May 14 - 20, 2006: Spring Gather and Branding

5/15/06 Monday

A full crew this week, three of the four have been here several times. Kathy from Ma. is here for her 7 th or 8 th time. Joe from Kansas is here for his 4 th time, he brought along his 19 year old son Andrew this visit. Russ from Md. is here for a 3 rd go around with us.

We have a new hand here at the ranch, Dustin, a 20 year old college fella who is the nephew of our friend Don.

We left the H.Q. at about 8:30am loaded up and headed to camp. Nate had gone ahead of us and had all the horses waiting. We were saddling when the wolf plane came over and spent about ten minuets circling to our east a couple miles, right where most of our cattle are.

Nate headed out with the crew on the plan of the day, ride to the Silver gate way over on the west side and bring everything they find down into T Bar Valley.

I Left Gambler saddled in the corral and jumped on the four wheeler going east into Pitchfork to see what the wolf plane was so busy about. I went all over the place and came up with an injured calf near Pit tank. I couldn’t get close enough to really see what the problem was other than a lame rear leg, blood and swelling high in the hip.

I got back to camp about 3pm a half hour before the crew showed up having gathered 15 or so head and brought them to the water in the valley. Just after they got here Maggie arrived with the food for the week and just a bit after that we had a brief rain and hail shower. The wind came up and it got pretty chilly. Mostly it was a bunch of lightning. I expect to see some smoke somewhere in the morning. After it was over we had a bit of a rainbow.

Nate and the guys took the truck out into Pitchfork placing more salt on the east side.

When they got back we fed our horses and then our selves.

It was too windy for a campfire so everyone just went to bed early.

It got up to about 75 before the thunderheads built up cooling things right down. A strong wind blew out of the east as the storms were around. It’s only about the second or third time we’ve had rain in May.

5/16/06 Tuesday

I woke twice over night to the sound of rain on the camper roof, I went back to sleep with a smile on my face. In the morning the air was fresh with moisture, it didn’t do much more than settle the dust but it’s a start.

We were out riding at about 8:30am with the plan to find the two cripple calves, one which was in pitchfork pasture the other in 7HL. Just past Pit tank we found the first one, dead. I chalked it up to complications from castration done last week.

I took the crew into 7HL while Nate and Dustin left their horses at camp and took the truck out to retrieve the carcass.

We found the calf and a few others in the valley right away and decided to check T Bar canyon and the lower gate. The gate was closed and we picked up four cows from the canyon and pushed them into the valley. Earlier we had seen a black cow hunting a calf and watched her go over T Bar saddle. When we got back to the valley she was there again. Nate and Dustin showed up about this time and I sent them following the cow and helping her find her calf while the rest of us continued gathering up the valley. Joe, Russ and Andrew went up on T bar ridge to get few we glassed from below. They had to go clear to the top. A tough climb but were rewarded with a total of nine cows. We drifted them all up the valley getting six more from near the intersection feeders and another nine right at the feeder. The cripple calf was getting along much better than it had been a week before and it kept up pretty well.

We got all the cattle back to camp and in the corrals just before 3pm. Still no word from Nate and Dustin.

We let the cattle settle and rest and just about the time we were going to start sorting a strong thunderstorm started to the south. I figured we would get it hard so we unsaddled and waited. Waited for nothing as the storm stayed about five miles south. So we spent the rest of the afternoon playing horseshoes with Joe and Andrew kicking all our butts.

Finally about 6pm Nate radioed in that he had found the calf with another bunch of cows about five miles north in Feathery Valley and had brought them all to the Intersection feeders where he let them drift for the night.

It was a great day, no wind for the most part and just when it was getting hot, about 75, the clouds came in and cooled it down.

As I went to bed I could see a glow to the south, it looks like the storms started a fire down there. There was a lot of lightning around for awhile today.

5/17/06 Wednesday

We didn’t really get going till about 10am, deciding to save our horses and collect off water. The first job we did was go into 7HL and get the eight pairs that Nate and Dustin left in the valley yesterday evening.

We had them in the corrals in a couple hours and quickly had the calves sorted from the others and set to branding three. Andrew had been practicing at home and it showed. The kid caught two of the three letting Russ get lucky once. It was quick roping and in short order the calves were done and back with their moms.

We then rode into Pitchfork and gathered cattle off Pit tank and moved about a hundred head east to Doubtful tank where we let them drift on to salt. Storms were building all around and it got cool. I didn’t have a jacket and several others had no slicker. We beat it back to camp where we took a short break while everyone redressed. We then gathered about 40 head of cattle that had been hanging around the camp area every afternoon drinking all the horse water from the small springs. We moved these up Steve canyon. A really pretty ride with rock formations and meadows. We then got them above Steve tank and pushed them through the towering ponderosa trees up to the top of the mesa and put them on a new salt lick Nate had set up last weekend. We did a long loop back to T bar valley and got back to camp about 6pm.

It was a nice day, early it was almost calm and got almost hot while branding. Then the clouds built up and the wind as well. There was some heavy rain in the area but the most we got was a sprinkle. There was a colum of smoke to the west all day just south of Burnt Cabin in Bearwallow pasture. I guess that was the glow I saw last night. They worked it with aircraft and it soon sputtered out.

Thursday

We were out in pretty good time after another great breakfast by Kathy.

We rode up onto T Bar Ridge And started gathering cattle way up near the top. Kathy was riding ben and called us to say there was a calf on the wrong side of the fence up there. Nate and I went and found a big bagged cow and thinking it was the mom tried to move it to the fence to lure the calf that Kathy said was running east away from us. The cow didn’t want to go and the terrain was terrible what with the steep slopes and rocks. We finally gave up on that idea and Nate went through the fence and got the calf going up the fence the right way. It ended up being a yearling heifer and we had been pushing a cow that wasn’t it’s mom. No wonder it didn’t want to go.

Joe and Russ went up the mountain and opened a gate for Nate and soon we had everything back in order again and continued with our gather. We swept across the ridge picking up a few more here and there and then collected everything in the valley. We had close to a hundred head when we started east.

When we got to Doubtful tank we let them rest then moved them north across open country to a salt lick Dustin had set out yesterday. We finally got to the spot but there was no salt there. We let the cattle drift and they just went right back where they had been. It was a waste of effort but fun.

We headed back towards camp and got in about 6pm.

Kathy is there at every meal time heating up something good that Maggie had sent out. Joe and Russ became the head dishwashers.

Dustin slept late today, getting up an hour after everyone else. He sat in a chair drinking coffee watching Nate and I feed and sort horses.I later told him he had better shape up or ship out. It’s such a common problem with kids today. No work ethic what so ever.

Thunderstorms around today. It sure has been August weather this week. It gets up to about 78 then the clouds build and it rains just a bit. There is a big fire to our north about 5 miles. They are working that one with aircraft as well. They are taking no chances this year.

Friday May 19,’06

The bulls were back at Snow Lake so Nate and the guys went there to get them and move them up to Elladeane tank. Kathy and Dustin drove with me while I collected the misplaced salt and put it where it should have been. We then packed up camp stuff and headed home getting there about 12:00 noon.

I had plenty of office stuff to catch up on, Kathy took a shower and relaxed with a book while Dustin collected feed and headed back out to camp. He is going to stay there the weekend and feed horses so Nate can have a few days off.

The guys got in about 5pm but there didn’t stick around for dinner or even a shower. They jumped in their truck and started driving east to Kansas. Russ is riding along with them and flying home to Md. from there.

It was a good crew, Kathy was awesome in the cooktent. The guys helped out plenty with camp chores and sure beat my ass at horseshoes. I don’t think I’ll ever bother playing again.