Bio: Dude, 1977. Descriptor: Shooting mice in the BQ (Bachelor’s Quarters).
Wayne’s Story: In reading the comments I saw one written by Eric Gerst. I was the friend he went west with in 1977. This is one of those cases that you know exactly where you were when an event happened – this being the anniversary of the passing of Elvis. I was in Bachelor Quarter and heard on the radio that the “King” was dead, it was just one of those moments that stick with you. I remember nights BQ sitting in the dark with a desk lamp on the floor shooting mice with a .22 as nibbled at snacks we’d placed as bait. One early morning coming back from a bar in Kelly, along the Buck-N- Rail fence that lead into the ranch I spied a cowboy hat on one of the posts, picked up the hat and saw the name Frank Galey on the sweat band. The next morning took the hat to the main house to return it. I found Frank was messing with a pump shotgun that had jammed. He could not get to cycle. I asked him if I could look at it, He looked up at me over his glasses like “who is this dumb kid.” He handed me the shotgun which I cleared promptly and handed him back the shotgun. He said Griz (I had curly and a bushy beard) you fix ’em but can you shoot it? We went to lower pasture where a clay pigeon was set up. Mr. Galey and I broke many birds that morning, from that point on whenever a guest wanted to shoot clay pigeons, Frank would say “Get Griz to show them how it’s done.” The ranch foreman Kluas “Curly” Temple was colorful character. He had a mangled foot from a misunderstanding with a horse, which cause him to have pronounced limp in his step. On more than one occasion I heard him say “When I get my bionic leg you’ll sure see some ass kick’n around this barn yard.” I was lucky enough to be asked to stay and drive the horses to DuBois, WY for the winter and then help close-up the ranch for the season. We made it as far as Lake of the Woods at the Continental Divide when we were hit by an early season snow storm. Horses, snow, campfires and wranglers let me tell you it was like living a Louis L’Amour story. I was asked to return the following season, but life got in the way and I never went back. I will always remember fondly my adventure on the White Grass Ranch.