“Yellowstone” is one of the hottest neo-Western dramas in TV history. The Dutton family have operated their massive cattle ranch for such a long time that they’ve become power players in Montana. Unfortunately, said ranch occupies a large and profitable area, and many people want to get their hands on it. Combine this with the tendency for “Yellowstone” to combine its high-stakes drama with a focus on daily life at the ranch, and it’s no surprise that the show has become popular. But is its depiction of modern-day cowboy antics accurate? Yes and no, according to people working in the industry.
“Yellowstone” co-creator Taylor Sheridan comes from a rancher background but works in the entertainment industry, and comments by real-life cowboys and ranchers indicate that the duality between gritty reality and the Hollywood approach is present on the show. “The general public probably enjoys it. But working cowboys critique it and laugh because it’s not real close to the real thing,” Mark Lundy of Montana’s Little Horn Ranch told The Washington Post, referring to mistakes such as a notable lack of ropes — one of a cowboy’s most important tools — in the “Yellowstone” ranchers’ everyday equipment.
Meanwhile, Idaho rancher Jessie Jarvis told Variety that she enjoys “Yellowstone” and the show is accurate in many aspects — from the way tempers can boil over on a family ranch to the pride a rancher takes in the land and even the clothes the characters wear. However, she pointed out that the sheer amount of foul language and violence is pretty far removed from a real rancher’s lifestyle.
Yellowstone has its inaccuracies but gets plenty of things right
While several real-life cowboys and ranchers find things to criticize in “Yellowstone,” they also often have plenty of positive things to say. Rancher Gary Shelton wrote in Distinctly Montana that a ranch the size of Yellowstone would be unlikely in that particular area of Montana but otherwise praised the series for its realism.
On his YouTube channel, real-life Montana cowboy Trinity Vandenacre had good things to say about the show’s overall handling of stuff like predator maintenance but pointed out some things he disagreed with, such as the Dutton ranch hands being hard partiers. He also noted that while the cattle care on “Yellowstone” is generally on point, Season 5, Episode 7 — “The Dream Is Not Me” drops the ball with its convoluted plot to move a potentially brucellosis-contaminated herd to a distant pasture in Texas. According to Vandenacre, this isn’t how things would play out in real life, and the herd wouldn’t be moved anywhere. Instead, they’d be tested and treated where they are because otherwise, they’d only spread the contamination.
To its credit, the show is aware of the line it walks between authenticity and fiction, judging by how Taylor Sheridan has used real cowboys to teach the “Yellowstone” cast how it’s done. Horse trainer Jake Ream and a group of genuine ranchers took some of the actors on a four-day pack trip, and Ream listed stars Cole Hauser and Jefferson White as two people who benefitted from the experience.