Cattle Drives

 

Although this region offers an unseen variety of scenery to please all levels of trail riding, cattle work is our signature activity at The Hideout. The Hideout legitimately boasts more genuine and necessary cattle work than any other guest ranch, available. There is no "make-believe" on our ranch - we offer real cattle work, branding and cattle drives.  We house a couple thousand cows, their calves, and yearlings, which are spread over more than a quarter million acres.  At the Hideout, there is always some “cowboying” to do.

The hands are not your typical dude ranch wranglers. They are personable and attentive with guests, and they shoulder much of the responsibility with the care of the cattle. This means you ride with real cowboys and cowgirls and participate in day-to-day ranch activities. The horses you ride are the horses we ride. We take great care in matching horse and rider to assure a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone.

 

Low Stress Stockmanship and Natural Horsemanship

 

Our key staff is trained in the Bud Williams Low Stress Stockmanship concept of handling livestock. During your orientation on Monday morning you will learn the basic concepts.  We can also organize a 1 day session during your stay given there are enough participants.

 

During the off-season we organize 3 day clinics as part of your stay at The Hideout for those who are interested to learn more about this technique. Stockmanship teaches you to “read” the animal so that you can change your position and have the animal want to go where you want it to go. It is aimed at using the energy of the animal in a low stress manner to handle the animals in a more efficient manner. 

 

One of the reasons why our pricing is somewhat higher than other guest ranches is because we are a real working cattle ranch, which involves a certain degree of logistics – all that are necessary to offer an authentic taste of the West to our guests.

Many of our wranglers are year round employees because it takes several years to learn the terrain and the skills to wrangle both guests and cattle and make it a worthwhile, safe and exciting experience. The Hideout takes pride in the high number of repeat guests for whom part of the experience is to see familiar faces they trust year after year.

Ranch work varies with the season. Our cattle work schedule is as follows:

Branding (April - May)

We brand calves in the spring and guests are welcome to do the wrestling. If you want a hands-on cowboy branding experience, this is the time for you. We also ride big country to collect the livestock and pair up the cows and calves.

 

 

 

 

Cattle Drives into the Mountains
(late May - June)

Late May and June (after the snow has melted), we herd yearlings and younger cows up into the mountains, so if you like cattle drives this is a good time for you to come to The Hideout. The mountains are covered with beautiful colors of spring flowers.

Gathering & Sorting Cattle (July)

Early July is the time of year we move our older cows and their calves from the high desert in the basin to our high mountain pastures.

Keep in mind that our cows share over 100,000 acres with wild horses. We gather and sort cow/calf pairs by the truckload. Sorting cattle on open range is an art form. Then the cattle make the 40-mile trip up the mountain via Flitner Ranch semi-trucks. Upon arrival, the cows and calves need to be paired back up and herded in bunches by horseback to various alpine meadows. There are plenty of these cattle drives to do for our guests.

High Mountain and National Forest
Cattle Work (July– mid September)

During the summer we are continually driving cattle to push them up the mountain to fresh meadows.

Autumn Roundup & Indian Summer
 (mid September - October)

Mid September through October is roundup time in the high country. Cowboys yearn for these crisp fall mornings, aspen trees changing colors, the smell of bacon and fresh coffee. The elk and wildlife come down from the high country while we are rounding up the calves and drive them back down to the valley basin.

 

About Cattle Drives and Cattle Work

Historically, a cattle drive meant trailing cattle a great distance, say from Texas to Wyoming. Today cattle are still trailed from place to place in the American West, but no longer on quite so vast a scale.

Cattle work hinges on range conditions and weather, and sometimes even government regulations. When a guest ranch is able to designate a date for a cattle drive far in advance, it may be made up or pretend for entertainment and/or guest participation. We are seldom able to say in advance exactly when we'll do a long distance drive.

On a ranch as large as this one, we move, doctor, or sort cattle almost on a daily basis. This is why we can tell you that you'll have to opportunity to do more real cattle work at the Hideout than you will on any other guest ranch.

Cattle work is the most defining of all of the activities offered at The Hideout.  You may have heard that "cowboys are a dying breed." Not so at Flitner Ranch. Cowboys here are alive and as real as 100 years ago. If you sign up for cattle work, expect to step back in time and come away with a better understanding of what it means to be a cowboy.

 

For more information, please visit our Cattle Work website.