Sheep Camp Living In The
Big Horn Mountains

 

by: Bobby McDonald

 

About five years ago, I traveled to Ketchum, Idaho, for the Trailing of the Sheep Festival, and went up in the mountains to ride down with the sheep, as they made their way home from summer grazing. But, I'd never spent the night in a sheep camp and wondered about the experience. I made that wish known, while in Yellowstone National Park, as a man and I were discussing photography and waiting on Old Faithful to erupt. That's when he informed me that he had a cousin who was a sheep rancher in the Big Horn Mountains and if I really wanted the experience, he'd give the cousin a call. Well, in a short while, I had what I had wished for! I was headed to the mountains for an experience of a lifetime and interviews with three men who devote their lives to caring for sheep in the scenic wonderland, during the summer grazing season.

 

 

We met at the Crazy Woman Cafe and Pub in Tensleep, Wyoming. It was a small town, tucked in the mountains and cloistered from mainstream America by scenic mountains and breathtaking views. The rancher and I shook hands and he gave me the opportunity to gather some clothes, my camera, and a notepad, before we began our journey into the untamed wilderness of the Big Horns. "Things are really remote, up in the sheep camp, and you probably won't have any cell phone reception," he advised. "But, despite what they may appear to be like, these three shepherds are 'good as gold' and I'm not just dumping you into a den of thieves!"

 

Downtown Tensleep, Wyoming.

 

" The three men know that you are coming and they will all three have their bands of sheep in the same area, to give you a perspective of all three of their experiences," expressed the informative rancher. "They're some of the best shepherds and will have some great stories to tell you about trailing sheep in the mountains. Their backgrounds and experiences are varied and will give you a true perspective of what the life in the mountains is all about!"

With a little bit of apprehension and loads of "the spirit of adventure," we made our way up into the mountains, over rough and rocky roads, amidst mountain streams, grassy nooks, and up over the mountainous roads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soon, we made a "bend" around the mountain and all you could see were sheep scattered in the valley below, as they grazed peacefully in a bucolic fashion. Immediately, as we stopped the truck, two Border Collie dogs ran toward us, to see what was happening on the perimeter of their domain. Were we a threat to the sheep in their care?

 

A voice from near the travel trailer called, "Easy, Spark, Easy Scot!"

And, the two dogs began to whine, as a man in his thirties emerged from behind the trailer and welcomed us to camp. I was soon introduced to "Jack," the shepherd in the camp. "Where in Texas are you from?" he asked.

"Northeast Texas, between Dallas and Texarkana!" I informed him.

"How far is that from Cumby?" he implored.

"What did you say?" I asked to make sure I had understood right.

"Cumby!" he again declared.

"I've read every one of Ben K. Greene's books and he's from Cumby, Texas!" smiled the shepherd.

"Well, Sulphur Springs is approximately 20 miles from Cumby, and I take basketball and football pictures there all the time!" I revealed. "But, no bigger than Cumby is, I couldn't believe we were talking about the same place, here in the mountains of Wyoming!"

Jack and I immediately had a bond, as likewise I have read all of Ben K. Green's books and knew all about his "horse tradin' and wild cow tales!"

"Welcome to my humble abode!" declared Jack. "We'll become acquainted and I'll introduce you to Jake and Grizzly Joe, when they get a little bit closer here, for camp tonight!"

I presented Jack with "my payment" of a quart of whiskey, as a courtesy for them doing the interview. A real smile formed on his face, as I was quickly a member of the camp!

Both "Spark" and "Scot" were at Jack's heels, begging to be introduced to me. Soon, after introductions, the two sheepdogs were nuzzling my pants leg and wanting a pat.

I bade good-bye to the ranch owner and he informed me he would pick me up, just about noon, the following day.

"I was in the middle of shoeing you a horse to ride, this afternoon, when I heard the dogs barking," advised Jack, as he wiped his brow on his t-shirt and started behind the trailer. These rocks are hell on horse shoes and there's always a loose one to fix!"

Immediately, Jack returned to his work of shoeing the horse and allowed me the courtesy to look over the camp, here on the mountainside, near a copse of trees. Jack's home was a small, beat-up, travel trailer, equipped with a means of hitching the trailer to a team of draft horses, to move it, and behind it a mountain stream "gurgled" as it slowly moved over rocks in the stream bed. Crystal clear water from the stream was cool to the touch. Between the trailer and the stream was an open campfire pit and plenty of room to sit on rocks, around it. Jack was over near a "make-shift" fence, made of hogwire and he had a grey and white paint mare, tied to a small cedar tree, that he was shoeing. His box of tools, rasps, and hammers were stationed nearby.

 

 

 

 

 

Jack, who the ranch owner had previously told me was 33 years old, looked to be 45, with leather-like skin, a tall slim build, and a hardness about his jaw. He was dressed in worn Levi jeans, a soiled white t-shirt, well-worn cowboy boots, and a soiled Stetson hat, and had added a pair of "chinks," short chaps, to protect his legs, while doing the shoeing duties. Although the temperatures at this elevation were in the 70's, at early afternoon, Jack continually wiped at his brow, with the t-shirt, as he perspired while working.

"The scenery is beautiful up here!" I declared to make conversation.

"Yep, it's a gorgeous place, peaceful and there's never two days alike," advised Jack.

"Does it get lonely, here in the mountains, during the summer?" I asked.

"For some folks it might be, but as long as I've got plenty of books to read, work to keep me busy, and my dogs and horses to keep me company, I'm content," allowed Jack. "Some nights, if it gets too lonely, I'll turn on the radio, but it's kind of hit and miss, as to whether you can get a signal. Really, I seldom ever turn it on. I like the night sounds of the mountains, and want to be aware if something excites the sheep!"

"Me and the animals become rather close friends, up here in the mountain summers, and you learn to appreciate nature," continued Jack. "When I go down to civilization, in the winter, you get to feeling 'closed in' with all the people, after you've been up here by yourself. Spark and Scot are good company, they don't make loads of demands on you, and they'll protect you to a fault! They're rather 'low-maintenance' company, and don't require much in return!"

Jack informed me that he'd been herding sheep, off and on, for about 15 years. "I spent a three-year stint in the state penitentiary for a drug charge, back a few years, and other than that, I've been herding sheep since I was about 18 years old!" stated Jack. "It's not for everyone, but I enjoy the solitude and the opportunity to be my own boss, care for the sheep, and catch up on my reading. I can go anywhere a book takes me! Even, to your little place called Cumby!"

"I've got it built up in my mind, what that little town in Texas looks like, and I can imagine Ol' Ben Green, herding his horses in and out of the little town, down the main streets!" related Jack. "It may not be just like I have it in my mind, but Green talked about his hometown enough in the books, that I think I've got a pretty good idea of what it looks like!"

 

 

 

The little grey and white paint mare, began grazing, once Jack turned her
into the rope corral, that kept her near the camp.

 

Finishing the shoes on the horse, Jack turned the little mare into a rope corral, that he had strung from some cedar trees and I took a picture of her, as she began grazing. "We'll saddle up the horses, later on this afternoon, before dark and make a sweep around the sheep, just to make sure we don't have any wandering too far for the night, and to watch for an signs of predators," explained Jack. "They reported a big grizzly bear about ten miles away, a couple of weeks ago, and that has us on the look-out for any signs, near our sheep. I haven't seen any signs in this area, so I hope he's staying away!"

In a smaller make-shift corral, Jack had a half-dozen ewes and their lambs penned. "That's the sick pen!" declared Jack, as he gave a shot to an aged ewe, who didn't look quite as thrifty as the others. "All of these sheep have something wrong with them, and need special care. You never have 'em all healthy at the same time, but you want to keep 'em going and don't want to loose one of the onery critters!"

Jack allowed that he had 1023 ewes and their lambs in his band of sheep, and that he'd only lost three head, since leaving the valley, on May 23rd. "It's a full time job, to keep 'em healthy and gaining weight!" declared Jack. "You're always a doctorin', moving, or calming one of these sheep!" declared Jack, as his charges grazed around us.

Jack and I both went back near the trailer and the stream and sat down on the rocks, as we visited some more. He began sharing his life story with me, as we whiled away the afternoon, in the shade of the creek. "I was a young kid, fresh out of high school, when I first started herding sheep," began Jack, as he rolled a Prince Albert smoke and let the smoke from the cigarette encircle his head. "Then, one winter night, up at bar in town, I met a gal that thought it would be an adventure to share a sheep camp with me. Of course, I was young and ignorant and certainly didn't mind sharing my camp, either!"

"She and I stayed together all winter, down in the valley, and she came up in the mountains with me, the next summer. We had some glorious times, romping in the mountains, and when we came down, at frost, she was pregnant," lamented Jack. "I was too young to know what I wanted, but certainly didn't know what a girl or a baby would need, but we were happy and excited as 20 year olds can be. We found a place to live in town and began making plans for the arrival of our child. Man, we had lots of plans and dreams! That is until it came a major blizzard, closed the roads, and my gal went into labor, a couple of weeks early. There was no way to get her out to a doctor, and only an old lady in town, that was a mid-wife of a sorts, was here to help her out. We lost our little boy, and my gal nearly died too! Things like that have a way of making things difficult!"

"It ruined all of our plans, dreams, and you might say ruined any kind of love we had for each other," continued Jack. "It does something to you to plant your baby in the cold, hard ground, before it ever had a chance to breathe life. She left to go back to her folks, in Casper, and left me to deal with my own problems of grief. That's when somebody offered me some drugs to go along with the booze and it didn't take me long to get thrown in the 'hoosegow,' with the kind of life I was livin'. Before I could turn around, a judge had me on the 'chain-gang' and I spent three hard years in the slammer. And, that's why this here peace and solitude of the mountains make the perfect place for me. When you've shared a closed-in cell with another smelly man around, 24 hours a day, for three years, you learn to appreciate the peacefulness of the mountain ranges, the slow moving waters of a mountain stream, and the traveling with these furry critters, around the mountains!"

"I ain't no 'tree hugger' but you learn to appreciate nature, out here, the smells of the land, the shifts of the seasons, and just the way God makes this here country tick!" continued Jack. "I enjoy getting up in the morning, takin' a bath in a mountain stream, and bein' with my sheep, my dogs, and my horses. When I get the urge to do something else, I'll pull a book from the shelf and soon, I'm travelin' to some other place, without goin' anywhere, except in my mind! Ol' Spark and Scot will lay down at my feet and keep them warm, and I'm one more contented fellow!"

As Jack put a "temporary period" at his life's story, he announced it was time to saddle-up the horses and make a sweep around the sheep, so we went to catch the horses. He selected a big bay gelding and I caught the little paint mare, and we saddled them with saddles from a "pick-up bed" trailer, that was hooked to the back of Jack's trailer.

 

 

 

 

Mounted, we began a walk around the herd of sheep, quietly observing the flock and Jack explaining just what all he was observing. He was looking for sick sheep, something that was crippled, had an open wound, or was impaired in some way. Meanwhile, he was keeping his eyes "peeled" for any signs of predator tracks or something amiss in the territory of the flock. "Sheep are pretty content, as long as nothing excites them or they don't get scared," informed Jack. "They'll graze and follow the leader all along the mountain slopes, just as long as they don't get interrupted! But, if they get excited, 'Katy bar the door!' They're headed blindly after the sheep in front of them and you've got to figure out some way to calm them down!"

 

 

We eased around the perimeter of the flock with no apparent problems and heard a noise off to the right, farther in the valley. "That'll be Jake and his flock downstream," informed Jack. "He'll get his flock bedded down for the night and he'll meet up with Grizzly Joe and come on over to my camp for supper, tonight!"

Soon, after arriving back in camp, unsaddling the horses, and turning them loose in the rope corral, Jack had a pot of campfire coffee going, on a rack, over the campfire. He soon had a pot of mountain stream water and buffalo cubes boiling, and was just adding potatoes, onions, and carrots, when a young man, about 20 and an older gentleman nearing 70, walked through the trees, and made it to camp. Introductions were made and I was introduced to Jake and Grizzly Joe.

"Has Jack told you about how all the women are waiting in line for Jake down in Tensleep?" asked Grizzly Joe, as a way of introduction to conversation. "Them gals all think Ol' Jake is their pretty boy, when he comes in the bar off one of these sheep drives. And, when me or Jack goes into town, they're all askin' 'bout Jake's where abouts! They don't pay any attention to us, if they're under 30! It's Jake this, or Jake that!"

The shy Jake, turned red and his face became flush, but you could tell he enjoyed the commradery of the two older men. "I'd just settle for one good keeper," exclaimed the embarrassed Jake. "Maybe one with lots of money, and her old man owned a sheep ranch! That might make a pretty gal worthwhile!"

"The chances of you happenin' on a gal like that, in a bar in Tensleep, is slim to none. I'd bet!" exclaimed Jack.

"Maybe so, but it's happened and I can always hope for her to come along, cain't I?" asked Jake to no one in particular.

"Dream all you want, but just realize that a dream is all it is. Don't go countin' on it really happenin' and that way you won't be disappointed, when it don't come along," advised Grizzly Joe. "That's the same reason I don't put much money on them lottery tickets, either! They a good dream, but it likely ain't gonna make me a millionaire! I've learned in life, that probably the Good Lord, knows who can handle money and those who cain't. I guess I'm bound to be one who cain't handle much of it!"

 

To Be Continued.....

 

 

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