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Got back from a couple days on the range. Gambler, Margie and I went out on Tuesday morning loaded with fencing stuff, a bit of food and a sleeping bag. I was spending too much time riding to and from home so decided just to stay out on the fence.
Tuesday we worked the Loco/7HL fence from Ewe canyon to T Bar canyon then south to Snow Lake along the west trap fence. The fence wasn’t in terrible shape but lots of broken wires and elk crushed fence. I was up and down a hundred times.
When I got to the trap at Snow Lake I found it filled with cattle. I had the west side of the trap tight so I knew I was safe to leave them there till the morning. There was no sense in moving them out cause I knew they had come thru a hole on the east side which I planned to work the next day. We made camp just below the lake in the Wilderness area along the middle fork of the Gila River. A nice spot with grass to the knees of my tall horse. I had a long piece of electric fence with me, which I tied around a few trees, so Gambler and Margie had plenty of graze and water.
I opened a can of green chili stew and heated it over a small fire, eating out of the can. When I was done I washed the can out and then boiled water in it for some coffee, which I also brewed in the can. Full and worn out I went to sleep fast lulled by the sound of the river.
Wednesday
An owl hooted me awake just before dawn; I fed my pals grain, which I carried in a morale in my saddlebag.
I saddled up about 6am and headed to the east trap fence and worked that till late morning. I found the hole the cattle had come thru and got that closed up so I then began gathering the cattle in the trap. Margie seeing I was busy and didn’t need her stayed behind at the trap spring while Gambler and I worked.
It took a couple hours to get them gathered up and moved to the gate above the lake where we put them thru back into Loco pasture.
I then worked the east fence along T Bar canyon headed north towards 7HL. It was there I found the hole that all the cattle had gone thru back into 7HL. It was a big one started by elk and made worse by a hundred cattle going back and forth. It took most of the afternoon to get it closed back up. I had to set 9 posts and make a new H brace. From there I glassed 7HL and counted 92 head of cattle scattered all over the pasture. I decided I had to finish the fence before I dealt with them.
The wind came up about noon and man did it blow! We had a constant 30 mph breeze with gusts to 65mph. It was the worst wind in a long time.
I went east along the fence from Twin Tanks and patched and mended my way along there till just before dark, which found me at Wolf gate. There is a small panel corral which I put the Gambler and Margie in for the night after watering them in T Bar canyon. Another night of chili stew and coffee, wishing I had some crackers and Baileys to go along with both. I was in my bag about 9pm, just as it was getting dark. The wind still blew but not as hard though it was hard enough to make we wish I had a tent or something. Sometime in the wee hours of the morning the horses started up a whinny waking me as I was sleeping right next to them. I then heard the sound of thundering hoofs and who should show up but Ben the Damn mule, Dakota, Chili and Juan. They had been in Canyon Creek pasture with the other horses but I guess they all decided to go adventuring and some how got into Loco pasture. I didn’t get much sleep the rest of the night as there wasn’t room for them in the corral and they hung around having a big party. When it was light enough to see I made coffee and oatmeal after feeding my workers. I didn’t have enough for the rest nor did they deserve any but they thought they did and were pretty pissed off when they got none. I saddled up about 6am and headed out with the four wanderers following along. I knew they were just gonna be trouble on 16 legs so I went back to Twin Tanks gate and put them through into 7HL where they took off at a run down T Bar ridge towards home. It made me wonder where all the other horses were, whether they had followed those guys out of the pasture or were still in Canyon Creek pasture.
By the time I got back to the fence where I had left off it was close to 9am. We worked the entire fence east all the way to Incognito gate getting there about 3pm.
It couldn’t have worked out better as I was just about out of wire and clips and all my staples had long ago run out. We went thru the gate and started the ride home going thru Pitchfork pasture, which I happily found empty. I stopped at the camp trailers at Fence tank and unsaddled Margie leaving the packsaddle there and letting her go home naked. She was worn out, that old mule is probably about 25 but always willing to do whatever I ask.
We rode across 7HL pasture checking to see where all the cattle were so when I come back to gather I would have an idea of where they were. Not that they will be any where they were when I saw them. By the time I got to the H.Q. It was just about dark. I was glad to be home and with dust in my eyes, ears and driven in every pore I was looking for a shower. Of course the wind had blown out the water heater so that had to wait.
Dustin the young fella who had been here last year working for us was at the house ready for another summer of long days fence working for low pay.
It wasn’t as windy today, just breezy but chilly, hi was only about 55.
Thursday
I didn’t ride as I had planned. My mom took a fall a week or so ago and broke her shoulder keeping her in the hospital in Florida. I had a message to call her Dr., which I did and after a long talk I realized I had to get her into an assisted living situation. Ahh it really sucks, I know many of you have been thru it.
So I will be having to go down there next week to take care of all that. Finding the place, getting her house listed, dealing with her banking and bills, arranging for all her things to be sold to cover the up coming costs of care. So it will leave Maggie and Dustin with a lot to do when I’m gone. I will try to get all the cattle gathered and back in the pasture they belong and then the day-to-day stuff will be up to them.
Dustin had a good welcome back day with the arrival of a load of hay to put up in the barn. Finally we have some nice hay after a winter of rained on crap hay from last year. But it is $8.00 a bale! He then helped Maggie work on the guesthouse while I did some tractor work in the horse pasture. I started out cleaning one of the silt filled tanks from last summers floods. Got stuck. It took two trucks and a couple shovels to get that out then I spent the rest of the day pushing rock and gravel from the floods. That pasture is a real mess.
A bit warmer today, hi of 70 and not so windy.
Friday 6/8/07
I loaded Rusty up early and we trailered down to Snow Lake. Along the way we saw a group of cattle in the burn area near Bearwallow so I stopped and unloaded to check them and see if they were mine. I only got about 300 yards away when they took off at a crashing run thru the timber like deer. Nope, not mine. They I’m sure belong to a rancher to the west, they are known for wild cattle. We loaded back up and went on to the lake. There were a couple head in the trap so we stopped and gathered them up. They had come out of the burn area, you could tell by the black all over them from rubbing on the trees.
The reason they were rubbing is the horse flies. There were none there day before yesterday. Today it is swarmed with big green-headed horse flies. Every June we get them and they last till the first big hard rain of the monsoon then they vanish. But I had never seen them like this. I guess it’s due to the wet spring perhaps. Poor Rusty. I had wiped him down with wipe before we left and it helped but we had hundred around and on us all day. His head was tossing and ducking and tail swishing so hard he could hardly stand up. I cut a pine bough to beat us both with. If you got out I the open they weren’t there but within 50 yards of any tree and here they come. Of course we were in the trees all day. After getting the cattle out of the trap we rode more wilderness fence. From the dam at Snow Lake back east to where Peg and I had started our loop a couple weeks ago. Then we rode the road back to the trailer a couple miles and loaded up driving out the east side of Loco and riding the fence down to the cabin. It was a couple miles that was in really bad shape. I just kind of ranch rigged it getting it cow tight and high but the wire is really old and the elk have really trashed it. There just hasn’t been enough fence maintenance over the last decade and it’s really starting to show now. The last couple hours weren’t as bad as the morning, that country there is mostly open with scattered juniper and cedar, each tree spaced wide apart. So we wove our way around the trees to avoid the horse flies. We then rode the road from the cabin back to Harleyville where the trailer was. Where the trees grew close to the road you could hear the flies buzzing as you got close. I’d trot or lope Rusty by them so the damn things didn’t have a chance to mount an assault on us.
It was a late day, I got home about 9pm. Rusty is coming along well, he has been ridden a lot but never really been asked to move to another level which he has the potential of doing. Hi was about 74 sunny with some big breezes in the morning and calmer later in the day.
6/11/07 Monday
Over the weekend Dustin and Maggie worked on the small guest house. It is coming along really well. Dustin is pretty handy with basic carpentry stuff and Maggie has been a painting machine.
Saturday I spent most of the day putting out salt and moving the calf table back out to fence tank. There are so many unbranded calves out there now I figure I’ll do a few before I put them back into Loco pasture.
Sunday I had a guy from Reserve come out looking for young horses for his 14 y.o. daughter to work with. They loved the one yearling colt we had kept for ourselves, Blizzard. He’s a cutie, a cream color with light yellow spots and blue eyes. I sold him.
In the afternoon I went and helped Dustin put new wood on the ceiling of the pantry in the small house. I can now at least say I helped with something over there.
Today I am at Fence tank for the night. I trailered Gambler out to the gate on Telegraph mesa and started riding from there gathering everything I could find down to T bar Valley. I had about 60 head when I got to the feeders.
It was cold and windy and spitting rain when I got there, I could see heavy rain headed my way. After giving the cattle a break for about half an hour and letting them drift a bit I eased through them and picked out 17 unbranded pairs. While doing this hail started pretty heavy. It was mid afternoon when I started them up the valley towards Fence tank taking about an hour to get there. They were a bit balky going in the gate but it wasn’t too bad. I left them in the water lot and unsaddled Gambler in a steady rain. It was about 5pm.
It rained till about dark. It was a great rain. A nice long soaker, it will really get the warm season grasses greening up. The iris this year were like I haven’t seen them in a decade also the Indian Paintbrush, Lupine, Flax, and Blue Bonnets are at their peak. Sitting out side the camper the air was cool but has such a sweet smell to it scented with licorice and sage.
6/12/07 Tuesday
I was up early, dew was thick and the morning clear and bright. I fed Gambler, ate some oatmeal then saddled up.
It was no problem to get the cattle in the branding pen with a little hay for bait. Gambler was fresh and ready and we had the cows sorted off the calves in about ten minutes or maybe a bit less.
I built a fire and then put the calves in the small pen before the alley to the calf table. I started branding at 7:15 and by 10:45 I was done.
I let these cattle drift out to rest before I moved them and rode down the valley after a short coffee break.
The cattle I had left yesterday near the feeders hadn’t drifted too far and by the time I worked the slopes a bit I had about 60 head. These I started into the canyon only to run into 7 loose horses. Dakota, Chili, Ben, Juan, Tang, G Man and Margie. They sure screwed things up in a hurry right near T Bar tank. They ran thru the herd several times scattering them all over. Gambler worked over time getting them back together after we chased the horses up the side of the canyon and over the rim towards Elladean tank. The rest of the way down the canyon went well other than sloooow. Those cattle did not want to leave 7HL and they were hard to keep moving. I just went along with it being in no big hurry myself. I got them through the gate about 3pm but then had to totally rebuild the gate there. Seemed like some bulls had fought over it and had torn it away from the rest of the fence then played soccer with it leaving it in a twisted pile about 30 feet from it’s original position. It took an hour to build a new gate and Gambler enjoyed the time off. I unsnapped his reins and he spent the time grazing along the creek.
It rained again and hailed just as I got done and swung into my now wet saddle for the trip home. Gam was rested up and we trotted most of the three miles to the T gates and got home about 7pm.
6/13/07 Wednesday
I trailered out to the intersection feeders with Rusty getting a kinda late start having to deal with phone calls and a flat tire. My goal was to find two cows that had mastitist and a couple lame cows. I want to get them to the sale this week.
I was being smiled upon as I found three of the four I was looking for within half an hour and half a mile of each other. I got them and another old cow eased out of a bunch along the creek in the valley and headed toward the corrals at fence tank. One of the cows was pretty trotty for awhile but she settled down after a half mile or so but just had a look about her. “That old red cow is trouble” I told Rusty
I have been pleased with Rusty the last few times I’ve ridden him. I have him spinning real smooth and really working off his hind quarters well. The other day we were sorting some cattle and I felt he was hesitant to cut one head on. He would pin his ears and go after one hard so long as it was turning away from him. I hoped it was just a matter of experience but today I found out different. As we got to the main gate in the water lot the cattle didn’t wanna go in. The trotty red cow took off at a dead run and when I asked Rusty to go after her he was all game. We had to do a hundred yard loop around her for a long way back down the valley and when we got in front and I placed him to stop her I felt him give ground. But she did stop, realized her calf was a half mile behind her and headed back. I got them bunched back up and put the gentle lame cow in the water lot and the rest followed right on in.
After letting them get a drink and sit for half an hour I baited the branding/loading pen with hay and eased the cattle to it. They wanted nothing to do with that pen and the old red cow started tossing her head and pawing the ground. Again I tried to use the lame cow as bait and pushed her in the pen and let her eat some hay. I then went to get the others and that red cow came at us. Rusty turned YELLOW! He swung his butt to that cow and ran for his life. I was so disappointed! That cow knew she had his number and came after us several more times before I finally gave in. Once a horse turns butt on a cow the respect the cow had for the horse is gone and there is nothing you can do. I left them in the corrals hoping when I came back they would be more cooperative.
I went down the valley quick gathered up about 50 head, mostly pairs and headed down T Bar canyon. It went well but Rusty had the spook in him. He would go after any cow ass but let one turn and look at him cross eyed and he’d get scared and give ground. All the cattle knew it and took advantage of it making the trip longer than it should have been. I got back to the corrals about 6pm and that old cow was tossing her head before we got within 100 yards so I decided to leave them for the night and come back with a real horse.
The day was like a June day should be. Hot, about 75, bright sun a bit of a breeze over night was 46.
Dustin spent that day cleaning out at the cabin and getting it ready to live in.
6/14/07 Thursday
I have a list of phone calls every morning now dealing with mom stuff so I wasn’t able to get out till about 9:30am
I of course saddled up Gambler to head back out and deal with the bad cow in the corrals. When we got there I saw they had not touched any of the hay near the pen gate, they were sure staying away from that place. I tried things really slow for the first half hour. Easing them every so little at a time and staying away from them a long bit. That old cow sensed this horse as not the same as the one the day before. I’ve mentioned it before how Gambler just exudes a presence and she picked right up on it. I had them within 10 yards of the gate when she broke and ran away rather than charging. I tried to pen the others without her but they too broke. I circled her around the tank and back with the rest and tried again. This time she charged. We were ready and Gambler charged right into her taking a shot to the chest but she lost a lot of hair on her back and neck and decided that wasn’t going to work and broke again in a dead run. Gambler was pretty pissed off and he was on her all the way around the tank and back to the others near the gate. There we let her set, so she would come to understand the only quiet place was at the gate. Well she never under stood. She broke and ran about 8 more times. On one run around the tank I cut her hard and forced her to swim the tank. The other cattle were pretty funny, they would stay right at the gate and watch the show knowing she would be back around soon. Finally I got fed up with it and when she ran back to her friends that time I didn’t let her settle. I blew into the bunch yelling and hollering, Gambler was body checking and biting, we just kinda bowled the whole damn bunch into the pen and shut the gate on them. Gam and I took a little break before I went and got the trailer. When I got out from backing in that cow was really mad and charged the fence at me while I was a foot walking by.
I wasn’t going to risk Gambler in that small pen with that damn cow so I climbed the fence and headed at her with my rattle paddle yelling and screaming. She came at me and I stood my ground swinging that paddle back and connected like Hank Arron along side her head. That plastic paddle makes more noise than pain but it sure made her think I had a long reach and a good right hook. She turned and ran right on the trailer like a scalded cat with the rest right behind her. I let go a sigh of relief when I slammed those gates shut.
I had no room for Gambler and he said he didn’t mind waiting so I unsaddled him and left him in the water lot grazing while I hauled the cattle home. It took about 2.5 hours to get them in the H.Q. corrals and back again to get Gambler. We trailered home getting there about 4pm. I saddled Gambler back up and gathered some cattle out of the water lot here then got Maggie to come and help me sort out the load. It will be six cows and three yearlings, a big load. I plan to head out with at about 5am.
It was a perfect weather day. High was 75, big puffy clouds floating by providing a bit of shade every few min. Low was about 45.
6/16/07 Saturday
Yesterday I was loading cattle with Maggie in the dim dawn and on the road to the sale. It was an uneventful trip, no flats, good weather. I got home about 6:30pm.
Today I loaded Gambler and a four wheeler in the trailer and headed out to the cabin. There I dropped the four wheeler off for Dustin to use while working the fence. He drove the jeep out and is going to stay out there a couple days while he workes the south Canyon Creek fence and the west fence behind the mountain.
I drove back to Snow lake where I had seen cattle in the trap. I unloaded there and got them gathered and moved to the east side of the lake in an hour or a bit less. The horse flies are still just a misery out there.
I then rode up the trap checking for more cattle but found none.
Looking around the gate going into Snow canyon I saw tracks on the west side of the fence. I followed those up the canyon and saw they were real fresh as we had a sprinkle of rain last night. It wasn’t long before I found six close to calving cows and 11 yearling and 2 YO heifers. I gathered them up and saw right from the start they were going to be a pain in the ass. I got them through the gate ok but as soon as I did they slowed down not wanting to go through the fly filled trees. They spread around, the heifers were all over the place at one point they were following a less than year old heifer. It got a bit better when we got out of the trees and into the meadow above the lake. But it took me two hours to go just over two miles.
Once we got them to the gate we headed back to the trailer. Gambler had worked hard and the flies were doing him in. Before I left home I soaked a cloth in fly wipe and put it in a zip lock bag. I wiped him down all day long. I’d hold it out and he’d stop, turn his head back to me so I could reach his face. But even still is was awful.
I got home about 5pm. Thunderstorms were around but no rain here. The evening was so perfect after dinner. We worked around the yard in a low bright light with lavender clouds and half a rainbow.
Hi was 77 after a low of 49
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