Darrell Hunting
Darrell Hunting grew up working on a ranch in Cache Valley, Utah. Not originally coming from a ranching or rodeo family, Darrell grew to love the ranching way of life. For years growing up he worked on the ranch down the road from where he lived.
At the age of 14 he had a desire to ride bulls and started riding them in high school rodeos where he made it to the National Finals. Darrell continued riding after he graduated high school in 1988 and rode professionally until about 1996. That same year he married a girl from Cokeville, Wyoming, and they started spending time there.
Darrell entered the bull riding event in the Cokeville Rodeo in 1998 and won the rodeo after not riding for almost 2 years. A few years later, in 2003, Darrell and his family moved to Cokeville — that’s when Darrell started getting involved with the Cokeville Stock and Saddle Club and was nominated to be its President in 2006.
At this time the rodeo had turned into more of a ranch rodeo and there was no bull riding. The ranch rodeo was a great competition, but with Darrell’s past experience as a bull rider, he had to bring it back into the rodeo. He was also determined that if he was going to put work into something, he was going to make sure that the youth had the opportunity to rodeo in Cokeville.
In about 2007 (or 2008) the Cokeville Youth Rodeo was started and CT Livestock was contracted to bring their stock for both the Youth Rodeo on Friday AND the Open Rodeo on Saturday.
The Youth Rodeo was a lot of work, but it was a great success and some years they were lucky to get done before it got dark.
Bringing back Bull Riding was also a hit with the fans. Darrell had a ton of help from many people to make the rodeo a success. They worked with the Lincoln County Parks and Rec for funding to help with arena improvements. They would raffle off a few rifles every year and also had some great sponsors.
Darrell wanted to do everything he could to make sure it was a great rodeo that the contestants wanted to compete in, and that the youth who competed in the youth rodeo left with a smile on their face. He also wanted to make sure that the fans had a great time.
Darrell served as the CSSC Rodeo President through 2012, and even came back and entered the bull riding again in 2015 where he made a successful ride, but was reminded that he is not as young as he once was.
Darrell’s glad to see that the Youth Rodeo is still going strong and that Bull Riding is still one of the events.
He may just forget his age and enter again one of these years.
Story submitted by Darrell’s family
From all of us here at the Cokeville Rodeo and the local community, we send you our sincerest thank you, Darrell Hunting, for transforming the Cokeville Rodeo into what it remains today. You, among many others, are credited with its success, and played your pivotal role to keep it alive in our hearts and memories.
Thank you 🙏🏽
