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Spring is almost here – and that means it is time for another wonderful Ranch Photography Workshop with Tom Whetten. Tom brings years of experience in photography of all types and years of instruction experience, which adds up to a winning combination. He can teach you how to get the most out of your camera gear, set up for difficult wildlife shots, and edit your pictures.
And at the Double Circle Ranch there are always plenty of photo subjects. We have wildlife and beautiful scenery plus big-horned, colorful Texas Longhorn steers, horses, mules, working cowboys, and an authentic chuckwagon. Practice your photography skills and learn new techniques – and have a ball doing it here at Double Circle Ranch. Sign up now for the April 17-20 Tom Whetten Ranch Photography Workshop. You’ll be glad you did.
2012 Ranch Photo Workshop Flyer
Nature and Ranch Photography Workshop
Learn all about how to locate and approach wildlife in its natural habitat, as well as technical, composition and other photography skills, at this special wildlife and nature photography program at the Double Circle Ranch.
$900.00
Join us for a special wildlife and nature photography program at the Double Circle Ranch. You’ll learn all about how to locate and approach wildlife in its natural habitat, as well as technical, composition and other photography skills. Classroom topics will include depth of field, composition, how and when to use Photoshop, when and why to shoot in RAW or jpeg, and much, much more. A good part of each day will be spent in the field, practicing your new skills.
Maximum of eight guests at this program.
 Derek Welds Pack Saddle Racks This winter is fairly warm and pretty well snow free here at the Double Circle. SO – it is time to build more fences. Our next funded project is about 4 miles of rebuild along our southern border with Tule Ranch. There is no road access to any part of the fence. Normally the horse trail would be snow covered, but now there is some green showing already. Early spring it looks like.
We have Ronson coming back from the San Carlos Apache reservation to our west to do the fence work. No one builds a better fence than our Apache neighbors. Wild Bill will be packing posts and wire in and packing the old wire out- quite a job. Doug and Derek built custom racks for our Decker pack saddles to haul all the materials. I expect the 2 mules, Kit and Kate, will be glad to get back to pulling the chuckwagon by the time all that material is moved. Fencing and packing are by far two of the hardest jobs on the ranch.
 Glamping at the Double Circle Ranch in Wall Tents We have signed Double Circle Ranch up on Glamping Hub. I never had heard of Glamping until I got a call from them wanting to list the ranch on GlampingHub.com.
I guess glamorous camping is the “in” thing now. It should bring us more ranch guests. Everyone who has come to Double Circle Ranch has had a ball. It is a real adventure here. We may not have the massages and spa treatments some of the glamping sites have, but we have the Real WEST complete with horses, longhorn cattle, wildlife, starry skies, and lots of room to explore or just relax. We offer a whole experience – not just a place to spend the night. Plus it doesn’t get much prettier than the Double Circle.
 Where Do the People in Charge of Your Vacation Go on Their Vacation? I haven’t written any blogs in 6 weeks – for a good reason. Doug and I finally took a much-needed VACATION! We loaded up the RV and have been visiting friends and family in Ohio, Tennessee, and Florida. We had a great time. Plus we picked Doug’s youngest nephew up in Florida. He will be helping finish some waterlines and fencing projects here at the Double Circle.
When you have dogs, horses, cattle, and barn cats, it is hard to take a break away from the ranch. With Bill and Amy here, we could relax and do a little traveling. They took good care of the critters and ranch while we were gone.
Vacations are nice and we certainly deserved one. But I tell you what – it sure was good to cross the cattle guard and be back at the Double Circle! Home again.
 Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our friends out in internet land. Hope you have a great holiday—whether it be Hanukah, Kwanza, or just winter solstice. For us it is Christmas- a special day to be grateful for all of God’s gifts.
Hope the season finds all of you in good health and good spirit!
MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR
Double Circle Ranch
 Ranch Scenery Clouds Around Mountain Craig Sponholtz has had to change the dates for our April 2012 erosion control workshop. It will be April 20, 21, and 22 this spring. Everything else is the same – great erosion control instruction, good conservation work, free (including the food and camping), beautiful worksite, fun people – AND it will be on Earth Day. Now that’s a good way to celebrate Earth Day!
 Tom Whetten Gets Close-Up with the Longhorns Tom Whetten is coming back to Double Circle Ranch April 17th – 20th for another one of his excellent Ranch Photography Workshops. He is an excellent instructor and a world-renowned photographer. Plus he is lots of fun. So – if you are interested in learning new techniques to get the most out of your camera, come join us this spring. You won’t be disappointed.
Tom travels worldwide doing photography tours. One of his favorite tours is African Photo Safari trips. We feel kind of special that Tom considers Double Circle Ranch as a good place for his workshops. Of course there IS a lot to take pictures of at this ranch. We have beautiful scenery and diverse wildlife. But what really sets us apart is that we also have a crusty old chuckwagon cook with a pair of mules pulling an authentic chuckwagon, cowboys, and lots of big-horned Texas Longhorn steers. You can take photos here that look like they were from the 1860’s. Plus you get quality one-on-one instruction on all kinds of camera use. Personally, I can barely use the pocket digital camera we have. So I will stick to bringing the steers in to be used as models – that I can do.
Check out further details and sign up on our Nature and Ranch Photography Workshop program page and Tom’s website WildlifePhotoTour.com for more info.
 Throwin a Cattle Drive Together If you ever wanted to drive Texas Longhorns across open country, listen up. We have set our 2012 cattle drive dates. Our Spring cattle drive will be April 30th to May 5th. The cattle will be moved to a pasture with good spring annuals that need to be utilized the first part of May. The last day is a pretty good mountain climb while the earlier days are easier country. Keep in mind that easier doesn’t have anything to do with easy as in flat, arena riding! The nights of the 30th and 4th will be spent in our walltents at headquarters and the middle three days are spent on the trail, sleeping out at night, and eating at the chuckwagon. This is a real western experience- not a pampered trip. Hope for good weather cause we ride rain or shine.
Fall cattle drive is set for September 15th-20th. It is different country – more on the north sections of the ranch, but the setup is the same. Bill will be driving the chuckwagon and doing his good dutch oven cooking. We will be at headquarters the first and last night and on the trail the middle three nights. September is usually good weather – but we go regardless.
Both cattle drives are limited to 6 guests maximum. Riding experience is helpful since we will be driving 225 Texas Longhorns in a variety of country. But you can always hitch a ride on the chuckwagon if you get too saddle sore. The buckboard is probably harder than a saddle though. Either way – horse or mule pulled wagon – the cattle drive is a piece of the Old West. Check it out on our 5-Day Cattle Drive program page.
 Riding Fence in the Tall Pines We have a new ranch hand intern. Aerin is here from sunny California to learn a little about ranching and check out a different lifestyle. He is still on the vertical learning curve. One thing he learned very quickly is that horseback riding lessons in an arena are not the same as riding in wide open and frequently ROUGH country. And to be honest, we did kind of throw him right into hard things. Aerin has been riding to high, backcountry fences clearing trails to get pack mules through. That involves crossing some really steep canyons and dodging a lot of low branches in route. Plus our cattle are in a pretty rough pasture now and have to be moved across an extremely steep canyon to fresh feed every day because the dirt tank is dry on the best feed area and the only water source is south of the good grass.
Where Aerin is riding is country that our guests never see up close and personal – unless they are experienced riders and have a true sense of adventure. We have plenty of easier country for the bulk of our guests to ride. But the cattle are in rough country and going to be moved to even rougher country in a week or so. Fences and water have to be checked before the longhorns change pastures. In fact Aerin is out with Bill today – checking fence and water. Hopefully they’ll be back by supper.
Once the cattle are in their winter pasture, we have 4 miles of fencing to pack in on mules and drop off along our southern boundary fence. That involves riding and leading a pack animal or two every day until done. The trip out is a loaded pack trip too because the old wire and T-posts get hauled out and taken in for recycling. Aerin will be a packing expert before that job is done. Fortunately our cowboy Bill is already an experienced packer and can teach Aerin as he works.
Aerin has had the “luck” to draw some other hard jobs. Yesterday he and Bill got to wade a frosty creek to fix a water-gap. Plus now is the time for getting in firewood. Aerin is having plenty of chainsaw and ax time. Aerin will get plenty of practice at rolling up old wire, patching fences, cleaning tack, knocking mud off horses, and helping Bill or Doug shoe. Plus we picked up a load of hay. 76 – 120-lb. bales to hand load and unload is a big task. Never a dull moment at the Double Circle.
Through it all Aerin has been a champ. He has never complained – even after getting dusted off his horse in a canyon. He is right there when Doug needs a hand with pipelines or a vehicle. He always has his horses fed early and ready to go. He even helps me cook – a rare thing on this ranch. And – Aerin is the only intern we have had who researched and read about low-stress herding and ranching before he came. He is doing well and on his way to making a hand.
 Aerin Fusing Range Pipe in the Backcountry
 Wilma and Don Edwards at Tombstone Cowboy Music Festival Doug and I took a two day break and went to the Cowboy Music Festival in Tombstone. What great music! The weather didn’t cooperate but the show went on regardless of wind gusts and cold temperatures. All day Saturday and Sunday had performers on outside stages all around town, and they were all first-rate musicians. Friday and Saturday evenings featured Don Edwards as the main performer. He sure does put on a good concert – we went to both nights.
Cowboy music is like poetry in song. It tells stories of cattle, horses, wrecks, adventures, and life in the saddle. Cowboy music tells of the old days and the present times, hard work and rollicking play, stormy days and clear starry nights, and of joy and heartache. You can’t get better music. You sure don’t get the same feel from pop or rap music!
Plus Doug and I got to visit with Don Edwards and his wife Kathy. They are just great, down-to-earth folks working to preserve in song a way of life intrinsic to the American West. Don is allowing us use some of his songs on our soon-to-be done (subject to moving cattle, fixing fence, packing supplies, etc.) photo gallery on our website. Check it out when we have it done – one of the songs Don performs is about the Double Circle Ranch. Naturally that song will be the one playing on the website. You can hear more of his music and his great guitar picking skills on his website www.DonEdwardsMusic.com.
If you like cowboy music, keep your eye out for Tombstone’s next festival. Doug and I will be there for sure. You can’t get better music!
 Tombstone Taxis - Wild West Wagons  Live Cowboy music in downtown Tombstone
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