It's All Trew: Buffalo horses and outlaw cattle

In another interview, an old cowboy told of working on a big ranch that had a wide brushy river bottom running through the middle of the ranch. The owners were trying to upgrade the quality of their cattle but were having trouble with several outlaw bulls running wild in the bottom. They ordered their cowboys to gather the wild bulls or shoot them. Hard, dangerous riding finally found and ran down several of the wild bulls missed during years of previous roundups. They were so large and stout, even when roped they could not be pulled to where they were to be loaded on trailers. The men tied the beasts by their horns to trees hoping they would be more docile after going without feed and water for a few days. Before they returned, a bad thunderstorm came up and caused a flood several feet deep down the brushy river bottom. The outlaw bulls all drowned while tied to the trees. For years afterward, ranch cowboys would occasionally ride upon a huge, bleached bull skull still tied to a tree by a rope. Though this story may sound cruel at first, probably to these "born free" wild animals, drowning was better than being confined in pens and eventually butchered for beef...read more