Baxter Black: The calf wins in overtime

In an effort to make managing the 20-section ranch more efficient, the boss bought Jake a Ranger, a four-wheel-drive muscle car ATV. The cowboys on this West Texas ranch were equipped with cell phones, of course. What modern cowboy isn't? They have replaced Copenhagen as the habit-forming addiction for the "orally dependent." Jake received a call. It was a neighbor who told him there was a calf out on the road to the highway, a mile from the west gate where Charles Goodnight lost a tooth chasing coyotes in the winter of '86 ... down by the Quanah Wash. Jake sighed and reversed his direction. It was back three miles and over two. But, he thought, only a calf, maybe a week or two old. Probably got under the fence, Mama on the other side. Wouldn't be too tough. Fifteen minutes later he approached Quanah Wash to find a 300-pound beefy bull calf in the ditch. King Richard III whined in his ear, "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" Making do with what he had, Jake tied the tail of his rope to the bumper on the Ranger and started after the calf. Down the ditch they flew. The bull was running along the fence line, and Jake was maneuvering with one hand, trying to keep a wheel on the shoulder. Because he was going west on the wrong side of the road, he was forced to rope left-handed. Not easy with a right-hand-twist rope...read more