“It’s what the mustache is for — it’s like a broom, gets the particles first.” – RC Carter, Rancher & Brother to Mark
He loves knives. First and foremost, Mark Carter loves knives. Actually, both he and his full-time cowboy of a brother, RC, love knives. Along with matching mustaches, they share a passion for pocket pokers. Their mother got them hooked and they’ve been carrying them since. These knives come in handy when he tends to his ranching duties with his father and brother.
How is he a part-time cowboy? Family business. The part-time portion comes in because he is a seasonal worker of sorts: “I don’t do the hard stuff in the winters. I just go snowboarding — ride powder.”
And the mountain man rips a gnarly line.
That right there is one hell of a life.
But back to the cow chasing… these cowboys go about their herding in a slightly different manner than the typical cowboys we might envision: the Carters ride off-road motorcycles, not horses, allowing them to cover A LOT more ground than they otherwise might. And in that great big Wyoming expanse, that makes the job much more manageable.
There are still horses as part of the larger operations, bringing up the rear…
…but it is joint operation that employs the best of both worlds.
And look at these cow dogs! (Let’s put ski dogs and sled dogs on the back burner for a moment.) Stoked as ever to chase cows in the snow, the hardworking partners hitch a ride on Mark and RC’s bikes before touching down and doing their thing.
Definitely add that to the list of things I need to teach my future dog.
Anyway, I absolutely love and respect these boys. As the Sumner Brothers sang: “A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.”
RC’s memory of realizing that Mark made it? Seeing a photo of his name scrawled across a girl’s boob — red-blooded Americans right there, both men and dogs.
