Enjoys hunting, fishing & the great outdoors
Wood River High School junior Garrett Lovell, carrying a 3.7 grade point average and a member of National Honor Society, loves the outdoors, whether it is ranching with his dad or hunting and fishing.
Born in the Wood River Valley, Lovell’s family is in the process of moving to a 25-acre ranch south of Bellevue. It will be home to their 25 head of black Angus cattle and assorted animals.
“It’s been awesome growing up here in a small town,” Lovell said. “There’s just so many activities for you, like hunting and fishing, riding horses and participating in 4-H.”
He also fills out his schedule by working at The Pioneer Saloon in Ketchum.
Besides ranching, Lovell’s father works in the construction business, which led to a job for Garrett framing houses last summer. He is also in the Construction Academy at WRHS.
“I really learned a lot last summer,” he said. “This is my second year at the Academy, where we build structures in the shop. This year I’m building a shed.”
Lovell hopes to continue framing houses through college and then possibly pursue a career in engineering while ranching with his family on the side.
“Math is my strong point and I work well with numbers in my head,” he said.
Lovell started working on the ranch with his dad when he was 14.
“It’s a fun hobby and we all enjoy it and hopefully we’ll make some money. I’m really interested in it and learning more about cattle.”
He said he does a little bit of everything on the ranch.
“I move irrigation wheel lines in the summer and work the cattle by branding them and doing pregnancy tests,” he said. “My favorite part is working with the calves.”
Lovell said he loves working with cattle and horses.
“I’ve been around horses my whole life and really enjoy riding and working with them.”
For his personal project at school, Lovell studied the gestation process in cattle and documented it. This included why animals receive specific vaccinations, the purpose of branding and why ranchers do pregnancy checks to monitor the calves’ progress.
“My presentation consisted of photos and video covering the whole process,” Lovell said “It went really well and it was great to learn in deeper detail and to be more involved.”
For fun and recreation, Lovell enjoys hunting and fishing.
“My earliest memory hunting was going with my father when he got a cow elk,” Lovell said. “I rode along on a four-wheeler and helped with gutting and cleaning the animal and learned a lot.”
At age 12, he took a hunter education course and then drew a cow elk tag.
“We hiked all day and when I got her, she was pretty big. I felt so proud and fortunate to get one because sometimes you are not that lucky.
“I love everything about it––going out and enjoying the outdoors while harvesting an animal to feed my family.”
Editor’s Note: Anyone who would like to recommend a Blaine County School District student for The Weekly Sun’s “Student Spotlight” feature should contact Jonathan Kane at jkjonkane@gmail.com.