Cowboy lore falls to new low

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

by Julie Carter


With the stealth of a Ninja fighter, the cowboy eased his way around the end of a 20-foot stock trailer, hunkering his tall frame down far enough to stay out of sight of his prey.

With deadly precision he, in the flash of time it took for a single thought, slammed the gate closed and his job was done. The last turkey hen was loaded.

There was to be a June wedding in the yard at the ranch. That same yard also happened to be home to a flock of wild turkeys, a few of which had been relocated there some years back. Now their numbers were tripled.

These big birds roosted in the cottonwoods, perched on the vehicles, decimated the flower garden and left unpleasant reminders of their recent presence.

So a turkey relocation program was "hatched" by the head cowboy.

This same man plans a major cattle working in a matter of hours but this project would take at least two weeks. With careful cunning, he began baiting the turkeys into the trailer by trailing feed down the length of it.

When the time came that he could get a few captured, which sounds easier than it was because as soon as they'd see him they'd fly out, he'd shut the gate and haul them to a grove of cottonwoods at the south end of the ranch.

This took three trips for 14 turkeys. The last trip was for a lone rebel bird who refused to be captured, inspiring a new level of a stalking-capture mode.

I missed the photo opportunity of the year - a cowboy hauling one turkey in a 20-foot gooseneck trailer.

While it truly needed to be done, the very idea of it takes the cowboy image to a new low.

On the upside, it certainly has been fodder for moments of hilarity as the tale has been told and retold.

During a recent discussion of the turkey-herding incident, it was mentioned the turkeys had returned to their first home one night last week. The return just happened to coincide with the arrival of a new grandchild whose parents also reside at the ranch.

While the incident could seem somewhat mystical and the oh's and ah's momentarily sustained the coincidence, the reality was hard and cold. It was pointed out these were notoriously dumb drown-in-a-rainstorm turkeys - not baby-delivering storks.

In looking for a, perhaps, positive use for the turkeys besides Thanksgiving dinner and turkey sandwiches, it was suggested that they be painted white. And if a process of launching them could be engineered, they then could be used at the wedding instead of white doves.

The suggestion brought a look on the bride-to-be's face that could only be interpreted to mean this wouldn't happen in her lifetime.

Another response to the jovial turkey herding story came from an Albuquerque friend of the turkey herder. He wrote:

The Gobblers Shuda Went to Town

Darn bro...

I heard u was a turkey man.

A turkey man what am!

U shuda brung dem

turkeys to 'querque

We'd a put'um in a pot

an eat'um onda spot.

Yup...them turkey's uda

stayed right here in 'querque

Okay, it's not Whitman or Emerson but it is funny all things considered.

The next story I'm waiting for is the response of the saddle horses when they are asked to get in that same trailer. Horses are funny about loading up in trailers that have hauled anything other than a horse or a cow. Try loading one after a hog hauling.

New branding photos on the website at www.julie-carter.com

© Julie Carter 2007


The Bus Stop, The Kids & The Wolves

This is what it is all about folks, it made me sick and scared to read this this morning. How helpless can a person expected to feel about something so totally out of their control? Nowhere else in this state is anyone expected to tolerate deliberate endangerment of their children.

This isn't new either, other children have had similar wolf experiences. Hence the adoption of the County Ordinance. Something needs to be done and swiftly.

Laura

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Laura

My name is Brenda McCarty. We've met several time at wolf meetings. I worked with Leasha Kaber to construct a video for the County on some of the wolf encounter. That video went to the Game & Fish Commission . I guess I included that bit of information because what we where trying to avoid is exactly what has happened.

We live on Eagle Peak Road and it's about 1/2 mile from the highway where the bus stop is. This past year my neighbor and I have been taking turns in regards to getting the children back and forth from the bus stop. I take the children to school in the morning and she takes them from the bus stop after school to the house. On the last day of school they only had 2 hours. I was not aware that my neighbor would not be home that early and that she had made arrangements for her daughter to be picked up at school or I would have also made arrangements for my children.

My children where walking home from the bus stop when after hearing a vehicle on the highway, turned to look behind them to see if the vehicle was turning down the road, saw a wolf standing in the middle of the road watching them. At one point, just a few second earlier, they had to have walked right past the wolf. After seeing the wolf my son, who is 13 years old took my daughter, who is 11 and mildly retarded, across the short cut straight to the house. The wolf turned and finished walking across the road and headed in the same direction as our house and more importantly the same direction as my children needed to go. As many time as we have talked to them about how to react, they still not only ran (or as my son put it walked very fast), but also left the main road and cut across 150 yards of brush and wooded area. They got to the house and immediately called me. They were scared and in a panic. I made sure that they were both safely in the house and then calmed them down. I then called Jess Carey and he in turn called the sheriff's department to make sure that the kids were not alone while Jess came from Rancho Grande Estates, which is about 9 miles from my home. Sheriff Menges took the Game Warden with him. They were the ones that measured the wolf print in the spot where my children first saw the wolf. When Jess got there they also found two other different set of wolf tracks, again on private property just southeast of the house.

All track were documented by Jess Carey, Sheriff Menges and the Game Warden. My son then made a statement out for Jess. When the Fish and Wildlife Biologist showed up she was asked not to speak to the children till after I got there, this was on my request. She drove out to look for more tracks while they waited for me to get there. I got home shortly before she returned and talked to Jess Carey and my father-in-law who had gone to stay with the children while I finished work. After returning, the Fish and Wildlife Biologist and I talked for a few minutes. She said that she did not find anything other then what Jess saw and to understand that she was not calling my son a liar, but that she did not find anything. Excuse me, but I don't think that the wolves, that left those tracks, just materialized out of nowhere. I wish someone had gone with her so that we would have been sure that she didn't erase evidence. She never, even when asked, commented on the tracks that Jess and the Game Warden confirmed. She didn't take my son's statement or even ask me if she could talk with him.

My father-in-law asked if the children (on the days when I am in court or their is no one able to pick them up) carry a gun up to the bus stop. All I could think of is that we live where we do so that our children don't have to pack a gun to school. Guess the jokes on me.

This morning I took the kids with me to work. This is something that I will not be able to do every day, but I just can't leave them alone anymore. My son is now afraid that if I go to work that his sister may "try to go outside and the wolves will get her". What do you do? How do you tell them well just pay attention to what's happening around you and stay close to the house. If you have any questions, want more detail or just want to talk about it. You can find me at Ron's Office.

Thank you,
Brenda