Posted by Preston on November 30, 2005, 3:38 pm
NEW IN 2006!!!
We are doing a lot of things different than we have in the past 15 years.
As many of you long time visitors and you “Cowboy Log” readers know we had Mexican Gray Wolves introduced here five years ago and they are doing very well for themselves. Not very well for us.
So we have to change the way we manage things around here, our cattle and our guest business.
We have to be out with our cattle now all the time. We have to make our pastures busy places. We have to make the wolves decide there are better neighborhoods in which to live. This means longer days riding and more nights camping.
Our guests have to be up to the new challenges.
We can no longer set up shorter ride groups, or groups who want to go back and sleep in the cabins. We can’t be everything to everybody.
WE WILL ONLY BE TAKING FOUR PEOPLE EACH WEEK.
You know there is Cowboy College in Arizona and there’s Cowboy U. We are going to be offering you a P.H.D. in cowboyin’.
When you come here you will become one of the hands. You will be feeding your horse when the sun comes up. Riding all day. When we are working cattle you will really be working. There will be just a few of us out there so lots more for each of us to do. When four folks are moving fifty pairs through the timber or a hundred across the grassland every hand counts.
In the past we couldn’t invite you to try cutting or sorting with us. Some folks could but others couldn’t. We couldn’t in all politeness say, “You can but you can’t”. So we have set a list of requirements you must meet to join us.
Starting this year you will learn to rope on foot then on horseback. You will come in the pens when we are sorting and cutting and we will show you how to “Read a cow” and get the job done. It’s nothing like the Team Penning or Sorting you may have seen or done at home.
Besides all that fun cowboy stuff you may be asked to drive a truck or a trailer rig. Buck a few bales of hay, patch a break in the fence or split some wood.
We won’t be having a regular cook anymore. So no more lavish spreads and baked goods every night.
All of us are pretty good with the vittles in our own right so you won’t be going hungry. But whether here at the headquarters, out at camp or on the trail we expect you to lend a hand. Cutting something up, stirring a pot, watching the grill, making coffee or washing dishes.
If you’re a top Dutch oven cook, good with the grill, or proud of your biscuits let us know and we’ll just get the heck out of your way.
I’m excited about the changes and from what I’ve heard many of you veterans are too. I don’t think that there are any other ranches that are as hands on as we are.
This is not a vacation!
This is an experience, an education, and an adventure.
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