Baxter Black: Steer chase gives chance to look on the bright side

There always seem to be folks who need to say something good, even at the worst of times. Like Mrs. Custer. She might have said, “Well, on the bright side, at least he was wearing clean undies.”

Last spring we set out to find an evasive 300-pound steer; we’ll call him Rompy. We made a big circle and never found him, but we did discover a leak in the water line. Just luck, maybe, but on the bright side, it made the ride worth it.

The next day we rode out early and found Rompy with his mother and a couple of other cows. All went well. We sorted off Rompy at the trap and took him to the headquarters with intentions to hold him overnight for a sale the next day.

We unsaddled, and I stuck a water hose through the boards of the little pen where Rompy was being held. Pretty good morning, I was thinking. Then Rompy came unglued
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He could see daylight through a 3-foot pipe gate into the loading alley. He took four runs at it. I ran around the other side to frighten him back. It didn’t work. On his fifth try he crashed over the top, bending the rail perpendicular. I dove out of the way as he sailed over me.

I looked back over my shoulder and remembered thinking this must be what a torpedo looks like leaving a submarine! We would see him again 30 minutes later on a big ridge overlooking town. We tracked him half a mile, through one fence and into a big canyon.

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