Alaskan Cowboy || Kilcher Cattle Drive

tomorrow these cows are going to be gone we're taking them up the end of cimac bay we're going to put them out on the grazing lease and we're going to let them be there getting fat and happy and away from me for the rest of the year [Music] [Music] Charlotte okay got to make a plan I just put no Muffy on here because this is the list for the cattle drive for head of the bay so yeah Muffy Devo red rip beer and the red H fur I've just come in to get a list of the cows that are staying here from Charlotte for me to carry around outside so I know um which cows are staying at the homestead either short or long term this summer hey buddy I don't mean to hurt you but oh okay in the mud are you wanting this or you don't even need it I don't think this is a girl again it's a girl no balls okay hey little fell going to give you some jewelry okay whoa I didn't mean to hurt you yeah there you go now you can get up poor thing are you going to hate people now we got to tag him so we know whose calf they are keep track of them there's a calf missing we know which one it is this a fe this a female we don't have to nut it it's a female no nuts that worked out somewhat good uh we're going to put this couple cows in the shoot put a tag in this guy lost her tag so we're going to put it in the shoot put a tag in her ear close it Go On Girl go on yep yep go on step go on step I'm going to let her get more trusting okay looks like you can just go back through the same hole Dusty Rose lost her taged sometime this winter or last fall and uh he going to put a quick tag in her ear here there we go nice simple as that she's got her number back eat it Breezy she calls her Dusty I call her cinnamon she looks like cinnamon don't she well otter that's that's all we got to mess with until uh that one little guy with nuts but otherwise I think everything's done for well have to wait till I get hungry bite them off bite them off [Music] you excited for today yeah somewhat I think we usually get excited once the cows are on the beach yeah until then I'm just so multitasking right now there's a thousand things I've got to do and half that many I'm forgetting so it's like it's just push push push push okay got know okay I'll be back in a few minutes maybe I was going to let them out right here cuz it's easy and they don't get CAU in the corner but I think I just changed my mind because I got this pile of hay here yeah I think we're better off going the the route they're more familiar with we're going to need somebody to go inside and make sure those calves in the corner aren't caught it might be a good time to get them all out of there okay I'll go open that gate while you're making so uh okay and then then what's going to happen is we're going to get them out of here keep them out of the homestead lawn out of the high tunnel and then just we're going to let them try to just wander out here and be relaxed and try to not run in fact we might want to stop them from running with that having been said I wonder if it makes sense to put a couple horses like out there and out there actually stop any lead cow that thinks she's got to [Music] run [Music] hip come on let's just let him let's just let him got all mothered up and happy for 5 minutes here this little guy is the straggler of already figured that out I suspect those guys will come down on their own we're going at 9:00 in the morning so we can make sure we got a whole day of work uh 9:00's kind of late for the Cowboys they're usually up at 5: moving by 7 but to get everybody together we're uh compromising between uh uh getting too late at the end of the day and starting too early in the morning [Applause] [Music] what's going on here is we're going to take the cows From the Canyon Edge over towards this side of the meadow and we're going to ease them through this next gate into that next Meadow and let them eat a little bit so they got their Cravings squelched a little bit and then put them in this next Meadow and kind of let them wander on down towards the beach kind of starting to head this way a little already so um we got one calf that's in the wrong place could be a problem that's not good yeah you want to stay here y okay Cales are really unpredictable you think they're going to go this way and they'll go that way a quarter mile and 2 hours later you're still chasing them and so with calves you have to be really really sensitive to what they're about to do and it's always a guess as to what they're going to do you never know [Music] [Music] [Applause] up here in Alaska we do things like [Music] [Applause] [Music] parkour OT what's our plan plan is to go that way let's go So the plan is is Katie and Haley are going to ride all the way and we're going to leave their horses at the Corrals with the cows tonight so we need hay to feed the horses and the cows try to make it as as as linear and as work as possible but have a little bit of fun and enjoyment and comaraderie [Music] [Music] I've started walking the last half mile qu mile before we get to the coral this will be the end of day one I'm walking because it gives me a lot more flexibility and control when cow's try and deviate off into the brush oh hey there think right about where that black cow is going hey August do you mind getting the red wheeler in case I get in trouble I'm going to try crossing right up there August see where that trail comes out I've got um yeah hopefully I'm good whatever you do don't stall yeah right good that looks like a Whirlpool there so I'm going to go up [Music] [Applause] [Music] here oh yeah [Applause] that's good I'll go get the the hanging all okay this is the head of the bay this the Carell's we're halfway there there's an overnight point this the Carell's fo Street Carell we got another that much more to go only this time no wheelers Rivers mud and rivers whoa okay another disaster averted shall we go yeah we're heading out the road now to the switchbacks with two horses a two is taking cows from the Fox Creek Corrals across about 3 4 miles of mud flats across the Fox River Cross about two more miles of mud flats and and across the Sheep River and then about another half a mile to the Stingley cabin where we will leave them for the summer the more Riders the better when it comes to putting um fresh calves into a huge River they usually don't want to go swimming but every one of these calves is old enough to be able to swim they're no there are no two three day old ones in our crowds so I'm confident back on the blanket just a little bit more that n it right there right now we're saddling up the horses the top of the switch back trying to catch up to ourselves get down to the Corrals let the cows out and go up the river oh boy odds are it could rain today who knows there as heck hope it doesn't uh the girls are ready I'm going to put a bridal on Sundown and then we're going to chase these out of here and starting heading them across the flats so settle up little pubby dog get your ass in gear hey you guys ready up there okay Charlotte are you ready W come [Music] on looking good looking good okay Mark's going over there to see if his cows here we're going to Bunch his cows up with our cows and then head them across the flat let's push him a little [Music] bit only got four more miles to go you crazy Little Critters round you stuffs we got about 100 yards to go here for the Fox River we don't know how deep the river is but we're going to find out uh hopefully that lead cow will just jump in and then we can tell by how badly she swims by How Deep The river is and how danger it is for our horses worried about coachers getting my cow cuz last year we came up missing two yearlings but she doesn't trust the cows just being put across the Fox River and uh she wants to be sure we take them all the way across the Sheep River this year I don't know quite what happened to those two but it's disappointing we sent 14 year legings up only 12 came back the cow is multitasking all the time he's watching all kind of things it's up to the Cowboy to multitask too so you can't focus on one thing when you're riding range you got to focus on eight things at once maybe 10 which cow is acting up who to where to go to help always like what can I do next how can I help how can I keep this herd moving let them go slowly just follow one another perfect perfect there goes Franny there goes Franny there goes limper there goes Aly [Music] come onim come on keep pushing them we're going to have a calf that's going to not go let's go get over the edge get over come on yep trouble come on girls get in here and help quit filming come help [Music] hanging on [Music] [Applause] camera not a good time to be hanging on a camera hey come over this way Jacob let's let him come back down this way does that off happen often yep it happens quite often that's why I was getting up tight people not concentrate and playing the game you got to take their time and every little person counts someone get in front of me here hold this thing hold this horse I got it got it got it yeah one now that's for sure you all right Mark I'm fine just yeah chasing back towards me here I we might if we got a drag him across uh if you can just chase him this direction again and guys string out got stay on the top here everybody build a fence yep going go right through you come on buddy come on down down oh nice nice I give you my hand but you're going to pull me in there an I love it when they do that leap of faith you know and they do [Music] nothing turn around [Music] oh [Music] ha bye guys [Music] just stop for a second there you [Music] go take a little bit of a right pull them back in a little bit they're getting too wide here coming up on the sheep River here just about another 100 yard across the Sheep River put them on the other side that's where they stay for the summer on the okay got the cows across sheep River for another year they home for the summer hundreds of acres here of fine grass [Music] how' It Go Auto pretty good got him across the Sheep nice but Jacob across the Sheep yeah yep he just baptized de all right okay thanks for watching this is uh cattle driver number 60 something thanks for coming along [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Otto Kilcher

Views: 38,542

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Id: rDn5Z1Jmdgw

Length: 18min 0sec (1080 seconds)

Published: Mon May 20 2024