Hello my friends and family!!!
I’m back, and damn, do I have some awesome stories to tell you...
A few days after I posted last, most everyone from Chico Basin Ranch, including myself, took off for our sister ranch, Medano-Zapata Ranch. Check out the link if you have time, Its an amazing place which really strives to integrate sustainable ecological ranching practices into everything they do. They accomplish this while also adhering to a traditional western lifestyle and attitude.
The ranch is approximately 100,000 acres which The Nature Conservancy purchased in an easement agreement. Duke and the Phillips family have a very unique agreement with The Nature Conservancy, to maintain, care for, and harvest the 2,500 head Bison herd which occupies 50,000 acres of the land. The Phillips family also uses the facilities located on the land to run a guest ranch operation. The income from the guest lodge and the sale of bison meat cover the costs of operation.
Every year, around late October, we round’em up.
It’s a week of the most intense action I have ever been apart of.
A week of rounding up herds of wild bison, which are some of the most athletic animals I have ever witnessed.
Its was truly an amazing experience. We begin preparing for the event many weeks prior.
Duke invites his close friends to come join us, who are mostly all phenomenal riders. Tess and the Zapata crew make all the arrangements for food, lodging, and transportation. Jeff and his crew ready the fences for the angry bison, and prepare the bison barn for processing. At the Chico, about a week before, we start gathering our best horses and shipping them over to the MZ (Medano-Zapata), bringing the last load over when we arrive the day before round up begins. We do all this and much more to prepare for this week of madness.
Everyone who was going from the Chico packed up their best cowboy digs and best horses two Thursdays ago, and headed out tame the wild beasts.
The people who came from the Chico were:
Duke
Duke Jr.
Allen
Jonathan
Cooper
Stewart
Nick
Myself
The Zapata crew consisted of:
Tess
David
Jeff
Carla
Asta
Rex
Joe
Mike
Ronna
Nadine
The film crew, who documented the entire experience was:
Alf
Josh
Isa
We had many friends and guests ride with us over the week, most who came for around 3 or 4 days. (I hope I remember them all)
Jody (check out Toby and Jody's critically acclaimed start-up Top 50 Ranches)
Kate
Atticus
Quattro
Blue
Jeannie
Jay
Karen (our photographer)
Danielle
CJ
Jason
Holly
Carlos
And probably more.
Everyone ended up playing a crucial role in the process. It was great to have everyone there, and I feel we all worked really well together and had a shit ton of fun as well. I made some good friends and thank everyone for showing me the time of my life.
So back to Thursday.
We quit work at around noon on Thursday, and loaded up the cars and trucks. We put our last load of horses into the trailer, including my main man, Bruzer.
We arrived at the MZ at around 5, and unloaded all of our gear. We ate an amazing dinner of Bison enchiladas cooked by the lodge’s chef, Mike. We introduced ourselves to each other, got acquainted. We ate and drank and laughed until about 7, the energy in the lodge was fervent.
Every person, even the most experienced, with butterflies fluttering away.
After we were satiated, Duke called us all into the conference room for a pre-game chalk talk. A chat, to go over strategy, announce teams, run through situations, and ask questions.
This just pumped me up that much more. We talked about how this year we are going to break up into three teams of about 6 each. Each team plays a specific role while running the bison in. We talked about how the bison like hang out in herds ranging from 20 animals or less to 200 animals or more.
Our job is to stalk these groups of wild bison, sneak up on them strategically, and when they start fleeing, run with them, steering them in the right direction towards the 1 sq. mile trap. We would do this many times over, venturing out to locate a herd of bison, a sort of reconnaissance mission. We would stand on the rooftops of buildings with binos and scout for groups. We would ride out up to 3 miles, then, as stealthily as possible, creep up on them, spook them, and run them to the trap.
We went through many different scenarios, talked about the roles each team and team member would play in the round up, talked about what would happen if somebody falls, if bison escape, if the shit hits the fan.
All of this is getting me straight pumped up.
I’m jittery after this meeting, anticipating the moment when I see the first Bison take off, in a flight for it’s life, fleeing the rugged cowboys which aim to contain it.
I didn't sleep well that night.
The next morning though, I arose at 5:30 easily.
We all met for breakfast at the stuart house. Everyone is amped. Ready to get to chasin.
We make our way over to the Bison Barn at 7. All of out horses are there, waiting to be fed and then saddled. We feed our steads, saddle them, and gear up.
Almost all have revolvers holstered on their hips. People are in their nicest riding attire, have their best chaps, boots, and spurs on. Blades are sharpened and sheathed. Saddles are polished and cleaned. Its official.
We build a fire and listen to music while our team leaders review some last minute thoughts. Were ready.
We mount up and trot off, in pursuit of our first victims.
We quickly locate a herd of about 60, fairly close, about a mile from the trap. A nice introductory group. A test-run.
We form up into one large group, Duke, Jeff, Duke jr., Jonathan, Cooper and some of the other vets talk about the general strategy for this run. How we will approach, what our team formations will look like and how they will be positioned, which direction we are shooting for, which gate we are putting them into, what the final objective is.
If all is understood, we break into our teams. Team leaders then begin reviewing our teams specific strategy. We talk about riding abilities, positioning of team leaders, communication techniques, and herding formations.
All of this in a whisper. Stealth is the key.
When we get the go ahead from big duke, all three teams break off into their designated positions, beginning their march toward the bison.
We are in tight formation as we make our approach, 3 lines of 6 riders, appearing as cavalry do while marching into battle.
Then, slowly, the Bison lift their heads, with their thick manes and large horns facing at us, letting us know, we see you. Every rider is on point, perfectly positioned to make an advance, all is calm, its almost dead silent.
As the margin between my team of horses and the herd of Bison becomes thinner, it happens.
One takes off.
And I mean takes off.
Its on.
Team leaders start screaming, go go go!!!!
Your horse takes off into a full run.
Your job is to stay on your teammates ass at all times, covering up holes in the formation which bison could possibly slip through. You have no choice but to keep up. Its your job.
Keep up.
At this point, words cannot describe the intense rush of adrenaline I’m feeling. Honestly. I have done some crazy shit in my day, but nothing, and I mean nothing, has come close to this.
We’re hauling ass, right next to this herd of wild animals. People are screaming at the very top of their lungs, trying to intimidate these massive creatures. They aren’t scared.
The crack of bull whips fills the air, sounding like guns firing in a battle of rouge vaqueros.
Dust fills my nostrils and mouth, I can hardly see through the cloud.
Bison are swerving, trying to make a break from the herd, but we jam them back into formation. It seems like were headed in the right direction.
Brutae is panting, but he has too much heart to quit. He continues to jump over 10 foot creek crossings, dodge remnant wire and metal, jump over chico brush, and kick it into gears I never knew he had.
I can see the destination in the distance, a tiny white flag marks the gate that were shooting for. Lets go brutus. Just a half a mile left.
In the last half mile, you begin to regain consciousness, get your wits. You come out of this blur with one final thought in mind. Get these beasts in that gate.
The formations look good, just like we rehearsed.
The bison find the gate. Thank the lord.
The pack of riders erupts. Screams, whistles, whip cracks, and an assortment of hollers fills the crisp air.
It feels so good. I honestly cant describe how good it feels. The adrenaline is flowing. You accomplished your goal.
And your alive.
Your absolutely 100% alive.
What an intense feeling it was.
The run feels like an eternity, but probably only lasts for 5-10 minutes. We do at most 5 in a day. Usually 2 or 3.
After we do one, we rest. For around an hour. We eat, smoke, and drink. We let our horses do the same. Then, its time to go find the next group.
Then we wrap the day up with a talk from Duke and the team leaders about what we did right and what went wrong. How can we improve our skills and teamwork? How can we deliver more bison per run into the trap?
We all untack, take care of some last minute chores, and head to the lodge for a stellar dinner cooked by chef mike.
In the evenings, we sit around a campfire, tell jokes, and drink whiskey. We laugh, into the night, about stories from that day. Who fell off, who almost fell off, who got charged by a heifer defending her calf, who is taking their horse out for round 2 tomorrow.
There are so many things to talk about. I think this is why our group meshed so well together in the beginning. All everyone wanted to do was talk. Talk about how they saw you come thiiiis close to falling off Brutus. Talk about how they couldn't see the buffalo running next to them, until they were 3 feet away from it, because the dust was so thick.
So many stories. So many laughs. Shared with such great people. Its really what made this experience what it is. Life changing.
This went on for a week. I think 8 days exactly. Everyday we would do the same, and everyday we would love it even more, because we were getting better.
We finished with around 1500 bison in the trap.
Now, you might ask, what are we going to do with all of these bison?
That story will have to be saved for another post, as my mind and fingers are exhausted from just writing about the roundup. I’m literally jittery from reliving the experience. What a blast.
The film crew said the documentary should take a couple of months to produce, and I’m not sure when the photographer’s work will be released to us. But I didn't have a camera while there, so I’m relying on outside sources for video and photo content. It will come in chunks.
For now, I have some photos that Toby, one of the riders, took during the roundup. They are really great. Thank you for the photos Toby.
The photos are great start for trying to explain something which cannot be.
Here they are, I hope you enjoy.
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| Our Leader, Commander, and Instinct. |
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| You're pretty cool too cooper |
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| A great shot of a group of us telling stories from the previous run |
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| Bertha and I checking out the scenery |
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| Scouting for beasts |
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| Pure instinct at work |
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| Bertha and I. Bertha was a great horse, just not for rounding up bison. She is a draft horse meant to pull wagons and plows. Not run top speed chasing bison. |
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| Stuart. Contemplating. |
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| Little Duke drawing us a map. You have no idea how much this helps a visual thinker like me. |
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| Thats my team right there baby!!! The original Gossage's Sausages!!! |
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| Strapped and Stealthy. Thats what we were. |
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| I believe thats the whole group. 21 on our biggest day, 12 on our smallest. |
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| Atticus, just laxin. I believe this was pre-run, while the leaders were strategizing. |
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| Whiskey anyone? It'll take the edge off... |
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| Hey Jody. |
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| One of my team leaders, Jeff, scouting for bison. |
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| Nice one of Dukie. |
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| The Dukes, talking to the film crew about their positioning. |
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| Rolling out. |
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| Plan is set. Lets go that way. |
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| Creeeeping up. Shhhh. |
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| Right before they get pissed. A beautiful shot with the Sante de Cristos in the background and the Great Sand Dunes at their base. |
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| Ready. Set. |
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| Go!!! |
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| A little sip after the run. |
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| How do you manage to do it Jonathan? |
I hope I have slightly conveyed to you the intensity of this experience.
I believe the video footage will do it much more justice, but hopefully my words, and these pictures, suffice for now.
Thank you for reading. I appreciate your interest so much.
Keep checking back for more.
Talk soon.
