deer catchin

[jdt]

my neighbor came by and said he needed me to help catch some calves . his cousin , cody nance who won the pbr rookie of the year decided to get in the buckin stock business . he bought 6 heifers weighing between 4 and 600 and turned them out on a little lot behind 4 stands of bobwire . 1 of them got a runny nose and the guy taking care of them called the vet , they were gonna rope her and give her a shot of nuflour .  yall know what happened next .


     we loadedhorses and dogs to go survey the situation , i knew it was too late in the day to start on a job like that but wanted to be prepared . got there about 3.00 and they were hanging out about a 100 yards from the pen . eased up to the gate to look at the situation and decided after they threw their heads and tails over their back and hit the woods like deer all we had time to do was make it worse , told the boy to put out some feed and leave the hole in the fence , we'd be beck in the morning if they didnt come in tonight (doubtful ) .

   then we went and caught 2 meat steers next door that got out sometime in the middle of the supposed roping and doctoring .and fed after dark .

  yall pray and wish us luck , i've got one good dog and one 7 month old thats barely started . gonna send dan and hope he gets them settled good , then send the pup and wait a while before i try to ease in and drive'em to the pen . if that dont work its gonna be alot of roping and tying down . i got my doubts because there is not alot of room to work and i 'm not sure if they'd ever seen a human before they were dumped tn this " pasture "

   i'm gonna put the other boy to making pic so maybe he'll stay out of the way 

   more tomorrow .

[craig]

should be interesting,   take lots of pictures for us 

[Rockin-P-Ranch]

Thank you for your great comments. First the guy that bought the cattle should have never put new cattle in a barb wire fence after being hauled like they were.  They need time to settle down in a holding pen.  Next...these cattle are bucking stock...not beef cattle.  It is their nature to be stupid. The one thing in your favor is that these cattle have been dogged before and maybe they will bunch up.  Two good cow dogs would probably handle the situation pretty good.  LEt the dogs bay for at least 20 minutes or 30 if possible. The longer the dogs keep them bunched, the easier they will be to handle.  I wish I was there...i'd help you and bring my 3 gyps.  I wish you Good Luck!  Let me hear from ya how it goes.
Ronnie

[jdt]

thanks ronnie , i wish you was gonna be here too !  your right about EVERYTHING  you said ... except , to my knowlege they aint seen dogs before , or much of anything  , and they did look stupid from where i was standing, ( i didn't see'em long lol ) .

   if dan can make a loop around them before they scatter , i feel like it'll be game over . if they bust when they see him ... i'll still get them all caught , it just probably wont be tomorrow . lol

   craig , i hope i get some pics took , never have before cause didnt have time , or a photographer  . lol  i feel pretty confident about this deal though (some pics anyhow) lol . and surely i can get my wife to post them before long , i need her to post some on your "mules " thread also .

[aladatrot]

Good luck, sounds like you'll need it!
I pretty much always miss out on the sure enough western stuff. All the cattle I haul are cube broke. We did have a rogue heifer a few weeks back figure out how to move into a different pen by jumping into the concrete water trough that serviced two pens. She hopped in, completely submerged herself to get under the pipe rails, and would emerge in the other pen. Three times she did this before we finally whooshed her into the alley that fed the chute. I hauled her to the sale barn that day...

Is cody nance any kin to chipper nance? Chipper rides pickup for jerry nelson.
Cheers
M

[Noah]

Good luck JDT, I'm tryin' like hell to get you some more dog power!

[jdt]

thanks fellers ... and fellerina , going back today to finish up  , story and pics tonight maybe .

[craig]

im gettin  my popcorn ready for this story...

[jdt]

[Rockin-P-Ranch]

Sume greet pics JDT. Realy like seeig the little cowboy with you. That is how or heritge is pasted on . Good looking dogs Goog looking grey horse. Was you able to get them all caught.

[jdt]

    Thanks Ronnie. That's my 6 year old, Cole. He wanted Santa to bring him his own cowdog puppy to raise and train. The dogs are Dan, year and a half old east Texas and Ben Jordan bred and Kate, Foundation bred 7 months old from the mountains over east of here.
     Got there and turned Dan loose and he found the cattle after about 15 minutes. I let him bay a while and then tried to send Kate. This is only the 2nd time she has ever seen cattle and her first cow job. I had to sneak her up to the bay to within 50 yards and then she went to work and stayed hooked. I settled down in the brush and watched them work for about 20 minutes. The cattle looked to be all there and settling good so I went back to my horse and rode way around them trying to come up behind them. they were against an old fence so I had to ride down it up beside them. When they saw me they tried to trot off, I just stopped and let the dogs put them back in a wad. I eased up again and they bounce a little further, this continued for about a hundred yards until we got out of the woods. Then they started driving pretty good and the dogs leading fair. That pup got in the wrong place a lot, but they weren't getting away. I'll tune on her with some gentler stock! lol I pushed them about 3/8 of a mile to the back of the pen when we realized there was a cross fence between us and the hole. I sent Pete, Cody's step dad, to get the wire cutters. He was on foot cutting the fence, they looked up and saw him and broke. By the time the dogs got them stopped again, they were about used up so we decided to rope them. Pete went for his truck and we had one tied down when he got back. It got kinda fast after that and I don't remember what all happened. Me and Clint were tying them down and the dogs were holding the rest.
       We got them all loaded and it started to rain so we went back out to the road and realized we only had 5 in the trailer. Nobody knows how or when the other one disappeared! lol We went back and caught him yesterday.
       All in all it went pretty good for green dogs and green help. It was kinda a sloppy job but we got them all caught. I think Kate will be alright, time will tell. Thanks for looking.
       By the way, Craig, I hope your popcorn didn't get stale.

[Rockin-P-Ranch]

jdt there is no such thing as a sloppy job when you mess with cattle like that. I thinck it was a job well done. Because if you got payed for it you earned every penny of it and if you did not thse people should be bying your dinner

[jdt]

ha ha ha , i didnt come out too good on the pay deal , it was kinda a neighbor , friend deal . i told pete cody had to come to the house and eat . my boys 6 and 2 idolize him  ,hes the only person they know that they've seen on tv lol . they wont watch cartoons , they watch bullriding !

 i told them i was on tv once , cole said , yeah but that was a long time ago 

 

[Noah]

Glad you got 'em JDT!

[jdt]

thanks noah , hurry up n git r done ( shiner ) . my wife said she's ready for a road trip it's gettin cold here !

[craig]

i bet that was a fun day, espcially with Cole along to help out.

looks like everything went pretty smooth, cattle bunched good,  nice job and thanks for sharing. 

i like the picture of you and cole , he has a rig to match ole dad.

[Noah]

I can guarantee you some killer hog doggin' on the weekends come Feb...  but I've been working too much lately to keep on the Wed. yearling schedule(sale day 'round here)... Sucks to have a normal job............

[jdt]

sounds good , noah . i guess if shiner aint got'em squeezed out and weened by then i'll have an excuse to make another trip lol . i sure appreciate the pup offer , i've had a helluva time finding , keeping enough dogs that were fit to use .

 i just heard cody was looking at another bunch of them high headed fruit loops . maybe you ought ta come up here 

[jdt]

well had to go catsh another 1 of them things that got out somehow and dissapeared for about 3 weeks . parked in a cemetary and sent the dogs in the brush , kate was on the bit this time and beat dan finding the heifer . they kept her beyed till i got there then she and kate saw me at the same time . the cow went for the thicket and kate came to me ... thats why i dont carry a gun when working dogs  . if she's still doing that next fall i have a gun in the truck  .

   got kate sent back and followed i didnt figure shed run far not eating much ... WRONG, 3/4 mile later dan got her caught and i got a rope on her and tied her down luckily close to the road ,wento get the truck and found where she got her jet fuel from . a deer hunter had a mineral feeder full of corn and supplement and she'd been wearing it out    sorry no pics this time .

[jdt]

btt somebody wanted me to find this for them