In the early 1980s there was an article in American Rifleman/Hunter on the subject of wild bulls (cattle) that had been wild for several generations. they lived in the brushy parts of west Texas river valleys. I have checked Texas outfitters and chambers of commerce and I find no listing for any hunts of that sort. does anyone know if hunting of wild bulls exist? According to the article it was similar to hunting Cape Buffalo- close quarters with a badly dispositioned bull.

I remember the article, sounded interesting.

Well, there was a lot of bull in that article, alright.

It was supposedly in the brush country of South Texas where, on a particular large ranch, there were a number of somewhat feral bulls which were not desired for breeding and, after several years with little human contact had become pretty wild (and if somehow cornered, as in attempting to pen them, would become aggressive.) It was in a time of low cattle prices, particularly for scrub bulls, when gathering these animals for sale would have cost more than their worth. So, it might have made good sense to simply shoot them.

Today it is unlikely that any such feral cattle populations exist, even on the largest and most remote ranches; and cattle prices would make it well worthwhile to capture and sell them if they existed.

However, if you yearn to shoot a bovine I'm sure that someone will be more than willing to fix you up for the right price. Just as with a rodeo bull, a buzz from a Hotshot and a cinch tied around their flanks will give them an attitude the equal of any Cape Buff, at least for long enough to give the shooter a thrill.

By the way, if you haven't seen the TV show (Discovery Channel or one of its spinoffs) on Nazi General Herman Goering's efforts to have extinct beasts bred for hunting, you need to watch for it. Goering wanted to take over Poland primarily to establish his own private hunting preserve in its pristine forests. He supported a rogue geneticist who believed that he could back-breed cattle to recreate the original auroch, the original wild cattle of Europe. Goering was keen on hunting this species.

If you'll google "auroch" you'll find that this effort continues using more modern methods of gene implantation, etc. Would be interesting, but I'm not sure exactly where in Europe there is room for wild-ranging aurochs these days.

There was a show on the tube about a month ago where a guy named Erskine had I believe 2,000 acres that they had retired Spanish fighting bulls they hunted.

Try wild cattle hunts of Hawaii.
I'm with Stonecreek on thus one.

I remember that article. It was written by the great Finn Aagard. He compared hunting the wild bulls to hunting Cape buffalos.

Yes! That's where I heard about it. Seemed like good fun if I remember correctly.

Mark

Murray and Winston Burham also wrote of hunting wild cattle in the canebrakes. Sounded pretty stimulating.

Can't remember how long back this was, but Phil Shoemaker wrote an article for one of the gun/hunting magazines about hunting feral bulls on one of the islands in the Aleutian Chain off Alaska.

Maybe he will see this and reply.

Years ago I did a hunt with in Australia with Bob Penfold that included water buffalo and feral cattle, aka 'scrub bulls'. At first the notion of hunting some hereford did not appeal to me. Turns out the scrub bull hunt was much more challenging than the water buffalo. The ones I encountered were quite wiley/spooky and provided a first-rate hunt. After engaging an old bull in thick stuff had quite a shoot-out with him and he soaked up several rounds of .375H&H. As we closed on him he attempted to mount a charge at about 25 yards and I finished him with Bob's .458.

My impression of the feral cattle of Australia is that they deserve respect.

I saw a very gnarley feral bull on Nii'hau in Hawaii several years ago. We were there shooting pigs and sheep and the feral cattle were no longer on the shoot list. And I don't know how many generations of cattle could go feral in Texas to get the wild traits back into them. I knew a cattle rancher that got tired of dealing with a paticular problem bull that liked breaking fences and putting dents in pick-ups that got rounded up with an '06 and a front end loader.

For 12 years I operated a wilderness hunting concession in Eastern Arnhemland in Northern Territory, Australia.

Our "mainstream" Trophy animal was the Asiatic buff with Feral Oxen, AKA "scrub-bulls", colloquially known as Red-Skins (predominant hide coloration is red hued), as the local population was close to pure bred English Short horn released to the area some couple of hundred years prior, available as an add-on to a successful buffalo hunt.

Unfortunately too many hunters would come with pre-conceived views on hunting feral cattle UNTIL they came in to contact with them, and usually that was too late in their hunt to make a change.

The feral cattle in our region are the primary source of protein for the indigenous land-owners, of whom very few own (decent/adequate) firearms, as a result a lot of animals carried wounds from inadequate firearms and had "negative" dispositions.

Part of my local responsibilities, during my hunting season, were to provide as much "red-beef" to my land-owners as physically possible, as a result I spent a LOT of my down-time and time between hunts looking for and hunting Oxen.
I have quite a few night-mare memories of tangles with Oxen, on my own, late in the afternoon in some unmarked location with a pissed-off bull that had not read the ballistics charts of my .375 or .458 Lott.

Based on my own personal experience I believe a lot of hunters under-rate and underestimate the feral cattle hunt (that is based on the provision that the beast in question is actually several generations wild and born wild with no human handling/management).

Personally, I love hunting scrub bulls or what-ever you want to call them.

We do have wild cattle here in South Texas. The government employs hunters to shoot them on site in an effort to control ticks. The hunters are referred to as "Tick Riders". For the most part the wild cattle cross the river from Mexico. They are not hunted commercially. I have seen them in some areas that I could hunt if I'd get off my butt and go do it, also Nilgai and wild hogs. But they aren't there long before they either wonder off or are shot. I don't know what I would do with one if I did kill it. I'm too old to cut it up and pack it out, I'd have to have a back hoe. But I might start carrying my 338 in the truck and take some "shots of opportunity", just deal with getting it out after it's shot.

I'll tell you what we have feral cattle here in far West Texas that are mean, wild, and makes me uneasy walking back in the Dark Knight. They are right along the Mexican border in deep thick brush. I bet it would be a fun hunt.

Shucks, we had a few "pet brahma cows" that were almost that wild. We'd have to carry a club when in the corral with 'em or they'd try to get in our ass pockets!

Don't need to be wild for generations!

George

I would imagine there are a lot of folks in TX that will sell you a hunt for a "wild bull" anytime you want to plunk down the $$$.

The hunt your talking about took place on the Rio Grande River south of sanderson, Texas..I know the owners but can't think of their names..Those bulls were Mexican fighting bulls that came across the Rio Grande from a ranch that raised them..The owners leased that hunting to someone and as best I recall they shot out the bulls and that was the end of the hunt..It was no sham those bulls would charge a nat or elephant unprovoked..

We roped a few of those fighting bulls on our place, if you had two good cowboys it worked pretty good until one tuned my horse over on top of me, then we started shooting them.

Any bull fighting or domestic can be mean as any other bovine on occasion..I shot a rogue Charlise bull that had gone wild on Ben Loves Persimmon Gap ranch, South of Marathon, on the Big Bend Park entrance, hit him in the neck with a 270 and down he went, shot out of the pickup at a water hole early morning..I ran up to him to cut his throat and he came too his feet like a track star, his eyes bloodshot and locked in on me were big as tennis balls..I ran like hell and jumped on top of the pickup cab, Ben was in the cab and shot him several times with his 30 carbine and the bullets just rickoshied off his skull. He then proceeded to rip the fender and tore up the door, I jumped down off the off side and got my .270 and crawled back in the bed of the pickup and he had his nose over the bed and I shot him in the brain..killed him that time..Yes any wild or domestic bull can be a bad boy..More folks killed by Dairy bulls than Cape buffalo because owners trusted them...Cattle can get real wild in that big rimrock country, fortunately most are gentle animals, some more protective than others about their calves..

I hunted feral cattle on coffee plantations in Hawaii several years ago. They hadn't been out of captivity very long, but they were wild enough to chase pickers out out of the fields, which left coffee beans rotting on the trees, so there was some financial incentive to make them go away.

I shot several with a CZ 550 American in 9.3x62 and some with a 30/06. They were spooky as hell and there was no shortage of excitement in going after them alone.


Okie John

Yes, I remember that article as well. It must have made quite an impression on a lot of people. Many of us remember it and it has been mentioned on this website before. Finn Aagard wrote it, but I believe that John Wooters was part of the group of hunters. Not sure about the Burnhams. John was doing a product report on the Marlin Model 95 and the new microgroove rifling. That would have been about 1974. He was using a 45-70 and knocking those bossy bovines down cold in the river canebrakes. Yeah, I'd still like to do that too..............42 years after the fact.

In Montana we call those slow elk ...

In Texas and Idaho slow elk shooting is a feloneous hanging offence.