Kay Clark
Entrepreneur, Outfitter and Cowgirl.
Name: Kay Lee Clark
Age: 58
Roots: Powell, Wyoming
Websites:
Favorite Designers: Carole Little, Christine Alexander, Olathe boots, Michael Horse Turquoise
If you find someone that gets more done in a day than Kay, I’d be surprised. She does it all. But, what makes her really stand out is her ability to adapt to any situation, along with her “get it done” attitude. She can lead a group of hunters into the mountains, and she’ll make sure that they fill their tags before they come back down. She’s managed a team at her hometown bank for over 30 years and she and her husband Jake are responsible for starting one of the most successful Mule Days in the country. And finally, one of her greatest accomplishments— beating a rare form of breast cancer.
In Her Words:
>I was raised on a farm in Wyoming and loved horses from the time that I was very small. I went on my first mountain pack trip into the Thorofare and Yellowstone Park when I was 5 years old. My sister was only 3 and we had our own little pup tent and sleeping bag.
>I always was my dad’s helper, and would catch the horses, help feed and did the chores outside. I grew up riding, mostly bareback. I thought I could ride like an Indian, I had great balance and could do everything bareback without falling off.
>I expanded my love of horses and the mountains when I began hunting with my dad at age 12. I shot my first deer when I was 14 and dressed it out myself. I was very self reliant and figured that I could handle anything a man could do.
>I helped build the family barn when I was 16. My dad was gone and I worked on building the trusses from a sample he had left for me. The barn turned out good, we worked together well. There were 4 box stalls on one side and tie in stalls on the other. This might be considered a good accomplishment for any girl, but I figured it was just part of what I was suppose to do.
>I started with a local bank right after a year and a half of college. I had to get a job when Jake and I got married, as he needed to go into boot camp. I was majoring in art and math and didn’t have much secretarial experience, but I had a good attitude and the officer knew my family. He knew us and that we were hard workers. I continued to take night classes and improved my typing abilities. It was hard on my supervisor, but we both made it through the first few years and became very good friends.
I worked as a secretary for about 8 years when I decided that I needed to strive to be more.
>After I had our two children, I took college classes at night and during my lunch hour. With my math background, I was given the task of setting up the first computer that our bank owned. This was one of my joys at work. I then went on to set up all new systems for the loan department, then onto manager of the loan documentation department. From there I became an officer and helped with various loans, personal and real estate. I worked providing reports to the board, analyzing various aspects of the banking business, and I did loan collections for the last few years I worked at the bank.
>Jake and I had other businesses as well, and I eventually “retired” in 2000, as our personal business was expanding and not enough time to do the type of job that I felt they each deserved.
The Jake Clark Mule Days:
>Jake, my husband, had a wild hair one spring…saying that we were going to put on a Mule Rodeo. I was up to my eyebrows in work and didn’t figure I had time for any more duties. I ignored his suggestions. He kept insisting that he was going to do this Rodeo and I kept ignoring him. I never saw anything written or a plan as to how this was going to get done. By April he continued to insist that it was going to happen, until I dropped my hands and said, “All right then, rather than let you screw it up, I’ll do it”. I’m sure this was what he wanted anyway, so I proceeded with one additional task.
A Passion for Hunting:
Kay’s first 6 point Bull Elk.
I’ve always loved hunting because it’s a time that you spend with family and close friends. I enjoy the mountains, the camping, campfires and the stories that are heard every year around the campfire. You learn each others idiosyncrasies and learn to work with them and even enjoy them. You have to work together to get things done, and depend on each other. Most of all I enjoy nature; the habitat and the wildlife. As you move through the wilderness to find the game that you’ve waited all year to find, you choose whether it’s the opportune time to provide food for your family or wait until another day. It’s stalking, tracking and working through the brush, trees, or meadows to accomplish being a hunter that can find and count coup on an animal. Whether you decide to take it or not, isn’t the issue, it’s that you knew enough to get where you were. Then you decide if the time is right for this year’s (or this lifetime’s) one and only trophy.
Kay with her black bear.
What’s Next?
>I’ve done everything from hoeing beets when I was 14 years old to a: car hop; secretary; computer semi-programmer; marketing manager; loan officer; manager; administrative analyst; loan collector for the banking business; cook; outfitting guide; packer; entertainer; storyteller; event promoter; designer for the outfitting business; mule expert; organizer, web developer; merchandiser and secretary for Jake Clark’s Mule Days. It’s always good when you can work with great people and a great husband.
>Besides serving on the Board for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation for 6 years, I have also served as a board member for the Western Design Conference that took place in Cody, Wyoming annually and I am currently a board member for the Wyoming State 4-H Foundation.
>I’ve always learned from my experiences. I don’t like making mistakes, and try to learn from them after the first time. It has helped with my marketing, designing ads and creating my websites.
>After getting my personality assessment while still at the bank, I was told that I love to climb a mountain and when I’ve gotten to the top that I look around for another mountain to climb. This is very true, I love to make a great event or a great business work well and then once I feel I’m at my peak, I want to find something else to build up. I get bored with repetition and I get bored when there is no more challenges.
>My husband once said that he has time for just one more big hoorah! I believe that I too am nearing my time and interest in creating a developing a great event. I’ve nearly reached the top of my mountain in the outfitting business and the Mule Days event, as I’m seeing the summit. Whether I still feel like climbing that next mountain or not, we will have to see.
Closet Staples: Concho belt, a great pair of earrings, wool pants, wind stopper jacket/vest, fancy shirts (except when cleaning stalls), Wranglers-all venues, my Christine Alexander jacket, variety of vests.
Favorite Magazine: Money Magazine
Favorite Movie: “Something to Talk About” with Julia Roberts and Dennis Quaid and Robert Duval
Favorite Place to eat: The more upscale restaurants in Las Vegas, Nevada
Favorite Food: Parmesan & feta creamed chicken; grilled peach with a blueberry/lemon/brown sugar center; coconut shrimp and pineapple sauce.
Motto: “Perseverance and a great attitude is all it takes!”
Dogs or cats? Both
Favorite Western Event:
Our Saddle Mule Days, held here in Ralston, Wyoming. It’s every father’s day in June. I love to see old friends, meet new comers and hear them say they “Loved” our event.
Favorite Places to Shop:
Red Lodge, Montana
Favorite Websites:
Anything about self improvement
Favorite Horse Bloodlines: Frenchman’s Guy, Doc O’Dynamite, Sun Frost. They have great minds, are great to ride and wonderful partners.
Favorite piece of tack: Handmade saddle by Glen Ernst
Favorite horse event to watch: Kentucky Derby
Favorite horse event to participate in: Ranch sorting, and I love to get the horses started in pole bending and barrel racing.
Favorite part of your day: After everyone else is in bed (asleep), I turn the TV to anything I want to watch, turn on my electric mattress pad…and just veg out for about 15-30 minutes before I fall asleep.
Favorite thing to do: Go with a girlfriend to lunch/dinner/shopping, and just act like kids, laugh, get their opinions, enjoy their company!
What things are simply amazing to you: My grandchildren’s completely innocent eye’s, beautiful mountain flowers, sunsets, simple breezes, how time engrains it’s signature on the Mountains, and trees.
>Marketing, planning, promoting, organizing, event breakdown, letters to people we knew, press releases and finally the Rodeo was a reality. It went well, but the majority of people there were our friends, whether they rode their own mules or rode some we had, we had our first Mule Days event. After that, it’s history and the next year we added an auction.
>One of our friends was selling a mule named Amos Moses that was only 5 years old that a friend. When he rode this mule into the ring, he was a little taller than most, had a racy look to him, a good eye, and would lay down with a little coaxing. The bidding was high and before I knew it my husband announced that he was bidding on this mule. It was up to $6,000. This was the highest price we’d heard a mule going for in these days and at $7,000 we were the new owners of a “great” mule. Although I walked away from the ring, wondering just how the hell we were going to pay for this mule, it turned out that the word spread like wildfire about the high selling price.
>The next year we had more mules and better mules than we’d ever seen in one bunch before. We were on the verge of creating our niche in the mule industry and didn’t even realize it.
>I now plan Mule Days beginning in November/December and when it’s done in June, I’m also done for a few days. We sell over 100 head of select saddle mules and I do all the emails, contact all the consignors, complete the catalogue, get the advertisers, vendors, buckle donors and major supporters. We have over 70 businesses that are involved with our Mule Days in one way or another. We work to create events where the mule will have the opportunity to be better each year and show it’s maneuverability, agility, and basic good nature for each event. We have team sorting, team penning and mounted shooting as well as many of the normal rodeo events along with some events that our crowd and myself love to see: Wild Cow Milking, Wild Ride (Mule Bronc riding) and Ribbon Roping.
Managing the Outfitting Business:
>After we were married, Jake’s uncle put his outfitting business up for sale. It was only natural for us to buy it. The first year we had 3 guests, not a great start for any first time business. Although my husband was discouraged, we gradually got more and more guests and today we have all our summer and fall trips full.
>Perseverance and a great attitude is all it takes. Jake always said that he just needed to provide his guests with a great hunt and I always insisted that we needed to make sure they had great meals. Together we have given our guests a great time. We have accumulated great stories over the years.
>We had two hunting camps across the ridge from each other. After we began to get a few more hunters, Jake would hunt in the northern camp and I’d go with my crew and run the southern camp. My dad would cook for Jake’s camp, and I would cook for my camp. We’d have fresh pies, homemade bread, turkey and dressing, ham and sweet potatoes, just to name a few. We didn’t have bear problems back then and if the hunters had trouble making contact with their game, I would finish breakfast and head out with them in the morning. I’d make sure they got something come hell or high water. With some extra effort, we would generally get our guests at least two or three elk in a day. Whether my being a part of it worked or not, I don’t know, but I do remember doing this on more than one occasion. I’d come back to camp with my hunters and find that my pies had all been eaten. This told me that Jake had been over to see just how we were doing. We didn’t have cell phones back then, so this was my form of communication. Had he stuck around after eating the pies, he would have found out that we’d done just fine!
>Jake was always adamant that we packed the guests out properly. He would ride over the night before and be sure to let me know that ‘he’d be back in the morning once he got his camp packed up and headed out, to help us get ours done. This used to really irritate me, and I would always announce to my crew that the outfitter was going to come over and help us with our job.
>I’d reiterate that we new our job very well and we didn’t need his assistance and that we’d be done packing by the time he got here. Whether he planned this or not, it worked and as we were packing up the last mule, Jake would be riding into camp. It was always good to know that we didn’t have to have his help.
Supporting the Land and Wildlife:
>Jake and I have both been close to the mountains, the habitat and the wildlife that flourishes in our vast backcountry. We’ve shared these things with our family and friends for not only our lifetime, but our forefather’s lifetimes.
>We cherish the things that we were raised around. We hope our lifestyle, as well as the countryside that we’ve loved, will continue to exist for our grandchildren and their grandchildren. With this in mind, we became involved with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation in 1986 with a struggling outfitting business. We became very involved by volunteering our time and knowledge with auctions and event planning, creating a national convention for RMEF. It has turned into a great annual event.
>Jake’s expertise with people and my involvement with displaying and auctioning merchandise, we helped to grow the annual auction into a million dollar event. I was very blessed to be the annual emcee for the ladies luncheon and I’ve served on the national Board for 6 years.
One of the mules offered at the Clark Mule Day’s Sale.
Kay (far right) awarding a saddle to the high bidders at the Jake Clark Mule sale.
Kay at age five. A cowgirl from the start.