Hawkeye Is Hiring
It is unforgettable to live and work at Hawkeye for a season—or, commonly, for many seasons. Our diligent and adventurous staff of 15 serves guest families in the grandeur of Yellowstone Country. We invite you to consider joining us.
Our 2025 season runs from May 18 through September 6. Because we review applications on a rolling basis, those who apply far in advance of the 2025 season will be considered with higher priority. We also give priority to applicants who are available to work for the entire season. We do regularly hire staff who are only available for the majority of the season (at least 8 weeks); if this describes you we encourage you to submit an application. Applicants must be at least 19 years old, or slated to begin as college sophomores in the fall of 2025.
All Hawkeye employees will be expected to fill in anywhere and everywhere, in all types of work, as necessary.
Staff will be expected to work six days a week, and long hours are common. Because employees live, eat, and pray together daily, you need to already possess exceptional interpersonal skills, especially the skills of promoting peace and resolving conflict without drama. Your stint at Hawkeye will be a success if you master the complexities of running a ranch, grow in workmanship, serve our guests with the heart of Christ, and finish the summer wanting to recommend the experience to a dear friend. Ranch work is famously hard; submitting to its demands will give you virtues that will help you succeed in any future endeavor.
Testimonials
Ainsley Martignetti—
“I worked for Hawkeye during two summers in between studies at Wyoming Catholic College. Working at a ranch had always been a subtle interest of mine, but it never seemed achievable for someone like me, with no previous experience. I applied anyway and was hired, first to handle housekeeping and then to work as an assistant wrangler and kitchen assistant. The best things about Hawkeye are the beautiful remote location, and the family-like community that developed among the staff. The drawbacks of Hawkeye are i) the daily need to pick up slack from other co-workers (who might not always be pulling their weight), and ii) the intermittent outages on staff’s wifi, which makes it difficult to communicate with people off the ranch. My advice to aspiring employees is: don’t apply for this position if you think this is an easy 9-5 job with a ranch vacation after hours. However, this is a fantastic, unique opportunity to learn the inner workings of a dude ranch and to be a part of a beautiful Christian mission.”
Peter Vandal—
“I grew up in a family of eight on a small farm in North Dakota. I’ve done carpentry, have a degree in automotive technology, and have completed numerous mission trips with Hard as Nails Ministry, and I’ve led several mission trips myself. I’ve always wanted to work on a ranch and was looking for a place to immerse myself in God’s creation. The best part of Hawkeye was watching families experience this unique location and all it has to offer. I also really enjoyed the opportunity to ride horses in the mountains. The worst part of Hawkeye is giving up what you want to do, and doing what needs done to keep the ranch running smoothly. Being on a ranch can be fun at times and even a dream come true. Remember to always be grateful and thank fellow employees for a job well done. Being a ranch hand takes dying to oneself and hard work at all hours of the day.”
Barrett Baldwin—
“The summer working at Hawkeye as a chef was righteous. Hawkeye is located on one of the most spectacular pieces of planet earth, and it is a magnet for many magnanimous and memorable characters. That being said, working there as a chef was definitely not a walk in the park: trying to coordinate with the different activities and other ranch hands, all while trying to satisfy guests’ big appetites, required flexibility, resilience, resourcefulness, and lots of energy. Working as a chef also made daily Mass difficult to attend, but with some finagling, my spiritual needs were still met. All in all, if I had to summarize my time at Hawkeye, I’d say you get out of it exactly what you put into it. If you are the type of person who only does the bare minimum, your ranch experience will be disappointing and you shouldn’t apply. If instead you give it your all without counting the cost, you’ll find yourself encompassed by astonishing beauty, wise and inspiring men and women, and the satisfaction that only ranch work can offer.”
Positions:
Wrangler / Ranch Hand
Hawkeye wranglers work long hours keeping guests safe on horseback and keeping our herd of 30 horses healthy; and then pitch in on the weekends to help turn over cabins. Your primary duties would include all things equestrian / agricultural. Pasture management, ditchwork, moving hay, maintaining tack are some of the things that need to be done when you’re not on a horse. You must be able to work honorably without supervision, and you must be systematic and diligent to ensure the safety of our riders. We conduct a clinic-style horse program, which allows guests to leave with a sense of accomplishment and horsemanship that they can use again elsewhere. We pride ourselves on fostering an appropriate level of risk that creates the right conditions for growth; a critical part of a wrangler’s job is knowing how much risk is suitable and prudent for any particular guest. You will coach guests through any fears that may arise, while also mastering your own. In addition, you will be expected to carry yourself with hard-earned confidence and mirth, both of which help to promote calm among our horses and de-escalate the occasional dicey situation. If you are vivified by horses and by long, hard hours in the pristine wilderness of Yellowstone Country, please fill out an application. Verifiable work experience is required in order to be a wrangler at Hawkeye.
Head Chef
All guest activities center around the meal schedule. Because Hawkeye physically taxes its guests, serving an abundance of tasty food, with punctuality, is a critical job. The head chef, with or without an extra assistant, is responsible for dependably serving three meals a day, seven days a week, so that guests can receive the gift of table fellowship and get out to their other activities on time. The consequences of a late meal are awful: employees schedules are disrupted and guest activities risk cancellation. The kitchen and pantry are your work areas and they must remain spotless and organized at all times to increase productivity and reduce food spoilage and waste. You’ll need to put in more hours than other staff members, and you’ll need to thrive in the high-stress kitchen environment. Because of our trust in your high level of experience and competence, you’ll receive little to no oversight the entire season. Some other important aspects of running the kitchen include: meal planning; putting in the weekly food order from the wholesaler; minimizing waste; anticipating the greenhouse’s harvest and featuring its produce in your recipes; and delegating tasks to your other kitchen staff to operate the kitchen at peak efficiency. Relevant, verifiable work experience is required to be the Hawkeye Chef.
Sous Chef
The Hawkeye sous chef is responsible for reducing the stress that would otherwise fall upon the head chef. The position requires you to put in long hours beside the chef, to help the kitchen operate with as little friction as possible. The sous chef must take accurate inventory every week before the food order gets placed, in order to avoid surplus expenditure and spoilage. Generally speaking this position will pick up any slack left by the chef. An eye for detail is indispensable, and the ability to calmly multi-task is non-negotiable. If the head chef were to miss something, the sous chef would ideally take control of the missing task without the head chef even noticing. You’ll need to put in as many hours as the head chef, and along with the head chef, hours worked will be greater than some other staff members. Verifiable work experience is required for this position.
Child Care
Hawkeye is proud to offer the highest level of childcare, as staff prize the interior and exterior well-being of the kids under their charge. Parents must have good reason to feel safe and secure leaving their kids with you, so that they can be freed up for rugged activities that promote their growth as adults. The ideal candidate is creative and ready to engage with kids of all ages, everyday, with patience and grace. Some days there might be games and crafts in the indoor craft room; but we prefer to have the kids outside as much as possible, absorbed in Montessori-style works in the flower beds and the greenhouse and at the river. Staff must be ever vigilant to ensure no children sneak off unattended. Some weeks will have more kids than others but we average 10-12 kids requiring supervision.
Housekeeping / Floater
Do you have an eye for detail and good order? Hawkeye guests are given the gift of daily housekeeping and tidying throughout the week, which includes cleaning the common areas (lodge, pond area, games lawn, movie theater, bar, and show lawn), restrooms, and guest cabins. On Saturdays, you will run the laundry room to make sure that all ranch staff can swiftly turn over cabins in advance of the next group’s arrival. Housekeeping duties occupy the mornings, and during afternoons you will be expected to fill in at other areas of the ranch.
Gardening / Floater
We have a big greenhouse and outdoor raised beds, as well as a berry patch and an herb garden. All of this needs to be maintained and harvested. Ideally, the staff are communicating with the chef about what vegetables are coming ripe for proper meal planning. There are also various flowers and and planters around the property that must be regularly watered and weeded. Additionally you will be expected to fill in at other areas of the ranch, as needed.
Landscaping / Ranch Hand
Hawkeye staff help make the desert bloom. In an arid valley we maintain two acres of manicured lawn. It needs to be cut and trimmed regularly, and staff must be vigilant about killing all manner of noxious and invasive weeds. Additionally, we’ll need you to be attentive to any broken and undermaintained corners of the ranch, and fix them with as much self-sufficiency as possible. This includes but is not limited to: light bulbs, sprinkler water lines, mowers, trimmers, bikes, plumbing. Finally we have several construction projects ongoing, to which you’ll be asked to lend your hands and head and judgment wherever possible.