EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

Heard a good one the other day from this bunch I've been hangin' around....

Had a big ol' Brangus out in a 1000 acre piece, with a catch pen on one end.  Mac, and three other guys brought the trailer and their horses to try and get him loaded up to take to market.....

Well, he was down in a bottom, so they sent the dogs to him and when he finally came out, they said he just "snapped".    One by one he ran each horse around the pasture, round and round, with the intent to kill.  They said he did it at a dead out run, right on the tail of each horse.... no time to step in a gopher hole :o.....

Well, while on this rampage he actually ran in the catch pen on his own.   When Mack went to slam the gate, the bull just put his head down and ran right through a new, 6 board wall, made from rough cut 2x6 cypress.....throwing shattered splinters of pen everywhere....

Once out he made a b-line for Dale.  Dale rode around the trailer with the bull in hot pursuit, round and round, untill the bull actually loaded his self!  Dale hopped off his horse, wrapped his reins up by the front of the trailer, and ran to shut the trailer door.... not in time however.... the bull busted the doors back open, made a u-turn right at Dale(who had just barely climbed on top of the trailer by then)..... leaving Dale's poor horse in a bad spot....

The bull  hit that horse broadside, and proceeded to stuff him up under the back of the truck and gooseneck... when the horse finally made it to his feet, he came out the other side, ripping the entire saddle(Dale had just finished making) to shreds, and ran off bareback and bridleless ;D

Mack finally sicked the dogs on him and they caught, but the bull just slung 'em off and lined out after Mack again.  Mack used himself as bait and lured the bull into the catch pen again, but the bull just made a new hole after they backed the trailer up to the old one...... after that, he basically decided to destroy the pen, and ran in and out until the entire pen was in shambles :o

Mack finally had enough and told Dale to pull the rifle out and it was over.



I've never seen a bull totally lose it like that, just thought that was a perty good story....... yall got any others?

My grandfather had nothing but grey and red brahma cattle for the longets time. After he passed the last of them were hauled off by getting them to chase you into the chute and then bailing out.  After that if some thing gives us trouble out of the norm it gets shot on the spot. Has saved alot of time, money, and close calls.

We had a BIG Longhorn cross bull that decided he wanted to breed everything within 3 counties... Fences, yards, panels, gates, nothing mattered that thing could jump like a deer. Before he went on his rampage you could walk right up to him in the pasture with feed. We had rode him whne he ws ounger and he never got real hooky. But when the switch flipped it was over. He was the smartest bull ive ever caught. HE would lay down in a thicket and not move till you were right over the top of himand then he would stand up and look at you as if to say get the Hell  out of my way! LOL! and if you were still in his way by the time he got moving you were in trouble.  We needed a catch dog bad, but didnt have one. We had him caught up in 4 different pens and when we would go to get the trailer he would either pick up the panels or go over em. I finally got tired of it and called everyone in and got every dog we had at the time loaded. I had an own son of Freckles playboy that was a cowy dude. He was barely 14 hands but built like a bulldog. We saw the bull bust out of a thicket with the dogs on his tail and everyone else was on the other side of a steep banked ditch. So i said the heck with it and me and ol KIcker took off after him and caught him before the got back to the woods. When i roped him i know that poor little horse wanted to throw my butt off and head back to the house. I threw a big ol water loop at him right before the hit the next thicket and dallied off quick. Kicker sat down, but the bull was runnin straight away from us and there we went to sliding behind him! LOL! Did i mention that bull weighed 2x more than we did? LOL!  But by durnit we werent letting him go! We hit the thicket with a thud and I was looking for a tree to go around to try to stop him. He hit a creek about The time i was getting him slowed down and we didnt have any choice other than to go with him. When we came up the other sideHe turned to fight and i took my chance and bailed off and went to wrappin the rope around a tree. Luckily the bull went after the horse instead of me and i got him wrapped and tied off. bout this tiem my buddies got there and caught ol kicker as he was headin for the trailer! LOL!. So we got a couple more ropes on him and started unsaddling horses bc they were all about to overheat. I forgot to mention this was in the middle of august. That dang bull was so pissed off he just started goin in circles and hed wind his self up towards the tree and then unwind. By the time he got done it looked like a tornado had touched down in that thicket. He took down gum trees that were big around as my leg. Well one boy headed to get the trailer as close as possible and met the landowner whose place we had got on to. He was on a backhoe and my buddy got him to come to clear a place out to back the trailer right up to  the bull. Everyhtig was falling into place.....  rolleyes  So we get a path cleared and the trailer backed up. I slipped in there while my buddies kept the bulls attention and untied 2 or the ropes.  we ran them thru the trailer and was goin to get horses resaddled to pull him in. The landowner said heck ill just pull him in with this backhoe, Well we said ok and hooked it up and cut the other ropes, That bull i guess knew where he was headed and wanted no part of that trailer. He came unglued again. well we got him right to the back of the trailer and he was about to go in, but he fell.  and hung a horn under the trailer/ the guy driving the backhoe wasnt paying attention and kept goin. Our luck would have it one of the ropes was around his neck instead of around his horns... Well if yall boys have ever used an emasculator then you know the sound we heard... That ol bull took a couple shakes and shivers and that was it.  :P After all that crap he didnt make it on the trailer! So we spent the next 6 hours cuttin that big sucker up and found a place that would grind him into hamburger for us. I had a buddy that had a deer camp with a big freezer and we took him over there quartered up. I spent the next day cuttin him up into 4 inch pieces... in 30 degree temps. NOT FUN! LOL! But on a positive note we had enough hamburger meat to feed the whole crew for dang near a year and it was the best meat we have had to date. Idk why i figured it wouldnt have been worth eating but it was good! Needless to say we dont use tractors anymore to load stuff unless we are prepared to clean it LOL!

Good story Lightningh, sounds like that could've gone bad quick!   Got any pics of that Freckles horse?

I think Eric's got the safest plan, shoot 'em at the first sign of trouble ;D

Yeah it was a bad deal! but i was tired of tryin to keep that joker in! And i have soem pics of him but i dont know really how to get em on here. You have an email? ill look em up.

And yep! thats what i told em. the next one we had like that we will just go get the cleaning stuff and chase him to a road and shoot his butt!  ;D

ive caught alot of cows and bulls in the last 15 years but 2 bulls stick out in my mind . the first i was a freshman in highschool , just joined the rodeo team and started helping others catch cattle . my buddy had an arena and we built a buckin chute at his house .
they bought a longhorn bull at the sale barn and brought him home . he wasnt a bit mean but he jumped a 6 1/2 foot panel and got out . my buddies dad called an old hand to help us catch him , dean medlock was a legend around here, the rougher it got the more he laughed . he rode a big paint named frito and caught cattle on a billy cook cutting saddle . hed spent some time in south texas and always tied off hard and fast .

 anyway it was after dinner when he got there so he had been in the cooler alittle bit if ye know what i mean . to make along story short we found the bull and dean roped him , when he tried to stop him both girths broke ,and old dean went right over the dashboard and off through the woods with both feet still in the stirrups just a hee hawwing . i dont know what all happenned next but when we caught up to him he had the bull snubbed close to a tree and was looking for his saddle . we asked him if he was alright he said yeah , but it ll take the rest of the day to catch that damn paint !!  that was the funniest thing i ever saw  and ill remember it until the day i die !

  well i guess ill tell the other about bull later , my hunt and peckers are tired .

Good story! Id dang sure be worried if i was catchin bulls out of a cuttin saddle tho! I reckon if your cowboy enough anythings possible though!  ;D

them OLD billy cook cuttin saddles were probably stouter than anything we have today .  ( tounge in cheek ) , but old dean was kinda haphazzard , hed rope the baddest old cow on a saddle horse and step off .

i have one of the old billy cook cutters and i shure wouldnt  dally of on anything.

that guy kinda likes living on the edge  ;D

i personally saw him rope and drag alot of bulls out of the arena , when he died they put the saddle on his casket . a couple years later i saw it in a horse traders tackroom ( his son had swindeled it away ) and traded him out of it . i could have sold it a bunch of times for a big proffit , dean and that saddle were infamous . its worn and weathered but the tree is still solid as the day it was made .

    and yes dean medlock lived his whole life on the edge . they should write a book about him . lol

That's nuts.... I sure do enjoy being around those sorts of people ;D 

Clean out job, north of Dickens Tx. Fall of '03.

I had a by the head clean out contract on a ranch that was cleaning out to restock with some reg. Red Angus cows. The owner said he had all caught and shipped except about 30 head. Well it turned out to be 78 head and that included 22 grown bulls. I set up camp and stayed for 45 days with 6 finished horses and 12 good dogs. I got some help in to help with catching most of the cows and yearlings but I caught all the bulls with just me and one other man, he and I had roped alot of bad cattle together over the years and we trusted each other with our lives. I would rather rope bad bulls with one man I can trust than 6 that I am not sure of. Anyway thats the set up to the story.

Frank and I are catching bulls only for several days and we are getting 3-4 each day and no-body has gotten killed yet. We are in a shin oak and mesquite pasture that has Oak Motts every 100 yards or so and the bulls are hid out in the Motts and hard to find without the dogs. We are driving to a high spot to unload and spot a big brangus bull out in frount of us just 100yds. We stop and jump the horses out and go to him and leave the dogs in the trailer.

We sneek around down wind and make a plan. Frank is heading and packing a 60' rope I am tied off with 40' as I am heeling and tying. I am ridding my best horse as usuall for this type of dangerous work. The plan works, I slip up on the bull and when he breaks and runs he heads right to Frank, everything looks good. Well that SOB was fast and about the time Frank got in range for a shot th bull would duck in to an Oak Mott and Frank would miss or get no shot. I am winged out to the right trying to flank the bull and be ready for the heals as Frank gets his rope drug off in the Oak brush for the 3rd time.

The bull breaks to my side and is running for another Mott and I see my chance. I can get to the other side before he comes out and have the shot, and I do just that. I am set up just in time, all looks good except I am a little down hill from where he will come out. I have a slow swing going as I see black trotting towards me, then he sticks his head out and I lay a nice sidearm loop on him at about 20 feet just as his head clears the brush. I snap my slack, caught him I little deep from that angle I thought, as I watched as the rest of him came into view.

Now, I never really got a good look at this bull untill right after I pulled my slack, and it appeared to me that I had just roped a good sized black elephant. I was in a bad spot and I knew it. I yelled to Frank and spured up my horse just as my rope came tight and that bull bellered threw up his tail and hit high gear. My horse was getting drug along by this bull at a pretty good clip, we were just making a little dent in his speed as he was now going downhill.

Well there was only one little of "tangle" of Mesquite in the area, you know 10-12 trees about 6" around all about 1 foot apart, and in a bunch. The bull knows the value of said tangle and plows through the middle at a good clip. I have slowed the bull some but can't get him stoped before my horse get drug through the trees. Now if I had been riding any other horse I would have bailed, but I stayed hooked for better or worse.... and the worse came and came big.

That Bull snached me and my good horse Gunsmoke through the trees and that knocked his legs out from under him right quick I took a tree trunk to the head on the way down and we hit the ground hard. My horse hit on his right side with me still deep in the saddle. The bull drug us by the saddle horn like that for another 40 feet before he stoped.

Now alot of things went through my head right quick. I had blood in my eyes from a gash in my head. My leg was not broke. My horse could not get up. I had lost my reins but still had a hold of my rope.....and the rope was still tight. Well thats not to bad so far but I know that that rope is going to come slack sooner or later and thats when the real party will start. And slack it came....

I was looking at my horse when I felt the slack in my rope, and just looked up and saw the bull running at me with his nose on the ground.....I knew there was no way my horse could get up and there was no way I could get out from under him. So I just played dead and clasp my hands behind my neck, pulling my head down close to my saddle horn and waited for the impact. I got it across the back and then on top of me, them he got on my horse and then back to me.

Thats when I heard Frank right above me, he was yelling at the bull trying to draw him off. I glanced up for a moment and saw the hip of franks horse and his 30-30 in his hand just feet away. The bait worked, Frank took a hit and lead the bull off to the end of the rope again. He yelled "do you want me to shoot him"? I yelled back "no I can get to my knife". I pulled my little switch blade from my vest poctet flicked it open and went for the rope just as it went slack angin. I covered up and got ready for round two and it went on for a little while with my horse kicking and Frank yelling and then the bull stoped. I opened my eyes and his left hoof was 6 inches from the end of my nose, his brisket was on my left shoulder and I could feel his hot breath on my neck. This is weird but that bull licked the back of my neck and then stood still for what seemed a long time.

I was sure one of two things was going to happen. Either he was about to crush my skull or Frank was going to send a 30 caliber round thrue his spine, in witch case he was going to crush me anyway. In that moment I made my peace with God and was overcome with a great felling of calmness......

As luck would have it frank hit the bull on the nose with the end of his rifle and he chased him off to the end of the rope again, and I was ready this time. My knife went through it like butter and I was free. It took Frank about 2 more minutes to get that bull to leave me. He had to help my horse get up off me and I was in pretty good shape considering. Frank asks if I want to kill the bull myself after all that mess, and I say no Frank we don't get paid on the dead ones lets go catch him. I pulled down my spare rope and off we went. Frank got a head and I snaged two heels and tied him. We loaded him with the winch and took him to the salebarn. On sale day he weighed in at 2,153lbs.

I have been in some bad spots over the years but that was the worst. If you are going to be roping range bulls it always pays to have two "good" partners. One that rides beside you and one that rides above.

True story,
Paul T

Heres another funny one.

Salebarn owner calls me, said a farmer up north of us had a bad bull that he couldn't catch.Story went like this.

The farmer had caked up his trader cows and shiped them. The brangus bull got on the fight. He tore down the pens and two more fences and then dented up two of the farmers new trucks. So he calls the sale barn looking for some help, thats when I got the call.

I got my partner and 2 good Catahoula dogs and met the farmers sons at the pasture where the bull was. The sons said they were there to watch the show and they had a full cooler of Coors Lt. They proceed to tell us how rank the bull was and show us all the damage he did to the trucks and how there is no way just two of us are going to do anything with this bull except get killed....so on, and so on.

Well we made a friendly wager with the farm boys, unloaded our horses and gave them instructions to let the dogs out when we were in position, they poped open a fresh beer and said they were ready and would start the stop watch when they sent the dogs.

We were set and the dogs were on the way and the timer has started. Dogs bay and hold the bull we slip in and rope and tie the bull, partner lopes to the truck and brings it to the bull, we load him with the winch and yell TIME when we latch the back gate after loading our horses......28 min flat. The farm boys were quite taken back with our skill and payed off on the bet....cooler of cold beer. Sweet.

Thats when there dad shows up and the boys tell how we got caught and loaded the bull in 28 min. The same bull that they had been jacking with for 4 days. The dad says great....what do I owe you? I said a hundred and he peals one out and hands it to me and says thanks I gota go. And I said a hundred EACH if you don't mine, is our rate. He says but it only took 28 minutes and thats pretty steep wages by the hour.....My partner never misses a beat and grabs the latch on the excape door and starts to open it and says....If thats to high for ya'll we can just let him back out and there will be no charge.......The farmer smiled real big and poped out another hundred, laughed and was on his way.

We got alot of business of that deal for the next couple years. Every time a farmer had a bad critter in that country that he couldn't catch, those brothers would hunt them up and say "We got a phone number of some men that can fix your problem and fix it fast, but they aren't cheep and what ever you do don't make a wager on the outcome....

Paul T

 

I could Write on this thread for days. HAHAHA       one more for tonight.

Gathering cattle south of Hamilton, Tx 4 years ago.

I am running the crew and I had 7 good hands with me on this job. We were shipping but there were quit a few 2 year old slick bulls that had been missed last time. We had made a drive and penned a set of cattle and I had gone by a little bunch of those slick bulls in the brush, I just slipped by them and rode on knowing they would stay put if they thought I didn't see them.

I tell the boys what I had seen and we make a plan. We jump the bulls ,4 in all, and they break for the next thicket and get cut off in the open by the other half of the crew. The plan was working good so far. 2 men for each bull and they should be all tied down in a matter of minutes, if everything goes perfect.......never does.

I am riding a long two year old that is pretty broke but I have never roped anything off him before so I am going to just heal, I hope. Well the first guy to rope one gets his horse jerked down and its a pretty good wreck so I tell the man that is with me to go and help over there and come back as soon as he could. I track up to "my bull" and I am going to just haze him back toward the others and hold him up 'till I get some back-up, as I am ridding a colt and all. Well these are straight Santa Gertrudes bulls and as you might expect he stops running from me and starts running to me. He has those straight little dagger hornes and weighs about 1500lbs and is really pretty fast and before I know it he has his head in my colts tail and is trying to hook me for all he's worth. Its a good thing that my colt is pretty fast( grandson of Dash For Cash). Well I get pissed at this bull and throw a backhand shot at him while he is chasing me.......and I caught him.....( I know some of ya'll know the feeling because you have done the same thing) I yelled "well Sh*t", as I was asking myself why I keep doing stupid stuff like that.

As you know, sometimes it takes a long time to get your rope tigh under these circumstances and it did. I was packing 60ft of King nylon and got my dallies and got tight at about 58ft. I got that bulls air cut off and he stoped and faced up and I faced up my colt also. That bull was just squatting and pulling but not pulling enough to choke down. My colt just froze up when he saw what he was tied to and I could not get him to walk up or back up or anything he just kept starring at that bull and squatting lower and lower and lower.

I was out of sight of the others and I started yelling for help and it took way to long for someone to show up. By the time help arived my saddle was sitting on that colts neck and my girth was over his elbows......But he was still squatting and holding that bull. Someone got another head rope on and I popped my dallies and when I did my saddle fell off over my colts head. I landed on my feet still in the sturips and holding my rope.

The bull was tied right quick and two of the new guys rode over and said they were real glad that they were working for a man that wasn't a quitter, then the whole crew about fell down laughing....I said it looked to me like they were working for a man that was a absolute moron for roping grown bulls on a two year old colt.....

Paul T

 
 
 

Great stories Paul, I knew you'd have a few!  "kinda strange... but he licked my neck..."  that's definitely one of those moments you remember ;D  How you haven't got your neck broke yet is what I want to know :o 

Me and Lee are going to work some bad ones tomorrow, we'll see if Lee's bullriding days left him with any scrambling skills..... ;D

dont know if yall know it or not but someone on here needs to take these stories and make a book out of them.  that stuff right there is funny

Paul those are some great stories also! I knew you would have a few to tell!  ;) You are more of a cowboy than i am because if he would have had me on the ground like that I would have been hollerin like a sissy to shoot! LOL! Well on second thought the way some of my budddies shoot id  probably been better takin my chances with the bull!  ;D

Alright guys, I'm ready for the new story for today
(http://www.smiley-faces.org/smiley-faces/smiley-face-popcorn.gif) (http://www.smiley-faces.org)

Paul
 those ar some good stories..   i know those have to be true cuz you just cant make that stuff up   ;D

Some good reading here.  I have friends that have stories like some on here, thankfully I don't have any of my own!

ok Matt

 got a call from a freind said his neighbor had a bull(brahman cross with high horns 2000#er) and 2 cows( little black scrubs 800#) he couldnt catch.
so we set it up for sun morning we would meet at the store up the road for breakfast.  well we pull in to the store at 5 am and there were 2 truck loads of guys setting like they were waiting on someone ,, well when we got parked and started in the store they all got out and followed us in the store,, one of them aked if we were going down to try and catch mr. parkers bull..
 i answered yes sir,,  he just kinda smiled and started telling me how they had chased these cattle for the last 2 weekends,, he said we have used horses, fourwheelers, and everything they could think of and he didnt think they could be caught.  they had loaded all the cattle out of this place and these where the ones that got out of their trap and got away.

 well i listened to his story while i was eating breakfast, when i finished i told my buddy we just well go give it a shot since we done come all this way  ;D

so we drive down to the gate and we got a chance to check out this guys trap he loaded cattle out of ,, its no wonder he had a few get away he had all kinda junk tied to trees bed springs,cattle panels that were bent to the ground,barb wire, pieces of pipe from tree to tree this thing wouldnt hold a jersey milk cow..

 well after seeing his pens one of the guys that came out for the show said  "there they are" pointing to the back side of the place.

it had to be over a mile to the back corner where they were lookiing back at us, head in the air like a group of deer..

so we put 2 dogs on the ground and started riding that way..   in just a few minute the dogs had them bayed in some brush.

so we walked in and let them bay for a while getting our plan together, there was a small clearing (about as big as my bedroom) that we thought we could haze em into and rope the bull first.  so thats what we did, my buddy got the first shot and caught the bull ,, i shuck another loop on him and we lead him out to the truck and loaded him.

 when we roped the bull the 2 cows split one east ,one west and a dog went with each one.

 the one that went west went thru 2 fences crossing a dirt road and got in with another set of cows and the one dog had them all circled up,, so went around the road to the gate and started in to the pasture one of the spectaters said "there is a mean stud in this pen..  i looked at him as was riding buy and said we'll be alright. ;D,,   well haveing been around studs my whole life i thought i could handle what ever this stud had. WRONG....

 i had seen the stud and some mare in the middle of the bunch of cattle so i was going to sneek my cow of the side and get here roped cause they were in the middle of a wide open pasture.

well any way i kept an eye on the stud and he never looked at me ,  so i went easin around the bunch looking for my shot , and when i got to the back side  here came the stud , his ears flat on his head and his head down low ,, i made my stand hollering and charging him and he didnt let up  :o
  so i turn and headed for the gate this stud hot on my a$$, my little horse was watching him close and we were in a full run trying to out run this stud, he would reach up to bite my horse on the a$$ and my little horse would find another gear ( he didnt know he had till now).,,,  when i got to the gate one of the guys threw the old wire gate up in the studs face and stopped him.  while i was trying to catch my breath that guy said"i told you he was mean", i told him i would believe anything he told me from here on out  ;D

so now what are we going to do the cattle are bayed and the stud is back in the heard..
they called the owner of the stud he brought his trailer out and parked it in the middle of the feild and went to calling this studs name""come on scout come get in""  man i about laughed in the guys face,  well  i like to fell of my horse when this stud came and loaded up  :o

come to find out thats how he moves him around to bread peoples mares, so that stud thought he was going to see some new girls..

anyway i go catch the cow and load her and go down the road listening for the other dog we found him and he had some cows bunched with our cow in the middle of them  ,,, no stud this time  ;D,, so walked in and roped her and loaded..

got our pay from the owner and a few pats on the back from the crew and headed home..

silverton

 you telling that story about camping for 45 days catching cattle ,, reminded me of a deal i missed out on about 15 yrs ago.

 i met these guys at a horse sale from New Mexico, and was invited out to stay with them ,,, to catch cattle off of some Forest land BLM type deal,, they have a camp set up under a long bluff with dog tye outs and horse pens all under this bluff.,  what ever they catch they keep, sweet deal..

they stay out 30 days at a time, they said its down to catching 2 or 3 the whole time now, ,used to catch 2 or 3 a day.

i dont have many regrets but thats one of them  ;D

Good story Craig.  I love pictures but these stories are painting a pretty good image in my mind!  Keep em coming!
Matt

Matt
 
 i really never even thought about takin pictures of stuff till i started getting online a few years ago.

i been trying to find some picture of my cow dogs and i cant find any  :(

I was enjoying this thread. Somebody post some more stories. ;D

"The Duke"  ;) ;D  Your nuts Chance, a week after brain surgery.... are you serious???? :o

I caught crap from my surgeon for going surfing 2 wks after having my shoulder re-built, but you've got me beat there! ;D

"Well I had run in to some guys that I new that pick up bulls for serveral rodeos. "

Chance
Who was these guys?

Great stories fellas!

Never was much of a cowboy but Ive been running around with the likes of you crazy son of a guns all my life. I gave up trying to be one a long time ago though!
Only thing I accomplished from trying to be one is nearly getting myself killed by a bull back in high school!

Im like that Willy Nelson song. "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys". I've just decided to leave the cowboyN to you guys.....................the cowboys! ;D

The one thing that has always impressed me about good cowboys, their dogs, and horses is how easy they can make a job look.
I've witnessed time and again people trying to pen wild cattle, bad bulls, find and catch loose show calves, wile using vacation time, missing days of work, tearing up their trucks and four wheelers, breaking down fences, getting themselves hurt, (the list could go on forever) only to get frustrated and call out a local cowboy.
These guys drive up, mount up, hiss the dogs once and in less than an hour  are usually done!
Woulda been a whole lot cheaper and less painful in some instances to call a cowboy to begin with!

Anyone have any fresh stories? Its cold and nasty here and we aint had much excitement other than the occasional call for cows out on the road when folks are to lazy to get up and feed em... ;D

I have a bull story from this past weekend.....

We are about 1.5 miles deep in the woods on foot with three curs on the ground.  We had passed some cows on the way in w/o any issues.  We had just walked past a small herd of cows and noticed a good sized bull just on the other side of some rose hedge that hadn't walked off with the rest.   I was only about 10-15 yards away and was getting the crazy eye so I was going to give it a lot of room.  About this time my buddy who was leading my CD gyp, had the quick release fail and the CD was sent free.  She is broke off of livestock but she still trotted towards the bull, stopped about 10' away and just looked at it.  Well my buddy goes in to get her and didn't see the bull standing just on the other side of the rose hedge.  I saw the bull move its heads towards him and yelled "hey, watch out!!!", but it was too late and it charged, hitting him in the back just as he was turning to face it.  It threw him about 4-5' in some brush and started really working him over with its horns.  After a good thrashing the bull stood straight up, came down as hard as it could with both front hooves, and gave a couple good stomps for with each front leg before turning the other directions and running off. 

The whole incident lasted maybe a couple seconds and I was less than 10 yds away the whole time.  When the bull came down with both front legs I could feel the ground move under my feet. At about the time the bull stood up and I had started to reach for the catchdog I had was going to send him in.  There is no doubt he would have engaged that bull and hopefully given me time to get in there to grab my buddy. Thank goodness the bull turned to run so I didn't have to find out how that was going to turn out. 

Having just witnessed a very bad mauling, I have the odds broken out like this in my mind....60% chance he is dead or dieing, 35% chance he has severly broken bones and/or severed limbs, 5% chance he is okay.  With those odds in mind, I have my cell phone out to call in life flight and I'm taking off my backpack to get all of the emergency first aid gear out.  This guy is around 240lbs, we are 1.5 miles from a our trucks, its way too muddy to get anything other than an ATV to us but I have a gps and I know there is a pipeline clearing about 100 yds to the east of us that is big enough for a chopper.

Long story short, it was a miracle. He stood up out of the brush battered, beating up, and scarred number 2less, but alive and all in one piece.  He had a big strawberry about the size of a baseball just under his left pec and it hurt to cough, laugh, or hold a lead. We walked back to the trucks and his wife took him to the emergency room when he got home.  The x-ray and MRI all came back negative.  I don't know how he lived through it but the big man upstairs must have been looking down on him that day and decided his wife and kido need him more than he does at the moment.  There really isn't any other way to describe it.

That is pretty scary there, a few years ago there was a man hunting and was caught off guard by a momma brahma cow and she ruined his day!  Put him in the hospital for a good while.  Your buddy is very lucky!

Damage inflicted by the Brahma cow

(http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p204/ccoughran/ATT00082.jpg)

That is what I am most worried about while hunting on foot out here. We have these range cow over run a bay all the time. Its usually not a problem unless you are right at the bay with catch dogs sent in and holding. I have had a few guests chased around a mesquite tree by a mad cow in the dark,


I believe Slimpickens has the best " I was chased by a MAD COW in the dark story", I am sure you remember Cody, at Clairmont. I would tell it but you tell it better  :angel:

Mom said I was destined for trouble when I was only 3 years old rolleyes ;D...
Dad and a buddy of his were looking for the buddies bull he wanted to sell. It was in a pasture that had a big drainage ditch thru the middle and it was nasty Tallow tree thickets, just not the most fun pasture to cow hunt in. Mom toted me out there to take them lunch and while we were sitting there on the tailgate dad said that if that bulls on this place he's under ground somewhere, they had worked from one end to the other and no sign of him. Mom had me in the back of the truck so I could play and keep out of trouble. Mom said they heard me start talking to a "Cow" and that dang bull was laying down in a thickt right across the ditch where we were eating lunch. That bull knew when a trailer was heard he'd lay down and was dang near impossible to see. Pop's buddy told him "Hell we should of brought the kid this morning, we been out here all morning looking for that bull and he finds him in 15 minutes!!!":D:D:D:D


A guy that works for me time to time on the Ranch started out in the Cow outfit at Laureles when he was 14, then they put him under two older cowboys those only job was the range bulls. These weren't little bulls either, average weight was about #2500 and Santa Gerturdis ain't the most docile creatures around. Most the time he said they could move them with horses but there was a few that a standard rope wasn't going to hold. Them old men would put the boys on the hood of an old beater pickup truck and tear off after those bulls with a 3/4" tow rope tied fast to the front bumper across the pasture. He said there was some pretty good dents in the side of those two old men's trucks  :D :D ;D ;D ;D

Matt,

I remember hearing about that and actually thought about that guy while we were walking back to the trucks on Saturday.  We were both talking our run in and laughing about it when we got back the trucks but deep down inside I don't think either one of us was really laughing if you know what I mean.  Everytime I looked over at him and I got a real uneasy feeling in my guts because I know I was looking at what should have been a dead man walking.

btt   I like this thread

Sorry it took me so long, just now saw the thread.

Ok, so early on in my short lived cowboy career, we're gathering and working cattle on this place, good horses and good dogs.
We still had all 3 of the original Catahoula pups that I drove to Monroe, LA to pick up and most of our dogs go back to one, or a pair of littermates.
We gathered cattle in the daylight and hunted the same country at night with the very same dogs, day in and day out on this place.

We'd been riding since before daylight and it was dark when we unsaddled. Ate a quick bite and let the dogs take a nap.
Load dogs in the truck and start out across the ranch.
Get to a good spot with some sign, and we know that about 1/2 mile ahead is the hill top feed site the ranch uses and the hogs have been seen there a lot, picking up the left overs.
We dump the box and have about 4 grown dogs and about that many barely started pups, towards the hilltop we drive with the dogs working out front.
Well, wouldn't you know it, the 4 grown dogs ease right through the cows and calves finishing up the daily feed pile.
You see, these older dogs had figured out that in the daylight they were to find, bay and catch cattle, and if it was dark they somehow understood that they were to leave the cattle and find and bay and catch the hogs.
How, I'll never know but they knew.
Now, as you can imagine, it dawns on me that these pups have just been used for a week or two on cattle, in the daylight and maybe once or twice, at most, at night we'd sent them to a bay.
So, in conforming to thier knowledge, these pups single out a nice 400 pound calf and start giving him hell.
Most of the other cattle sneak off in the cover of darkness with thier calves in tow.
Well this little booger had the best dang mama on the ranch because she was not leaving him, and was doing what she was supposed to, stomping, kicking, head plowing pups but they just kept coming back.
I think I even saw that b***h bite a pup and sling it out.
I bail out of the truck and Paul runs the spotlight, from the safety of the truck.
I'm not sure how we came to that arrangement. rolleyes but it is what it is.
I run in kicking pups for trashing and hollering for them to get out and roll on, Paul does a fine job of illuminating the situation, from inside the truck.
My hollering and carrying on scares the mama cow off.........momentarily.
The pups roll out and I'm impressed, that although they "trashed" if you will, they called out without too much coaxing and persuasion.
Paul, being the good buddy and expert spotlight handler that he is, lowers the spotlight to my feet as I start towards the truck.
At that moment, I become relatively aware that there is a 2200 pound mama cow barreling down on me from somewhere in the darkness.
She is less than pleased and is travelling at a speed which I'm still not sure, but I think I head the sonic boom, right before I saw her nose enter the spotlight beam.
She has come from behimd the truck, you know, one of those "circle back for the kill sweeps."
About the time I break for it I head "Heads up!" As the spotlight shines on her and her cloud of dust, then back to me, as I look at Paul to se what he's fussing about.
I'm blind, but can hear the wreck coming, over the clattering diesel motor.
I turn and break for it, away from the truck, angry mama, and Paul, still doing a great job with the spotlight from the truck.
Now, I'm running in the dark, all out, and 90% blind.
I can see just enough to know that Paul is attempting to help, by keeping me in the center of the spotlight, so I can see where I'm running.
As you can imagine, all that black cow can see in the darkness is me, in my worn out, nearly white, faded Carhardt jacket.
I might as well had been wrapped in 10,000 strands of Christmas lights for her.
I'm running away, zigging and zagging, all I can see in front of me is the cows shadow, and occationally mine when I run back and forth, in and out of her shadow.
I can hear Paul, coaching me from the truck, on wether to zig or zag, all the while I'm screaming for him to kill the light, thinking that's my only chance to disappear.
As all of you dog men know, sounds like what I describe, tend to Draw 4 young pups to the sounds.
They sometimes forget that they have just been called off and sent on.
The pups arrive and "help" if you want to call it that.
Finally, as I can hear pups yelping and I'm completely out of juice, the spotlight goes out.
At this point I remembered a small mesquite bush, 4 feet tall, as I knew I was going to have to hurdle it.
Now I can't see it, I crash into it and crumple into a pile, hoping she, at best, plows me and looses me in the dark if I lay still.
Plan works, she plows the mesquite, with me balled up inside, wallers on me momentarily, then focuses on the pups and away they go.
Laying there, in the cold darkness I do a self check, yup, the boys are still there and nothing hurts too bad.
The spotlight comes on and is shaking so bad it looks like a strobelight in a disco club. Well, theres a little simpathy, he's so scred for me he's shaking, wrong!
I can hear Paul laughing histerically, inside the truck, as I upright myself, he says "shoulda zig'd that last time you zag'd!"
She put up enough fight that the pups gave up and came back on thier own.
I was ready to kill him, but he was fishing around in the cooler and handed me a beer, so all was good.
I later realized I'd lost a new D-cell maglight and my hat, somewhere in the darkness.
Guess I got out pretty cheap. ;D

LMAO ,,.  memories like that are priceless  ;D

Cody, I am laughins so hard right now I have tears rolling down my cheeks....that was by far the FUNNIEST thing I have ever seen in the pasture :angel:

X2

friends like that are priceless!

Good story slim!  ;D

I get on a real computer in a day or two I'll tell one of Paul sitting in the saddle puking while I sawed a basketball sized abcess off a cows hip.
Well crap, that ruined it. I had an old cow with an abcess that was huge.
Dad and Paul strech her and jerk her down for me. I go to sawing on that thing, get it cut low and am mashing on it. I mean it looks like I'm giving her CPR. I'm standing straddle of her pumping 2 gallons of cottage cheese out. About a 2 inch stream. Well, Paul didn't check the wind. Dad was smart in that he had planned it to put himself upwind. Paul didn't notice until it was too late. He's sitting there, in the saddle, stretching on her and is leaning to the side hurling what was left of the bar remnants from the night before.  Granted, I had it all over me and wound up throwing that knife away but I'll tell you guys. He's a he'll of a hand at everything from pulling calves to poking guts and sewing up a dog but he's got a weak stomach for the rotten stank that we had that day.  ;D

Just reading that story made me throw up in my mouth a little bit, THANKS buddy.....

 ;D ;D

Abcesses are never fun but a 2" stream is a new one!!! :o :o :P

Reading some old stuff and found this thread. I need more!

Yeah, this is probably up at the top with the coolest reads on here that I've seen so far! Great stories! I would love to go do something like this sometime... Never done anything like this before.

Good stuff. To set up "camp" for a month and a half and cowhunt would be a fine time. ;)

ive got a few good tales when i was young and reckless rolleyes

These stories are sure funner to read than write... :D

SCHhitem spill the stories and get this thread started back up.

Been a long time ago and it wasn't really that big of a deal, no one hurt, but it was sketchy when it happened and funny afterwards.

I went down to Victoria, Texas to hunt with some boys I met in Louisiana pickin up an AB pup. Being the area that it is, most of the huntin these boys did was ag. areas during grain season. Being small acreage most of the time, they use a lot of RCD's and even let their AB's run loose with the pack some times.  Anyway, it was a night hunt, the dogs didn't get on anything right away but at the back edge of the field they got hoggy. I'm not sure if they were gettin "Hoggy" on the cows or not but that's what they ended up baying in the next field. Now we had lamps but it was still dark as all get out and as we waded through a few cows to get to the bay we finally saw what they were baying. It was a Brahma Bull that looked like it was 6ft tall. I'm sure the night and the adrenalin had something to do with that but none the less, it was big. About the exact same time we all arrived and recognized the situation on of the AB's decided to catch. Well he tried hitting the bull in the nose head on! I tell you, I've never seen an 80lb bulldog fly so high, so far. No exaggeration, he must have went 12 feet in the air and travelled 30 to 40 feet distance. After throwing the bulldog the bull turned on us. We flew to the fence line. I'm pretty sure I hurdled it clean. Not bad for a fat boy. Course the adrenalin helped I'm sure. I don't think one of the boys saw the fence in time and hit it full speed, flipping right over it. We all had a great laugh after we got the dogs gathered back up but it was dicey when it happened!

I caught a pair of buckin bulls for a friend a few years ago, one 4 yr old and a 2 yr old, wasn't much to it, they were in a small pasture in the woods with a piece of a fence around 3 sides, pulled up and I was talkin to the land owner when one of the boys decided to unload his horse lettin the 4 dogs we had out, well of course the dogs hit the woods and run off, the bulls were standing about 400 yards just watching us, they were gettin uneasy so we decided to take to em, we saddled up and tried easing around em to push em towards the middle of the pasture but they broke and started trotting down the fence line they were standing by, which was the best part of the fence, I ran up hollering like a wild Indian between them and the fence trying to turn em but didn't have enough room, as we got close to the corner I decided to rope the bigger one, as I picked my rope up I thought I was to late but managed to hang it on him as he was goin over this 5 strand fence, my horse has never went from a dead run to a hard stop better in his life when that barbed wire got in his face, sure was thankful he stopped the bull or it could've got western in a hurry! Luckily there was a gate about 50 yards down I managed to get him thru, then dogs showed up and we caught the other one with some cows a ways thru the woods, like I said not real exciting but I love these type stories just wanted to keep it  goin,

I've got one from a few years back. I was bull riding at the time, and every weekend there were a bunch of folks that got together and had a little jackpot bucking. I was just about always in attendance, because at the time all I thought was getting on as many bulls as possible. I was making a little bit of a name for myself, unfortunately it wasn't for being one of the best, but instead for being one of the wildest ;D I'd hop on just about any bull anyone wanted me to. I'll always remember my grandad telling me "Son you might not ever be much of a bull rider, but your a helluva crash test dummy."

So there I was one Sunday, the evening was winding down I had done my usual thing and got tossed off 5 or 6 bulls, but was still ready to go. As I was packing up a man came over and told me about a young bull he had in his trailer. All he said was he's... well... a little rowdy I guess you could say, and never had anyone on him so I don't really know what he'll do. Nobody else around here wants on him, but I'd like to see what he'll do I have some high hopes for him. I didn't even have to think about it. I told him get him in the chute let's see what he's got. So the man, and his helper started unloading "Spunky". I started getting geared back up, and the whole time I could hear all sorts of commotion. The whole time I'm making the walk to the chutes, I keep seeing this bull lurching over the front of the chute trying to make an escape. When I get over there I see Spunky. At first glance, he didn't look like much just a squirrly little guy colored up kinda funny, about like a Holstein. With these little up horns that didn't look like much and about as big around as a half dollar coin in diameter. It was kind of laughable really to think the man was thinking this scrawny little guy was going to be a bucking bull. Then the bull turned and looked me right in the eye, and I saw he had "the look" in his eye. The look that clearly says, I'm here to mess some sh*t up, and your best bets not to get in my way. Lol. Well I started getting my rope around him, and it was obvious 'ol Spunky wasn't enjoying himself inside the chute. He was thrashing around, kicking, snorting, banging around, and still trying to leap out the top. I said to the gentleman as I started over the side of the chute, well one things for sure... he's rowdy alright. I was use to getting on the nasty mannerless bulls of this sort because they were usually the one's other guys wouldn't even try getting on, or climbed off of before they even got started so his shenanigans wasn't really bothering me any, and I was focused on the task at hand. As I started sliding down the little fellow he mellowed out for a second just long enough for me to sit down. As my butt his back, he went from rowdy to bat number 2 crazy! He was biting, kicking, hitting anything he could get ahold of. As I was getting adjusted, he smashed his head into the gate and splintered his right horn from the tip to about half way through it. Then the blood started gushing, and the chute started to look like a clip out of a horror movie. Then the adrenaline really started pumping. And I remember about 6 or 7 different people asking if I wanted off as I was getting thrashed around trying to get tied in. I wasn't about to let this little scrub punk me like that though. So I finally got set, gritted my teeth, pulled up on my rope, and nodded my head. As the gate was swinging open I dug in with my spurs, and Spunky dropped his nose down in the dirt and threw a cloud of sand and dust up as he blew out of the chute like a shot out of a cannon. I remember looking down from what seemed like 12 foot high about mid jump, and thinking uh oh this might get a little western. As he was descending I prepared for the next jump. To my surprise though when his hooves hit the ground he didn't make another move. Just stood there still as could be. I thought about hopping off then but after the beating I took in that chute I wasn't letting him off that easy. So I stuck my spurs right in his ribs a few times, but instead of bucking Spunky just start loping around like an old pack mule with me on his back. Lmao :D I hopped off after that, and everybody went from the classic wth just happened look to hysterical laughter. The old man was a little embarrassed at first but then laughed it off as well and gave me $20 for my efforts so I was happy as could be, $20 richer, and a lifelong memory can't beat that.

Mine isn't even half as good as some of y'alls stories, but I'm bored so I'll tell it.

Last year during the drought we sold off all our cows here at my house pasture, all but a black angus bull that has never been penned. He always stayed in the back part of the pasture so I would leave the gate open most of the time. One morning while it was still dark I left for work and met him on the dirt road. I got around him and drove him back, instead of going in the gate, he goes to the end of the road, which is a dead end we own from the highway to the dead end. So I park my truck with the headlights angled towards him. Well I was going to slip down the fence and open the gate and run him in to the end pasture. I got about half way to the gate and he didn't like it and was coming to see me. The bad part was, he got out of the headlights and into the pitch black that was about 30 yards to me. You can't see a black bull while it's pitch black. All I could do was back up against the fence and put my hands out to brace the hit and listen to him running at me. He came right at me and ducked off at the last second and grazed my hands as he went by. Scared the chit out of me. He ran back up the road and into the gate. Few weeks later he busted some fences and he was caught and sold.

First i want to say i love the stories and admire real Cowboys. I have a few Cow experiences over the years but 2 stick out. I was on a State hunt at Tosohatchee in florida years ago with some friends. We hunted the River because less people ( Afraid of gators) and a lot of walking. We started out and we had a dog bark, we run quite dogs and they only bark when looking at one, a couple more went to them and we heard a sound like a train coming from the Palmettos at the edge of the woods coming to us at the flats on the river, I though it was a big hog and out came a brindle colored Brahma. The young dogs that had stayed decided to join in and it was on right out in the open on the sandy river flats. We all were hollering and trying to get our dogs off and my dog and another friends had caught the bull and started bring him down, Mind you the whole time i had my 30/30 because it was a kill hunt for the state but i  was not going to shoot someones Bull. finally after some work and a gut check or two we broke the dogs off and the brahma decided not to run us down probley due to exhaustion. I said right their, I am not no Cowboy and did not want that to happen again. Later that day after we caught a few hogs we were at the check station telling some people about our Cow catch and they told us we could have shot the Bull because they were feral. They had gotten over when the River dried up years earlier and the owners either didn't want to mess with them or did not know and they had been repopulating ever since. Their was about 12 or 15 and this was back in the late 90's and they always stayed on the river and in the woods close bye. I seen them several times a few years later and have not hunted that property since about 2003. I am hunting it again this coming February and am curious if the cattle are still their. My new dogs should be ok.

The second is nothing special except the look on the care takers face. We were hunting the Monarch ranch a several years back and had jumped a hog. we were on foot and ended up going thru a big heard of cattle in the middle of the night to get to the dogs and doing so the dogs we had spooked the cattle even thought they had not messed with any. As we walked they kept getting closer and closer and i was feeling uneasy so i shot in the ground and scared them off. Before you knew it the care taker steve came driving up and asked what the shooting was because he knew we live caught , I told him a cow came at us and i shot it, His eyes got Huge and he started to cuss and freak out, i told him what i did and he was relieved because he did not know what he was going to tell the owner about a dead cow. It probley did not sound as funny reading this the way i write but the look on Steves face had me in tears.
Great Thread Noah and again, I admire you true working Cowboys who do it all from cattle to hogs with your dogs.

  This one is more about city slickers that wanted to be cowboys. Several years back a neighbor, who had inherited the ranch across the river from me, dicided to become cowboys. He and his son bought cattle, just plain angus cows and put Brangus bulls on them. Now for 60 or so head of cows he has got 5 bulls. In August he will pull his bulls of his cows, but instead of putting them in a lot or pasture to where they won't tear his neighbors fences up he puts the bulls in the pasture next to me. I'm the one who spents all winter repairing fences and putting his bulls back in his place. By spring I've had enough. Bull tears the fence down and gets in with my cows. When  I find the bull he's made and wants to fight my truck. Well after getting rolled a couple of times he got the ideal he was no match for a Dodge one ton with a ranchhand grill.
  Having enough of this crap I call the neighbor and explain to him to come get his bull and to put him somewhere he will not come back. He starts in about how gentle his bulls are.
  About 1 o'clock the next afternoon he shows up with his son, both horseback. Wife and daughter in tow with a truck. Now all he has to do is push him a couple hundred yards and he is back in the neighbors place. 4:30 and they haven't come out of my pasture. Decide I better go check on the problem. Sure enough there they are two cowboys having a Mexican stand off with a dang bull and the bull is winning. I pull up next to them and ask what's taking so long. Then make the comment "Believe he knows you scared to death of him." So all I do is revv the truck up and the bull leaves out like he had a load of shot on the rump. Told him to go fix the fences the bull tore down. Driving off I made sure he heard me say " Some people have no business do a working man job".

ill need time to type it up.  ;D

heres a quick one.

me and two school mates were coon huntin one night in a big corn field. it was maybe 20 acres of pure rowed corn that was bein hit hard by some coons so we were runnin for free for the farmer to make a name for ourselves. he had some jersey milk cows in a nice sized pen beside it and on the other side of this pen is a heavy wooded area where we were thinkin the coons would be sleepin. we slipped in one night and casted my finished english and two plott pups away from the pen and woods and out into the corn. its pitch black except for our small lights, dusty, and hot. at the time my dogs had bells and night lights since thats what i could afford so we would sit and listen. got a good strike and we were off. as we are listenin my english decided to turn into the pen and head to the wooded area. my other two dump off after him and i played along. it was maybe a good half mile walk as the crow flies but i got to the woods and they were treed real tight. shot it out and got it in the bag. began to cast out again and they were off across the field back to the corn. bout some time later i hear this blood curdlin scream meanin only one thing. i get out to it and my dogs have a hold of a young steer, still sucklin age but still good size. im tryin to grab the dogs and right about the time i get ahold of my plott pups i feel this sharp and hot pain in the small of my back. yep you guessed it... where there are babies... there are the mommas too... i end up bout 40 feet down hill, muddy, with not one but two lighted white collars in front of me.(yes the hit was so hard it broke both plott pups collars) i brace myself and it was like time stood still. i hear shuffling behind me, my light was off my head, im waitin for a good sized cow to just lay on me and crush me. it never came. i manage to get enough courage to roll over and sit up, grab my light to see a pup hangin on the mommas throat, other pup is on her right foot bein trampled and my english is still runnin circles around the steer. my buddies finally get there we are tryin to get the pups off. the steer ran like a bat outta hell and i chained my english up and went to work on momma. i was thinkin the only way to do this is to grab her first. so im on her neck, all 150lbs of me at the time shakin like a rag doll. finally got a good finger in the pups mouth to gag her and shes off, now the bad part. that momma got on me like white on rice. im draggin my dog and runnin as fast as i can, no light but moonlight which was maybe just perfect match with the adrenaline rush i have. it was like i could see in the dark. im screamin to josh my closest friend to grab the pups and run the other way i got her distracted. i let the dog go and he somehow outran me. we were up and over the barb wire real quick like. shes stopped on the fence line, let out a good warnin, stomped her feet and trotted off like a boss. i passed out and layed for a good while till they found me and got me some water. we ended up callin it a night and i let the dogs have it!

now i tell you fellas one thing, when i say ive had it with jersey cows, i mean it. i hate em, despise em, if i see one in a pen ill be danged if i get in there with it, friendly or not.

I got another one, sold a pair of buckin bulls to some young bull riders several years ago that we're building there own pen, after about 6 months they still had t finished the pen but wanted to sell the bulls so me and a couple boys go over there to catch em for them, when we arrived they started tellin us about the neighbors place where the bulls stayed how thick it was and how many hogs are there, we unload and are riding the fence when my lil gyp starts poppin her tail and leaves out, she bays and the rest get to her and start bayin, we listened for a while and started to them on the other side of the fence on foot, we get there and they had a good group of hogs bayed, there was a good boar standing in front and I was trying to sneek up to get a rope on him when they broke, as they were runnin off I heard my male dog baying back where we came from so we started callin the dogs and headed back to the horses, when we got to the bulls they were in about a 15 acre rose thorn thicket, after fighting the thorns we get em to the pasture and take to em, I roped a Hereford cross in the middle of the pasture and waited for the truck, when we got him loaded I went to look for the other two boys thinking they had the black baldy caught, they let him get back in the rose thicket and it took two hours to get him out, when he came out he was traveling, the other boys said they weren't goin to let me rope both so I kinda hazed for em, both missed and the bull was cuttin across the pasture heads back to the thorns, I kicked my horse up and was goin across the pasture pickin a trail thru a few trees to the bull who was runnin down a fence line, by now I was drifting wide open and just as I made it thru the trees I was caddie corner comin to his right hip in perfect timing when I saw the ditch, it was small and I thought I could make it about the time I hit it and felt ol paint stumble, I looked up to jump and saw dirt as the horse flipped, I think he did a cartwheel and a half gainer before it was over, I was laying on the ground when I realized my rope was tangled all around me, I started shedding it about the time ol paint ran off, checked myself for broke bones and was fine, actually I think the impact popped my shoulder which had always givin me problems till then, caught my horse and chased this sob out of the rose thicket for another couple hours and when he came out I was way late gettin myself out, by the time I got there I was runnin the same tracks at him as before, this time I pulled up and crossed the ditch then got em roped