5 reasons to carry guns in our national parks

In February a federal law went into effect that allows firearms in many national park areas, including Grand Canyon National Park. The new law (Sec. 512 of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, Public Law 111-24) was passed by Congress and signed last May by President Obama. Since then, many have been concerned about people carrying guns in national parks. Before this law was passed, people did carry guns in national parks, but they did so illegally. The law levels the playing field. Now law-abiding citizens, who can legally possess firearms under federal and state law, can now possess those firearms in the recreation area. Not that carrying weapons is a solution to crime, but it might deter those plotting against park visitors and employees. Here are fives reasons to carry a gun in the national parks: 1.) Yosemite National Park – In 1999 motel handyman Cary Stayner sexually assaults Juli Sund, 16 and Silvina Pelosso, 15 before murdering them and Sund’s mother, Sund, 42. The woman and children were staying at a Yosemite lodge where he worked. 2.) Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Ranger Kris Eggle, 28, is killed in 2002 while helping Border Patrol agents capture two suspects of a drug-related quadruple murder...more

Illinois wild-horse complex heads into sunset

Tucked among the rolling fields of southern Illinois, Walt Gentry may have found his little slice of heaven on the farm where he tends to 160 horses and burros that once galloped the wilds of the American West. The 75-year-old retiree, his boots mucked with mud and manure, tries to find loving homes for the horses — among the most stirring symbols of the former frontier — as part of a federal effort to thin mustang herds on the Western range. But seven years after the farm that Gentry manages for a Nebraska man became the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s only holding facility for horses and burros east of the Mississippi River, he’s hosting his final adoption event. The Department of Interior decided not to renew the farm’s contract and plans to move any horses not adopted on Friday and Saturday to a new holding site near Jackson, Miss. For Ewing, the news is bittersweet...more

It's All Trew: Winter scene paves way to ranch memories

That same year we received a pot load of light steers, conditioned them and taught them to eat cake. When all were well and coming to the feed truck we turned them into a big pasture for the summer. The pasture contained many cap-rocks and deep canyons. A few days later a spring blizzard hit, leaving a foot of snow and ice on the grass. The load of fresh steers just disappeared into thin air. Deep snow drifts limited getting around in the feed truck so I walked to some of the cap-rock areas peering into the canyons trying to find the steers. After three days I was convinced the young southern steers had drifted before the storm and dropped off the tall cap-rock, falling into the canyon below. I rehearsed my lines of how to explain to my banker how I had literally lost a pot load of steers to the storm. On the afternoon of that third day the sun came out and I walked to the head of the deepest canyon in the pasture with a drop off of more than 100 feet. I peeped over the edge expecting to see a pile of cattle at the bottom frozen to death...more

Song Of The Day #307

Ranch Radio is having a hellacious week so we ain't gonna slow it down this morning. That, plus me wanting to feature the dobro this week leads to today's selection: Eight String Swing by Mike Auldridge.

The tune can be found on his 13 track CD Eight String Swing which is one of Ranch Radio's favorite instrumental albums.

Bucky's Birthday Bash

Guy Howard Schickedanz 10/20/1913 – 05/07/2010

Guy Howard Schickedanz, 96, passed from this life on May 07, 2010 and journeyed to a new adventure to be with his heavenly Father. His adventure began when he was born at home near Gage, Oklahoma, on October 20, 1913. He married Teola Faye Schneider, October 20, 1935, and raised three sons, Larry, Jerry, Glen, and a daughter, Susan. He was preceded in death by his parents, August and Mildred Morrow Schickedanz; three brothers, Thomas, Grafton, and Ray Schickedanz; a sister, Marie Luthi; his wife, Faye; and daughter, Susan Millyana Broadfoot.

Guy was a lifetime member of Liberty Baptist Church and Deacon for most of his adult life. His father, August, helped found Liberty Baptist Church in 1906.

Guy grew to manhood on the Oklahoma Plains. He remembered the hard times and good times, which included: droughts, blizzards, grasshoppers, family and friends - all part of survival for homesteader families.

Guy always liked to see what was over the next hill. During his lifetime he visited all 50 states as well as 13 countries. When work was scarce in the early 1930s, he and a friend drove a Model T Ford to California looking for work. He found work on a lemon ranch near Ventura, California. He said that the first day of picking lemons was the hardest day of work he had ever experienced - carrying a wooden ladder, wooden boxes, and a picking sack.

He was married to his one and only girlfriend, Faye Schneider. Guy made a living for his wife and children by farming and raising cattle in Oklahoma and South Dakota and was able to send all of their children to college.

Guy liked learning something new each day and viewed life as a gift from God. He lamented recently that his first and only helicopter ride was to the hospital and “that it got dark and he wasn’t able to see the country.” He always said he would like to go to the moon. Hopefully, he was able to get a good look as he passed by on his way to his new adventure.

He is survived by his sons and their wives Larry and Charleen of Perryton, Texas; Jerry and Dale of Las Cruces, New Mexico; and Glen and Elaine of Piedmont, Oklahoma; a son-in-law Ronnie and Karin Broadfoot of Wood River, Illinois, fourteen grandchildren, twenty-one great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and numerous friends from all around the world.

Church services will be held at Liberty Baptist Church, Fargo, Oklahoma at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, May 11, 2010, with the burial and graveside services to follow at Fargo Cemetery in Fargo, Oklahoma. Reverends Donnie Higgie and Junior Zollinger will officiate. Pall bearers and honorary pall bearers will be Guy’s grandsons, grandsons-in-law, and nephews. Arrangements are being made by Billings Funeral Home in Woodward, Oklahoma.

The family requests that memorial gifts be made to the Guy and Faye Schickedanz Family Endowed Scholarship c/o Communities Foundation of Oklahoma, Inc., 2932 NW 122 Suite D., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73120. Education has always been important to Guy and Faye Schickedanz and the scholarship’s goal is to continue the Schickedanz legacy in Agriculture through education for qualifying students from Fargo, Oklahoma. More information can be found at fargofund.org.

Group pushes U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on wolf recovery

The Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation organization dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places, challenged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to take action in the next two weeks, to move along the agency's efforts on the issue of the Mexican Wolf Recovery. The call came on the heels of the release of the Mexican Wolf Conservation Assessment, a non-binding document that assesses the results of Fish and Wildlife's Mexican wolf recovery efforts. The assessment documents the significant threats to the Mexican wolf from poaching and from the Fish and Wildlife Service's own management decisions in removing wolves from the wild, and the vulnerability of the single wild Mexican wolf population in southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona - last counted in January at 42 animals and two breeding pairs - and of the approximately 300 wolves in 47 captive-breeding facilities in the United States and Mexico. Robinson challenged Fish and Wildlife to act immediately by appointing a panel of scientists to a new Mexican wolf recovery team in the next two weeks who would work toward completing a new Mexican wolf recovery plan by October 15...more

One Way to Save the Wolf? Hunt It.

The hide from the wolf Carl Lewis shot stretches 7 feet, 9 inches long, the back and ruff as black as a Montana midnight, easing along the legs and flanks to a color that Lewis likens to that of a blue roan horse. Lewis shot the big radio-collared alpha male on his ranch, high on the east side of the Big Hole Valley, last fall. "I really wanted to get a wolf this year," he says, "because we have to live around them, and I wanted to see a few less around our place." Lewis and his family saw wolves 22 different times on their ranch during the past summer, so he knew where to start hunting. "I went out that morning on a fresh snow, and saw no tracks at all. Got up to the top of the ridge, though, and there he was." Lewis shot the wolf from 400 yards with his .338, the rifle he normally uses for elk hunting. Three days later, his son Tanner got a wolf of his own. Montana's first-ever wolf season was viewed with horror by many environmental groups, and by many people who have celebrated the charismatic predator's return to the Northern Rockies. The hunt was simply too much, too soon, they said; it would kill off the alpha males and females that are the primary breeders and break the slowly building matrix of genetic diversity that is key to the long-term health of the returning populations. They predicted that leaderless wolf packs would go after even more livestock, leading to more wolf-killing by the federal Wildlife Services...more

Klamath farmers will see fraction of water needs

An operations plan released Thursday for a drought-stressed federal irrigation project in the upper Klamath Basin offered no new hope for farmers struggling to find water for their crops. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said farmers on the 200,000 acres irrigated by the Klamath Reclamation Project can expect 30 percent to 40 percent of normal deliveries this summer. The deliveries would start by May 15 -- six weeks late. The cutbacks were triggered by drought and Endangered Species Act requirements involving protected fish. Federal grants are paying for extra well water and for farmers to leave land dry, but about a third of the project area is still looking for water or money. Many farmers have gone outside the project to rent land with wells. Farmer Rob Unruh in Malin said the irrigation districts he relies on inside the project will be dry this year after officials agreed to land-idling payments, so he will use well water to irrigate his potatoes. Klamath Project water that would be available will probably be too little and come too late to save his grain, he said...more

Coyotes hungrily eye watermelon farms

Florida's watermelon growing season is in full swing, and for the next few months, farmers across North Central Florida will be busy caring for their rows of melon plants. But as the melons ripen on the vines, farmers will not be the only ones watching. Hungry animals are always waiting for a chance to feast on the juicy melons, and in recent years, farmers have had to keep a wary eye out for one particularly cunning foe: the coyote. Coyotes are not historically found in Florida but have quietly crept into the state over the past 40 years and as their population continues to increase farmers have found that, especially during dry years, coyotes seek out watermelons as a succulent meal and will devour between 10 and 15 watermelons a night. Lois McPherson, a watermelon grower at Bellevue Gardens Organic Farm in Archer, said she will always remember the first time her fields were visited by coyotes. One morning about 20 years ago, when she went out to inspect her fields, the melons were demolished. It looked as if they had simply "exploded on the vines", she said, and all that remained were large chunks of rind strewn across the field...more

Yellowstone bison drive

Montana livestock agents plan a major push over the next week to haze several hundred wild bison back into Yellowstone National Park to protect area cattle ranches from disease. Helicopters, all-terrain vehicles and horseback riders will attempt to drive about 400 animals into the park. The bison had exited Yellowstone over the winter in search of food at lower elevations. Critics say the hazing is unnecessary, particularly in areas where cattle no longer graze. But facing pressure from the ranching industry, Montana officials said they plan to remove all bison from public and private lands around West Yellowstone by May 15. That's about a month before cattle will return to their summer grazing plots. Whether the bison cooperate remains to be seen: Late spring snowstorms have stalled the emergence of grasses inside Yellowstone that bison depend on for forage. The park's chief ranger, Tim Reid, said the delayed "greenup" of Yellowstone could complicate the hazing effort unless warm weather sets in quickly. Reid said if conditions are not right, bison hazed into the park could simply circle around and leave again. The animal disease brucellosis can cause infected animals to abort their young. It has been eradicated nationwide except for the Yellowstone region. About half of Yellowstone's bison test positive for exposure, although the rate of active infections is much lower...more

Having a Cow About Steak Quality

Let's talk about steak for a moment. Was the last one you ate good? How about the one before that? Be honest. The first bite, in all probability, was juicy and tender. Not bad. A brief hit of beefiness, enough to spur you on to bite No. 2. But by bite No. 4, there was a problem: grease. The tongue gets entirely coated in it. It is at this point that many hands reach for that terrible abomination called steak sauce. It's acidic and zingy and cuts through grease, but it blots out the weak flavor of the steak. At steak houses all over the country, wine drinkers know the variety of grapes used to make the wine, the patch of earth where they were grown, and the year they were picked. They might even know whether the wine was aged in a barrel made from oak grown in France or America. They don't know nearly as much about their steak. Not the breed, not what the cow ate, or where it was raised. All anyone seems to know about steak today is this: It doesn't have much flavor. The great American steak is great in name only. It has become like its hated nemesis, boneless chicken breast: bland. The decline started back in 1926 when the U.S. Department of Agriculture began grading beef...more

New book offers colorful pictorial history of Florida's cowboys

"FLORIDA COWBOYS: Keepers of the Last Frontier." Photographs by Canton Ward Jr. Publisher: University Press of Florida. $45. There are 232 pages in this handsome book about cowboys and the cattle country they work and protect. There are twice that many full-color photos by Canton Ward Jr., who founded the Legacy Institute for Nature and Culture - all of this in one of the most extraordinary books ever published on the Florida cowboys. You will want to frame nearly every photo - especially the close-up of the rugged sunburned faces of these men and women to whom we owe so much. According to Patrick D. Smith, author of "A Land Remembered," Florida is this country's first cattle state - not the Southwest or West, but here. There are still, large and small, about 15,500 cattle ranches in Florida. One of them is the largest beef producer in the nation, and six are in the top 10. One can read and read and marvel at the many ranches and the people who work them - the owners and their hands. To name a few, there is the Lykes Ranch in Glades County, the Duda Farms of Hendry County, Two Rivers Ranch in Hillsborough County, the Lightsey Cattle Company in Polk County, Strickland Ranch in Manatee County, Clay Ranch in Putnam County and Big Cypress Rodeo in Hendry County...more

It's hard to tell where facts end and legends begin

In the Western classic "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," Jimmy Stewart plays a fictional U.S. senator who recounts the real story behind the shootout that made his reputation and launched his career. When he's done telling a much different account than was popularly believed, the newspaper editor he's been talking to tears up his notes. "This is the West, sir," explains the newsman. "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." He wasn't off the mark. Naturally, many people would prefer to believe that their Western heroes were tough but honest men rather than listen to people who cast aspersions on their character. Wyoming had two 20th century lawmen who were charged in sensational murders: Tom Horn and Ed Cantrell. The criminal justice system treated the pair very differently, but their legends continue to grow. For many years, both men have been the subject of considerable debate about their innocence or guilt. Word that a screenplay touting the exploits of Cantrell, known as "the fastest draw in the West," is making the rounds in Hollywood stirred a lot of memories recently in the Cowboy State. It also raises the question whether he will be remembered by future generations by the historic facts of his case, or the legend. There's no doubt that in 1978 Cantrell shot and killed an undercover narcotics agent, Michael Rosa, who was in the back seat of a car in a Rock Springs parking lot...more

Sycamore Inn in Rancho Cucamonga served an historic crossroads

Long before the Sycamore Inn in Rancho Cucamonga became a gathering place for diners, the land was a gathering place for Indians and explorers. The local Indians met at this spot where large sycamore, cottonwood and willow trees grew. In March 1774, Spanish explorer Captain Juan Batista de Anza brought his exploration group to the lush, shady oasis with a creek and a view of the mountains. The Indians invited him to stay awhile. Because bears loved the gathering place too, the Spanish named the spot Arroyo Los Osos or Bear Gulch, a name that lingers today. One of the Spanish soldiers decided to stay. Felipe Santiago Tapia, and his grandson, Tiburcio Tapia received the land grant of more than 13,000 acres by then governor of California, Juan Alvarado. It became known as Rancho Cucamonga. Over the years, he said the place has been a lot of things. Stagecoaches and other travelers used the rutted Santa Fe Trail as a main thoroughfare from San Bernardino to Los Angeles. William "Uncle Billy" Rubottom from Missouri saw an opportunity to build a place where they could stop and rest. He built an inn and tavern there called the Mountain View Inn where he served southern fare of buttermilk biscuits, corndodgers and southern fried chicken. It became a popular place not only to travelers, but to the local people, including southern sympathizers during the Civil War. Another southern thing Uncle Billy brought to the area was slavery, but the slaves emancipated themselves and stayed to help settle the area...more

Murder in Mogollon

In 1912, the bustling mining town of Mogollon was part of western Socorro County. While the mines and mills around Socorro were in decline, those at Mogollon were producing 70 percent of New Mexico’s gold and silver. The dominant mining operations were the Last Chance and Maud S. mines, operated by the Ernestine Mining Company; and the Little Fanny and Champion mines, operated by the Socorro Mines Company. Mogollon, with a population of about 1,500 people, had produced nearly $3 million in gold and $7 million in silver by statehood. This wealth allowed Mogollon, in many respects, to become a modern town. Some of the mines were electrified and electric lighting illuminated the main street and some businesses. Telephone service had arrived for those who could afford the $2 monthly fee. Even Mogollon Deputy Sheriff Cipriano Baca had a telephone in his office. An automobile or motor-truck would occasionally be seen on her dusty streets, although mule-drawn wagons and folks on horseback were still the common sight. In spite of these modern 20th century conveniences, Mogollon was still a very remote mining camp filled with rough miners, hard gamblers and others keeping the reputation of the “Wild West” alive. To them, it was still the 1800s. Although the Gun Law of 1899 prohibited the carrying of deadly weapons in New Mexico’s towns and cities, this seemed to have had little effect in Mogollon...more

Baxter Black: Yes, Rural Arizonans Cling To Their Guns

During the presidential election, Barack Obama made a very telling comment about "bitter, small towns, clinging to their guns and religion." He is from the big-city prey mentality. If the president thinks the community is bitter, he just might be right. They are on the front lines in a war to supply recreational drug users their daily toke or weekly snort. The smugglers are doing quite well. I hear of no shortages from celebrities and potheads. And, in truth, I would guess most ranchers are ambivalent about dope smokers and drug users. Unfortunately, they are trying to ranch on the battlefield where the self-righteous, self-centered stoners, snorters, smokers, shooters and suppliers are fighting the law. You can see in this Arizona rural community why we cling to our guns. We don't have police cars patrolling our neighborhoods. The nearest neighbor could be 10 or 12 miles away, and the criminals pass like ghosts in the night. We use our guns because we are not prey, we take responsibility for our own lives and livelihood. The president's unfortunate denigration of religion as a source of strength is something he probably wishes he could take back. His past church membership speaks to his faith. Suffice it to say when we turn to God for help it is because he has proven to be more reliable than the stream of politicians' promises that continue to pour over us like dirty water sluicing down the drain. And nobody seems to have a clue...more

Song Of The Day #306

Ranch Radio will help get your heart started this Monday morning with Doc Watson flatpicking the fiddle tune Black Mountain Rag.

The song is available on the 12 track CD Doc & Merle Watson's Guitar Album.

This one goes out to my friend Burt at BEEF Magazine.

Wounded men cross Rio Grande, sent to El Paso hospital

A group of people bleeding after being shot in Mexico splashed across the Rio Grande into Hudspeth County on Sunday afternoon, officials said. A Hudspeth County sheriff's lieutenant and a Border Patrol official said four wounded men running for their lives crossed the border west of Fort Hancock. Border Patrol spokesman Agent Ramiro Cordero said an agent spotted the men and summoned medical help. Cordero said agents could see a truck on the Mexico side of the riverbank. The wounded men were rushed in ambulances to a hospital in El Paso. Names and the medical conditions of the wounded men were not available. One ambulance transmission stated a man had been shot multiple times. The spillover comes as tensions have been high in the Fort Hancock area because of the bloodshed across the border in the Valley of Juárez. The Valley of Juárez, with its collection of rural farming communities along the Rio Grande, is a prime smuggling point and a battleground between forces working with Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman's Sinaloa cartel and the Juárez drug cartel...more

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

I love them too

by Julie Carter


Dear Moms and Dads,

I want to thank you for your great kids. I am blessed to be able to share with you in their successes as their final days in high school bring the accolades they have earned.

"Our" babies are about to graduate.

I sit at each end-of-the-year ceremony and watch them with tears in my eyes and pride busting out all over, just as you do.

For eight years I've followed them around to sporting events, FFA, 4-H, county fair, rodeo, academic showcases with my camera in hand and note pad ready.

They were 10 years old and about to embark on their fifth grade adventure when I started this journey of documenting them for the "county news" section of the newspaper.

They were shorter, chubbier, tinier, ganglier with freckles and bad hair cuts or wild pony tails and braces. They giggled and snorted over nothing and traveled in pairs and trios of silliness.

The first couple of years they ducked my camera and were shy about it most of the time.

When that was over they followed me like ducklings wanting to know if I'd put them in the paper and they delighted in antics that might get them there.

Those kids in the outer county schools soon became part of my life. I watched them grow and mature.

I watched their personalities take shape and the foundations of their adulthood form one block at a time.

Teachers, coaches, family and friends all added another block, year by year ... building the child that would become the adult to be sent out the door this May.
I know great kids don't just happen. They are created, encouraged, admonished, nurtured, guided and directed.

They take a step forward and fall back two. They are caught, lifted, nudged and pushed toward a standard of excellence set before them.

Sometimes they rebel, argue, give up on themselves and think the world hates them. They are irritated by their parents who have got to be the stupidest people in the world, not to mention so archaic in all they know about anything.

They vow to never, ever be like them when they grow up.

They are sure that the system that held them captive for 13 years was pointless.

They plan their escape with an attitude of "I'll show you I don't need you to tell me what to do every day."

Which is pretty much the point, but most of them haven't figured that out just yet.
I love those kids, all of them. I feel so very much part of the lives I have documented in word and picture. I've been there for their set backs and their victories. I've watched them work hard and gain great ground in so many places.

I hold such hope in the future when I see the great young men and women they have so quickly grown to be.

I am proud with and for you, the parents, who sacrificed, hoped, prayed and worked through each stage of their life to bring them to this portal of the future.

I thank you for allowing me into their lives and into yours.

Your children are a gift, not just to you, but to the world that is about to become their challenge. You've done your job and done it well.

As you take your hands off them and let them fly, together we will watch them take wing into the next phase of their lives. Summer will dry the tears that mark this traditional transition.

With great anticipation, I will turn and look behind me at those budding young adults that will follow these into next year.

Each one is stretching and striding to find their place in the mighty footsteps left behind by this class of 2010.

Julie can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net.