Cowboys and Cubs

[RE87-Zulu]

Just a cartoon of Cowboys and Cubs. From some life experiences...

[spinner2]

I really like that cartoon! That was me on Tuesday. Every fall I fly for a rancher and find the few strays that haven’t come in yet. They’re on a timber company Grazing lease and he likes them all in by hunting season, which opens tomorrow.



Last week we found a pair in this little meadow. He has a handheld radio and I tell him where we see them and direct him from above. The guys on the ground have a saddled horse or two in a stock trailer and drive as close as they can get. Then it’s game on as these cows often don’t want to be moved. On Tuesday there was just a big black bull left and we scoured the creek bottom he’d been seen in last but couldn’t find him. After two hours I radioed we were going in. My backseater had to get to his football team, he’s a coach. But on our way back to town we spotted him. He was just 100 yards off the main road standing in some brush. The ground guys hurried on down and I told them where to stop on the radio. Out they Jumped without even closing the truck doors, Mounted the horses and were in hot pursuit. It was so brushy that at just maybe 50’ they couldn’t see him. He settled down soon and they got him in a corral about a mile farther down. It’s fun to see it work from above.

[RE87-Zulu]

I t gets pretty entertaining, I’ve been on both ends, flying and spotting and horse back while ol Hargus ( he was my father in-law and taught me to fly) would circle when he found some remnants he would holler out the door and direct us through the mesquite thickets, when we would jump them up then the race was on. Run them to a clearing and rope em, load them in a trailer and haul them to headquarters. Sometimes you chased them and sometimes they would chase you ...it was better to be in the Cub when they were doing the chasing, pretty funny stuff.

[RE87-Zulu]

M
Sometimes things go south ... Ol Hargus really didn’t kill him (he did pepper him up some) the cartoon, well it could’ve happened..

[85Mike]

When I was still flying my 12, I used to go find strays here in south central WA for the local ranchers who ranged the timber lands. Best day I had was finding 45 head scattered over 55000 acres. Black cows show up good in timberland. Now I search with a quad, not nearly as productive. Last Saturday they drove over 1000 head down the county roads and a state highway to their wintering grounds. Pretty neat sight!!
Mike

[Hardtailjohn]

I was taught to never carry a gun when working bulls or with a pup! There's a lot of people that wont quite see all the humor in your cartoons, but those that have been there, sure will!!! Great job!
John

[RVBottomly]

I was taught to never carry a gun when working bulls or with a pup! There's a lot of people that wont quite see all the humor in your cartoons, but those that have been there, sure will!!! Great job!
John

Ha! Too true.

I came "this close" with a dog and a bull--at the same time. At the last second I aimed the 30-30 3 feet in front of the dog and 2 feet behind the bull he was chasing. The dog, at least, got the message.

The bull eventually went off to the hamburger-maker. It was a bad day....

BTW, I'm almost too embarrassed to admit I cow-spotted in the Bridger Mountains from a Tomahawk. But it did the job.

[Hardtailjohn]

The bull eventually went off to the hamburger-maker. It was a bad day....

We call that "freezer camp".

[spinner2]

I was taught to never carry a gun when working bulls or with a pup! There's a lot of people that wont quite see all the humor in your cartoons, but those that have been there, sure will!!! Great job!
John

John, the cows I look for are in the southern end of Thompson River. They probably could roam as far as your place. He found one of his bulls up along highway 2 in March one year.

[Hardtailjohn]

Yeah, we get "visitors" every now and then.... if Southern Pine keeps selling off land, we wont have to worry about range pretty quick. Just heard they sold one chunk of 30,000 acres about 2 miles from us, to one guy from TX that's going to develop 10,000 and the other 20,000 will be private hunting leases for the homeowners.

[spinner2]

Yeah, we get "visitors" every now and then.... if Southern Pine keeps selling off land, we wont have to worry about range pretty quick. Just heard they sold one chunk of 30,000 acres about 2 miles from us, to one guy from TX that's going to develop 10,000 and the other 20,000 will be private hunting leases for the homeowners.

Yes a Texas Hunting club bought a big chunk of scattered sections on the south side of the Clark Fork here too. Probably the same group. But I think most of the Thompson River ground got put into a Conservation Easement when Plum Creek still owned it.

Change isn’t always for the good. I’m hoping the winter weather in October will scare off some.