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 Belle Star Cowdog in Training Well, Belle our cowdog has to grow up a little. We took her to Casa Grande this week and spent two days with her breeders. I picked up a lot of pointers- mainly to be firmer and MAKE her mind. She is still just a big, bouncy pup but it is time to really work on voice commands. I can’t turn her loose on cattle because she won’t stop and go down. She just moves the cattle at her discretion – which can be just the opposite of where I want to go. Next pup I get will be 8 weeks old instead of 4 months old. From day one it will be taught to obey basic voice commands. Belle is pretty set in her ways, so teaching her will be a little harder. But she is the smartest dog I have ever owned and has great instincts. She will be worth the extra trouble. These 1200 lb. Texas Longhorns sure do pay attention to a 25 lb. dog! Now my cowdog just needs to pay attention to me!
I have another open range tale. About 3 years ago we were driving 300+ head of cows to our high-country winter pasture. The last 5 miles is on a paved road. Now that is the only stretch of paved road for 100 miles and people seem to try and make up for all the dirt roads by driving like racecar drivers on the one paved road. 300 cows do tend to fill up a two lane road, so we decided to have truck’s front and rear as cow escorts – slow drivers down and warn them of 4-legged obstacles in the road. So we had a friend from France driving behind the cattle and our partner Clarice Holder driving in front. Whenever a car would come, the ladies would flag it down and explain the situation. Most people pulled over and got their video recorders or cameras out. They enjoyed the show. Clarice had trouble with one lady. She didn’t want to hear Clarice’s explanation. She was important and in a big hurry. So Clarice politely informed her that Arizona is an open range state. If she drove her fancy car into a cow, well, too bad for her. She would owe us for the cow, and we would not be obligated to fix her car. The lady was obviously not impressed with Arizona law and still in a hurry. Clarice said “Hey, just step on the gas – we need to sell some cows anyway.” The lady slowed down when she came face to face with the herd!
 Open Range Herding Cattle On the Road Arizona is an open range state. That’s a good thing. It means that cattle or other livestock have the right of way. If my cows are in your garden, you fence the cows out – I don’t have to fence the cattle in. Makes perfectly good sense to me.
I was driving about 100 head down our county road today to take them to a new waterin’ hole. They were strung out single file and walking nice and easy and all was right with the world. Of course 100 steers single file stretch out quite a ways, and our road is one S turn after another. Bottom line is that I couldn’t see the front steers at all. All of a sudden the line of steers stops. I can’t see what the problem is from the back – but then I heard a rifle – close by. Then another shot and steers scattered like quail. Some ran back up the road – some north, some south – nothing forward. Then another shot and it dawned on me that someone was shooting my cattle. I commence hollering like a banshee and dodging steers – aiming for the sound of a rifle. I rounded the curve full tilt – and there was a fellow – a stranger – shooting his rifle in the air to get the cattle off the road. I guess he couldn’t wait to let the steers go around his truck. Without thinking I gave the man a pretty unladylike speech and started regathering the cattle. He was in a hurry and just was trying to scare the cattle out of the road – which he did quite well. Took me a while to start out again and the steers stayed spooky the whole way. Must have been city folk, always in a hurry to get nowhere!
 ADA Grant Application Work I have been writing a grant to get some work finished on the ranch. This sounds easy, but don’t let that fool you. I do believe that professional grant writers earn every penny of their fees! Unfortunately, a regular person is hard pressed to decipher a grant application and turn it into regular English. I will read directions several times and come up with different ideas on what they really are asking. I’ll finally get Doug to read it also and we’ll take the best guess at translation. It is tricky. I don’t know who in the federal government designs these applications. They must be geniuses who don’t realize that everyday ranchers don’t have a clue as to what they mean. Last year some of the grant money didn’t get used in Arizona – it was too hard to write a grant for it! That kind of defeats the purpose of having sound conservation practices put on the ground by the people who live on the ground. Go figure.
At any rate, I called the Arizona rep for this USDA grant and told her I was mailing it out Friday and hoped I did it correctly and that she could understand everything I wrote. I guaranteed her that my response to their questions would be easier to understand then the questions were! She laughed and said that I should try and read and evaluate all the grants. She has a point. I can work for a few hours on a grant and then go saddle up and ride. She has to do this 40 hours a week! Tougher than me.
 Cowgirl in a Slicker Herding Cattle We sure do need some rain. This is the driest, dustiest I have ever seen it here. A few of the steers have a cough. Jim and Clarice said it was just from the dust. They would know being from here for generations. I am a Tennessee gal originally. The Smoky Mountains never get this dry. This is the driest monsoon we have had in 116 years according to the news. I hope it is another 116 years before another year this dry. The old-timers claim that this winter will be extra wet after the dry summer and fall. Hope they are right. The rain/snow will be too late to make grass grow, but it will recharge springs, creeks, dirt tanks and raise the water table. I am ready for rain, hail, sleet, or snow – anything WET! I don’t mind toting a slicker behind my saddle..
 Thanksgiving on the Ranch It’s Thanksgiving! And a beautiful day to boot. I have so much to be thankful for. Friends and family – most I don’t see very often – but they are always with me. Good neighbors – and a few miles between us. A good cowpony and the strength to still saddle up and ride all day. Texas longhorns in every bovine color imaginable. Enough range that, if I wanted to ride the boundary, I would need a pack horse and a 10-day supply of grub. Wide open space with miles of mesa, mountain and canyon in every direction. Clear skies with thousands of stars that city folk have never seen. Sun, wind, and wild critters – just about everything a person could ask for. And number 1 – a good husband who can always be counted on and who doesn’t complain that we had leftover chili and day-old cornbread instead of turkey and trimmings for Thanksgiving dinner. After all, I had cattle to herd and didn’t finish ’til dark.
 Mule Deer Doe I have been riding and herding the steers almost every day since we are short of help. Every day I see lots of wildlife on the Double Circle. There is a herd of 10 mule deer in one canyon, 2 sets of two deer in the next canyon, 6 muleys farther east, and 4 mule deer along the road. That is just what I have ridden up on. But they are all does. I haven’t seen a buck since deer season. Unit 27 – where we are – had 312 mule deer harvested last year according to Arizona Game and Fish. This year there was something like 900 mule deer tags for Unit 27 —- that’s a lot of bucks! Of course, everyone doesn’t get a buck.
Some families just use hunting season as an excuse to come to the mountains and camp. I can understand that — it is BEAUTIFUL here. It seems to me that 312 bucks is pretty good. Us ranchers must be managing our resources for wildlife habitat pretty darn well.
 Mountain Lion Hunter We must be doing well on our wildlife habitat work. We are always working on improving rangeland health for the critters who make this ranch home. One good indicator of wildlife health is the presence of predators. If deer, antelope, rabbit, birds etc are abundant, predators thrive.
We are blessed with our share of carnivores – wolves, black bear, coyotes, and LIONS. I have never been anywhere that had so many mountain lions. Lion tags are sold here for $20.00 and you can take 5 lions on one tag. Even with the lion hunters and the government depredation hunters, there are still lots of lion here. Most people never get a chance to see a free roaming lion in their lifetimes. Doug and I have seen at least 20 in the past 5 years. One jumped off a bank and almost landed on our truck hood – talk about waking you up! There was an older man on a 4-wheeler behind us. Good for him that the lion jumped on us and not him. A big tom lion in your lap from out of nowhere would be enough to make you get out the nitro tablets.
Another time I was riding and noticed a cow acting strangely. I rode over to see what was bothering her and rode right up on a lion with a fresh-killed calf. We had a Mexican standoff. I didn’t want to act like I was going to take the kill – but I also didn’t want to run and get chased. The lion didn’t want to leave the calf. Fortunately for me I was on an old ranch mare who didn’t even pay any attention to the whole situation. I was on a steep slope and a runaway horse could have started a major wreck. After what seemed like a long time, the lion slowly got up and loped off a short distance. I got out while the getting was good. Lions are beautiful, but I would rather see them from a little more than 50 feet away!
Well, mule deer rifle season is over – nothing else going on ’til after Thanksgiving anyway. I hate to have to say that I spend a lot of time cleaning up after hunting season – but I do. Every road is peppered with cans, paper, plastic water bottles, beer bottles and plastic bags. I guess people think that the Forest Service comes and cleans up – they don’t. There isn’t money to fund cleanup. So I carry a cantle bag and pick up trash every day I ride. I can tell you from experience that my cantle bag will hold 16 mashed beer cans. Of course, if I pick up a whisky bottle it takes a lot of the room in my cantle bag so I get fewer cans that day. Plus we drive slow and gather bottles and cans from the roads. Next week – or whenever I find time – I’ll start picking up in messy camps.
This is such beautiful country and free to the public to camp, hike, and explore. Hunting is subject to Game and Fish regs but allowed on the forest. Some people don’t appreciate what is given to them.
 AWPF Erosion Control Workshop We hosted an erosion control workshop last weekend. Craig Sponholtz of Dryland Solutions, Inc in Santa Fe was the instructor. It seems to me that these workshops bring the cream of the crop to the Double Circle. There is nothing very romantic about swinging a pick and shovel and carrying rocks in 26 degree weather – but 26 people did just that. People from their early 20’s to mid 70’s worked side by side and had fun doing it! Not only are the volunteers – who by the way are not paid – heads up over average, the behind-the-scenes folks who make these workshops possible deserve a lot of credit. The Arizona Water Protection Fund (AWPF) Commission funded three of these erosion control workshops, two of which are completed, and Greenlee County Highway Department furnished the rock. My long-suffering husband Doug loaded and hauled all the rock to the worksite – not an easy job. Hal Herbert, Graham County historian gave a talk about the colorful history of the Double Circle. Jim Holder, our neighbor and business partner, gave a presentation on how we use intensive rotational grazing to promote forage health and diversity on our ranches.
THANKS to the AWPF Commission, Greenlee County, and all the volunteers who made this erosion control workshop a big success. The rock structures that were constructed will slow water flow, catch sediment, increase groundwater infiltration, and help reduce turbidity in Eagle Creek. Plus over 20 people went home armed with new skills and knowledge and ready to tackle erosion problems in their backyards and watersheds. They will be picking and shoveling at home.
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