Wagonhound is family-owned and managed by Catherine and Art Nicholas who took over the historic ranch’s 
operations in 1999. Since gaining ownership of the ranch, the Nicholas have continued the ranch’s legacy and preserved the richness of the land through cultivating an environment where family values and working hard together are at the center of all operations. Dax McCarty, outfitter and rancher at Wagonhound explains, We respect each other, other people, the land, and livestock. It's a family setting. All our employees are encouraged to have their kids and families help. It's a good place to work and raise your kids.

The respect and importance of family at the heart of Wagonhound’s operations keep the Western values of hard work 
thriving with each generation. McCarty continues, The ranch is a good place for kids to learn work ethic. I think they understand and learn the value of life a little bit earlier. They see things sick; they see things that you're trying to nurse back to health or keep healthy. The value of life and the understanding of death is something that you just aren't going to learn in other places. 
I think hard work and truly caring about something, taking pride in something that's bigger—new life or death—is something that is learned from the cowboy lifestyle.

The strong work ethic McCarty describes is put into practice every day at Wagonhound where there are multiple divisions 
for outfitting and farming, and a cow-horse operation. The ranch also has a feedlot where Wagonhound finishes their beef with their own grain. They have an all-natural Red Angus operation, as well as half-Wagyu, half-Angus cattle. Cowboys, ranchers, and outfitters at Wagonhound are driven by their deep-rooted values as stewards of the land in order to keep up with the demands of the ranch. McCarty states, True cowboys and folks in this lifestyle value the landscape and conservation, animals, wildlife, and livestock. We take care of the land and make sure that ranches like this continue.

When it comes to valuing the land and caring for all animals, few cowboys are more experienced at this than Shannon Peterson, a rancher who has worked on Wagonhound as part of the cow division for twenty years. Peterson’s understanding of what it means to be a cowboy is grounded in a humble willingness to get the job done. The cowboy code to me is a [person] that's willing to do anything. There isn’t any job they’ll turn their back to. They’ll put in the long hours until it's done.

True to his words, Peterson’s responsibilities at Wagonhound are constantly changing and dependent on any number of 
factors from weather to season to one-off challenges. He explains, I'm a camp guy, so I’ve got my own set of cows where I live, the ground that I take care of, and the pastures. So, for the most part it's your own day to day. Everybody's schedule varies. Springtime, we're calving, fencing, and putting pairs together. We’ve got to haul a lot of cows around to the mountains. Summertime, you get a little bit of a break but then the fall work begins. You’ve got cattle and calves together to wean, precondition. And in the wintertime, you're feeding cows every day.

For cowboys like Peterson and McCarty, the integrity it takes to always do the right thing and accept any challenge is what sets the cowboy lifestyle apart from the rest, and they hope to not only bring awareness to the hard work it takes to feed the nation but also inspire the rest of the country to fight for and preserve the Western lifestyle. Peterson explains, A lot of people in the United States don't really realize where their meals come from or the hard work that it takes to provide beef or grain. It’s important to the cowboy way of life that there are people still interested in doing this lifestyle.

McCarty adds, I think people should realize how hard the agriculture industry works to keep the world turning, not just here 
in Wyoming, but around the United States and the world. If they had a better understanding of what goes into putting that food on the table, people would be a lot more appreciative.

The cowboy way of life is unlike any other. From the first light of day till the stars glimmer above the plains, cowboys spend 
their lives tending to the beauty of the land surrounded by lush grasslands, magnificent animals, and often their families and communities. It is a life of fulfillment that can only be earned through blood, sweat, and scars.

Dax McCarty is also able to bring his love for the Wyoming landscape to others through his work on Wagonhound’s outfitting operation where he guides people on seasonal hunts through vast wildlife habitats. I love the whole aspect of outfitting, but my favorite part's guiding, actually being out there every day in the fall with hunters, and getting to do that, getting to have my office be outside, he shares. We do elk hunts, deer hunts, antelope hunts, spring bear hunts. And then probably my favorite part is archery elk hunting end of September.

Where discipline and grit take precedence every day, there is also the serenity that comes from being outdoors and raising animals on the range. From riding horseback through fields of golden grains under opaline skies to watching children grow up with an appreciation for the land, the West offers so much to those who are willing to roll up their sleeves, work hard, and live out their values.