RATES 2013


Pryor Mountains
Rates 2013 per person and week (5 days riding)
horse round up
$1,700.00
mini horse drives
$1,700.00
cattle drives
$1,700.00
working ranch weeks
$1,700.00



Prices include: Lodging in bunkhouse, 3 home cooked meals, cowboy horses, tack, good saddles, riding instructions, and cattle to work on about 32,000 acres of land.
Private cabins with bathrooms are available at an additional charge.

Available:
Two cabins with private bathrooms (additional $200 for married couple and $150 for each single person).
The bunkhouse has seven private queen size rooms with two semi-private bathrooms.

We offer a 5% discount on all second week reservations and a 5% discount for all returning guests.
Additional days are extra and we suggest a 15% gratuity.

[ schedule 2013 ]


Round Trip Shuttle service between Billings, Montana and the Ranch and back, will be provided for an additional $125.00 per rider.

PRICE INCLUDES:
Lodging in bunkhouse, private queen bed, three family style meals a day, well trained cow horses to ride, western tack and saddle, riding instructions, cattle to move and work. Taxes are included in price.

AVAILABLE:
Cabin with Private Bathroom (additional $200.00 for married couple or $150.00 for single occupant).
Bunkhouse with Semi - Private bath

NOT INCLUDED:
Transportation from Billings to Ranch and back to Billings. Additional charge when an extra trip is required not on a pickup date, additional days accommodations, and gratuities. Our gratuity policy is suggested at 15%.

Please note: We are located on a Federal Indian Reservation and we do not allow alcohol.


ACCOMMODATION:
Choose to stay in our newly remodeled cabins. Each with a private bath. Each cabin is private and accented with comfortable western decorations and warm homemade quilts. Or... choose to stay in our inviting bunkhouse rooms and step back into the cowboy days on a real working ranch. We have blended old and new in a western way by leaving the old log look and mixing it with hot water heat and electric lights. Each place to stay has a porch where everyone can gather to sit and enjoy the friendly talk of the day's events. Many friendships and relationships grow stronger sitting on the porch and sharing horse stories.

HOTEL INFORMATION:
Suggested motels in Billings: We have made discount arrangements at these motels: The Dude Rancher Lodge is a 3 Star Motel with a $77. room, single or double. The number is 1-800-221-3302.
The Best Western or Clock Tower Inn is a 5 Star Motel with a $90. room, single or double. The number is 1-800-628-9081. The Clock Tower Inn has a pool during the summer months and is close to the downtown area.
Tell these motels that you are coming to visit the Dryhead Ranch and they will give you our discount price.
You can call or email them at for a reservation, if arriving in Billings before the Sunday of your chosen vacation. Both recommended hotels are located in the center of Billings and offer airport transfer, when prior arrangements are made.
The hotels offer a shuttle to the airport when you leave, as well as, from the airport to the hotel when you arrive. You can use the courtesy phone at the airport to arrange a pickup, but we recommend to make those arrangements when you book your room.
The hotels will let you store your luggage in the lobby while you walk downtown on Sunday, if you will ask them.

BEST WESTERN PLUS Clocktower Inn
(5 Star motel)
2511 1st Avenue North, Billings, MT 59101
Toll Free Reservations: +1 (800) 628-9081
Phone +1 (406) 259-5511, Fax +1 (406) 238-1797
  Dude Rancher Lodge (3 Star motel)
415 N. 29th St., Billings, MT 59101
Toll Free Reservations: +1 (800) 221-3302
Phone: +1 (406) 259-5561, Fax: +1 (406) 259-0095
eMail: info@duderancherlodge.com
 

Rate per night for Dryhead Ranch guests: $99 per room (single or double)
Water Playland! Hot Breakfast! Evening Snacks!
Airport Shuttle! 24Hour Fitness! Business Center!
All rooms offer cable satellite television with HBOŽ, a refrigerator, a coffeemaker, high-speed wireless Internet access, a desk and more.
The hotel has outdoor pool and sauna, 24-hour exercise facility, airport courtesy shuttle. [ www.bestwestern.com | BWP Clocktower Inn ]

Rate per night for Dryhead Ranch guests: $77 per room (single or double)
Dude Rancher Lodge is a historic downtown Billings hotel with comfortable rooms (complimentary high-speed wireless Internet access, cable TV), an on-site family restaurant and a cozy meeting place in the Fireside Room.
[ www.duderancherlodge.com ]

RANCH TRANSFER:
Our pickup service, on the date of your arrival, will be at 4:00 in the afternoon in Billings, Montana at either the Airport, the Dude Rancher Lodge or the Best Western Motel. We will return you back to Billings on the next Saturday by 2:00 PM. There is a $125. per person transfer charge from Billings to the Ranch and back to Billings. This charge is not included in the cost of the vacation.

Please send us your airline and travel information so that we know where to meet you. You will be returning to Billings at the end of your weeks stay on Saturday by early afternoon. The guests like to shop and plan a night out in Billings to eat and have a good time with new friends before flying out on Sunday morning.


2009 Mare Band
Our transfer fee is $125.00 per person (round trip) as long as everyone comes and goes at the same time. Special trips for those coming early or late will be charged $200.00 per person.

PAYMENTS, CANCELLATIONS:
Upon confirmation of your date for your "Cowboy Experience", please make arrangements to pay your deposit:
$500.00 deposit is required for each week upon booking to hold reservation. It is non-refundable if cancelled less than 60 days before vacation date. Balance is due 30 days prior to arrival and is non-refundable after trip is paid in full.

All payments in US dollars:
Personal Check (with approval), Visa, Mastercard and Bank wires accepted.

PLEASE NOTE:
Dryhead Ranch reserves the right to alter or change any attraction, dates or activities, due to unforeseen circumstances. However, substitutions of a similar kind will be arranged. These circumstances will include: unfavorable weather conditions, range or pasture conditions, insufficient bookings or Federal or State land management changes.


Schedule 2013:
April 14 - 20, 2013
Horse Drive from Wyoming to Ranch
Apr. 21 - 27, 2013
Horse Roundup at the Ranch
Apr 28 - May 4, 2013
Cattle Drive: Trailing cow/calf pairs from Wyoming
May 5 - 11, 2013
Cattle Drive: Trailing cow/calf pairs from Wyoming
May 12 - May 18, 2013
Cattle Drive: Trailing remainder of cow/calf pairs from Wyoming
May 19 - May 25, 2013
Working Activities and Experiences on our Ranch: Gathering, sorting, branding, trailing, adding bulls
May 26 - June 1, 2013
Working Activities and Experiences on our Ranch: Finishing above activities and possible trailing to Fishbird
June 2 - 8, 2013
Working Activities and Experiences on our Ranch: Possible gathering, branding, sorting and trailing to Elk Ridge Mt.
June 9 - 15, 2013
Working Activities and Experiences on our Ranch: Making sure all of the above is finished
June 16 - 22, 2013
Horse Round ups: Arranging Mare Bands, adding Stallions
June 23 - 29, 2013
Possible week-end covered wagon camp (contact us for more info). Family reunions could also be organized on this week.
June 30 - July 6, 2013
Working Activities and Experiences on our Ranch:
In our summer weeks we offer many riding hours of gathering cattle, sorting cows, trailing both cows and horses as we move from pasture to pasture and mountain to mountain.
We are riding on 32,000 acres of native grassland pastures, including mountains and canyons with awesome beautiful scenery on every ride.
ur cowboys are skilled in helping to improve your horsemanship.
Labor Day weekend there is a neighborhood covered wagon trek that our guests can participate in.
Our cowboys break and train our own young horses. Our guests are welcome to ask questions and learn from cowboys, who ride and train horses for a living.
July 7 - 13, 2013
July 14 - 20, 2013
July 21 - 27, 2013
July 28 - Aug. 3, 2013
Aug. 4 - 10, 2013
Aug. 11 - 17, 2013
Aug. 18 - 24, 2013
Aug. 25 - 31, 2013
Sept. 1 - 7, 2013
Working Activities and Experiences on our Ranch:
September starts our fall cattle work. We ride outside our ranch borders to bring back lost cattle so we can wean the calves and pregnancy test the cows. After the calves are weaned we put cows on pasture that is further away and harder to graze making longer riding days. Any missing calves that are found have to be brought in to wean.
There are heifers that are also gathered and counted to keep our cattle home.
Grass is getting short so horses also need to be rotated and moved.
Sept. 8 - 14, 2013
Sept. 15 - 21, 2013
Sept. 22 - 28, 2013
Cattle Drive: Gathering and Trailing from Little Mountain for weaning
Sept. 29 - Oct. 5, 2013
Cattle Drive: Gathering and Trailing from Little Mountain for weaning
Oct. 6 - 12, 2013
Working Activities and Experiences on our Ranch:
Fall Cattle Work 2
Oct. 13 - 19, 2013
Oct. 20 - 26, 2013
Oct. 27 - Nov. 2, 2013
Cattle Drive to Wyoming (conditions permitting)
Nov. 3 - 9, 2013
Horse Round up at the Ranch
top


VACATION AT THE DRYHEAD RANCH:
We are thrilled to have you join us at the Dryhead Ranch for an authentic cowboy working ranch vacation. During the week that you will ride at the ranch with us you will experience a wide variety of activities: working cattle, gathering cattle, cattle drives, working horses, horse drives, branding calves, mending fences, and our cowboys and cowgirls will teach you to rope. We offer the best horseback riding vacations in Montana. We are real, remote, quiet, and have endless awesome beautiful mountain vistas. We share with you real cattle work and real working cow horses to experience an amazing horseback riding vacation.

This year we will be doing a lot of horse related activities along with our regular cow work so come and join us for a week full of hands on cowboy activities. Saturday is our return back to Billings day when we can also visit several of the historic sites along the Big Horn Recreation Area which are: Lockhart Historic Ranch, Devils Canyon Overlook, Wild Mustang Museum.

The Dryhead Ranch is located on the Crow Indian Reservation and features one of the largest historic buffalo jumps in the United States. We also have a few Indian Pictographs on the canyon walls and lots of arrowheads and artifacts for the finding. We are required to honor a Federal non-alcohol ruling required on all reservation properties.

HORSE DRIVES:
In the spring our Horse Drive moves our riding horses to the ranch in Montana. We work with the mares during the second Horse Roundup week in the spring. One week a month during the summer we offer Mini-Horse Drives. During these weeks we move young colts in training and gather mares with baby colts to move them to fresh green pastures.

These mini horse drives are very popular as they are designed for beginning or intermediate riders to learn how to move horses. October finishes our Horse Roundup as we gather the mares, weanling colts and studs to draw the registration papers for that year and remove the studs. We leave the mares on winter pasture at the ranch for the winter and bring the colts to Wyoming for the winter. We trail our riding horses out to Wyoming in March to get brand inspections and health papers needed to go back to Montana in April.

CATTLE DRIVES:
Our winter pastures in Wyoming and our summer pastures in Montana make a real and authentic need to move cattle 50 miles from one place to the other. We trail cows and calves over the Old Sioux Trail stretching 50 miles through the Wild Horse range and into Montana's beautiful "Big Sky Country".

In the fall we trail just heifers back to Wyoming in October. The big herd is gathered and trailed in December.

Cattle drives are a great way to learn how to move cattle and to teach your horse to watch a cow. These drives are as easily accomplished by beginners as well as experienced riders.


RANCH WEEKS / COWBOY WEEKS:
Cowboy days are the most fun and the most work and the most real ranch activities we offer our guests. Our cowboy days start when our cattle drives are finished and the cows are at the ranch for us to take care of.

Our head cowboy will pick several great cow horses for you to ride during the week and you are taught how to saddle them each morning. When we ride out of the gate we never know what adventure awaits us. Some of these adventures will be to brand calves, gather cows or horses, wrangle in the cavvy horses in the early dawn. Jake trains 20 young colts each summer so we will move horses quite often. Our mare bands will be made up in June.

Many days are all day rides when you will take a lunch and eat out in the range. In the fall we gather all the cows so we can wean the calves and pregnancy test the cows. Each week we have strays to work out of our cows to return to their pastures. These weeks change every day with the need of the cattle and the land. Tin foil dinners are a great evening gathering and the Buffalo jump is a great place to visit history of 500 years ago.

Horseback riding vacations and cattle drive vacations in Montana exposes all of us to various types of weather, sun, wind, rain, mud, and snow. There will be days when we cannot ride for the safety of our horses as well as our guests. We reserve the right to make these decisions and/or changes when it is necessary.



Josh and Will


WHAT TO BRING
We suggest that you bring clothes that will layer easily: long sleeved t-shirts,(we don't suggest spaghetti strap t-shirts, the sun is to intense) vests, heavy jackets, chinks or chaps, sweatshirts, caps to cover your ears when it is cold, and at least two pair of waterproof gloves, wildrag or scarf, spurs, cowboy hat to protect your ears, neck and head and of course, your camera with batteries. Standard equipment is riding boots with a heel. We require appropriate boots for riding at the ranch. You may want to bring a comfortable walking shoe for around the ranch yard and slippers for going to the bathroom at night. If you have a waterproof rain slicker, please bring it. It not only protects from rain but it is great for breaking the wind and keeping you warm. Dryhead Ranch has a small ranch store with items that we find most needed at the ranch in case you forget to pick them up: sunscreen, chapstick, hand warmers, gloves, slickers (no ponchos), pommel bags, chinks, cowboy hat, wildrags, stampede strings, belts, )S( belt buckles, boot socks, kids shirts, sweatshirts and toys and several gift items for your return home.

Here you can find a detailed list of what to bring.

Going to grass

We have been very fortunate to have had NBC, ESPN, National Geographic, and several TV stations come to our ranch and film what we do. We are pleased to announce, that we have appeared on several national networks as an episode of "A Ranch Story", which shares the rich history of the Dryhead Country. Dryhead Ranch was mentioned in an article in "Horse Illustrated" February 2007 for its authentic cowboy experience. We were also featured in the March 2007 issue of the "Cowboys and Indians" magazine about Horse drive vacation offered in the USA. In "Western Horseman" Calendar January 2008 we have our Dryhead Ranch fall 2007 Horse Drive picture. We were in the "Range Magazine" in the January 2009 issue. The Dryhead Ranch horse drive was mentioned and our picture was added. Dryhead Ranch Horse Drives were featured on the January calendar picture of the "Western Horseman Calendar 2010". We were featured in Rita's book published in 2010, written in French. She mentioned her Dryhead Ranch experience as a basis for her story. We have History channel cameramen coming on our May 13-19, 2012 cattle drive to document our three-generation family owned ranch lifestyle.

Please call us or send an email to dhr@tctwest.net with any questions you might have
(307) 272-6688 Iris (cell phone)
(307) 548 - 6688 Office
(307) 272-0523 Jennifer (cell phone)
We have installed a satellite phone which gives us intermittent communication. Guests are welcome to use this phone for free, but our wireless internet access is a much more accurate form of communication. You are welcome to bring your own computer to access this wireless connection. Cell phones do not work at the ranch house or yard, but there are a few places, while out riding, where cell phones work. Otherwise we have to drive for 30 minutes to find a dependable cell phone connection.

Going to work
Come Ride With the Cowboys --- It will Change your Life.

top

Dryhead Ranch, Montana ~ Office: 1062 Road 15
Lovell, WY 82431, USA, dhr@tctwest.net
Phone: 307 - 548 - 6688, Cell Phone 307 - 272 - 6688
Fax: 307 - 548 - 2322

© 2012 MS WebDesign