Texas longhorn hunts

[nemesisenforcer]

Years ago, I heard about hunts in Texas involving feral longhorns in rough country outside of Houston I think that you were required to used dangerous game rifles on because of the aggressiveness of the game and the need for close, quick shots.

I can't find anything about these kinds of hunts now.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? Me and some friends would be very interested in going on this kind of adventure.

[Clay M]

I use to have a herd of Texas Longhorns, and they are aggressive..If you hem them up they will come right at you. I am happy to be rid of them.

[dave roelle]

There was a bit of this done in the brakes along the Rio Grande many years ago---------before the border difficulties, i haven't heard of anything around the houston area.

I'll ask around see what i might turn up for you

Dave

[lancem]

Don't think there is anything like that anymore. No open range, everything is fenced now and of course all private property. If there was a feral cow problem it has probably been replaced with the feral hog problem.

[dave roelle]

This is likely as close as you'll get----while not Wild Cattle they sure are fun to hunt and great on the table

http://allseasonsguideservice.com/nilgai_hunting.php

Acording to my connections in Brownsville and Laredo the Wld Longhorn hunts are a thing of the past.

Hope this helps a bit

Dave

[labradigger1]

Mmmmm!, steaks!

[waksupi]

I used to work on a ranch with longhorns. It could definitely be considered dangerous game hunting.

[Echo]

Why in the World would ANYONE want longhorns when they could have Brangus or Santa Gertrudis...

[bayjoe]

I used to hunt them with horse and rope. You get one of those beasts by themselves and you got a tiger by the tail.
Hunting with gun sounds SO much easier and a lot more fun

[lbaize3]

Aw! When I saw the thread title I thought ya'll was going to talk about them purty coeds at Texas University. And come to find out ya'll are talking about bovines. I feel so let down...

[.30-06 fan]

Mmmmm!, steaks!


TLH is not that tasty.

Ymmv

[shoot-n-lead]

TLH is not that tasty.

Ymmv

SAY WHAT?

That is what they serve at "Longhorn's" and it is might tasty.[smilie=l:

[Clay M]

Why in the World would ANYONE want longhorns when they could have Brangus or Santa Gertrudis...

For me it was just novelty.. I had already had Santa Gertrudis and Herford.
But you are correct, they are not the breed to buy for making money..
Black cows with a white face are tops or just straight angus..
I was in the cattle business most of my life.. I am out of it all now..Just have horses..

[DLCTEX]

Longhorns are beautiful animals. There is a reason they survived on their own for so long while Texas and the meat market were in devolopment, they know how to handle threats. My cousin's wife had her stomache ripped open by one she had bottle raised after it was grown and she tried to stop it escaping from a corral.

[dakotashooter2]

Don't think there is anything like that anymore. No open range, everything is fenced now and of course all private property. If there was a feral cow problem it has probably been replaced with the feral hog problem.


Lest not forget the feral Mexican problem.

Maybe we need to address them under the invasive species laws.......................

[Clay M]

They are plenty mean.. I have had them chase me on horseback,and if they decide to go through a five strand barbed wire fence they put there head down and go..
Believe me, you don't want to get hemmed in with one..
I bought them for the same reason people buy Buffalo . I thought they were beautiful and I wanted them..
But ..it was sorta like wanting a bad woman..Sooner or later you figure out you are better off without them..
Would I buy them again..?..Hell no.. It was a mistake..
I had two beautiful long horn bulls and they got to fighting and one killed the other one.. I still have his skull and horns..

[Char-Gar]

Why in the World would ANYONE want longhorns when they could have Brangus or Santa Gertrudis...

Longhorn cattle are the product of generations of uncontroled breeding in the brush of Texas. What has evolved in a breed of cattle with a number of benefits.

1. They are resistant or immune to most cattle diseased in South Texas.
2. They need little or no assistance in giving birth.
3. They can do well on native grasses and browse and do well in drought conditions.


The downside of Longhorn cattle is they don't produce near as much meat as other breeds that have been breed for heavy weight and beef production.

The bottom line is the Longhorn is Darwinism in action with the upsides and downsides of that.

[Clay M]

For me ..Too much Lonesome Dove and Zane Grey novels..The romance of the old west..The original breed of cattle that the Spaniards brought over..
I still think they are beautiful..but will never own one again.

[William Yanda]

They are plenty mean.. I have had them chase me on horseback,..

Now there's a picture.

[TheDoctor]

That must have been some horse!

[Clay M]

Now there's a picture.

Well it wasn't very funny at the time. I had my son with me on his pony..
I put my horse between him and the bull and got out of there quick..

[Goatwhiskers]

Nemesis, your memory is pretty good, an awful lot of years ago I read in some hunting mag about that, seems that some of the cattle had become "feral", wild as any deer, couldn't be caught. The ranch was allowing hunting to get rid of the darn things. The article made it sound like a lot of fun, a lot more meat than from a whitetail, but nothing over two points for trophies. Haven't heard anything more about it since. GW

[nemesisenforcer]

That must have been some horse!

:bigsmyl2:

[nemesisenforcer]

There was a bit of this done in the brakes along the Rio Grande many years ago---------before the border difficulties, i haven't heard of anything around the houston area.

I'll ask around see what i might turn up for you

Dave

That would be fantastic PM me if you uncover any leads.

[Clay M]

:bigsmyl2:

If I still had one,I would sell it to you to shoot if you like..
Though I hardly see how shooting a cow or bull is much sport.:-?
I have had to kill livestock all my life,and it was never something I enjoyed doing.Other than my best horse who served me for twenty six years fell and broke her leg..
I was happy to relieve her pain and suffering.

[Gator 45/70]

Well there ya go!
Less Border Patrol
More Longhorns
Problem solved!

[EDK]

One of the gun rags back in the day mentioned someone who hunted feral cattle around the Big Bend. The cattle were descendants of bull fight breeding stock gone wild during the various revolutions in Mexico. The hunter was using a 458 Winchester. Don't remember the source; probably wasn't true, but what the h***....makes a good story.

Colonial California had bear and bull fights in corrals.

[Rufus Krile]

Last time I heard or read of a hunt it was by Col. Charles Askins about 50 yrs ago down in the brush by Del Rio. I worked the oilfield down in this country for about 40 years and had more trouble with wild brahma cattle, notably cows, than anything other than mojados. A friend has a few longhorns... and a zebra, an emu, a buffalo, and several sika deer. The buff is the problem child... killed a horse and injured another... The zebra may be the meanest, but the emu is the one that'll eat the paint off your truck. Been telling him it's about time for a big bbq.

[x101airborne]

That would be fantastic PM me if you uncover any leads.

My neighbor has a bunch of em that he doesn't feed and they break the 6 strand Goucho barbed wire fence all the time to get to my cow's and my oats. How much you want to spend for a clandestine canned hunt?

[Clay M]

My neighbor has a bunch of em that he doesn't feed and they break the 6 strand Goucho barbed wire fence all the time to get to my cow's and my oats. How much you want to spend for a clandestine canned hunt?

:grin: I can understand..I wish I had never seen one of them.
All in all they are stock animals to me ..although I really don't like them at all..

[Wolfer]

One of the gun rags back in the day mentioned someone who hunted feral cattle around the Big Bend. The cattle were descendants of bull fight breeding stock gone wild during the various revolutions in Mexico. The hunter was using a 458 Winchester. Don't remember the source; probably wasn't true, but what the h***....makes a good story.

Colonial California had bear and bull fights in corrals.

I believe I read this story in the American Rifleman. Finn Aagard was the hunter. I remember him saying hunting these Bulls in the cane brakes was the closest you could come to hunting Cape Buffalo here in the states.

I don't remember what year but it was a long time ago.

[TXGunNut]

Some guy from back east called an outfitter I know about 20 years ago about a longhorn "hunt". He guided mostly mule deer, aoudad and hog hunts near and in the Caprock Canyons. He figured he could probably find one but he would probably have to shoot it pretty quick so he wouldn't have too much extra fence work. Funny how many people think a barbed-wire fence will stop a buffalo or longhorn.

[Dale in Louisiana]

And I have a picture in my mind of some enterprising hunter standing over a polled Hereford claiming it's the rare 'hornless' longhorn.

And the meat's better.

dale in Louisiana

[Kent Fowler]

And I have a picture in my mind of some enterprising hunter standing over a polled Hereford claiming it's the rare 'hornless' longhorn.

And the meat's better.

dale in Louisiana

Actually, when a cow stands up, it tends to use the right front leg to get up after her back legs are up. This makes the left side brisket more tender than the right side brisket as that muscle isn't stressed as much. So always ask your butcher or meat market for a left side brisket. Don't let him give you the right side one as it don't smoke as well. Butchers can be sneaky, gotta watch them.

[Lonegun1894]

Aw! When I saw the thread title I thought ya'll was going to talk about them putty coeds at Texas University. And come to find out ya'll are talking about bovines. I feel so let down...

As per a friend of mine who just graduated from there, those hunts are still going on. He said that there is no closed season, and no bag limit. However, you gotta be careful cause sometimes they hunt you when you thought you were hunting them. So everyone here is right. Longhorns really are Dangerous Game.

In his words: "There is deer season, and then there is dear season."

[Goatwhiskers]

Rufus, speaking of mojados, I don't habla too good but I keep seeing signs in stores that say "wet floor and piso mojado." Does that mean a wetback p'd on the floor? GW

[starmac]

I have worked on a ranch close to Houston that had a herd of longhorns, and a herd of buffalo. The longhorns were no trouble to speak of, the buffalo was a whole nother story. lol
I know several ranchers that keep a lonhhorn for breeding heifers, and one that raises bulls to lease to ranchers that don't want to keep their own.
I do not remember any wild longhorn hunts, but I do remember a ranch somewhere around San Antonio advertising a deer lease where you had your choice of a deer or beef, back some yeers ago when the beef price was rock bottom. lol

[bayjoe]

132838This old dolly would poke a hole in your wranglers