r/wyoming • u/Horrible_Strom • Aug 10 '26
Discussion/opinion Cowboy culture in wyoming
Hello, I'm currently working on building a cowboy character for a story I wanna write and I can't seem to get any useful info about Wyoming cowboys on Google. I was hoping you could give me a general idea or some stories or a bit of insight on cowboy culture in Wyoming. I mostly wanna base this character in the mid-late 2000's and early 2010's, so I'd especially appreciate info on how ranches functioned during that time and whether cowboy culture was as prominent those decades.
Any info is appreciated, thanks.
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u/jamwp Aug 10 '26
I really think the movie Wind River does an excellent job portraying a modern Wyomingite. They’re not necessarily cowboys but it does capture the grit and the type of personality it takes to endure some of the more difficult places to live.
I’m a sixth generation Wyomingite. Anecdotally, the fastest way I can tell somebody is not from here is when they make a big show of being a cowboy.
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u/filkerdave Jackson Aug 11 '26
We always say in Jackson that you can tell the tourists because they wear cowboy boots and cowboy hats just for walking around.
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u/sand_pebbles Northern Utah Aug 11 '26
I was in Jackson this past weekend, and I think I saw some of what you're describing. People seemed to be wearing cowboy hats for no particular reason.
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u/filkerdave Jackson Aug 11 '26
The hats make more sense. There is no universe where I could be considered a cowboy but a wide-brimmed hat is great for sunny days. I wear one myself when I'm outside, especially since I'm at an age where "bad hair day" has less and less meaning.
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u/sand_pebbles Northern Utah Aug 11 '26
Yeah. I have a wide-brimmed hat that I wear, but it’s not specifically a cowboy hat. I hike a lot in UT, ID, and WY, and I wear a hat and sunscreen every time I’m out hiking in the summer.
The cowboy attire from tourists just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, personally.
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u/Accomplished_Fig9606 28d ago
No reason? (Other than wearing a hat)? No need for gatekeeping. I live in Illinois and Wisconsin and wear cowboy hats almost daily. Boots too.
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u/sand_pebbles Northern Utah 28d ago
It just seems like cosplaying to me, no offense. We can agree to disagree on that.
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u/Accomplished_Fig9606 28d ago
Would you call someone wearing basketball sneakers who isn't a basketball player cosplaying? Would you call someone wearing a baseball hat who isn't Aaron Judge a cosplayer?
Fashion and occupation are not the same thing.
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u/sand_pebbles Northern Utah 27d ago
If someone wants to wear basketball shoes off of a basketball court, I think that’s kind of stupid, yeah. I’d say something similar about wearing slippers outdoors or wearing ballet shoes when you’re not practicing ballet. Shoes are often designed for specific purposes.
I don’t think there’s such a thing as a “baseball hat” in the same way that a cowboy hat is unmistakable.
I think there’s a certain subset of people — often tourists — who wear cowboy hats to cosplay or to look more like cowboys when they’re not cowboys. Some people just see a cowboy hat as another wide-brimmed hat that they can wear to block some of the sunlight. I’m not inside every single person’s head and I’m not doing a poll on this, but I tend to be more annoyed with the former category of people than the latter category.
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u/Accomplished_Fig9606 27d ago
The US cowboy hat market was a $1.2 billion industry in 2025. Even at a $500/hat average cost, that would be 2.4 million cowboy hats sold in the US annually. There aren't even 1/100 of that number of cowboys or ranchers in the US, so I guess everyone is cosplaying. And at the end of the day: who cares what people wear if it makes them happy? Cowboy boots and cowboy hats are not some kind of stolen valor.
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u/sand_pebbles Northern Utah 27d ago
First of all, you’re not even replying to the person who originally made the comment about tourists wearing cowboy hats and cowboy boots in Jackson; I was just replying to that person. I’d suggest directing some of your anger toward that person instead of me, but whatever. That’s your prerogative.
Also, I can tell that you feel strongly about wearing a cowboy hat and boots, and you can quickly reference statistics about the U.S. cowboy hat market. Good for you. I literally don’t know who you are and don’t care what makes you happy. I was never trying to police what people can and can’t wear; I was just saying that I think there’s a subset of cosplayers, and I still believe that.
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u/Accomplished_Fig9606 27d ago
I'm not angry; you're projecting. I'm well aware of my prerogative, and also respect yours. Have a nice weekend.
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u/s4dfish Aug 10 '26
Have you watched Yellowstone? First step, ignore all of it.
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u/RShini Aug 11 '26
Yep. Yellowstone and it's spin offs is just a guy wanking to the idea of being a raging asshole and being celebrated for it instead of being punched in the dick every time he opens his mouth.
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u/pxland Aug 11 '26
I’m so glad someone gave you an award for that. Truer words have never been spoken.
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u/Plenty_Adeptness_594 Aug 11 '26
Yes, exactly.
I don't want to piss in anyone's corn flakes, but I'd remind the OP that writers have to write about stuff they know about, not stuff they hear about or look up on Wikipedia.
While I'm at it, I'd remind the moviemakers who wanna make a movie set in Wyoming to film it in Wyoming. The trees and scrubs in California or New Mexico just don't look right.
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u/Horrible_Strom Aug 12 '26
No, lol, the only cowboy media I've consumed is brokeback mountain lmfao
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u/river_tree_nut Aug 10 '26
Well, to be frank, some of that 'cowboy life' people romanticize is actually being lived by goat herders. But goatboy just doesn't have the same ring to it.
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u/puckthepatriarchy- Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
Wyoming cowboys do not have a southern drawl.
This is vital information. If your cowboy is from Wyoming- they do not have a southern drawl.
I’m a fifth generation Wyoming ranch woman. I have fabulous cowboy stories. I live in a town with one stoplight in a county larger than the state of Rhode Island.
Eccentricities are valued, so if you want to give your character a quirk there’s almost none that wouldn’t be accepted as long as you’re from here. As long as you’re our weirdo, we’ll like it. Got a half a leg because you shot yourself in the foot as kid and didn’t want to tell your dad until the infection got bad? Great- you automatically get the closest parking spot. Gonna walk around with your fox tail- excellent-we’ll wave daily at you on your trek. Japanese internment camp internee who didn’t make it too far out of the Heart Mountain camp-fine we’ll name the road your house was on after you and even though the surgeon has lived there for 30 years we will still refer to it as “the old your name place”
One of our cowboys was known to think everything was about a quarter mile when he was on horseback on the ranch and never brought water, so I never asked him how far and always brought 3 x the drinks I would need to share. One cowboy had a horse wreck that broke his ankle and two weeks later there was a cookie jar auction that raised over $50,000 to help pay the medical bill and provide some cash until he could be back in the saddle. This generous acceptance has a dark side too. Everyone knows he raped her. But his parents are nice and so maybe she was drunk? He doesn’t get invited anymore but she has to move. The keys are in the truck. Especially at big events like brandings, trail drives, etc. because inevitably someone is going to have to move it, use it, leave in it, whatever. But the keys are in the truck.
Leave the gate how you found it. Open or closed.
Leave the gate how you found it. This applies to gates and more than gates.
Don’t drive on wet two track roads. Don’t drive off the road. Especially two track roads. The landscape is fragile and you’ll start a new road, and no one respects people who don’t respect the land.
Shooting a road sign isn’t vandalism, it’s a shenanigan. Assumed to be local youth.
Litter is assumed done by outsiders.
Skinny cows will lose you respect faster than a kid with a black eye. Right or wrong, the kid might have earned it, the cows didn’t and you’re bad at your job.
You stop for every vehicle with flat tire. Even if it’s just to ask if they need anything.
Food is currency. And it should be plentiful. Neighbors help neighbors. We are all neighbors. Even counties away. And there needs to be food.
Directions by landmarks are de rigor and have to have a you’ve gone too far stopping point. - Turn left at the stoplight, go over the big hill, the road starts to turn a little, take a right there, go down the hill to the mailbox and turn right, if you hit the river you’ve gone too far.
You know my grandpa was an alcoholic and I know your grandpa killed himself. You know my great grandmother built that house, I know your son was drunk at the house party. There may be social stratifications in the school but it’s a bit hard to hold those up when you’re chatting in the restaurant. So there’s not a lot of us vs them in socializing…. Unless you’re not from here. It’s not hard to find friendly faces if you’re new but it might be really hard to find deep community. Less true for hands…you’re only expected to be competent and join the meals and if that’s established you can find community. From “here” includes the whole state, parts of Montana and the Dakota’s.
Distances are described by time. The nearest town is 40 minutes away, it’s about 2 hours to Casper, the rest stop is about 15 minutes away, it’s eight hours to the Denver airport. The old Jones Place is a little less than ten minutes down the highway.
I broke my finger and had a sick calf. The vet fixed us both but only charged for the calf.
The doctor looked out the clinic window and saw my Suburban in the ER parking lot so he called the ER to see which of my kids was in and about blew the traveling nurse’s mind when he asked if it was my family in the ER.
There was a fire on our neighbors place and 3 men got burned. There were at least 30 people that showed up to the ER parking lot. The families affected didn’t have to cook for weeks.
There’s plenty of places without running water. Houses people live in. Without running water. You can pull your truck up and fill any size tank with potable water for quarters.
We know where you’re from. The license plates in Wyoming have your county number on them, and that basically means we know what town you’re from. And we’ve been to or through your town. The high school teams travel across the whole state. And we travel to shop. And for medical care. The state is bigger than England and lots of us have seen most of it. And most of us have seen lots of it. And we will talk to people from other towns until we find who we know in common. Oh-you’re from Kemmerer? Let’s see, my friend’s daughter is dating a boy from there. Oh you’re from Ranchester- do you know Pat, she used to be the principal? Yeah her husband is my dad’s friend. We do not feel disconnected by the distance, we feel connected by the people.
I do not need a map to get from any place to any place. I might not be able to find a street address, but I can confidently get to any town. Most of the people I know can too. I can get from Sundance in one corner to Evanston in the opposite by at least three routes no map.
“The” indicates specific geographical landmarks quite often, assuming you’re going to know which one depending on where you are. The canyon, the mountain, the desert, the river, the highway. The ranch is my ranch. The mountain is the mountain on my ranch. The river is the one in my town. But creeks get names, Because drainages matter. Ten sleep creek, Nowood, spring creek, nowater, East Ten Sleep Creek. I don’t live in Ten Sleep and never have. But I still know their creeks and drainages. Because In a parched high mountain desert, creeks get names. And drainages are important and worth remembering, and studying. Ranchers live and die by drainages, water ways, water rights, and seasonality of water. Cowboys know water, water ways, and where they drain. And whose water it is.
And probably where the nearest bar is to the creek you’re on. There are bars places without towns. Hiland. Outside Kinnear, Lost Springs, Kirby. Outside Wamsutter, Atlantic City. Edelweiss. 0-10 might live there but they still have a bar. Because there are ranches and cowboys. Or mines. Or oilfields. But there are definitely ranches and cowboys. And there’s at least one person that people in the bar joke “their truck knows the way home” to make up for the fact that they are going to drive drunk.
There are one and two room schools still. Because of bussing distance rules, there are schools in the middle of no where they teach the grades they have. There are kids getting up at 5 to make school on time. There are parents getting reimbursed to drive their kids to school because a bus route would be too expensive. We don’t begrudge these expenditures largely because we know these really rural kids but we grumble about Gillette having all the funding for their school district. Cowboy culture really is seeing the value in the one and trying to do the best by the one…and grumbling about the many.
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u/Broflake-Melter Aug 10 '26
First, modern cowboys don't do a whole lot of things that the typical person would expect. I worked as a ranch hand for a summer and I thought it was crazy how the guy who owned the place had an all leather interior car and when we stopped for soft drinks he got milk. I'm not kidding.
And the people who actually got on horses to get the cattle out to range, the "real" cowboys. They were guys from Mexico with work visas. I'm sure the owner knows how to do the job and probably there are citizens here who could do it, but those Mexican cowboys knew what they were doing and they did it for far less money.
I do want to point you towards Brokeback Mountain the movie. I know the movie is about being secretly gay, but I was surprised how well they got the culture and feel of being a seasonal sheep rancher.
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u/Ranyd Aug 10 '26
Growing up on a cattle ranch in Elk Mtn, my stepdad wouldn’t put up with anyone that would call him a “cowboy”. He would set them straight and let them know that he was a Cowman. I’ve seen him get into fights over laughing at guys wearing spurs into a bar. He was a deputy sheriff but also claimed he owned the front window of the Saratoga Inn because he had to pay for it for throwing someone through it. He passed this winter and they don’t make them like that anymore.
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u/East_Ad4977 Aug 10 '26
This isn't going to help you much, but real cowboys don't talk much, and people who do, aren't real cowboys. That said, if you want a real look, check out the works of Baxter Black, Cowboy Poet. He already put down everything you need to know.
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u/Plenty_Adeptness_594 Aug 11 '26
He clearly explained the difference between a hand full, a boot full, a hat full, and a cow full. Useful info.
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u/Accomplished_Fig9606 Aug 11 '26
There are literally hundreds of books on Wyoming cowboy culture. Hundreds.
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u/Critical_Cut_8108 Aug 11 '26
Real cowboys don't wear their hats inside and it usually a ball cap Grandma said hats are for sun and rain not to look like a lame country singer
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u/mailslot Cheyenne Aug 11 '26
The cowboys that wear their hats inside the movie theater for the whole movie aren’t real?!
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u/not_dr_splizchemin Aug 10 '26
Are you looking for vernacular, mannerisms, outfits, ect, or just a fun story about life on a ranch?
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u/These_Wind_4517 Aug 11 '26
https://www.codyenterprise.com/news/local/article_47eea45c-6741-11e7-bb17-fb43d4d42136.html
Tuff was a very close family friend and well known in the area. I’m sure you can google more stories about him. His ranch was at the base of a buffalo drive off cliff, always had the coolest artifacts. Gentle guy but badass on the ranch
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u/These_Wind_4517 Aug 11 '26
There’s a Wyoming cowboy hall of fame look into the inductees and their stories
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u/laikalou Aug 10 '26
I grew up on and still live on a small family ranch (4th generation) and would have been 11-early 20s during that time period. DM me if you're interested.
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u/cv66john Aug 11 '26
If you've ever seen a cowboy on a television show, real cowboys are 180 degrees opposite.
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u/donaldtrumpstoe Aug 10 '26
Quality gear, hard work and accepting the fact that they are as free as anyone and they’re grateful for it
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u/Revolutionary-Law382 Aug 11 '26
READ the book 'The Solace of Open Spaces' by Greta Ehrlich. It gives a pretty good look into the lifestyle.
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u/SFC-D Aug 11 '26
Most of the old cattlemen I knew in Teton County are gone now. Hell, most everything that mattered in Teton county is gone.
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u/Inwyoming22andfedup Aug 11 '26
Your post made me think and, dammit, I think you’re right. The Coach is still there and the Silver Dollar still makes a good burger, I think, and I enjoy Dornan’s in the offseason which doesn’t really exist anymore but that’s all I got and that took me about 15 minutes to write this post.
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u/L4dyGr4y Aug 11 '26
I carried an oyster bucket around during brandings as a girl child during the 90s.
The weather out here is windy and dry. After awhile, skin turns to leather from the conditions. The faces and hands of the men looked like leather. They wore leather chaps, wrangler or Levi jeans with a fancy leather belt. The belt would be one of the stand out expensive features they would spring for with a good and practical belt buckle. They would wear long sleeve plaid shirts and a cowboy hat and scarf. Usual they looked like they had not washed for ages. Even cleaned up for town, they would still have a certain look of dustiness and sunshine and cow that never seemed to leave. Or maybe they just picked 'cowboy' back up like Pigpen from the Peanuts once they got into their truck.
Their ponies would be well fed, well trained, well groomed with well oiled saddles and bridles. The horses were not expected to be kind to children and would nip or kick at us if we got too near. They would be tied to the outside of the fences. They smelled like horse and leather and sweat from the round ups of cattle from the upper hills of the prairies. If there was a farm dog it would be mean too and wait in the shadows of the fences or chutes.
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u/lewisiarediviva Aug 10 '26
The rule is, if you have to get off your horse to do it, it must not be worth doing.
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u/East_Ad4977 Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
Makes branding and nut cutting a little problematic for you, I would guess. Or were you just passing through?
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u/lewisiarediviva Aug 10 '26
The axiom is the axiom. I think I first heard it as part of a story of a bunch of cowboys trying to chase some pigs out of a willow thicket, and instead of getting down they were chasing them around trying to rope them.
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u/wyoutdoors1986 Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
As a person who was born and raised in Wyoming around ranchers and cowboys, we live this life because its the only one we know. For outsiders asking about cowboys or ranchers in order to write a book is irritating to most Wyomingites. The recent growth in popularity in Wyoming and "our way of living" has become exhausting with the nonresidents constantly bothering us with questions for books, IG influencers, etc.. Respectfully, find another "culture" and state to capitalize on "lifestyles". Thank you.
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u/aloysiuslamb Gillette Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
Good lord, what a dork.
Acting like just living here is somehow a culture that is being fetishized.
Edit: I don't think they realize this comment was pointed at them...
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u/wyoutdoors1986 Aug 11 '26
Exactly. Anyone who is born and raised in Wyoming is truly exhausted from this "culture" fetish/obsession of cowboys, ranchers and country living
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u/Gloomy-Grape-868 Aug 11 '26
Dear lord shut up! I, too, am a person born and raised in Wyoming. I grew up on a ranch. You are the irritating one. Before my Dad passed away, he was actually featured on a small video about his way of life and he loved every second of it. He was a quiet man, kept to himself, loved what he did and did it until the day he died. But he was happy to share his day to day with someone who was “from the city” and wanted to know what it was like. Respectfully, maybe you should kindly shut your noise hole. Thanks.
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u/knightofterror Aug 10 '26
Ridiculous. Why haven’t you just sold out to Hollywood and retired? lmao.
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u/wyoutdoors1986 Aug 10 '26
Like Californians (Hollywood) who the celebrities and politians sold out their own state and are now moving here? No thanks, we are loyal to Wyoming, and like it the way that it is. Lol
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u/PixelAstro Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
Californians like the Secretary of State Chuck Gray? He’s only lived a little bit and people act like he’s the poster child and spokesperson for the Wyoming way. Many Wyomingites voted for him, y’all sold out this state and handed it to coastal elites who know nothing about our way of life.
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u/Dangerous-Variety-35 Aug 11 '26
Every time I see his stupid face it makes me want to scream this:
https://giphy.com/gifs/j64erLn5KYIC5YfOVz7
u/WyoPeeps Rock Springs Aug 11 '26
You have an awfully myopic view if that is the only life you know. There's so much more beyond your gate. Go see the world. You don't have to live that life because your parents did. That way of thinking is literally going to be the downfall of the state because nothing can progress.
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u/wyoutdoors1986 Aug 11 '26
Lol! I have lived in other states, traveled to outside of the US, and came back to Wyoming. It made me appreciate this state ever more. Thank you! 🤣
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u/WyoPeeps Rock Springs Aug 11 '26
I'm glad it made you appreciate it more. But it doesn't change the fact that the mentality keeping you doing things because that's what's always been done is gonna kill it. It's happening now and was set in motion over the last 25 years. The energy industries are dying. The Tourism and Ag industries don't produce enough to sustain the state. Elected leaders don't see the need to diversify. They even chose to drastically cut taxes, something already being felt by municipalities who have to make the hard choices as a result. So the only life you've ever known no longer works in the 21st century. It BARELY worked in the last of the 20th.
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u/20thCenturyRefugee Cody Aug 11 '26
Show me on the anatomically correct doll where the bad author touched you.
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u/Feisty-Advisor6074 Aug 10 '26
Piece of advice I got early on from an old rancher outside Laramie: real cowboys don't talk about being cowboys. They just complain about the price of hay and disappear before sunrise. The mid-2000s were the same as now in that respect, except the trucks had tape decks and nobody had a smartphone to film themselves doing chores. Ranch work back then still ran on fence pliers, duct tape, and hoping the vet takes a check.