.

October 22-28 Fall Gather

Sunday, October 22, 2000
A rainy night, and all day. Temp about 35, muddy and messy, could really change plans for this week's shipping. Just have to wait and see. As much as we need the rain it sure came at a bad time. We have lots of miles to ride and hundreds of cattle to find, gather, and move. It just makes everything harder and not near so fun.

Monday, October 23, 2000
The cold rain of the weekend continued through the day, changing to sleet off and on as the temp. stayed around 38. As the sun went down so did the temp. to about 22 leaving a heavy coat of frost and ice. A big group for the last of the season. The best is that all but two of our eleven guests have been here before. We have John, Mike, Stephanie, and Cindy all from Mi. They are here for a third visit bringing along Johns daughter Sue for her first time. Eric from Ky. is here for a second time, his first being a POSSE back in May. Walter and Roseanne are here for their second week. Wayne from Fl. is here a second time, his last time was the week of Maggie's big wreck a year ago. He brought along his brother in law Steve from Nj. Garrel is here from Mo. for his second time this year, his first was a visit to the lower ranch back in April. Garrel, Eric and Walter went to Glenwood with Frank to get a load of hay. The Mi. crew all drove to town and spent a few hrs. at the local bar. The others hung around the cook house, everyone just trying to stay out of the weather.

Tuesday, October 24, 2000
The day broke cold and clear, a few vagrant clouds drifting around. Tanya took the Mi. crew and Eric out into 7HL checking water and closing gates, getting ready to move some cattle in hopefully tomorrow. Lyndsey and Alan took the other riders in two groups out to the Snow Lake area. I got to ride a chair doing some long overdue office work. Alan came up with about forty pairs that they moved over into 7HL. Lyndseys group didn't see a cow all day but saw plenty of country. All the riders got in about 6:00. I was told it was wet and boggy everywhere out there, some places horses were foundering over the hocks. It's so tough on the horses when conditions are like that. Gambler got ruined by a bog experience last year. He got down in one for over an hour, stuck to his shoulders and rump. I was by myself and it was a job getting him out. You have to dig down around each leg to break the suction, in the beginning he was fighting so hard to free himself he keep undoing my progress. Finally he either got tired or figured out what I was trying to do (mostly the former). I was able to get the suction loose and with some loud encouragement he struggled free. But it ruined him. Now he won't take a drink if it means his feet getting wet, every spot that looks wet he skirts around, and any small stream he tries to jump. He has gotten a bit better and I'm sure he will get over it but terrifying experiences sure stick in those little walnut size horse brains.

Wednesday, October 25, 2000
Day dawned a bit cloudy and 26 degrees, clouds cleared off by 8:00. Alan and Roseanne and Cindy trailered to Snow Lake and gathered about 20 pairs and pushed them back here to the H.Q.. Tanya, Walter, Stephanie, Wayne and Steve went over onto Don and Jeanie's place and rode all day, gathering 85 head and moved them through the rough stuff up to Continental Divide pasture. John and I went out to Pitchfork pasture with Lyndsey and guests John, Mike, Eric, and Sue. We split into 3 groups and worked the east side. With all the rain and puddles everywhere the cattle are spread far and wide. We rode almost 4 hours just to find 100 in a pasture that has over 300 head in it. Finally got them pushed together at Fence tank. There Alan showed up with his riders, they really put down a lot of miles to get there. Lyndsey and the riders pushed the cattle all the way across to the H.Q. getting in after 8:00 the last hour in the pitch dark of a moonless night. Alan and John went scouting so we know where to look tommarrow. I trailered home, dropped off Gambler and then went out to meet up with Tanya's group. I found them along the old road home and they were happy to see me saving them a 10 mile ride after a long day.The conversation around the cookhouse was a bantering between the two groups as to who had the hardest day. They all worked their butts off, covered a lot of miles and got a lot done. While out in Pithchfork I found one of my broodmares locoed on weed. Its a sad sight, affects the central nervous system. She is in a bad way, can't really walk and you can see her brain is really messed up. I will have to put her down tomorrow. John saw all the other mares and foals and said they looked fine. I will try to move them into 7HL pasture tomorrow with the cattle, getting them a little closer to home so in a week or so we can get them into the H.Q. to wean the babies.

Thursday, October 26, 2000
One of the most enjoyable days of my cowboy life. We all trailered out to Canyon Creek and there split into several groups. John and a few riders swept T Bar ridge. Alan and some others went through the valley, Lyndsey and I went up the slopes of Canyon Creek Mtn. I thought after glassing the slope we would not find much, I was sure wrong. We got about half way up, the riding conditions were terrible. The ground was soggy and cobblestoned with rocks. Every step the horses sank in the rocky mud to their ankles and often close to the knees. We split up and soon I found cattle everywhere I looked. I moved some down running into Lyns every half hour and we collected our finds in a tight draw till we had over 70 which we then moved down to Alan in the valley. We sent some riders along with the main herd to ease up the valley, Alan came with me back up the mtn. to where I had seen 10 across a big canyon from where I had been riding. We got up there and found it to be more like 40 head that Alan moved on down. I cut down into the canyon, a "Man From Snowy River" ride sliding most of the way down the steep side. In the bottom I found myself in a beautiful bowl, steep sides, filled with 150 ft Ponderosa pines that five people could not have put their arms around. Letting Gambler blow and catch his wind I saw the sunlight reflecting off antlers about 50 yards up the bottom. I lowered my profile to Gambler's neck and let him graze and ease his way up. The big bull Elk stood up from behind the log he was lying when we were 30 yrds away. He was a monster and just stood watching us. Another time I wish I'd had a camera. Finally needing to get on with work I turned Gambler up the opposite slope and left the ole boy to his paradise. Once out on top of the other side I found more cattle. Gambler was awesome and worked his ass off bunching the cattle who were spread across the country. After an hour or two I got them in a group and pushed them down to the valley. When I got there I found the main herd long gone and started my 45 head the same way. I finally caught up with them an hour later and we moved them west. Everyone did a great job keeping them moving and we finally got to Fence Tank about dark, pushed the cattle through the gate and left them there in 7HL. We then had a long 2.5 hours ride home in the dark. And it was dark! And cold! All I had was a light windbreaker. I sure was glad to see the lanterns in the saddle house glowing as we got close.

October 29-31 No Guests

Sunday, October 29, 2000
Not much going on today, cold high only about 40. I drove out through a few pastures looking for strays, saw a few. Frank took five horses to the lower ranch, got to about a mile away and the road was washed out and flooded from yesterday's heavy rain. He unloaded the horses and jumped on Bud bare back and rode him across, the others happily following. They know season is over and it's vacation time. They will run on the open range for the next three months just being horses.

Monday, October 30, 2000
Seems strange not to start by reporting this weeks guests, but we have none. The season is over but the work goes on. We didn't book anyone for Nov. because last year we were pretty much done by this week. This year due to weather we still have hundreds of cattle here and lots to do. After getting 95% of all the cattle into the north holding pasture last week we started the day gathering out of it. It was just John, Alan, Tanya, Lyndsey, Frank and myself. Tanya, Lyndsey and I were all riding two y.o. colts. I was on Doctor, Lyndsey was on Vaquero, Tanya was on Smoke. We start all our young horses lightly in the late summer then use them a lot for these short days when we are working lots of cattle. I really feel this gets them in the mind set that life is all about cattle. The North Pasture is small, about 1,300 acres and mostly open, so you can find the cattle pretty easy. We worked a couple hours and gathered a hundred pairs moving them into the corrals. Doctor and Vaquero did great great, it was Smokes first day out. He had only been ridden in the corrals so, much to her objection I made Tanya wear her helmet. He was not perfect, did some rearing and and a little bucking. He smacked Tanya pretty good in the face with his head once. He was carrying his head too high and a lot of head shaking. We got the cattle in the corrals and started sorting and cutting. This is my favorite time of year! Doc worked great in the close quarters. He really wants to cut and is so light and quick on his feet. It took about five minutes, and he figured out what we were doing and had a great time. After a short lunch Lyndsey, Frank and Tanya went out for more cattle. We did a bit change on Smoke and he worked much better in the afternoon. John, Alan and I spent the next few hours vaccinating calves. As I wrote before its not fun work. We crowd them in a small pen then get in amongst them giving shots and marking ones we've done. you get your toes stomped constantly and are pushed and shoved all around. They are in so tight you can hardly move among them but this keeps them from having room to really run you over or kick too hard. We get covered in calf shit from waist to knees. These aren't little cute babies anymore, most are over 400 pounds some up to 500 and stand waist tall. The noise in the corrals is deafening, cows and calves bellowing to each other. You cannot hear the person next to you talk and all night the valley will be filled with the din of cattle. Just as we finished that bunch the riders brought in a few hundred more and we did the same thing all over. Cut on horse back then sort on foot in the small corrals then vaccinate. We got over 200 done and finished just after dark.

Amy has already headed to Colorado for the ski season but no matter, Maggie had a great dinner ready for us as we finally got in after all the chores were done. It's supposed to snow late tonight and tomorrow, hopefully not too much. This morning it was a chilly 19.

Tuesday, October 31, 2000
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! Woke this morning to a temp. of 20 and snow falling. A frightful sight with a corral full of just weaned calves. The snow stopped about 8:00 after just a couple inches. We loaded the calves on a semi about 9:00 and were glad to see them go. The rest of the day was pretty laid back, sorted out a load for tomorrow. morning of cows and got them set in the corrals. I took a couple pairs of our neighbor's back to their H.Q. about an hour's drive away. It sure was pretty with just a dusting of snow on everything. This eve Maggie got us all pumpkins and we each carved our own crazy faces, it was lots of fun. Big excitement here in the wilderness.