Gerry Dean Endecott was born August 13, 1943. He grew up on his family’s farm in Squirrel, Idaho, with his five siblings. His family raised cattle for both dairy and beef, as well as pigs. From a young age, Gerry learned the value of hard work. At four years old, he was driving a team of four horses with loads of hay from the fields with his dad, brothers, and uncles. In the summer months, he helped neighbors move cattle from their ranches to pastures in the surrounding mountains. As a teenager, Gerry and his brother purchased a mare and raised a couple colts, that they later broke to ride. After graduating from North Fremont High School in 1961, Gerry went to Idaho Falls to work. There he met his wife, Rusty. They got married January 26, 1968, and had five children.
In 1968, Gerry and his family moved to Big Piney, where he worked for Bob and Helen O’Neil at the O’Neil Hereford Ranch. The ranch raised purebred horned Herefords and sold registered bulls. Gerry’s daughter, Jan, recalls helping her dad with horn branding the cows, putting registered tattoos in the calves’ ears, and putting horn weights on some of the bulls. Gerry halter broke many of these registered bulls.
In 1985, the ranch sold, and Gerry started to work for Mike and Tara Miller at Miller Land and Livestock in Big Piney. There he broke countless horses to drive. He would harness a colt in the “bronc stall” in the barn and pair it up with a well-seasoned horse. After the colt was broke to drive, Gerry would add the colt to a four abreast team.
By 1991, Gerry and his family moved on to the Antelope Run Ranch in Boulder, Wyoming. At this ranch, they mostly ran Angus cattle, but they also had some Longhorn cross cattle. These cattle were highly protective and fast travelers. One spring, Gerry needed to doctor a calf with scours. To doctor this calf, he roped it and tied it to the fence, then he chased the cow to the other side of the pasture, then he raced back, and had it doctored just in time for the mother cow to come back. While at the Antelope Run Ranch, Gerry purchased and owned some cattle for a few years.
In 1994, Gerry and Rusty moved to Bondurant, where he worked for the Little Jennie Ranch. They were there for 24 years until Gerry’s retirement in 2018. Bondurant is major snow country, so Gerry spent most days feeding cattle in the winter with a team of four horses. He fed with a team at every ranch he worked at until 2006 when the new owners of the Little Jennie Ranch decided to switch to tractors and bale processors. From spring to fall, Gerry spent every day on his horse checking cattle. He would often ride in the mornings to check on the cattle and spend the afternoons irrigating hay meadows, fixing equipment, or harvesting hay.
After calving out 800 cows in the spring at the Little Jennie Ranch, Gerry would coordinate cattle drives from the ranch to summer pastures in the surrounding Wyoming Range and Gros Ventre Mountains. In addition to the pairs, the ranch ran yearlings in these U.S. Forest allotments. He managed 1,441 head of cattle in three allotments in the Hoback, Granite Creek, and Jack Creek areas. These high mountain pastures required many hours and many miles of riding since cattle were scattered all over. In the fall, Gerry would spend weeks rounding up cattle in the mountains to bring back to the ranch for shipping and to settle into winter. When looking for missing cattle, Gerry and other cowboys would often joke, “If you see them, you go and get them.” Even when other cowboys found cattle in hard to get at places, Gerry never hesitated to go after them.
Gerry can read cattle and anticipate their next moves better than most cowboys. Katherine Campbell Bond, a Hoback Basin rancher and neighbor recalled, “in the summers when there were cattle drives up to the high-country, Gerry would always be in the lead, pointing the cattle in the right direction. When the destination was met, there were always several cattle that need doctoring. Gerry’s loop, even in the tall sagebrush or slick hillsides, rang true more often than not.”
Gathering cattle in these mountains can be relentless and unforgiving. Gerry could always see the best way to get the cattle out with his calm demeanor and practical mind. Katherine Campbell Bond shared a story, “in the late fall during back riding, a bunch of nine yearlings were found on the other side of frozen Shoal Creek. It was Gerry, the leader as usual, that found a place to get the horses and four other riders across the ice so they could get around the cattle. The effort to get the yearlings to cross the ice and rolling rocky creek seemed like it would be easier to let the wolves have the yearlings, but Gerry put everyone in the right place, and with the knowledge of how a yearling thinks, the crew got the cattle across and home.”
Gerry has always had a passion for horses and cowboying. Every good cowboy relies on a good horse to get the job done, and Gerry always trained the best horses. It was important that he passed this passion on to his children, so he taught all of them how to cowboy. He taught them how to break horses, how to take care of their horses’ feet, and to take care of their tack. He taught his children that in order to be a cowboy, you need to take care of your horse. They learned to trim their own horses’ feet and he would put on shoes. In addition to teaching his children, Gerry passed on his cowboy knowledge to many other ranch hands.
Gerry relied on good cow dogs to help him get the job done. He has the ability to train amazing and loyal dogs. He will credit the dogs as having lots of knowledge, but it was his guidance that made them superior workers. His daughter Jan notes, “My dad always trained and made the best horses and cow dogs. There wasn’t a critter that could get away from my dad.”
During Gerry’s little free time, he completed leather projects making chaps, belts, headstalls, halters, wallets, and many more items. He also made a saddle and used it for years.
At 81 years old, Gerry Endecott still helps many ranchers in Sublette County, including Bob Beard, David Noble, Tony Saunders, and the Campbells. David Noble, a rancher in the Cora Valley wrote, “When moving cattle, Gerry can be told where to start and point to where to end, and without extra details he knows where to be at the right place at the right time. He is a calm presence and exceptionally aware of livestock and people. He always has good advice. Additionally, his horsemanship and dog handling abilities are remarkable. He is one of my favorite people to ride with.”
Bondurant rancher and cowboy, Kevin Campbell shares, “I’ve ranched and cowboyed with Gerry Endecott for 30 years. What a pleasure that has been. He is very good at what he does, which has been ranching and cowboying. That is all he has ever done. Very good horseback. Very good with a rope. Far more deserving of this honor than most. What a good neighbor. What a good friend.” When Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame cowboy Bob Beard was asked about Gerry, he said, “I haven’t ridden with a better cowboy than Gerry Endecott.”
Gerry credits his wife, Rusty, for standing by him and supporting him throughout his career and said that he would never be the cowboy he is without her. His daughter Jan writes, “The best days of my life were spent with my dad. I learned hard work, honesty, and integrity is everything. My dad is always laughing and joking, and made the cowboy life fun. People light up when they see my dad. You can’t help but smile.”