Pullin' Bulls

Today was really productive.

While I was doing chores Ross went out to find the horses. By the time I was done, he still wasn't back and everyone was showing up and hooking up trailers. So, eventually Merle went out and found the horses and Ross showed up right about then...typical morning- everyone running in circles. But, we got the horses down anyway and grained them.

The plan for the day was to pull 6 bulls from Hisle Dam, 3 from Chief Bears, and another two from Techs if we got a chance. Well, we saddled up and I tried out Bowdie today. He is a really nice, experienced horse who knows his stuff. He hadn't been ridden in quite some time so it was a pretty fresh ride, but went just fine- he's a lot of fun. So anyway, Glen, Ross, Merle, Jeff, and I loaded our horses into one trailer, had two other trailers and pickups, and the panel trailer all headed to set up in the Hisle Dam pasture. We got there and set up our corrals with the tub chute that was put there yesterday and then rode out for bulls. The whole thing went pretty slick, we were able to find all six and load them into two trailers. Jeff and Glen took the trailers out to Dick's to drop them off and Ross and Merle and I stayed and rode out for the other three bulls at Chief Bears. We managed to find all of them too and bring them back to the tub and loaded them up. Ross took them down to Dicks and Merle and I stayed with the horses and started tearing down panels. When Glen and Jeff showed back up we finished tearing everything down and pinning up the tub and headed home for dinner.

After we ate we headed back out with the tub and panels to Techs. Glen and Merle and I rode while the others set up the corral. There were supposed to be two bulls but we knew we might only find one. In fact the one that we did find was on the wrong side of the fence, but they got him back and we managed to push him through the tub and into the trailer pretty easy. Jeff needed to be home early today so he headed out and Ross took the tub back and went home. That left Glen and Merle and I to try one last bull. We headed over to Bear Creek where we were short a bull the other day. I dropped them off at the gate and then hauled the bull we had just sorted off to Dicks. After dropping him off I parked at the gate and rode back to meet up with Merle and Glen who had found a bull and a stray heifer of the neighbors. He was pretty huffy, but we got them both through the gate finally and sorted the heifer back. We finally loaded up for the day and started to head back...or so we thought. We passed this herd of heifers on the other side of the fence from the trail we were on that looked all too familiar. So, we stopped and found a let down in the fence (which had electric wire that made the whole let down concept a little difficult) and drove the horses over the wire and chased the little farts back in. Then, Merle found the hole in the fence and got it fixed and we headed back out. This time we made it home without any detours. By then it was chore time, then supper, and now bedtime. After riding all day I think we were all tired out.

Tomorrow Merle won't be around most of the day so it sounds like Jeff and I will be working on odds and ends around here. Hope the weather is as cool as it was today!