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I hate to admit it on a Texas forum but I am a city based person with no experience with livestock except when it comes to eating them. My wife and I have some country property with a range and we drive ATVs and as we are unloading our trailer I look up and this big bull is not 20 feet away from us. His horns have been clipped, his testicles were not, he turns and looks at us, gives a loud moo and prances away, I had a 9mm on my hip at the time but did not think about the possible danger of such a large creature on my property. We have canvassed all the neighbors and they all say that he is not theirs although they do have livestock.
It was just a curious thing at first but the more I think about it I am definitely nervous about having a bull running loose on the property. I have not seen him since but have seen cow paddys that some livestock has been there. My game camera caught the following picture.


What would you guys/girls do? Right now I am taking a AK out with us when we go. I can't find the owner of this big guy. My wife got scared when we say a large pig run across the path. I am more concerned with the bull. Seriously, how does one handle something like this? If attacked I would shoot the thing but I hear they are pretty tough to bring down.

There are mobile butchers available.

Call the Sheriff's Department. Out in the country, they're used to it.

This exact problem happened to my MIL in N. Texas. The neighbor who owned the bull was very arrogant and dismissive of the problem. My first inclination was to shoot the offending bull as he was destroying fence, property and fighting with her expensive breeding bull. I was shocked to be told by a Sheriffs Deputy that I would be charged and arrested if I did so. Call the Sheriff, he will call animal control. Animal control is required to retrieve the bull and will charge the owner $80.00 a day for upkeep. If you sustain any damage you will have to settle that through a civil suit.

WTR wrote:This exact problem happened to my MIL in N. Texas. The neighbor who owned the bull was very arrogant and dismissive of the problem. My first inclination was to shoot the offending bull as he was destroying fence, property and fighting with her expensive breeding bull. I was shocked to be told by a Sheriffs Deputy that I would be charged and arrested if I did so. Call the Sheriff, he will call animal control. Animal control is required to retrieve the bull and will charge the owner $80.00 a day for upkeep. If you sustain any damage you will have to settle that through a civil suit.

Of course if the bull attacked me I would still try to shoot it but if I ever do see it again I will call the Sheriff's office and report it so at least I would have it on record. What law would one be breaking though if one shot a bull that was endangering life or property on one's own private property?

Also, the SD in our case tried to blow the problem off as to not be bothered with it. If the SD does not call Animal Control you should. At least we had an official report from the Deputy and when pressed he did call AC.

WTR wrote:Also, the SD in our case tried to blow the problem off as to not be bothered with it. If the SD does not call Animal Control you should. At least we had an official report from the Deputy and when pressed he did call AC.

Thank you. This is great info.

We were told we could not destroy anthers property. That was just told to us by the one Deputy we interacted with. I was tempted to follow the 3 Ss.

Texas law seems to very skewed to the animal's owner.

Please forgive me, I might have laughed at you.

I doubt you have anything to worry about with this big guy. In the open, I have never heard of a bull charging or being aggressive to a person. Put a cow in heat or another bull around and the story might change. Most of the danger from cattle are when you are working them in a pen and are within arms reach. I have been chased by a cow with a calf but that's kind of expected. I bet if you had some range cubes, he would get close enough for you to touch or eat out of your hand. If the neighbors have cows, he will probably leave your land looking for a girlfriend.

The pig you saw is more of a danger than this walking BBQ buffet.

Where is your land? If the neighbors won't claim him, I'll bring a trailer and come pick him up as long as it's not too long of a drive.

Nice selfie


Why don't you keep him, if his owner won't claim him? They are not cheap.

Somebody should want him, looks like a full bred Santa Gertrudis bull. But I agree County animal control, or the county extension agent would be your best bet. Next time your out there, see if you can find the entry point in the fence and get it repaired.

jason812 wrote:Please forgive me, I might have laughed at you.

I doubt you have anything to worry about with this big guy. In the open, I have never heard of a bull charging or being aggressive to a person. Put a cow in heat or another bull around and the story might change. Most of the danger from cattle are when you are working them in a pen and are within arms reach. I have been chased by a cow with a calf but that's kind of expected. I bet if you had some range cubes, he would get close enough for you to touch or eat out of your hand. If the neighbors have cows, he will probably leave your land looking for a girlfriend.

The pig you saw is more of a danger than this walking BBQ buffet.

Where is your land? If the neighbors won't claim him, I'll bring a trailer and come pick him up as long as it's not too long of a drive.

99 % of the bulls I have worked with are puppy dogs(even mean looking bucking bulls). The biggest threat they have posed are breaking your ribs if they rub on you and you are up against the barn or a tree. The bull in my story destroyed a new 5 strand barbed wire fence and roughed up an expensive Limousine bull(we didn't find him for two days). He happened to be a Longhorn and posed no threat to a human. I do know of two bulls who would have gladly stomped you into the ground. A black Angus at A & M and a Holstein at a Tenn. dairy.

Is the date correct on your game camera? He's been running around your property since July?

Whenever I had stray cattle, I just went to the nearest neighbor that I knew had cattle, and they took care of the problem. Sounds like that didn't work for you. When I called the Sheriff's office, they asked if it had a brand. Does your bull have one? Might help narrow down the search.

The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raiser's Association says the law says to call the sheriff.
http://tscra.org/theft-law/report-stray ... AP_NI0zWGQ

Maybe if the sheriff or animal control doesn't expeditiously work the problem you can call them. They have a bunch of rangers whose specialties includes tracking down cattle.

ETA: They even have a nifty map so you can call the right ranger for your area: http://tscra.org/theft-law/find-ranger- ... AQDTo0zWGR

Yes, I am a city slicker, cows, bulls, animals bigger than me are an unknown. I haven't found where the fence is down but my neighbors all have livestock, they all have electric fences and they all deny ownership. Thanks for all of the advice. I still feel uncomfortable having the big guy showing up whenever he wants to. We have a lot of pigs though and plan on hunting them. Some deer which I let a friend hunt. Am in Wichita Falls area. You would think a neighbor would fess up and want to claim the big guy but no luck so far. If we see him again will call the Sheriff.