Ready on the range ... Abundant wildlife and hunting at Wyoming ranch
By Stu Murrell
Times-News correspondent
How about hunting for buffalo on a 14,000-acre ranch located in the Laramie Mountains northwest of Wheatland, Wyo.? Bob Penney of Twin Falls and myself made the decision to explore the opportunity this past summer. We both had taken a cow buffalo in Nebraska two years ago and found the meat great eating, so we were ready to bolster the larder again.
The ranch we chose was Twin Pine Ranch, owned and operated by Larry and Peggy Gerke. Their son, Dennis, was to be our guide.
I called Peggy to pick a date in November. She was a fund of information with details on the hunt and a good map to their ranch. She also presented each of us with a buffalo cookbook titled "The Taste of the Dakotas" upon our arrival.
We stayed at a reasonable motel in Wheatland, and the ranch is about 45 miles northwest of the town. As we turned off I-25 to the ranch, big game was immediately visible with herds of antelope along the road. We took our time on the good gravel road with picture taking along the way; it was a picturesque drive with the ranch along the edge of the mountains in the background. As soon as we entered the ranch, herds of buffalo were evident and showed up as black beasts on the yellow prairie ground -- more reasons for picture taking!
The ranch itself was a pleasant surprise -- the house flanked by monstrous cottonwoods with obvious neat surroundings, no old machinery, etc. It lies along Cottonwood Creek, and as we were standing outside talking to Larry Gerke, four whitetail deer wandered through the buildings. He indicated as many as 50 wild turkeys could sometimes be seen in their yard.
Larry was a great historian about the area and also went into excellent detail on the difference of raising cattle vs. buffalo. He told us the Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho and Crow Indians regularly camped where they now have their ranch and fought over the area because of the large herds of buffalo that roamed the prairie. There were numerous teepee rings at their camps and evidence of their stay in many locations.
Larry indicated he had originally started the ranch with cattle and a much larger acreage. Cattle demanded constant attention and he was rarely home with his ranch duties. Once he started with buffalo, they were much more adapted to the area and utilized the native forage readily. For example, they rarely needed winter feeding. He learned to leave the meadows along the creek for winter forage and respite from the storms. They have yellow fat stored and utilize it for winter survival. Larry stated that "buffalo would do anything that they wanted, and a cowboy needed patience in dealing with these creatures of the prairie."
Dennis arrived to take us out on the ranch and further discussed the life history of the buffalo. He warned us about the herd bulls that could be very cantankerous if approached closely. They weigh up to 2,500 pounds, are boss of the area and will remain after they have charged, pounding the person into little pieces. Nice thought!
The country was really great with jumbles of smooth boulders mixed with junipers and rambling mountains. Game was everywhere, with numerous mule deer, pigmy and cottontail rabbits in the rocky habitat, herds of buffalo in the grassy areas and antelope at lower elevations. At one point, we walked through a prairie dog town which caused them to whistle at us. A bald eagle flew over us on one stalk and coyotes yipped in the distance. It was like tales of the Old West.
Bob and I had arranged to take one cow heifer buffalo each for the hunt. Dennis said he would point out the correct animal to shoot in the large herds of 50 or more animals. We spotted a nice herd in a grassy area below some boulder fields that would make a good area for the stalk. Bob had the first shot and got his animal out of that herd.
My heifer came later after several unsuccessful stalks. There were definitely free-roaming buffalo on that 14,000-acre ranch! The shot was taken at close range with my .308 Remington Model 788 carbine. Dennis was quite curious about the 18.5-inch barrel, and I told him it was right from the factory.
Larry Gerke had fixed up a deuce and a half (old Army truck) with a heavy duty hoist to handle the large animals in the field. It was amazing how quickly the two of them field dressed those 700-pound heifers. The next step was transporting the two animals to a processor in Wheatland. He skinned and cooled them for our trip home in Bob's truck. They were in wonderful shape with layers of yellow fat on their backs despite the four years of drought they had been suffering in southeast Wyoming.
Another two years of good eating for our families.