Anyone got any info on Wild/Feral Long Horn Steer Hunting?

Thanx in advance !
Hipshoot

Longhorns? I don't know and if they are wild cattle they are probably not steers but bulls.

Feral cattle are commonly hunted in Australia.

When I was a kid in the 70's we got a contract to round up wild cattle on Vandenburg AFB and we used to gather all the younger cows, calves and bulls for market but we would shoot the big range bulls from horseback.

The old range bulls would destroy the temporary pens, raise hell in the trucks and most of them would die in transport anyway.

If you can find it Finn Aagard did an article on it umpteen years ago called "Bulls of the Rio Bravo". Nickudu who posts on these forums might be able to get it for you.

Thanx Guys,
I read an article on it so many years ago that I can't remember anything about it other than the writer considered them to be pretty dangerous.

Hip

A rancher I know had a cow that had not been off the range in 5 years. He went in on foor to push her out of the Russian olives and she charged. He triewd several times to get her out and she just got nasty every time. One time He shot her in the head as she charged but he didn't hit her right. She lived and was now a full on problem. I offered to buy her and I would get her. I wanted the meat and also I wanted to try out some 475 gr 45 cal muzzleloader bullets. He ended up hireing a couple of guys to get her loaded into a trailer. He paid them 500 dollars and then sold her for almost nothing. I got after him about it because I would have PAID him to take her, not the other way around. He said he didn't think I could have got her packed out. I said that would have been my problem.
I wish he would have sold her to me. Ron

I am sure they are plenty big enough to cause problems and they sure ain't short on hardware and probably can get mean if they want to be !

Hip

I am glad to see this is getting a more mature and educated audience over here than on our other site.

I am glad to see that you are getting a more mature and informative audience over here than on the other site.

Don't mind the repeat posts, when you have "Old Timers"disease, they both look new.

Thanks Randall,
I think some of those "GOOD OLD BOYS" have spent too much time down at the compound down in Eldorado !

Hip

I shot a longhorn bull of mine about a month back. He was a master at jumping or squeezing through fences. I finally got tired of it, and the day was fairly cool to skin him out, so down he went. He was fairly young weighed about 900 or 1000 pounds on the hoof. I knew I was in trouble when the tenderloins (filets) were pretty chewy. He makes great very lean hamburger though.

BTW shot him center in the neck with Federal .300 WM 165 grain Nosler solid bases. They kill deer and hogs regularly but in this case it went through neck, grazing top of spinal column and stopped under skin on far side. Range about 100 yds.
Expansion was excellent to about .62, haven't weighed it but it didn't break up. Total penetration, maybe 12 inches or a bit less. Advice to those who want to shoot a longhorn bull or a cape buffalo in the neck, shoot about 1/3 of way UP on neck or put another way, slightly BELOW center.

Not sure of your budget, but scrub bulls in Australia might be as close as you could easily get.

From what I have read, they are not as impressive-looking as a longhorn but are truly feral.

I know they round up the buffalo and longhorns that are wild on th Washita National Refuge in soutwestern Oklahoma every year or so, which are then processed and sold locally. I don't know if they allow hunting for them, but it might be worth your while to do a little research.

Good luck!

Those bulls that used to be hunted on the Rio Grande in the Texas Big Bend country were a rip off hunting deal and those that hunted them were a bunch of idiots that thought they really had something going...My brother and I were hired to rope them and haul the to the sale as they never could get enough hunters to justify "wild cattle"...

Another guy that live near Reardon canyon has some Mexican fighting bulls cross the river and he sold them to some hunters..They were mean like any Mexican fighting bull is, but they gathered the remaining bulls and shipped them to San Angelo to a sale...

That is a big country and cattle get wild, but they are gathered every year, the calves branded and sold at the sale barn..

I don't consider that hunting. Those wild longhorns have all had their shots and most are branded..They can be gathered and penned..Wild animals cannot.

I know of a guy that used to do wild cattle hunts along the Rio Grande in west Texas but I'm not sure he still does it.
Some of the cattle out there are as wild and free ranging as deer.
I can tell you that a long horn cow with a calf nearby would be more dangerous than a steer or even a bull.

Thanx for all the info guys----it is appreciated! As I said I read the article many,many years ago and I don;t remember very much about it. I thought it might be a good idea due to their size and hardware ! Any can go ferel and be dangerous and/or revert to their wild stage. If nothing comes up that is sporting, I will look at something else!

Hipshot

P.S. Charles Helm------I would love to go to Australia or New Zeland, but the plane ride would KILL ME !!!!!!!! I feel like cattle just going a couple hours ride to Florida or Texas!

I don't consider cattle dangerous under any circumstances, at least not anymore so than a dog..Dogs bite folks all the time but I dont' consider dogs dangerous either...

I leased the 75,000 ac. Rosillas Mt. Ranch in the Big Bend of Texas, 90 miles So. of Marathon, Texas in the 70s and it had wild longhorn cattle on it that had Cap Yates brand on them so most of the old branded cows had to be at least 20 years old. I was told I could shoot them, have them hunted or do whatever I wanted to with them as they could not be gathered..

Over the next 120 days me and 4 Mexican cowboys roped them, sewed their eyelids near shut and lead them out one at a time to my pens. I sold them to JD Bloodworth in Colorado..I shot one steer but only because he had 7 ropes on him, and he presented himself at just the right time, he had a fantastic set of horns so I had him butchered and his head mounted. The meat was not good at all..

If wild cattle are dangerous then so are domestic cows because they have injured or killed more folks than the wild ones have.

I have a mild disregard for hunting domestic animals like cattle, sheep, and goats, under the pretext of real hunting...I make an exception for hogs as they need killing or they will take over an area..Just my opinnion and I don't hold it to anyone else, what other folks do along these lines is their business..

I'm with you Atkinson on hunting the killer bovines. However, it's bee a lot of years since that story form Finn. If I rmember correctly, John Wooters and Murry Burnham were part of that hunt in the rive cane. Seems like 40 years later it might get dammed interesting with they way things are along the border, Coyotes with AR15's and Mac 10's. It is after all, "No Country for Old Men."