I retired in 2018 and was called by the owner of the elk ranch here in Riggins to come help him out part time. At first I was like “uh I’m not real interested in a job right now”. I’m glad I took him up on his offer. I can come and go as I please pretty much but I enjoy going to work there. The owner is 3 years older than me so have a blast. I can hunt on their, 5000 acre ranch, fish during my lunch break,(or whenever I want)get all the wild elk and bear meat I can eat and the owners treat us like royalty. My wife works there too and it’s the perfect retirement gig for both of us. Whenever my kids come see me, which is a lot, I just take time off and hang out with my kids. That’s pretty awesome too.
The meat shop is right at the confluence where the Little Salmon River flows into the Big Salmon River and both are 100 yards from my office. My office is a work shop where we tinker with equipment when we’re not farming or working elk and buffalo. They own 400 head of elk and 35 buffalo so it does get a bit busy but it’s all enjoyable. Whenever the boss gets a little cranky, like us old guys sometimes do😂, I just say “see ya later I’m goin fishin” and he’s fine when I get back👍 I don’t have much money but I’d don’t need much. Keep it cheap and simple is my philosophy 👍$20.00/hour, with all the extra benefits, retired don’t hurt my feelings much either😆😆

Thanks Sport. We had a record run this year so it’s been a rush here for the last month or so. They’ve hit close to the harvest they wanted already so the Big Salmon is closing Sunday night and the Little salmon will close the end of this month.
We smoke a lot of fish at the meat shop too kinda the same way. Drop off 4 fish, we smoke em all and keep two. No charge for the filleting and smoking. We also just fillet fish for the anglers at $12.00/fish and that includes cleaning, filleting, vacuum packing and freezing for up to three days. A lot of the guys fishing here right now are not from here so it’s pretty convenient for the, to just run by and drop off there fish and head back to their camp. Then they swing by and buy a cooler, that we conveniently have in stock, fill it with ice we have and head home with a bunch of vac packed fresh fish. I fillet, probably 300 to 500 fish a season down there. Steelhead and salmon both and I can do mine for free. Or at least I’ve never paid them anything so far😆