cowboys

One Thousand Cows

September 30, 2011 by The Noisy Plume

Sometimes I don’t think I can love Idaho more than I do.

Then I go on a cattle drive with, quite literally, one thousand cows and about fifty cowboys and cowgirls keeping those bovine babes on the straight and narrow…

and then I love it a little more than I did before.

Here are some moments I captured this morning:

Filed Under: cowboys, cowgirls, free range cattle ranching, idaho

I’m sure you’ll recall the fact that I had one of my best friends coming to visit me here in Idaho last week! She stayed a full seven days and we had many adventures together. One day, we left RW at home and while we were out driving up the wee highway that parallels the upper Portneuf River we came across a pair of covered wagons. I swerved a bit and exclaimed something like, “It’s still the Wild West in Idaho!!!”

I drove on down the highway and then slammed on my brakes and turned the truck around. I knew that if I didn’t stop to photograph those darn cowboys I would regret it. So back we went. I jumped out of my Tacoma with my camera in hand and those cowboys obliged me with a photo shoot on the side road where they were parked. Sweet fellas. They said they were just out for a jaunt up and over the mountains.

They also told me, “We dawnt usualleeee pose for picshuresss but the persons responseeeble for hawlding the camera in’t usually so easy on the eyes...”

GUFFAW!

Ho hum.

Just another day in Idaho.

Enjoy:

Filed Under: cowboys, horses, idaho

Gilbert Ranch Branding Days: Volume II

April 12, 2010 by The Noisy Plume

[…they think her tractor’s sexy.]

[A rancher and his wife. A rancher and her husband.]

[Miss Lacey Gilbert gets the job done.]

RW and I spent Saturday out at the Gilbert Ranch, in the valley. I’ve shown images of this hard working ranching family before but none so action packed as these! It was an amazing day full of dust, sweat and blood — branding day at the ranch. One of the most incredible things to witness was the unified effort of a community! Horses and families were towed about in trucks and trailers to three different ranches throughout the day to get the work done in a single, skilled swoop.

The sociality was a thrill.

Lunch was a burly spread.

There was laughing, cussing and a whole lot of smoke.

Most of all, I loved capturing a few shots of men and women working side by side under the sun in the foothills of the Rockies.

And oh, those cowboys…

Filed Under: cattle, cowboys, cowgirls, free range cattle ranching, gilbert ranch, gilberts, idaho, inkom, roping