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Author
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Topic: Whoa,... Nellie
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted April 09, 2015 11:56 AM
Experienced something today for the first time that was, or could have been, a bit unnerving. Now, understand that I have two places I hunt that are grazed by longhorn hybrids and those buggers just love to run you through/over/under a fence just for fun, but having a pissed off cow - and I mean REALLY PISSED OFF - take out her anger and frustration and grief on you is something not to be trifled with.
One of my dogs likes to play. She'll charge at you and, at the last moment, she'll leap into the air and come down with her chest on the ground, her front legs extended as far out in front of her as she can, her head down, and her ass sticking straight up in the air. I call it "punking me". It usually means she wants to play rough. There's a reason I just explained this.
Had shots in my neck yesterday and am at home today to rest and give the steroids a chance to settle in. Get a text about 830 this morning. Calf kill. Can I go and check it out? Location is a big cattle operation we didn't hunt much this year because the guy's son was honing his skills as a caller and had ten down when last we checked in. Seemed to be doing okay without our intruding on him. Anyway, 3 day old calf found dead this morning. They're thinking coyotes.
I go out, get all my gear on and start heading into the area of the kill by way of an alleyway along the feed bunkers going back into the pastures. The pasture area is separated into about a half dozen smaller paddocks, each being about 60 acres in size and interconnected by single-wide open gates. There are about sixty Angus cows with <1 week old calves in the first one where I had hoped to call, so I went around to the downwind side to set up. The entire bunch chases after me, calves bawling trying to keep up, mamas braying at me staying about fifty yards back from the fence that I'm walking along, tossing their heads and stomping their hooves. These cows are very, very agitated - still pretty stirred up - so I know it's been a long night for them and there's no safe way of being in that pasture without risking getting my ass stomped. They did not appear to be in any mood for me.
As I'm walking along, I spot one big wooly black cow. She's about fifty yards from the fence and you can't help but not miss the HUGE udder hanging under her. Size of a beachball and her teats look to be about to explode. No calf with her to nurse. Made ME hurt to look at that. Didn't take CSI to determine quickly that this is the mama who likely lost her calf during the night and she's just standing there staring me down. I stopped and here she comes toward the fence. Head down, tail straight up in the air. It's "go time". I'm thinking, "Oh shit". She charges right at me, just squalling at the top of her lungs and, at the last moment, she rears up on her hindlegs and comes down with her head down, both front feet stretched out as far as she can get, her ass and tail straight up in the air and the ground shook when her chest hit the floor. Just like my little rat terrier punking me, except this girl was every bit of a thousand pounds and pissed. She tossed her head, stood up, did a left and a right, and came back three more times like that, hitting the sod about five feet on the other side of that 5-rung barbed wire fence. I have never seen a cow that angry before, and I didn't stick around to agitate her anymore.
A guy can get complacent around cattle until you see something like this. My partner Kevin hates cows and won't even go into a pasture or pen with a little calf because he had a bunch try to take him once. The folks who own this place are great people and the owner's brother was tragically killed about three years ago. He didn't come in from feeding and they found his body late that night in these pens, trampled so badly they couldn't recognize him anymore. They still don't know if he had a heart attack first and the cattle stomped him after the fact or if the cattle spooked and took him down first. He was a really great guy and I immediately thought of that situation when this ol' girl came at me.
You cannot outrun a pissed off mama cow who just saw her baby killed by coyotes. Ain't gonna happen.
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5438 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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booger
TOO BIG TO FAIL
Member # 3602
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posted April 09, 2015 01:10 PM
Hell hath no fury like mama cows this time of year!
I have a classmate that is on permanent disability after being 'plunked'...he was down on all 4's ear tagging a newborn. He saw mama coming like a freight train and rocked back on his heels and ended up in sort of kneeling, fetal position.
She landed on him and screwed up his back, broke his jaw and his elbow got jammed into his side and lacerated his liver...was touch and go for a while.
His wife was in the pickup and beat the cow off with a shovel and got him to the ER in Russell. He was in the hospital for quite a while, and he is just a shell of his former self today. He is not in the cattle biz anymore.
[ April 09, 2015, 01:11 PM: Message edited by: booger ]
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If we ever forget we are one Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under--Ronald Reagan
Posts: 911 | From: Bob Dole Country | Registered: Apr 2010
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted April 09, 2015 01:49 PM
Okay, I'm a city boy, but I have a story, as well. Well, not much of a story except that a steer rammed me right into a pipe fence, more scared than hurt. The total of my contribution is: it can happen, don't turn your back on these big dumb animals, they can hurt you.
Lance, in your condition, you really have no business in pastures containing livestock.
Good hunting. El Bee
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31449 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted April 09, 2015 01:51 PM
Leonard, there's a lot of shit I have no business doing, that I'm doing on a regular basis. LOL
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5438 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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knockemdown
Our staff photo editing Guru, par excellence
Member # 3588
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posted April 09, 2015 02:07 PM
Dang!
I haven't been around much livestock at all and am always impressed at the sheer size of them when I am. To that effect, I stay friggin'well clear of em!!!
As for the dog posturing, what you described above is the universal canine symbol for "LETS PLAY!" Obviously, that doesn't translate well into the bovine world...
Glad ya didn't get squashed!!
Posts: 2202 | From: behind fascist lines | Registered: Mar 2010
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted April 09, 2015 06:39 PM
Me too, k. When I told Kevin what had happened, he was happy to have been working. The first year he hunted with me, we ventured into a pasture with longhorns in it. never had I ever had a problem with them. Even with new calves, they just never gave me a second look unless I go too close, and I stayed plenty far back from them. The only reason Kevin is even there is because I assured him they wouldn't pay us a second look.
Oops.
Not too far into the stand, a coyote comes in on his side and he shoots it and misses. I shoot and down it goes. About then, this big longhorn steer - black head, dark red shoulders going into speckles to the back half being all white and a spread of about 48 inches comes charging after our coyote. I was half way to him when here he comes. I raised my shooting sticks and swung them at the steer and he backed off. I'm punking this steer trying to back him down and I grab the coyote and start heading back to the cedar where I see Kevin, rifle shouldered and ready to kill that steer. I told him to shoot me and let the steer live. I'd rather recover from a gunshot wound than have to explain a dead steer to the guy that owned the place. Twice I've had them charge coyotes coming to the call. One mangy coyote got shot by me, started spinning , then got his butt flat out smooshed by a steer that was on him faster than I could get up to run it off. Had them, when they were young, run me to the pipe railings separating the feed pens from the pasture and tree me on the top one once. Young longhorns on one side, their mamas and the bulls on the other.
I'm thinking my tombstone will probably read, "Lance Homman, He shouldn't have been doing that."
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5438 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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32below
Knows what it's all about
Member # 2075
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posted April 12, 2015 01:14 PM
I will not hunt a pasture with cattle. One of three things will happen 1) They spook and run through the fences and you spend the day helping round up and sort the mess 2) They come to your stand and become a nuisance 3) You get your butt stomped. All I desire to avoid.
Posts: 100 | From: SW Kansas | Registered: Nov 2007
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3 Toes
El Guapo
Member # 1327
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posted April 13, 2015 04:04 AM
Over the years I have been attacked by deer, antelope, cattle, guard dogs, sheep, sheepherders, owls, hawks, eagles, etc. etc..
The one time I truly thought I might be seriously stomped was hunting with my dogs and calling up a group of cow elk with baby calves. They were serious. They chased my dogs back to me and didnt want to stop there. I finally jumped up and hollered and that just seemed to make it worse. I fired my shotgun in the air once and they didn't quit. I fired it into the ground at our feet and they stood off about 20 yards but wouldn't leave. We slowly eased out of there with them following closely until we were damn near to the truck. That's when they finally quit
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Violence may not be the best option....
But it is still an option.
Posts: 1034 | From: out yonder | Registered: Apr 2007
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Kokopelli
SENIOR DISCOUNT & Dispenser of Sage Advice
Member # 633
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posted April 13, 2015 06:20 AM
Haven't had a problem with cattle (yet) but a herd of wild burros in Nev. had my fuzzy little butt puckered for a while.
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
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And lo, the Light of the Trump shown upon the Darkness and the Darkness could not comprehend it.
Posts: 7576 | From: Under a wandering star | Registered: Apr 2005
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted April 13, 2015 07:58 AM
The above post reminds me. I have had some interesting encounters with free ranging horses, mostly mustangs, but one had iron on the front feet.
I have called in deer a number of times, in packs and once within actual spitting distance, they do not scare easily, they stare, mostly.
The thing is, range cattle, running off, is an optic that neither coyotes nor bobcat ever ignore. Usually won't come any closer.
Good hunting. El Bee
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31449 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted April 13, 2015 11:49 AM
When hunting for fun, I usually stay way clear of cows with pre-weaned calves. Just too much maternal instinct there to deal with safely. On a couple occasions, we have had to work an area with young calves on their mamas and I usually stick exclusively to vocalizations. Usually, with the first howl, I can tell if coyotes have been harassing them. If they flare and run, then yes, coyotes have been on them at night. If they just look up and stare at me, there often is no problem in that area to speak of. Good coyote barometer. One time, we had to work an area with about forty head of Angus with calves and as soon as I howled, all those mamas ran to group up with their calves in the middle, like yaks. Then, as a group, they moved away from where I was. Any type of prey distress amongst nursing cows and yes, you will get your ass kicked, by the whole bunch. 300 cows running at you makes a hell of a rumble. The first time it happened, I could feel them long before they appeared.
In the case of this matter, I didn't even try to call. I was merely walking outside the fence to the pasture and they came in totally on offense.
Never had a deer charge in. Wouldn't want to deal with her if I did. I watched two does having it out one night from my tree stand. Once they get on their hindlegs and start boxing with the front hooves, someobody's going home with a bruise.
Did have a coyote run us out one night, running coonhound ds. During running season, no guns allowed. We'd been having trouble with coyotes running behind the dogs and I was young and dumb enough to misinterpret that as just them having a good time trailing with the hounds. Never occurred to me that they may be running our dogs the hell outta Dodge. Well, we were having such a time one night and I had a howler on me. I told the ol' guy I used to run with to "watch this". I did my best (at that time) challenge bark and about fifty yards away, this big male coyote comes charging at us, ears back, hackled up, stiff-legged and pissed. He just kept punking us, charging at us and backing off, screaming at us the whole time. We backed out - or tried to - and he followed us out for a half-mile, staying about thirty yards behind us the whole time and raising hell all the way. The ol' guy I was with was visibly rattled. At one point he looks at me and asks, "What the hell did you say to him?!?"
"I dunno."
Very educational.
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5438 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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