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Post by brobear on Mar 20, 2017 4:35:13 GMT -5
MAN MEETS GRIZZLY - Gathered by F.M.Young - 1980. In the great fiestas of times past at the missions and presidios there was always a bull fight for the entertainment of the crowd. The last one on record that I know of took place at Pala, a branch or asistencia of the once great Mission of San Luis Rey, in the mountains of San Diego County, nearly fifty years ago. One of the American newspapers in California published an account of it written by a correspondent who was present. I have the clipping of that and as it is a better-written description than I could produce myself, I give it herewith:
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Post by brobear on Mar 20, 2017 4:35:36 GMT -5
Continued.... "The bear was an ugly grizzly that for years had roamed the pineclad region of Palomar Mountain, rising six thousand feet above the little mission. Tied to a huge post in the center of the old abode-walled quadrangle he stood almost as high as a horse, a picture of fury such as painter never conceived. His hind feet were tethered with several turns of a strong rawhide riata, but were left about a yard apart to give play. To the center of this rawhide, between the two feet, was fastened another heavy riata, doubled and secured to a big loop made of double riatas thrown over the center post. The services of a man on horseback with a long pole were constantly needed to keep the raging monster from chewing through the rawhide ropes.
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Post by brobear on Mar 20, 2017 4:36:57 GMT -5
Continued.... First Bull. "By the time the bear had stormed around long enough to get well limbered up after being tied all night, the signal was given, the horseman affected his disappearance, and in dashed a bull through an open gate. He was of the old longhorn breed but of great weight and power. He had been roaming the hills all summer, living like a deer in the chaparral of the rough mountains and was quick and wild as any deer. He too, like old Bruin, had been captured with the noosed lasso in a sudden dash of horsemen on a little flat he had to cross to go to a spring at daylight, and felt no more in love with mankind than did the bear. As he dashed across the arena it looked as if the fight was going to be an unequaled one, but the bear gave a glance that intimated that no one need waste sympathy on him. "No creature is so ready for immediate business than is the bull turned loose in an amphitheater of human faces. He seems to know they are there to see him fight and he wants them to get their money's worth. So, as soon as the gate admits him, he goes for everything in sight with the dash of a cyclone. Things that outside he would fly from or not notice, he darts at as eagerly as a terrier for a rat the instant he sees them in the ring. "This bull came from the same mountains as the bear and they were old acquaintances, though the acquaintance had been cultivated on the run as the bull tore with thundering hoofs through the tough manzanita and went plunging down the steep hillside as the evening breeze wafted the strong scent of the bear to his keen nose. But now, in the arena, he spent no time looking for a way of escape but, at a pace that seemed impossible for even the great weight of the bear to resist, he rushed across the ring directly at the enemy as if he had been looking for him all of his life. "With wonderful quickness for so large an animal the bear rose on his legs and coolly waited until the long sharp horns were within a yard of his breast. Then up went the great paws, one on each side of the bull's head, and the sharp points of the horns whirled up from horizontal to perpendicular, then almost to horizontal again as bull and bear went rolling over together. In a twinkling the bear was on his feet again, but the bull lay limp as a rag, his neck broken.
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Post by brobear on Mar 20, 2017 4:37:46 GMT -5
Continued.... Second Bull. "In rode four horsemen and threw riatas around the feet of the dead bull, while the grizzly did his ferocious best to get at them. As they dragged the body of the vanquished victim out one gate, the runway to the bullpen was opened once more and a second bull, a big black one with tail up, as if to switch the moon, charged into the arena. On his head glistened horns so long and sharp that it seemed impossible for the bear ever to reach the head with his death-dealing paws before being impaled. "But this problem did not seem to worry the grizzly. He had not been living on cattle for so many years without knowing a lot about their movements. When his new antagonist came at him he dodged as easily as a trained human bullfighter, and as the bull shot past him, down came one big paw on the bovine's neck, with a whack that sounded all over the adobe corral. A chorus of shouts went up from the rows of swarthy faces, with here and there a white face, as the victim, turning partly over, went down with a plunge that made one of his horns plow up the dirt, then break sharp off under the terrific pressure of his weight and momentum. "The bull was not done for; he tried to rise and Bruin made a dash for him, but his tethers held him short of his goal. In a second the bull got to his feet and wheeled around with one of those short twists that makes him so dangerous an antagonist. But once he's wheeled around, his course is generally straight ahead, and a quick dodger can avoid him; however, he is lightening-like in his charge, and something or somebody is likely to be overhauled in short order. So it was this time, and before the bear could recover from the confusion into which he had been thrown by being brought up short by his tether, the bull caught him in the shoulder with his remaining horn. "Few things in nature are tougher than the shoulder of a grizzly bear, and a mere sideswing without the full weight of a running bull behind it was insufficient to make even this sharp horn penetrate. The bear staggered, but the horn glanced from the ponderous bone, leaving a long gash in the shaggy hide. This only angered Bruin the more. He made a grab for the head of the bull but again was foreshorted by the riatas, which allowed him only a limited scope of action. "The bull returned to the charge as soon as he could turn himself around and aimed the long horn full at his enemy's breast. But just as the horn seemed reaching its mark the grizzly grabbed the bull's head with both paws and twisted it half round with nose inward. The nose he seized with his great white teeth, and over both went in a swirl of dust, while the crowd roared and cheered. "Now one could see exactly why cattle found killed by bears always have their necks broken. Bears do not go through the slow process of strangling or bleeding their victims, but do business on scientific principles. "This time the grizzly rose more slowly than before; nevertheless he rose, while the bull lay still in death.
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Post by brobear on Mar 20, 2017 4:38:26 GMT -5
Continued.... Third Bull. "The owners of the bear now wanted to stop the show, but from all sides rose a roar of 'Otro! Otro! Otro! Otro toro!' - 'Another! Another! Another! Another bull!' The owners protested that the bear was disabled and was too valuable to sacrifice needlessly; that a dead bull was worth as much as a live one, and more, but that the same arithmetic did not hold good for a bear. The clamor of the crowd grew minute by minute, for the sight of blood gushing from the bear's shoulder was too much for the equilibrium of an audience like this one. "Soon another bull shot toward the center of the arena. Larger than the rest but thinner, more rangy, he opened negotiations with even more vigor, more speed. With thundering thump of great hoofs, his head wagging from side to side, eyes flashing green fire, he drove full at the bear with full force. The grizzly was a trifle clumsy this time and as he rose to his hind feet the bull gave a twist of his head that upset the calculations of the bear. Right into the base of the bear's neck went a long, sharp horn, at the same time that the two powerful paws closed down on the bull's neck from above. A distinct crack was heard. The bull sank forward carrying the bear over backwards with a heavy thump against the big post to which he was tied.
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Post by brobear on Mar 20, 2017 4:39:22 GMT -5
Continued... "Again the horsemen rode in to drag out a dead bull. But the grizzly now looked weary and pained. Another powwow with his owners ensued, while the crowd yelled more loudly than ever for another bull. The owners protested that it was unfair, but the racket rose louder and louder, for the audience knew that there was one bull left, the biggest and wildest of the lot. "The crowd won, but Bruin was given a little more room in which to fight. Vaqueros rode in, and while two lassoed his fore-paws and spread him out in front, the other two loosened his ropes behind so as to give him more play. He now had about half the length of a riata. Allowing him a breathing spell, which he spent trying to bite off the riatas, the gate of the bullpen was again thrown open.
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Post by brobear on Mar 20, 2017 4:40:07 GMT -5
Continued.... Fourth Bull. "Out dashed an old red rover of the hills, and the way he went for the bear seemed to prove him another old acquaintance. He seemed anxious to make up for the many times he had flown from the distant scent that had warned him that the bear was in the same mountains. With lowered head turned to one side so as to aim one horn at the enemy's breast, he cleared the distance in half a dozen leaps. "The bear was still slower than before in getting to his hind feet, and his right paw slipped as he grabbed the bull's head. He failed to twist it over. The horn struck him near the base of the neck, and the bull and bear went rolling over together. "Loud cheers for the bull rose as the bear scrambled to his feet, showed blood coming from a hole in his neck almost beside the first wound. Still louder roared the applause as the bull regained his feet. Lashing his sides with his tail and bounding high in fury he wheeled and returned to the fray. The bear rolled himself over like a ball and would have been on his feet safely had not one foot caught in the riata which tied him to the post. Unable to meet the bull's charge with both hind feet solid on the ground, he fell forward against his antagonist and received one horn full in the breast, up to the hilt. "But a grizzly keeps on fighting even after a thrust to the heart. Again he struggled to his feet, the blood gushing from the new wound. With stunning quickness in so large an animal, the bull had withdrawn his horn, gathered himself together, and returned to the charge. The bear could not turn in time to meet him, and with a heavy smash the horn struck him squarely in the shoulder forward of the protecting bone. Those who have seen the longest horns driven full to the hilt through the shoulder of a horse - a common sight in the bullfights of Mexico - can understand why the bear rolled over backwards to rise no more."
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Post by brobear on Mar 22, 2017 7:27:12 GMT -5
During the years of the arena bull vs bear fights, the grizzlies participating were already veterans of killing wild ( or feral ) cattle and with fighting bulls. In ancient Europe there was the auroch; the ancestor of domesticated cattle. In the American West were feral range cattle which had been living wild for perhaps 200+ years. If a typical boar grizzly ( say ) from Yellowstone were suddenly confronted by a Spanish fighting bull, I would not bet too heavily on the inexperienced bear against such a beast. But, once a grizzly learns, probably starting with killing calves and the occasional mature cow, then he becomes a veteran bullfighter.
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Post by brobear on Mar 26, 2017 23:43:10 GMT -5
Grizzlies and Grizzled Old Men by Mike Lapinski - 2006 The Spanish custom of bullfights created a brisk demand for large grizzly bears to fight the bulls, and a handsome sum, often $100 or more, was paid for a live grizzly ready to fight. But bringing a grizzly bear to market alive was no easy chore. Vaqueros occasionally succeeded in roping a bear, but this practice proved extremely hazardous to both man and horse. Eastern Americans who brought their woodworking crafts with them began building live bear traps made of stout logs, which resembled a small log cabin. The bear, lured by the smell of putrid cow guts, entered the trap, and when it pulled on the bait, a heavy door slamed shut. Sometimes the bear was able to dig under the walls and escape or was big enough to tear the trap apart. But if it was still there when the owner checked the trap, a team of horses dragged a heavy steel cage in front of the log cabin trap, and the enraged grizzly was transferred to it.
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Post by brobear on Mar 26, 2017 23:43:35 GMT -5
Continued... Spanish bulls were rangy, half-wild beasts weighing up to 2,000 pounds. Many who watched one of these hoofed demons trotting around the arena immediately put their money on the bull. The grizzly when prodded into the ring, ignoring the bull and sought a corner, or dug a hole in, further heightening the hopes of the spectators who had bet on the bull. Before long, the bull lowered his head and hurtled his powerful bulk at the bear - whereupon all who bet on the bull lost their money. The grizzly usually took the bull's initial charge full in the chest, which knocked the bear on its back, whereupon the grizzly clamped its jaws on the bull's head and wrapped its paws around its neck. While the bull was held in that position, the bear had its way with its powerful jaws, wrecking havoc on the bull's head. The bull, suffering intense pain and bellowing horribly, was unable to gore the bear and could only make a series of frantic efforts to free himself. Sometimes the bear suddenly wrenched the bull's neck to the side and broke it.
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Post by brobear on Mar 26, 2017 23:43:56 GMT -5
Continued... Jose Arnaz, a merchant in Southern California in 1840, told of a bear that "killed three bulls, one after another. When the bull approached, the bear thrust a paw in its face, or caught a leg in its jaws. In this way the bear forced the bull to lower its head, and when it bellowed, caught it by the tongue. It was then necessary to separate the contestants quickly to keep the bear from killing the bull immediately.
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Post by brobear on Mar 26, 2017 23:44:40 GMT -5
Continued... Another bear/bull fight occurred in Mexico with "Samson," a massive California grizzly captured by Grizzly Adams. Albert Evans recorded the fight. "I saw the bear dig a hole big enough to hold an elephant. Samson then latched onto the bull with its jaws as if it were an infant and carried it to the pit. It hurled it into the pit head first and slapped it with its wicked paws until half the life was knocked out of the bull. Then, holding the bull down with one paw, proceeded to bury it alive."
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Post by brobear on Mar 26, 2017 23:45:00 GMT -5
Continued... As California evolved from a wild frontier society, public outcry against bear/bull fights forced authorities to ban them. The demand for live grizzlies waned, but the demand for dead ones continued, oftentimes for sport and brabbing rights to having killed the biggest known grizzly in those parts. With the coming of the Americans, the Spanish live-and-let-live philosophy towards the grizzly evaporated. The American penchant for submission and domination of the land put the average American at odds with the grizzly. Ranchers and farmers almost immediately began ridding their valleys of the bear for crimes such as grazing on their grass or swiping honey or the occasional cow.
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Post by brobear on Apr 20, 2017 5:05:12 GMT -5
STRANGE... I search online and find long-dead animal face-off blogs. I read grizzly vs bull topics. I find it strange that nearly every poster automatically votes for the bull. In their mind's eye, they can see a huge charging bull plowing over the fat helpless bear. But, I have read numerous books telling of the actual events which took place in Old Mexico. The best of the best of these books is "California Grizzly" by Tracy I Storer. According to historian research, most people who watched these bloody spectacles for the first time nearly always bet their money on the magnificent Spanish fighting bull. How could the ( by appearance ) slow-moving fat bear ever hope to defeat such a brute? But, according to historians, the grizzly nearly always defeated the bull. In his book, "Bear, History of a Fallen King" by French historian Michel Pastoureau, in the ancient Roman arena, the European grizzly nearly always vanquished the bull. FACT... Appearances can often be deceiving.
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Post by brobear on Apr 25, 2017 14:08:48 GMT -5
Notorious Grizzly Bears by W.P. Hubbard - 1960 - The Longhorn vs The Grizzly. While checking the history of a Colorado outlaw grizzly known as Buff, the story of a death-battle between the bear and an outlaw longhorn named Blaze was discovered. Buff was the only outlaw grizzly I could find that was killed by another animal. Buff was so-named by stockmen because of his brownish-tinged, buff-colored pelage. He was credited with slaying many elk and deer, several horses, over one hundred sheep, and eighty cattle. Some of the latter were imported animals of good blood, and accounted for the high reward of $750 on his head at the time of his death in 1894. His history was interesting, but research brought out too much conflicting testimony to be able to compile a reasonably accurate account of his entire career. The death fight between Buff and Blaze was seen and described to me by Lon Duncan, a professional hunter.
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Post by brobear on Apr 25, 2017 14:25:33 GMT -5
Go to page #1 and count down 9 posts ( they're not numbered on this site ). Using different wordings, the book "Notorious Grizzly Bears" tells the same story of Buff the grizzly and Blaze the bull. The grizzly was weighed at 887 pounds ( 402 kg ) while the bull was estimated at 1500 pounds ( 680 kg ). I have noticed from my reading from so many sources that when the grizzly comes out second best in a fight, the tale is a popular one. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, predators of every kind were hated by nearly everyone; especially farmers and ranchers. If wolves and cougars were hated, then the grizzly was despised beyond a mere hate. He was not only a killer of livestock, but also of people. He was feared! The story of the Texas Longhorn Blaze killing the grizzly called Buff is a popular tale. Very rarely did a bull ever kill a full-grown grizzly. There is also a popular story of a horse killing a grizzly, a bison killing a grizzly, and a moose killing a grizzly. While the grizzly nearly always wins in any battle against another beast, when he loses, the story gets told most often.
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Post by brobear on Apr 25, 2017 15:55:00 GMT -5
Notorious Grizzly Bears by W.P. Hubbard - 1960 - The Longhorn vs The Grizzly. Another illustration of the longhorn's fighting qualities was told by my father. While is Juarez, Mexico, in 1883, he witnessed a pit-fight between a big longhorn bull and a full grown grizzly. After being savagely bitten and clawed about the neck and head, the bull threw the bear completely over his shoulder, turned quickly, and gored the bear to death. Although a domestic animal, the longhorn was always courageous enough to stand and face the grizzly singly on any field of battle.
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Post by brobear on Apr 25, 2017 16:14:26 GMT -5
Continued.... The book goes on to say.... This is undoubtedly due to the Longhorn being endowed with the spirit of self-preservation, plus the knowledge and fighting blood gained through generation after generation of battle for existence against drought, flood, blizzard, and carnivorous enemies. ( In my own Words )... The author neglects the fact that the character of the grizzly was forged from all of that listed and then some. He also neglects to say that only rarely did the bull ever defeat the grizzly or that in those Mexican arena fights, the bull was free to move about freely while the bear was always securely fastened to a heavy post in the center of the arena.
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Post by brobear on Apr 25, 2017 17:35:04 GMT -5
www.historynet.com/texas-longhorns-a-short-history.htm Texas Longhorns: A Short History Texas Longhorns and the long drives northward to market made such an imprint on the 19th-century Western landscape that for many Americans today nothing else better defines the Old West. In his classic 1941 book The Longhorns, J. Frank Dobie writes that the Chisholm Trail, from Texas to Kansas, ‘initiated… the most fantastic and fabulous migration of animals controlled by man that the world has ever known or can ever know’ Between 1866 and 1890, some 10 million cattle were driven on the Chisholm and other trails out of Texas. ‘Without the Longhorns and the long drives,’ writes Don Worcester in The Texas Longhorn, ‘it is unlikely that the cowboy would have become such a universal folk hero.’ The roots of the Texas Longhorn go back to the late 1400s. Cattle were not indigenous to North America, but were introduced by gold-seeking Spanish conquistadors. The first Spanish explorers turned their dark, thin-legged, wiry Moorish-Andalusian cattle loose on the Caribbean Islands. These Andalusians, known as ‘black cattle,’ also produced Spanish fighting bulls. Left on their own, the cattle strayed, grew larger and soon turned wild. In the wild they thrived, growing heavy-boned, skinny and swift. Their long legs and long horns provided offensive weapons and defensive protection. They also developed a fiery temper and a malicious cleverness. In 1521, Spanish sea captain Gregorio de Villalobos, defying a law prohibiting cattle trading in Mexico, left Santo Domingo with six cows and a bull and set sail to Veracruz, Mexico. The explorer Hernando Cortes also set sail with Criollo, or Spanish, cattle to have beef while on his expeditions. He branded his herds with three crosses-the first brand recorded in North America. As more Spanish explorers headed north, their crippled and exhausted cows were left behind, loose on the trail, to fend for themselves. These Spanish explorers held to the Castilian tradition that grass was a gift of nature. Spanish cattlemen did not fence in their fields or their herds, and cattle easily wandered off to join the wild population. In the 1820s, settlers in Texas, then part of Mexico, primarily raised European breeds of cattle. The Texas Longhorn is the result of the accidental crossbreeding of escaped descendants of the Criollo cattle and the cows of early American settlers, including English Longhorns. The easily identifiable result is a wild, slab-sided, ornery, multicolored bovine weighing between 1,000 and 1,500 pounds and having a horn spread of 4 to 7 feet. A Longhorn was considered mature at 10 years, and by then averaged 1,200 pounds. The combination of these characteristics made Longhorns hearty and self-reliant. One of their drawbacks was their meat. It was known to be lean, stringy and tough, but was still better than beef from Criollo cattle. The New York Tribune, on July 4, 1854, described Longhorn beef: ‘The meat is fine-grained and close, somewhat like venison. It is apt to be a little tough.’ These feral cattle, being excellent swimmers, easily crossed the sluggish Rio Grande, but generally were stopped by the more turbulent Red River. By the Mexican War, 1846-1848, the Texas Longhorn had become a recognizable type. Worcester, however, points out that the real Texas Longhorn was ‘a fairly distinct type that appeared in South Texas in large numbers only after the Civil War.’ The Longhorn did not have many enemies. Native Indians did not hunt the wild cattle; they preferred the meat of the tamer and easier to kill buffalo. The Indians also found more uses for buffalo hides and bones than they did for Longhorn leather. Wolves that followed the migrating buffalo herds remained shy and wary of the mean and often deadly Longhorn cattle. With the waning of the buffalo herds, the prairie grasses from Mexico to Canada became fodder for this new, more marketable animal. Most non-Indian Americans never developed a taste for buffalo, and more and more people were taking a liking to beef. A single Longhorn cow needed 10 acres of good plains grass a year for feed, 15 if the ground was dry and scrubby, and there were millions of acres available. Living on the rich Texas plains, a cow would normally have 12 calves in her lifetime, ensuring a steady supply for the new market. During the Civil War, the unattended Longhorns proliferated. By 1865, about 5 to 6 million Longhorns resided in Texas, and most were unbranded. Many Confederate Army veterans returning from the war built up herds by claiming unmarked cattle and branding them. At that time a steer was worth about $4 in Texas-that was if you could find anyone with the $4. In Chicago, Cincinnati and other meat-packing and market towns up North, that same steer sold for about $40. The problem was getting the steers to market. More than 250,000 steers were driven toward Kansas and Missouri in 1866, but many didn’t make it because farmers, worried about tick fever, would turn them back, and thieves would strike the herds. In 1867, Abilene, Kan., at the railhead of the Kansas & Pacific, opened up as a major market and became the first of the cow towns. For the next two decades, Longhorns hit the trails on long but generally profitable drives. There had actually been long drives earlier-such as to New Orleans in the 1830s and to California during the gold rush-but the era of the great trail drives did not begin until after the Civil War. To build up herds, cattlemen often hired young ‘brush poppers.’ For $10 a month plus board, they combed the sage brush, popping out cattle as they went. After the spring roundup, the cattle herd was driven north. For this dangerous work a cowboy would earn $30 a month. A drive often covered 1,500 miles and took four to six months. The hours were long, the conditions brutal and the dangers very real. The outdoor work, mostly in the saddle, appealed to a certain breed of men-the American cowboy. Unpredictable weather and swollen streams would break up the routine on the trails, and no single word could shake up a cow camp quicker than ‘Stampede!’ Every cowboy that ever trailed a herd was concerned about the threat and hazards of a stampede. It wouldn’t take much to get the Longhorns to run -a yelp from a coyote, the rattling of the chuck wagon’s pans, the hiss of a rattlesnake, a cowhand’s sneeze, the flair of a match. In Frederic Remington’s The Stampede the cause was lightning. ‘Stompede was the old Texian word, and no other cattle known to history had such a disposition to stampede as the Longhorns,’ writes Dobie. In an instant, a calm herd could become a solid wave of nearly unstoppable alarm and panic. Normally a Longhorn steer would not target a man on horseback, but neither man nor horse was safe during a stampede. The steers themselves usually were at great risk. In Idaho, an 1889 stampede led to the deaths of one cowboy and 341 Longhorns. In Nebraska, in 1876, four cowboys tried to head off 500 stampeding steers. Only three of the men made it; all that was found of their friend was the handle to his revolver Another herd took to running when a tobacco shred from a cowboy’s pouch stuck in a steer’s eye. That unfortunate crew lost two cowboys, and a score were injured. Out of their herd of 4,000 head, 400 cattle were killed. One of the worst stampedes occurred in July 1876 near the Brazos River in Texas. Almost the entire herd plunged into a gully; more than 2,000 head were killed or missing. When cattle stampeded they did not utter a sound, but a cacophony was raised by the clashing of horns and the crashing of hooves. The heat that the massed herd emitted was phenomenal. Charles Goodnight, one of the 19th century’s most famous cattlemen, once described how the heat ‘almost blistered the faces’ of the men on the lee side of the herd. On a hot night, a steer that ran 10 miles might lose up to 40 pounds. There was only one thing, agreed most cowboys, that could be done to gain control of a runaway herd. That was to ride hellbent for leather toward the head of the herd and get the leaders milling, so that the herd would circle around into itself. The cowboys hoped the cattle would exhaust themselves during the process. The men would wave hats or slickers, beat ropes against chaps and sometimes fire pistols into the ground to try and keep the animals from running. A herd in flight could spread out over a vast area. If the herd ran for 25 miles, the cowboys might have to ride 200 miles rounding up the strays. Working alone, each man fanned out and began riding toward the herd’s new bedding ground. Sometimes small groups of cattle would be found and started back, but finding and driving singles was more often the case. Every trail herd had its dominant steer, which by instinct strode to the front of the bunch to lead the way. Good lead steers were particularly valuable when crossing a river because hesitant leaders would cause most of the others to stop. If a steer did the job well, it would not be sold; it would be brought home to lead the other herds north. Charles Goodnight owned such a valuable steer in Old Blue, whom he had bought from cattleman John Chisum. During eight seasons, more than 10,000 head followed Old Blue to Dodge City- a one-way trip for them but not for Blue. Goodnight put a bell around Old Blue’s neck, and the other steers learned to follow the familiar ringing. Old Blue, according to range legend, ‘could find the best water, the best grass, and the easiest river crossings, and could even soothe a nervous herd during a storm with his reassuring bawl.’ After his last drive, he was retired to a permanent pasture and lived to be 20 years old. At his death his horns were mounted in a place of honor in the Goodnight ranch office. A good day’s progress for a herd was about 10 miles. Under favorable conditions, Longhorns put on weight while on the trail. Water was the most important necessity during a drive. A Longhorn could drink up to 30 gallons of water a day. Without plenty of fresh water, the cattle became irritable and would stampede. The Texas cowboy admired the Longhorn because it fought him. An old bull when roped and mad could, with just a twist of his head, easily snap two ropes thrown over his horns. When a cowboy referred to a steer as ‘gentled,’ he meant the steer had become accustomed to the sight of a man on horseback, but was nowhere near tame. The very success of the Longhorn led to its replacement. A trail drive often made a lot of money for the cattle owner. A steer sold for an average of $40, and trail expenses were about a dollar a head. The larger the herd, the larger the profits; the average was about 2,000 head. One of the biggest herds ever recorded left Texas in 1869 with 15,000 head. With so much money being made and such a large amount of beef being exported to Great Britain, wealthy investors from England and Scotland started looking at American ranches as investments. From there it was a small step to introduce their black Angus and white-faced Herefords in order to produce a beefier cow. Also, Shorthorns were brought in to upgrade herds of Longhorns. The Shorthorns were meatier but the Longhorns hardier, the Shorthorn-Longhorn cross produced a more marketable animal. By 1885, the old Longhorns seemed on their way to being bred out of existence. The end of the open range contributed greatly to the decline. Fenced pastures made it more economically sound to raise breeds that produced more beef and better beef, since hardiness and self-sufficiency were no longer nearly as important. In the early part of the 20th century Longhorns neared extinction, but the breed was kept alive because a few Texas ranchers held onto small herds for largely sentimental reasons. And now Longhorns are making an amazing comeback. They are not just surviving symbols of the Old West but are cattle that are much in demand. ‘They are attractive to breeders today for the same reasons they were successful a century ago-their resistance to disease, ease of calving, longevity, and ability to thrive on poor pasture,’ Worcester writes. And there’s a new reason, too: They provide health-conscious Americans of the 21st century with lean beef.
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Post by brobear on Apr 25, 2017 19:21:55 GMT -5
www.libertylonghornranch.com/Default.aspx?id=74050&Title=BreedHistory Cattle were not indigenous to North America, but were introduced by gold-seeking Spanish conquistadors. Texas Longhorns are descended from these first cattle brought to the Americas over 500 years ago. Christopher Columbus brought Spanish cattle to Santo Domingo in 1493 and within 200 years their descendants had spread into Mexico. The Longhorn did not have many enemies. Native Indians did not hunt the wild cattle; they preferred the meat of the tamer and easier to kill buffalo. The Indians also found more uses for buffalo hides and bones than they did for Longhorn leather. Wolves that followed the migrating buffalo herds remained shy and wary of the mean and often deadly Longhorn cattle. With the waning of the buffalo herds, the prairie grasses from Mexico to Canada became fodder for this new, more marketable animal. ( In my own words )... Even though the grizzly is not mentioned in any of these online historical accounts of the Texas Longhorn, the feral cattle were often and regularly preyed upon by grizzlies. It is because the great bears were used to stalking and killing cattle that they did so well in the Mexican "Bull and Bear Fights" and knew how to kill a bull. It makes perfect sense that the grizzly would choose the feral range cattle as prey. Bears are simply not great predators when compared to full-time hunters such as the wolf and the cougar. A cow is much easier to catch than a deer or an antelope. And, the range cattle were easier to kill than a bison.
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