Spring Fever

This winter was one of Idaho’s worst in history, with deep snow and temperatures that plummeted below zero for extended periods. As this is written, days are getting longer, most of the snow is gone, and spring fever, which seems especially bad this year due to the long, harsh winter, is setting in. As soon as current Handloader deadlines are met, my son Porter and I will be saddling the horses and riding the mountain as “medicine” to cure our spring fever, to relax and enjoy the horses and natural beauty of the grasslands. We also check cattle, shoot sixguns and hunt up a little adventure when possible.

- Brian Pearce

Last year we took a couple of green-broke colts that only had a few rides each and “lined them out” in the big country as part of their training. Unlike what the movies portray, they must be ridden extensively to become seasoned, which can take years. Taking a rifle along at this stage is out of the question, unless you want to get bucked off. However, as always, we each wore sixguns and would feel naked without them.

On the first spring ride, we crested a grassy ridge that was rather breezy, and as we walked our tired horses along the top of the ridgeline, visiting casually, I looked up, and at about 200 yards a large, brown wolf estimated to weigh more than 200 pounds broke out of the sagebrush. I stepped off my mount and drew a USFA single-action .45 Colt with a 43⁄4inch barrel from my hip and tried to get the sights lined up before the wolf went over the top. It was just too fast, so I quickly remounted. We loped to the last place we had seen it and again spotted it at around 800 or 900 yards. In full stride, it was covering country fast and would have to be hunted another day.