Antelope Island

Is the old man that runs the horses still there? One of my most memorable life moments was when I was on a business trip to Ogden Utah. A buddy and I drove out to Antelope island and ran across a man who rented horses for guided tours. It was a little late in the day and he was actually closing up and putting the horses away. We inquired about riding and he asked if we could come back in the morning. We informed him that we had to work but it was cool If he was closed. The old man in western wear looked at us and said "you boys ever ride before?" We informed him that we had and we both grew up around horses. He said "well hell, you boys won't be much trouble, make you a deal, let's go for a ride and y'all can help me put em away and close up when we get back. I picked what looked like a paint mustang out of the corral and we got them saddled up.

We didn't ride the normal trail the he rides with customers 5 times a day but rather went another route. We rode to the top of the mountain and saw bighorn sheep, antelope, mule deer, chukar, and buffalo. As we rode the ridge a big male buffalo was walking up the ridge. We stopped and gave him the right of way. What a massive and majestic creature.

We ride on down the ridge a little farther and off to our west way down below was a wide valley that went miles and miles all the way to the lake. The sun was setting over the lake and in this valley was about 200 head of buffalo. I sat there on top this horse with my arms crossed leaning on the saddle horn for half an hour. It was so surreal to be a part of. Sitting there on this horse watching a massive buffalo herd in the valley below framed by a spectacular sunset. It was as close to being in the boots of an mid 1800s man on the western plains as you could get. I sat thinking of the western settlers who rode for weeks and came across their first buffalo herd. The constant fear of Indians. How the Indians would have charge off this mountain on their horses into the herd and shot a few of them. But mostly I just sat there on the horse watching this group of buffalo and soaking it all in.

To this day it's one of my fondest life memories.

I can't tell you how much I want to see the things you photographed Sean! Seeing a buffalo like that is a dream. Very cool pics and a great story Joe.

bowhunter1023 said:

I can't tell you how much I want to see the things you photographed Sean! Seeing a buffalo like that is a dream. Very cool pics and a great story Joe.

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I saw the other day that Sean has an associate director position open. Probably doesn't pay nearly what you need to make the jump though.

Might pay well. Doesn't pay well enough to move. Before my speech on Thursday, I ran around suburban Columbus. Can't do it. Hell, I had to stay overnight on my dime because I couldn't stand the thought of commuting in before delivering a speech that had the potential to impact my career as this one did. I'd have been a ball of fury had I had to fight Columbus traffic before that. I'm not made for city life...

Curran said:

Thanks Guys! It's hard to take a bad picture of a place that's so beautiful. I'm ready to move out west. There is just so much to offer out there from a hunting and fishing perspective.

Joe, that's an awesome story. What an experience that must've been!

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The Utah is a stunningly beautiful. And the people around SLC are friendly and the population of trash is low. Out of every state I travel to I liked the SLC area the most. Hiking, fishing, skiing, something like 70% of the state is public land, and it's just flat out beautiful.