SESONAL JOB APPLICANT INFORMATION

ABOUT ELKHORN RANCH

Elkhorn Ranch, located in the rugged Baboquivari Mountains southwest of Tucson, Arizona, is a guest ranch offering horseback riding and comfortable living for about 32 guests. The Miller Family has owned and operated Elkhorn continuously since 1945 and enjoys the friendship of many returning guests and crew. The ranch is located about 1.5 hours drive from Tucson. On a map, follow Ajo Highway/Route 86 southwest out of Tucson; head south at Three Points onto Sasabe Highway/Route 286; the ranch road is between milepost 26 and 25; take the ranch road 7 miles to the very end. Driving directions

GENERAL JOB DESCRIPTION

Working at Elkhorn is about making our guests feel like part of our family and helping them enjoy the country horseback. With a small crew, every job is vital and pulling your weight is a must. The crew gathers in October to open the ranch — a time for getting to know fellow crew, our family, and the ways of the ranch. Guests arrive in mid-November and the season continues through April with the possibility of a week or so of post-season work to help close the ranch in early May. Appreciation of the outdoors and rural living makes the winter here a treat — if you need city life, we are most likely not the place for you.

THE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE

You can begin and end each day with birdsong in the background and usually an above average sunrise or sunset. It is quiet here, well away from town. If you need daily Starbucks, we’re not the place for you. If you can go weeks without driving your car, you’ll be right at home. If you like the outdoors, hiking, peace and quiet — you’ll love it. If you seek a horseback guiding position, you’ll find rugged and scenic country, good horses to learn from and teach, and traditional western cowboy culture.

There’s a pretty solid corps of returning crew ranging in age from late 20s into 60s. As a winter operation, the crew does not tend to be a college age crowd — though we always have people in their early 20s on the crew. The social dynamics vary year-to-year depending on the crowd, but the nearest bar is a solid hour away and sometimes evenings are quiet. People need to make their own fun — with late night campfires being the usual approach to a crew party. Crew are invited to all ranch social functions, and usually there’s some sort of ranch supported social function just for crew about once a month. If you seek a party every night, you might be a bit bored here — and given our long season, you’d be exhausted, if you found one.

Speaking of long season, one of the biggest differences between Elkhorn Ranch AZ and many seasonal jobs is the long season. In comparison to summer seasons, we are barely hitting our stride in mid-January after crew have been here about 3 months — the equivalent of many summer seasons. We often say that our season is more of a marathon in comparison to the sprint of a summer season. Some people find this very difficult, particularly if they work back to back seasons without any break in between. We aim to treat our crew well here.

We take maintenance of crew housing seriously, do our best to have plenty of good food available, try to be supportive when issues and challenges come up. We strive to be fair and have jobs clearly defined. We encourage people to value each others’ privacy (which can be difficult in close quarters). That said, we are not white glove wearing rules and regulatio