I remember my father putting up hay like this back when I was a little kid. He was the foreman of the Senator Jack Brenner Ranch on Horse Prairie Montana... the Buckrakes were made by turning the rear end 180 degrees so it ran in reverse. the faster the horses or vehicle went on the beaverslide, the further back the hay would go. The stackers would let the Beaverslide operator where they wanted the next load of hay...
Loved your video. Farm boy from Iowa. Put a lot of hay in the barn. Ran it all thru the dairy cows and hauled it all back as manure to the field. After all that everything has been easy!
My mom cooked for Noel Jackson during haying season in 1961 & 62. My dad drove one of the buck rakes. I have to drive my RV back up there and look some of the people up before everyone dies including me.
10 year resident of Hamilton, Mt. 76'86, my first fishing trip was on the North Fork near the Battleground. Trucked Peat Bog out of the West side of the Valley to every K-Mart in the state. Crossed it dozens of times in semi. Big Cow and Yearling Buck Moose confronted me and my long bow across a narrow stretch of the South Fork. I am sure glad they turned behind some willows. Elk and Deer in the Box canyon on the Northwest corner of the Hole. William Clark of the Corps of Discovery passed down as far as the hot springs mid valley. Memories of the A Frame log fences for miles.
I did this in wisdom Montana when I was in high school. About 20 of us kids staying in these old ran down bug infested cabins working 7 days a week for a month. Mowing the hay down sucked but running the old Buck rakes was fun.
The Big Hole and Wise Rivers is one of great wonders in this country. Watching them put hay up is amazing. In the 90’s when I lived in that area many horses were still used. I think Hershey’s had the biggest place. However their were a few other places that went on and on. What was more amazing putting the hay stacks up watching them feed it out to the cattle. Also how the wildlife used it for a Buffet. They had a Great Hatmaker in Wisdom at one time. I enjoyed this video.
In the nineteen fifties on my father's farm in the North of England, we had a Fordson N with a hay sweep exactly as in the video, attached to the front axle, I drove and loved every minute of it, memories.
Stayed near Big Hole during a vacation with my family and another family. We had a great time in the area. I was able to go fly fishing with my boys on the Bitteroot. Great memories and wonderful people. Hello, Darby, Montana!
I know who the 25 haters are. We value such humans even though they get my ire, because sanity and kindness allow us to see the difference between the rest of us and their pitiful souls. Nebraska neighbor loved the piece hope the family finds a way to carry on.
Everyone used to sneak in the back of those ranches in the late 70's and early 80's and shoot mule deer and elk out of the beaver head mountains. I saw a lot of game come out of that area. We would fly fish the Big Hole river for grayling. It's a pretty area, but not even on the top ten list of the real beauty Montana holds!!
Dane Lobe - i no longer live out there. I have fished the Bitterroot - Madison - Yellowstone- lots of creeks and mountain lakes. I also packed and guided them. The state it’s self is beautiful. Yet look around it is getting divided and developed fast. Yet drive thru the Big Hole and you can’t get Cell Service. I can get on without that
@@MrSanteeclaus I live here, your right. I hate these left wing socialist that move here after they have destroyed there state with liberal leftist views. Last January I pulled up on a couple in a landrover stuck in the snow with a flat, way off the beaten path. After a 5 min conversation I decided to just call the sheriff. Complete idiots. They had no clue they could have died back in there with there Pierre and red caviar. I waited down the road a mile or so, till the search n rescue showed up. I guess this was the second time they had been called out for this couple. Sheriff told me he was going to cite them for everything he could find. Green horns watching TV and terrorizing our high country, should be ILLEGAL.
@@mountainman8436 Ranch is still up and running. I am running the local Agriculture Dealership. All local ranches are still going pretty well, but now it is almost all round and square bales instead of haystacks.
Toby Shepherd good to know! And thanks for replying I honestly didn’t expect that considering your original comment is from 9 years ago. Have a good day man!
These are real people. Real Montanan's. The kind of people that make the people around them better people. The Big Hole Valley is also knows as the "Valley of 10 Thousand Hay Stacks". Its not the same driving through there any more now that all the stacks have been replaced with bales. Still one of the most beautiful places on this planet, just not the same.
I fought fire in the big hole in the early 1980s. The fire burned 1000 acres of grass and pasture, 11 big hay stacks and 300 acres of timber. It was in mid September and we nearly froze at night.
I spent some time in 1969 on the McDowell ranch but never saw these stackers in operation. The McDowell Ranch was then the largest in the state and a real working ranch, not the Yellowstone tv variety.
What a bit of history here in-lies. My Father, Lester R. Pons bought the above referenced ranch in 1955 from Herbert S. Armitage who was the co-inventor of the above mentioned Beaverslide. Our family worked the ranch and lived on the 1,300 acre parcel throughout the middle 50's and early '60's, and finally leased the property and dwellings to Argel Stephens, the other co-inventor of the Beaverslide. Where he raised, Timothy hay to feed to his cattle, in an adjacent ranch/property The original parcel of 1,300 acres has been sold to the Peterson Family whom have been pioneers of the Big Hole since a considerable period and now have subdivided the main property into 300 acre increments. So much for the Big Sky Country, under one roof.
Fought a forest fire there in the 1980s. It was mid September and was very cold at night. I remimber 11 big hay stacks burned and 300 aceres of timber.
I fought fires there twice outside of Wisdom, one lasted into September and we would wake up with frost on our bags every morning. To solve this we put Visqueen over the tent and suddenly it was nice and cozy.
The first night we had to sleep on the ground in just a sleeping bag and no shelter. The temperature droped down to 18 and the ground froze underneath us. The next morning everybody was so cold and stiff we could hardly walk.
A most beautiful place. Loved the personal touch added by people that live there. For someone living in or knowing the valley well, I wonder if you could answer a question for me. Do resident ranchers dislike people walking and fishing the upper big hole around Wisdom? My dad and I used to fish the small upper big hole streams freely in the 1970's. But lately that does not seem to be the case. Been chased off couple of times even when fishing culverts while still on the gravel road. How did Hirschy's battle with cancer turn out?
I got the visit big hole Battlefield where Chief Joseph was at me and my father went there 2005 2 years later my father was killed in accident we wanted to Glacier National Park down to the Bitterroot then down to big hole Battlefield I'll never forget me and my dad were there together
I WAS WORKING WITH A GUY TEARS AGO OUT OF DILLION, AND HE TOLD BE. ONCE HE SAW 17 TEAMS OF HORSES AND HAYSWATHERS GO INSANE AT ONE TIME FROM ATOP A STACK...then you had to repair everything....the good ol days...a long time ago...bunkhouses,...yep, i knew them...
Toby: Establish your own family like your parents and their parents did before them. It only takes a head-of-the-household to keep 'er running. Do it because there's not much else going on now that Covid is putting the whole world on it a$$. Do it for your OWN posterity! You're in a safer place in The Hole and you'll do just fine. I know it. You know it too. Good on ya - keep 'er going. I'll see you in the spring......
They’re a dying breed, but I hope that they can continue their legacy. It will be a sad day in America when we have no farmers or ranchers left! Who’s gonna do it, Bill Gates? Hahaahaa haha ha ha ha ha! My mother was from Iowa and my daddy was from Oklahoma so I’ve got farming and ranching in my blood, great video! 🇺🇸🇺🇸💪💪🙏👍🤟🤙
@@MitzvosGolem1 that's called maintenance , every winter both of my round balers go into my shop and all the belts come off get recut to the proper length and I put new splices in I also cheek for bad bearings or bearings that are on the way out. I can't afford to screw around when it's go time I have to feed 375 beef cow from the end of October to about the 15th of may, joy of farming in northern Canada. But one thing I do have is a good big shop for them short winter days and long winter nights.
@@MitzvosGolem1 I sure hope I didn't cause offense that was not my intent , TimeWise I figured it would be the 90s I figured I probably still doing to this day, I just can't imagine doing it that way I thought square bales were bad labour wise.
Environmentalist mad about all the V8s roaring 😁😁😁🤣🤣🤣, I see no reason to dislike except like I said, the environmentalist group that gets mad at everything!!!
