After graduating from college, Bascom and his wife moved to Southgate, California. Retiring from rodeo after one last season, he pursued his art career and ranched. Earl Bascom and his brother Weldon Bascom worked on a ranch in Perris, California which was formerly owned by Louis B. Mayer of Hollywood's MGM Studios. Earl worked on the Rex Ellsworth Ranch in Chino, California. Earl was a distant cousin on the Bascom side to Mitch Tenney who was Ellsworth's horse trainer. Earl worked on Al Hamblin's Flying V Ranch in the Beaumont area. Earl had his own cattle ranch in Ontario in San Bernardino Valley using the Two Bar Quarter Circle brand, before moving to the high desert, living in Hesperia, Apple Valley and Victorville. His Diamond B Ranch on the Mojave River had buildings dating from the 1870s and was once the temporary residence of Albert Einstein in the mid 1930s.