Join the Elkhorn Ranch Crew!

Our crew often tells us that working at Elkhorn is one of the best experiences of their lives! Last year, 70% of our crew returned from the previous summer. During your time at Elkhorn, you’ll meet amazing people from all over the world and often leave with lifelong friends. Our 30 person crew is passionate about the outdoors and genuinely enjoys working with people.The ideal candidates for Elkhorn are team-players, self-motivated, hardworking, responsible, teachable, patient, and kind. Working and living with the same people can be difficult, so open communication with crew and managers is key throughout the summer. During your summer at Elkhorn, you’ll work hard but enjoy a fun and rewarding experience that you’ll never forget!

Our guest season runs mid-June to mid-September. The ideal applicant would be available from mid-May (June 1st at the latest) to mid-September (wranglers must be able to start work in mid-May). We will have a limited number of positions available for college students who need to return to school in mid to end of August. A small number of crew members will be asked to stay until mid-October. Please include the dates you are available in your application. We are not currently hiring for any year-round positions. 

Working on a dude ranch is not your typical 40 hour work week. You will have one day off each week and be able to participate in guest activities when available. You will usually work a half day on Saturday unless we have 2-week guests. Please do not apply if you’re not comfortable working long hours.

Your room and board will be provided at no cost to you. You will most likely live in shared housing with 1 or more roommates. There will be wifi in your cabin and in the crew room. However, there is no wifi or cell service anywhere else on ranch. First-year employees are not allowed to bring a pet to the ranch. 

Please read through the entire job description(s) before applying. We appreciate your interest and patience as we look through applications. We’re a small team of managers so please allow up to 2 weeks for us to review your application. If you need to reach out with any questions, please email [email protected] and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

If you see "POSITION FILLED," that means the role has been filled for the season. However, we encourage you to submit an application and we will contact you if anything changes.

POSITION FILLED - Breakfast Cook/Baker: Seeking a team-player, with cooking and baking experience to be our Breakfast Cook and Baker and cook upscale ranch-style cuisine. Our Breakfast Cook/Baker reports directly to our Head Chef for meal-planning, inventory, scheduling etc. Responsibilities include making breakfast for up to 40 guests and 30 crew members throughout the week, accommodating dietary restrictions when needed (gluten free, vegan, nut allergies etc), baking cookies and desserts, maintaining a clean and sanitary kitchen, and working with our servers and Head Chef to ensure smooth service. Breakfast is always served as a buffet with a different breakfast special each day. You can be creative with breakfast specials, cookies and desserts. You may be asked to make lunch or dinner if our Head Chef is sick. While working in a kitchen can be stressful and fast paced at times, it is incredibly important to keep calm under pressure and treat the kitchen crew with respect at all times. The ideal candidate can stay through end of September or mid-October.

POSITION FILLED - Cabin Crew/Housekeeping: Seeking detail-oriented, organized, self starters to join our cabin crew. Responsibilities include daily cleaning of our 14 historic guest cabins and common areas, laundry, and weekly flip of all cabins on Saturdays. Cabin crew is also expected to help in other departments when needed including outdoor chores, dishwashing, office help etc. Hours for cabin crew are often the most flexible hours of any ranch jobs allowing you time to relax and enjoy ranch life. The ideal candidate can stay through our entire guest season (mid-September).

POSITION FILLED - Wrangler: Our wrangler's primary responsibility is to lead our guests safely into the backcountry. Responsibilities include but are not limited to guiding and tailing trail rides, caring for over 100 horses, teaching guests basic horsemanship skills, maintaining tack and equipment, fencing, trail clearing, general ranch maintenance, cleaning the barn, bringing along young and green horses, basic doctoring and wrangling in the morning and evening. You must be hardworking and a team-player; this role will require you to work long and hard hours, including very early mornings. Wranglers must have a teachable attitude and take direction from our Head Wrangler as Elkhorn’s operation will be unique from any other barn. Wranglers must have extensive horseback and horsemanship experience to be considered. The ideal candidate is a team-player, self-starter, calm under pressure, responsible, and professional. While this is a horseback riding role, this is primarily a customer service position! You must be patient and kind to guests while ensuring their safety. You will help guests build horsemanship skills throughout the week. Many of our guests are returners, while others have never been on a horse before. Please submit a riding video in order to be considered for this position. We will need to see you catch, halter, groom, saddle, bridle and ride (walk/trot/lope). If you have little to no horse experience, please do not apply.

POSITION FILLED - Kitchen Server: Looking for team-players who are passionate about customer service to join our kitchen crew of 5 servers. Responsibilities include setting up buffet-style meals in our dining room and cookouts on the trail, some basic food preparation, dishwashing, serving beer and wine, and maintaining a clean kitchen and dining room. While most of your time will be spent serving meals in the dining room, we also head outside 3 times a week to cook over a fire and share a meal on the trail. This position includes a lot of interaction with guests and servers are expected to conduct themselves in a professional and friendly manner at all times. Previous serving experience is not necessary but would be helpful. The ideal candidate can stay through our guest season (mid-September). However, there will be a couple openings for students who need to leave for school in August.

POSITION FILLED - Naturalist Float/YNP Tour Guide/Driver (must be 21 or over): A passion for fly fishing and the outdoors is required for this position. If you’re a jack of all trades who can go with the flow, this position is for you! Responsibilities include guiding driving tours of YNP 2-3 times a week for our guests, filling in for our fly fishing and hiking guides when needed, picking up and dropping off guests at the airport, running errands, assisting other departments and helping anywhere and everywhere as needed. This position will require being flexible, a team-player, eager to learn, and having a positive attitude. You must be 21 years of age or older to be able to drive guests. The ideal candidate can stay through our guest season (mid-September).

POSITION FILLED - Kid’s Wrangler/Peanut Butter Parent (PBP): At Elkhorn, our kid’s program is truly a one of a kind, lifechanging experience thanks to our PBPs. The ideal candidate is responsible, hardworking, patient, kind and calm under pressure. This position will require you to work long and hard hours. Responsibilities include leading or tailing kid’s rides, coordinating games and supervising play on ranch, and, most importantly, ensuring the safety of the Peanuts (ages 6-12) at all times. Horseback riding experience is required for this role. Kid’s Wranglers must be patient and help the Peanuts build horsemanship skills throughout the week, while keeping a close eye on them at all times to ensure their safety while riding. Previous experience with kids ages 6-12 is preferred but is not required. That being said, you must enjoy spending time with kids! Please submit a riding video in order to be considered for this position. We will need to see you catch, halter, groom, saddle, bridle and ride (walk/trot/lope). If you have little to no horse experience, please do not apply for this role and please consider applying for our babysitter/PBP position. Please familiarize yourself with our kid’s program page on our website before applying. Must be able to stay through our family season (August 23rd).

POSITION FILLED - Babysitter/Peanut Butter Parent (PBP): If you’re interested in working with our kid’s program but you don’t have any riding experience, this role is for you! This is a 2-part position so please read the entire job description. When we don’t have children under 6 on ranch, you’ll be expected to work as a team with our Kid’s Wranglers/ PBPs to help coordinate games and activities for our Peanuts (ages 6-12), supervise meals and play times, and most importantly ensure the safety of our peanuts at all times. You might occasionally be asked to help our Kid’s Wrangler/PBPs on a trail ride when they need help supervising multiple peanuts. However, this would not require you to have any experience with horses. When we have children under 6 on the ranch, you would be a dedicated caretaker for no more than 1-2 children under 6 at a time. During those weeks, you would not be expected to help with the Peanuts (6-12). Previous babysitting experience with references is required. Please familiarize yourself with our kid’s program page on our website before applying for this role. Must be able to stay through our family season (August 23rd).

POSITION FILLED - Babysitter (week-long position): If you’re dreaming of working on a dude ranch but you can’t spend the entire summer away, you can join our crew for 1-2 weeks during the summer as a sitter! You would be a dedicated caretaker for 1 child between the age of 1-5 for the entire week. Responsibilities include working with the family to coordinate your hours, playing games with the little one outside and in our Rec Hall, and most importantly ensuring their safety throughout the week. You must be willing to work long hours and be flexible throughout the week. Previous babysitter experience and references are required. We will provide you with housing, meals, and airport transportation at no charge for the week. You will be responsible for for your flights to and from Bozeman airport. Hourly pay rate is based on experience.

All Elkhorn Ranch crew members will be expected to help out in any department when necessary.