Cowboys

[StuBob]

Well, they raise cattle. . . .

 

[S2D]

Over half the "cowboys" around here use 4 wheelers now.

Some of them even use airplanes

 

[aktango58]

I met this cowboy in Idaho's Copper Basin several years ago, he had 3000 head to look after. I was camped near the airstrip and he rode over to BS. For a guy raised near Detroit like me, pretty heady stuff! The next year I landed on the other side of the Basin near a cabin they use in the summer, to say howdy again, turned out to be the other cattle outfit in the area, but they wouldn't let me leave before feeding me breakfast, great people. I'm still thinking of asking them for permission to use the cabin one night in the winter, when the Basin is deserted, and also gets well below zero, so haven't yet. It'd be a good ski plane destination, I asked the same about a winter overnighter in one of the cabins at Chamberlain Basin, and the Forest Service firmly said NO.

You are welcome to come use our cabins any time. Gravel bars right now, but hope to get the old strip cleaned up again this spring before the water comes up. Sea level and the bars are as much as 1,000 feet, I work off of a 700' one, which Is plenty for you on wheels. Snow makes them much longer!

 

[Steve Pierce]

Well, they raise cattle. . . .

I will have to ask them about that. All the ones I know are entrepreneurs, cotton farmers, insurance agents and professional pilots. Great guys and definitely all about the cowboy spirit. The true cowboys I know are pretty broke but love what they do. Unfortunately it is a dying breed.

 

[fobjob]

If you wear a cowboy hat, do you have to buy cattle??

 

[Steve Pierce]

If you wear a cowboy hat, do you have to buy cattle??

Does wearing a cowboy hat make you a cowboy?

 

[CubCruiser]

Does wearing a cowboy hat make you a cowboy?

As much as wearing a protective cup makes one a baseball player.

 

[Sourdough75]

What is a ewe tube?

 

[aktango58]

I just didn't know there were " fat tire cowboys ' too.

I wear the company coat to hide my 'fat tire'.

 

[cubdrvr]

 

[sj]

Oh man, one of my favorites. the Smothers Brothers were the soundtrack to my youth. My dad and brother used to sing this (and many others) around the house in perfect harmony.

I probably listened to these records 10,000 times.

sj

 

[Mot]

My brother and I had the outfits including guns and holsters. We were real cowboys. Me on the right, in 1953. I'm frowning because I didn't catch any fish, my brother caught all of them.

 

[cfranks]

I will have to ask them about that. All the ones I know are entrepreneurs, cotton farmers, insurance agents and professional pilots. Great guys and definitely all about the cowboy spirit. The true cowboys I know are pretty broke but love what they do. Unfortunately it is a dying breed.

I'm part of that group. My whole family ranches in Motley county and me and my twin brother run a few hundred yearlings every fall. I've also got a small commercial angus cross cow herd. I worked for one of the largest ranches in Texas for 15 years, the Matador Ranch, and we did everything old school. When we branded, we drug them to the fire, we didn't use chutes or calf cradles. We would brand 2500 calves every winter just on the Matador division. That didn't include the Dillion, Montana or Kansas divisions. Our home place wasn't big enough to support two more families on it so had to get a town job to support my family and flying habit. I sold livestock risk protection insurance for ranchers. My Dad and Uncle still strictly ranch. You are right, it's hard to make a living these days just ranching. Cattle prices are great right now though!