the picture above was taken from home basically aimed straight north at the sweet grass hills roughly 20/25 miles north. we live basically where two of the main watersheds (eagle creek and willow creek) converge into the marias river and you can see part of eagle creek on the right side of the top picture. eagle creek heads at the far left butte in the cluster of three known as east buttes which is where my grandmother was born. willow creek heads at west butte which is not pictured but further to the west and is where i summer either the group of purebreds i maintain and/or the angus cows on part of our original homestead. marias river would be roughly 2 miles to my back from where i stood to take the top picture.
the picture below was taken on the other side (north side) of the hills. for reference - the top of the blue looking butte behind this horned cow below is the same butte pictured to the far right in the top picture. all the cows with crossbred calves are up there. i lease the grass on the north side of the hills - i don't live there and don't have anything to do with it other than the privilege to graze it. any pictures here with baldie calves was taken on that leased ground and if i remember right it was mid september. its amazing country and way more productive than any grass we have on the south side. a chunk of ground just kity-korner to it just shy of 3000 acres brought 3.1 mil and it had a perimeter fence with no other improvements.
thanks for the kind words.
i don't know wylie much - that is to say i know who he is and see him from time to time. i know his dad better and that is to say i have shared a glass of lemonade, the shade of tree, and enjoyed him tell some amazing stories. rib was my grandfather's vet and my dad's when he was younger maybe up to around 1980 or so - could be off on that a little either way. wylie im pretty sure lives just out of conrad so its similair country id guess you could say. almost certain they have a ranch on two medicine on the blackfoot reserve too which coincidentally is the same watershed my father in law has a place on, only my father in laws is as far up two medicine as you can go right on the glacier park border. i could listen to rib all day long and never yawn. some of the deals he was involved in is just simply amazing. wylie will be part of the entertainment for our marias river livestock annual convention - never heard him yet but he's a yoodler among a few other things i've heard. i see ribs other son barr from time to time and at our county fair but don't really know him either.
here is a little write up i just found - talks about rib some. check it out.
http://www.theindependentobserver.c...ustafson-named-to-montana-cowboy-hall-of-fame
jigs - i don't remember what the "two for one" deal was?