Feral Cattle

Benha · March 21, 2008, 10:29:00 AM

I would love to hunt scrub bulls in Australia. Has anyone here gone there just for that reason?

Benny Nganabbarru · March 21, 2008, 06:50:00 PM

My only kills on them have been with rifle. They're hair-raising enough then! One of my goals is to take one with my bow. I reckon they're more scary than buffalo.

Rick McGowan · March 22, 2008, 09:49:00 AM

I don't think we had anyone come there just for scrub bulls, but we had lots of folks decide they wanted to, after they had seen them. The real scrubs bulls are very hard to get a shot at with a bow, most of the time, they take off at a run as soon as they know you are there. I seen several that I would have shot in a second, if I had the opportunity and I had lots of hunters kill them with a rifle, but I only ever had one bowhunter actually kill one and it was a monster. I had several bowhunters that could have taken big ones, IF they had made their minds up faster, but since it seldom happens that you get a big one in trad bow range, its always a surprise and there is no time to discuss it. As Ben said, they can be scary also, I've seen them attack Toyotas!

Ben Maher · March 22, 2008, 10:03:00 AM

Scariest thing i've ever come across...ever. I've been a doorman in the worst pubs in australia, been charged by wounded and angry boar and even once ate my fathers cooking..and nothing compares to scrub bulls.
seriously though, at close range, scrub cattle can be downright angry, dangerous and most importantly unpredictable. even with a rifle i was still very wary
cheers
b

Benha · March 22, 2008, 10:59:00 AM

Thanks!

Arwin · March 22, 2008, 12:22:00 PM

I have to chime in because I never heard such a thing, living where I do. I had a chuckle from imagining a feral dairy cow going wild across the landscape.

Lewis Brookshire III · March 22, 2008, 01:04:00 PM

Do they look like a cow or are they similar looking to a cape buffalo?? Any pics?

fatman · March 22, 2008, 02:17:00 PM

that's some Bad Beef...are they as thick-skinned as Buff? Quite a bit of Brahma in that one, if they're not used to humans they can be pretty gnarly.....

LEOPARD · March 22, 2008, 02:49:00 PM

I guess they're similar looking to the Brahman cattle as fatman just said above. Back home in Africa, I've seen Brahman cattle get out of the padocks and fences and more often than not, when they did get out, they were so wild, it was just like hunting a wild animal and they'd get shot because it was impossible to get them back into the padocks. I'd love to get a chance at a scrub bull when I'm over in Aus next September!

Arwin · March 22, 2008, 02:58:00 PM

Wow thats FAR from a cow around here!! That thing looks mean!!!

TJ Jones · March 22, 2008, 05:51:00 PM

Wow, even dead that thing looks pissed off and mean. Must of been quite an experience putting an arrow in him.

Rick McGowan · March 23, 2008, 10:12:00 AM

They can look like almost anything, since they are running wild in the outback, they are a mix of whatever cattle escaped or were released. They don't come close to the thickness of the hide or ribs on a buffalo, but they are harder to get a shot at, they have no curiosity, so if they hear or see something they just bugger off! Lots of hunters don't think they have an interest in shooting a "cow", but that almost always changes after they see them. They are just as wild as any other wild animal. The ones we hunt in Australia, have been running wild for many MANY generations. If its a mature scrub BULL, he has been chased and harassed by humans and escaped everytime, otherwise he would be a scrub STEER or hotdogs! On some stations they just shoot them on sight, as its easier than trying to catch them and they want the brahman stud bulls to do the breeding.

fatman · March 23, 2008, 11:30:00 AM

thanks for a great thread....just goes to show that our domesticated stock is just a STEP away from wild...

beachbowhunter · March 23, 2008, 12:04:00 PM

I've read some stories about scrub bulls on the big Island in Hawaii. Same thing, big, wild and mean! They might taste a little better in HI though... :D

Benny Nganabbarru · March 23, 2008, 08:40:00 PM

I hunted this one with the camera only. I knew exactly where the nearest climbable tree was, and carefully positioned a ditch that he'd have to go around between us, should he decide upon that course of action, which he happily didn't.

GrayRhino · March 24, 2008, 02:24:00 AM

Ben, looks like he has you pegged. I would have never guessed that Australia had such a feral population. You are a privileged bowhunter!

Benny Nganabbarru · March 24, 2008, 04:45:00 AM

Yeah, he's got me pegged alright! But, from a counting-coup point of view, I'd been there for about five minutes, about twenty metres away, before he was aware of me.

Rick McGowan · March 24, 2008, 11:41:00 AM

Ben, you have to actually TOUCH them to count coup!

Benny Nganabbarru · March 24, 2008, 05:39:00 PM

I read about a tribe in Africa who would play a game whereby they had to put their painted handprint on a rhino's posterior! Thanks for the pointer though, Rick! Any scrubbers running about out there with your painted handprint on their rump? When are you coming over next?

Rick McGowan · March 25, 2008, 10:07:00 AM

Ben, if they got my handprints on them, they are already tanned and hanging on someones wall! I'd like to come over this year, but I don't know at the moment, Monty Browning and I are doing a seminar on buff and other "exotic" location hunting this week at the PBS convention. I am hoping that it fires up some interest. I'm probably changing jobs as well, so I have to see how that works out. Cheap fares now to OZ though! I would like to get after those camels and such!