In 1983, I was fortunate enough to land a job with Gulf Coast Publishing located in San Antonio, Texas.  I say fortunate enough, because it allowed me to continue working with cattle, but more importantly it allowed me to meet so many wonderful and intriguing people in South Texas that I would never have known.  As I have traveled all over South Texas in the last 42 years, I’ve heard all kinds of stories about the old days, of the cowboys and vaqueros that worked on the large and small ranches and some of the experiences they encountered.  I’ve heard stories of cow deals made with a handshake, no scale and certified check to secure the deal.  I’ve heard how generations of families have had to deal with drought, disease, unfair markets and wild, outlaw cows that lurk in the thickness, hidden by the brush just like a deer so no one can possibly see them.  

     One of my favorite stories was told to me by an old cowboy that was gathering cattle down in Jim Hogg County.  The cowboys made a sweep around a 5,000-acre pasture and thought they had gathered most of the cattle but really weren’t for sure.  So, they were sent out again to make another sweep to make sure there weren’t any strays left behind.  The cowboy telling the story said he and another fella were walking their horses and visiting    as they approached a windmill that fed a water trough.  All of a sudden, out of the bush came an outlaw bull that charged the men and hooked one of the horsed with his horns.  These cowboys weren’t looking for any extracurricular activity, they just happened to be at the wrong spot at the wrong time when a renegade was unhappy and not glad to see them.  I’m sure that as this story was being told to me, I looked like a little boy with big eyes and probably my mouth open with disbelief, but I asked him what did you do?    He said, “I came back later that evening with my deer rifle, climbed up on the windmill tower and when that son-of-a-b— came to the water trough for water, I killed him for goring my horse!”

     To be honest with you I’ve never had to deal with renegade, outlaw cattle.  As a kid, we always got rid of cattle that weren’t semi gentle and easy to handle and more importantly easy to pen.  However, several months ago, some wild cattle showed up at our place in southeastern Llano County.  There was a mature bull in the group, several mature cows, two-year-old heifers, two-year-old bulls, a total of 13 head.  Vicki, my wife, started checking with neighbors until she found the owner of the cattle and they worked out a deal.  They said the cattle had been missing for several years and they were pretty sure they couldn’t be penned or captured. Eventually she worked out a deal where the owner agreed to pay her for the capture and removal of the cattle…so in a way, Vicki is now considered a bounty hunter or hitman.  So, the deal was on!

     The next step for Vicki’s plan to capture the wild cattle was to ask my opinion on how to do it.  My answer was short and sweet….I don’t know!  Eventually though, I did come up with a plan, and this is what it was.  We would do it like the people that have to work with deer. First, we started to feed the outlaws every day in a strong set of portable pens, and we did this until they started coming into the pen on a consistent pattern. We then put up black plastic around the fence so they couldn’t see in or out. We continued to feed them a little until they got used to the changes.  Next, we added a small loading ally, also lined with black plastic so that we could back the trailer up to it.  Finally, we positioned a pop-up ground blind next to the entrance gate, this is the kind that you can see out from the inside but from the outside you can’t see in. 

     Finally, the day to implement the trap was scheduled, Labor Day 2025, and all involved were excited but at the same time apprehensive whether the plan would work.   Eric, a young man that works for us, poured the feed in the metal trough and like every other day, drove off.  One by one, the wild and crazy herd entered the pens, while I sat maybe three feet from them in the pop-up blind.  When the last animal went through the gate, I closed it and waited for their reaction, but to tell you the truth it wasn’t too bad because they were content on eating their feed.  I then backed the trailer up to the loading chute, and then Eric and I entered the pen to start loading them on to the trailer.  This is when the game plan nearly backfired and went up in smoke.  The cattle did get extremely nervous and began to run around like wild animals, but the black plastic prevented them from seeing out and then trying to escape.  Eventually, they saw the opening to the trailer and decided it was an exit and headed straight for it and I was very relieved.  We chained the back gate, checked the trailer tires once more, and went off to the sale barn as fast as we could.

     When we arrived at the sale barn, the guy tagging the cattle asked us how many pairs were on the trailer?  I told him that the cattle were extremely wild, crazy and didn’t need to go back to the country by any means.  Cows, bulls, yearling bulls and heifers all needed to go to the packer, and the few younger calves could go to the feed yard in some other state so that maybe they wouldn’t find their way back home.  The guy looked at me strangely and said, “have they ever seen humans?”  I answered him, “yes they have…right now.”