Most people don’t know there are "wild" cattle. Matter of fact, I don’t think most people knew there were cows in California, at all, before the “Happy California Cows” ads. Just what are wild cattle you ask? Wild cattle are animals that were not well managed by their owners. They were sometimes bought at auctions by people that had enough money to by a couple of acres and then decide to become ranchers. Fences weren’t built properly and cows got out.
Cows are herd animals just like horses. They want to be with other cows. As they get mature, cows want to be with bulls and vice-versa. So they begin to wander. A thousand pound cow can plow her way through a fence that is not meant to contain her. A bull can go through just about anything when surrounding cows are "in the mood".
When cattlemen gather their herds for branding and shipping sometimes these “wild cattle” are caught. But these cows, that are used to going where they want, often find a way to evade the average herdsman. It takes a different skill set to catch these troublesome bovine.
That’s where cowboys, like my husband come in to play. This breed of cowboys have good cow dogs and horses that go anywhere. They don’t just ride four-wheelers. Awhile back a neighbor, about 6 miles away, called to ask Coleman if he could help him out. Coleman has a reputation for being able to catch these wild, and they really are wild, cattle. It seems that a contentious bull had come on to his property, which was a good sized piece of hill country and been breeding some of his registered cows. He had only seen him once or twice but by the time he would get out a camera, he’d be gone.
Coleman said, "Sure I’ll come get him and any others you want out."
Before light the next morning, he gathered his dogs, two horses and loaded up. He went out into the man’s field at first light. He didn't find the bull he was after in the ranchers field, so he dropped the fence and went out into another piece of neigbhoring ground. It was June in Raymond, and it was going to get over 100 degrees that day. He knew that bull would shade-up soon and be really hard to find. But first, he would go to water. There’s a river that ran through that property and and it was still running with some snow melt from the high country. He rode to the river and started to travel down stream. He found that bull and more. There was a handful of cows and a couple of young bulls in the group. Using binoculars he couldn’t see any brands on these cattle. They were slick. Now this was going to be a pretty big order to gather these wild cattle. They were as spooky as deer in hunting season. Looking at the size of some of the calves, it was obvious that they’d been living on the river for quite a while and knew well how not to be caught. This was going to have to be handled differently. He loaded up his dogs and horses drove to the ranchers, house and let him know he’d be back with some reinforcements. That night he called his buddy, Chance, and asked if he’d like to make some money. He told him he’d pay him by the day until they caught what they could. Since these cattle weren’t branded, they would be delivered to a sales yard and the state brand inspector would determine the ownership, Coleman would put a lein on them to cover his costs.
The next morning they went after the cattle. These cowboys are hi-tech. They had walkie-talkies around their necks for communication and tranquilizer guns for the bovine that are too big for just a cowboy with a rope. The drug they use is strong enough, with suggested doseage, to slow an animal, not drop them like on TV. That brings me back to the big red bull the rancher called about originally.
They started out before dawn: dogs, horses, and cowboys. The dogs jumped a handful of cows and the problem bull. Immediately the bull broke away from the cows. He ran into the most dense brush and down the rockiest deep gorge he could find. Of course, Coleman followed. The bull finally wound up in the river with just his horns and nose above water.
The dogs, trained to be relentless, bailed in. That mean son-of-a-gun tried to drown the dogs. Coleman told Chance to go back to the truck for the dart rifle. This process took about 45 minutes. It was a stand off at the edge of the river. Coleman called off the dogs. The bull came out of the water far enough, with a good shot by Chance, to get a dart in his hip, making him a very angry bull. He charged both cowboys and dogs. Twenty minutes later the drugs had slowed the bull down enough for both Coleman and Chance to get their ropes around his head and a hind leg. They began pulling him to a tree to tie off. Just as they thought the fight was over, he gathered steam and took a run at Coleman and his horse. The dogs were no longer the target of his wrath. Yep, it was Coleman and his tough palomino stallion, Champ.
The bull charged, and that stallion literally flew sideways half way into that river. He had Coleman zeroed in. Out of nowhere, the youngest, but biggest dog, Gator, leapt liked "super dog" onto that bull's neck and clamped down(that's where he got his name). Chance took advantage of the pandamonium and shot him with another dose of tranquilizer. Coleman and champ took the reprieve and got to the bank. Now that Chance had that bull's full attention, Gator swam to safety.
By the time they managed to get a couple more ropes on that mean bull, the drug kicked in. He became a "lethargic" mean bull. They managed to half drag and fight him towards a tree a couple of yards at a time. In position of the tree they tied him off by a hind leg.
They went and got the truck and trailer. They had to use the same method they used to get him to the tree to load him into the trailer.
That mean red bull was taken to the sales yard and weighed in at 1600 pounds. That was 1600 pounds of pure muscle. I'm not sure he wouldn't have mad a pretty good bucking bull. As mean as he was, I don't think most cowboys would have been too thrilled to draw that one at the rodeo.
The picture is pretty grainy, but I think you can see how muscular he was.
