The most dangerous animal on public land

[Briandphillips]

I was hunting antelope in a walk in area in Wyoming with a buddy. We had spotted a group of lopes in an opening near a fence line. As we planned our stalk we found a washed out gully that would keep us out of sight until we got to 400 ish yards. A perfect situation. As we slipped along this gully we spitted a group of cows above the gully on our right side. Well.. we thought they were all cows. Anyways, we made eye contact with the cows and everything seemed fine, they stared at us bug eyed as cows do, but unlike all the other cows we had encountered this trip they did not move away. We did not pay much attention to them until we were about 25 yards beside them. Then I hear my buddy, in a loud somewhat panicked whisper, say "hey man, those cows are coming towards us", I responded with some choice expletives and said "that one in front is a bull". As most of you know, Angus bulls do not have horns it is another part of their anatomy that tipped me off. Their pace quickened to a trot as they came into the gully we were exiting on the other side. We backpedaled out of the gully, across a flat, toward a hill. Shouting and waving our hands did nothing to stop their advances. The bull in front was now 15 yards away. Instinctively I fired a .308 round just a few feet in front of the lead bull's hooves. He stopped for a second bewildered before continuing his approach somewhat more cautiously. We turned our quick walking pace into a full run and beelined it to the nearest fence. After we reached the safety of the other side of the fence we looked back to see the bull cresting the hill with the rest of the herd several yards behind.

Once in the truck, a quick google search revealed that cows kill abut 22 people a year. A sobering statistic about an animal we regard as somewhat innocuous compared to all the other hazards we face in the woods.

Has anyone else had this happen to them? Do you think we overreacted?

[ar15jules]

Cattle, much like horses, are evil creatures and the spawn of Satan.

[bogey1]

When they started chasing you, I started to read faster LOL.

[Sandcut]

I got cow stories , you think they are just some big dumb tame friendly walking milk machine at first but ,
I don't mess with cows , bulls or otherwise.
You might be somebody down at the local bar but ,
You're nobody to a cow.
I've known lots of farmers and spent too much time working on farms that they got me almost scared to death of a cow.
One night me and a farmer were outside just talking near the enclosure where his bull was.
I never heard an animal make such noises and carry on like that.
Eventually I asked what was wrong with it , the farmer says , he doesn't like you.
Another time I was helping a guy milk his cows , he had small operation and had to move the milkers from cow to cow in their stalls.
I got between a cow and the wall and the farmer snatched me out of there so fast and I was told , never to do that again because I was new and they'd take advantage of me.
I don't even know what that really means but he looked concerned and if a farmer looks concerned , it's cause stuff's about to go down.
Another time I went to help a farmer get a cow that was on a neighbors property , I was excited , my 1st cattle round up , thought I was John Wayne or somebody , yeah I almost got stomped into the ground that night.
Came out of the woods at the wrong place once on a deer drive and walking the road to get back , I see this cow a good 150yds out in field all alone , it made a beeline straight for me and ran the whole way right up to the fence and stuck it's head over.
Did it want petted , fed , me to leave?
I dunno but I had crossed the road and slapped leather and knew I was going to plug it if it hit that little fence.
It just watched me walk away until I turned the corner of the field along the road and then it did the same thing again.
I think it didn't want me there.

About 15 years ago, I used to hunt a local farm for early goose and deer. I had been hunting this one field all autumn and the cows were kept in the lower fields. Come deer season, I'm walking in through this same field, on my way to the hemlock hollow on the far side. It's about 0545 and pitch black. I'm about half way across the field when I hear the loud collective MOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! of about 30 head of cattle. These things come ROARING up through the field right at me, yelling MOOO! MOOO!! the whole way up. I calculate that, no matter how fast I run, I'll never make the fence before they get to me. So, I stood my ground and prayed that they'd stop: "Ohpleasepleasepleasepleasepleasestoppleasestopple asestoppleasestop!". I only had my flintlock and didn't carry a sidearm at the time, so I had one shot only.

Fortunately, they stopped about 5-8 yards away. I had tripped the set trigger, but not the main one. They just stood there and stared at me and followed me down to the fence by the hemlocks.

I relayed the story to the farmer later, excluding the part about pointing my rifle and the set trigger, and he just laughed at me. " They just thought you were going to feed them. Probably thought you were me."

Big and dumb, maybe. But still 20X my weight.

[esh21167]

OP is banned, but two important topics:

#1: Enact common sense cow laws

#2: Are you aware that there are people in this world that have a severe medical condition which causes them to be this way? My mother for instance is one of those people. She is a truck driver that has bad knees and a bad back...

[Boo Vuccla]

IMO..the most dangerous animal on public lands is the "sub-human".
On Pennsylvania State Forest and Game Lands, the "sub-human" will become agitated, confused and aggressive if:

You stumble on it's clandestine meth operation.
You stumble upon their clandestine weed grow area.
You stumble upon one or a heard harvesting plants and fauna for florists.
One or a heard thinks you were following them trying to find their Morrel mushroom location(s).
You look like a deer or turkey or crow or it's mother-in-law in hunting season. (Personal experience with this).
You look at it in a way that it takes exception to as they drive by your camp at 65mph in a jet-stream of dust. (personal experience with this).
You stumble upon one or a heard attempting to get into your camp on even another owner's camp as you pass by.
You stumble upon a pack that just took down a deer or bear or their mother-in-law along a forestry road at night.
You hear a knock on your door at 11PM at camp and one who just tried his new and improved synthetic bath salts is trying to flee all the blue lighted aliens busing him and he needs more shells for his gun. (Two years ago in my township at a camp and several homes).

These are just a few examples of this dangerous animal on public lands. Every night, all night_365.
As Billy Joel wrote in Goodnight, Saigon, "we held the day, they rule the night". No law enforcement including DCNR where I'm located so be careful out there!!

[R.A.D.]

i would have said an idiot with a badge, most commonly a game warden

[Sandcut]

i would have said an idiot with a badge, most commonly a game warden

And I would have to ask what game regulation you bent in the past to give you that view?

[raxar]

Bulls generally don't like men because they can smell that you're male and they think you're going to try to fuck one of their cows

[85MikeTPI]

Bulls generally don't like men because they can smell that you're male and they think you're going to try to fuck one of their cows

Maybe it happens more often than you'd think in Wyoming.