w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m
37
Evan talks about the logistics of moving the sheep, how it can
take hours, depending on where the herders are, to position
their wagons for them. Each herder will go off years of instinct,
watching the weather to determine what path to take, so finding
them can often be quite hard. They rely on radios and scanning
the hillsides with binoculars in order to try and keep track, one
of the only concessions to modern technology that they employ.
It is dark when we finally arrive at camp and I go to bed tired.
I wake at 2:30 in the morning hearing the dogs run off into the
dark, barking furiously at something. I am instantly grateful for
them and wonder how the herders must feel when this happens
and they must get up and walk out into the night to see what
is out there. I stare up at the top of my tent listening to far-off
coyotes and waiting for dawn to break.
The next morning greets us with blue skies and a brisk wind.
We discuss the day's plan over coffee. Typically, the herders like
to start at dawn, so we are already behind schedule in finding
Armando. Evan points to a ridge between a stand of tall aspen
trees and says that is where we should find him. Mike and I grab
our backpacks and take off through the thick sagebrush, down
a ravine and up over onto the ridge. Knowing that herders will
take their own route and it is a guess as to the actual where-
abouts, we scan the ridge and only see mirages of what may be
sheep or Armando, but which turn out to be a tree or a group of
Each herder
will go off years
of instinct,
WATCHING
THE WEATHER TO DETERMINE
WHAT PATH TO TAKE, SO FINDING
THEM CAN OFTEN BE QUITE HARD.
One of Taza's dogs
