Wild Brahman Cattle

[Kapow]

Hey all.

I am in far north Qld, nth east Australia and it is HOT! 40 deg today and felt more. I went for a ride in the boat for an hour to an isolated remote creek and went for a walk through some dry creeks and waterholes. Pig sign was everywhere but all old. They had a very small wet season up here so not much water to hold pigs I suppose.

I did get onto a small group of scrub bulls. These are wild Brahman cattle that are bred wild and have never been mustered or branded for generations. They are fair game and I suppose a surrogate buffalo.

I didn't have much time as the wind was swirling and the ground incredibly dry and noisy. By the time I had the video camera set up and stepped out for a shot they were onto me so I took the one shot that was on offer on a red coloured bull to the left of the other two.

As soon as the blade was settled on his shoulder I touched the double set trigger and sent the 450gn Lyman Great Plains bullet on its way. The bull bucked and took off with the other two for about 300 yards before stopping and getting the staggers and going down in a dry creek.

I was pretty excited to get my first scrub bull with the muzzleloader. I didn't dare do an autopsy as the flies would've driven me crazy but it was a perfect lung shot.





A few days prior I had been hunting in shorts and thongs (it was hot okay??) and came across a big taipan snake. These guys are bad - lightening fast, multiple strikes and always bad mannered. I showed it to a friend here and he showed me a photo of one he killed which was nearly 8 foot long. Yikes.

 

[roundball]

Yes, looks similar to a buffalo...and this is not a loaded question, I simply don't know:

Are those wild cattle edible or are they basically just varmints over there and left as part of nature's food chain?

 

[Roguedog]

Congrats Mate. I hear those Taipans are bad business. I too would like to hear about the culinary quality of these wild cattle.

Jeff

 

[Kapow]

Typical Americans - all you think about is your stomachs! Kidding. They are pretty tough as you would imagine but they do breed so the young ones are good chewing. They have no predators so keeping them in control is a good reason to knock a few over. I hate wasting meat but I'm not going to wear my dentures out to prove a point.

Good pig bait too!

 

[roundball]

And that should feed a lot of players in Nature's food chain around there...nothing ever goes to waste in Nature...right down to the hairs used by birds to build nests

 

The reason I would be terrified to do the same things in Australia I do here is....

I regard my few encounters with venomous snakes, four copperheads, three timber rattlesnakes, and a handful of cottonmouths as interesting. The bite from any of them would be unpleasant but probably not fatal. To encounter most of the snakes you have down there is another matter. Walking around in shorts and thongs? I would have to have a suit of armor before I’d venture into the bush.
And in my part of the States, the largest reptile with four legs is a five-lined skink. They eat grubs and insects. You have the somewhat larger salt water crocs. They eat people.

My hats off to you for any hunting adventure you have. You are a whole lot braver than me.

Oh, and for what it’s worth, as a general rule I find snakes more interesting than scary. In my younger days I kept a life list of species I’d caught and identified like birders keep lists of birds they have sighted. But all the pit viper encounters have been “look only”.

 

[roundball]

Only encountered a few snakes over the years while out in the woods...(that I knew of)...and 2 were very close and poisonous...a rattlesnake and a copperhead...both went to snake heaven right then and there.

Whenever I'm in the woods during spring and summer whether turkey hunting, or out hiking for nature / wildlife photos, or prepping for fall hunting seasons...I always snap on a pair of snake gaiters until cold weather sets in. These "Snake Guardz" are the best I've owned...hard polycarbonate panels inside, on & off with quick release buckles.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Brilliant post mate :hatsoff:

Thongs....you mean flipflops right...thongs mean somert' else over here :redface:

Brits :thumbsup:

 

It's hard to use the word "cow" and "hunting" in the same sentence. :rotf:

 

Brilliant post mate :hatsoff:

Thongs....you mean flipflops right...thongs mean somert' else over here :redface:

Brits :thumbsup:

How old are you?

I can remember when flip-flops were called thongs, and what we call thongs now.........would get the wearer arrested.

 

[Roguedog]

All kidding aside, beef is a pretty popular commodity around these parts. My wife would agree with you in that I am too concerned about my stomach. :yakyak: She says it's time I lost a few lbs.

Jeff

 

[LaBonte]

It's hard to use the word "cow" and "hunting" in the same sentence. :rotf:

That's because you only see cattle as they are today in a "captive" situation- cattle in the wild or even free range cattle as we have here in the west are well noted as being very wily and one tough customer. One of the the most dangerous situations I've ever faced was while working as a cow hand in SE Oregon and a range bull (he'd grown up "wild) who weighed about 2,000 - he turned me and my horse (1200 lbs) over in a quick rush when he tried to climb into the saddle with me - wild/range cattle no matter what breed can be extremely dangerous just like their wild cousins the Cape Buffalo.
The late Charlie Askins once wrote a column about hunting the wild long horn bulls of the Rio Grande and noted that they could be just as dangerous as Cape Buffalo, who are well known as some of the most dangerous game on earth.
For that matter just watch how "cranky" and nasty a big rodeo bull can get, and they are humanized much more than wild/range cattle.

 

[Supercracker]

There are still places in S and Central Florida where you can run into the occasional Feral cow in the swamps. They are bad news.

 

[BrownBear]

Yup. There's a herd of cattle on a remote island up here that's remnant from a Russian herd something like 200 years ago. They just don't see people, and they're wilder than wild. A local rancher managed to corral 40 or so and ship them back here in a landing barge to use for genetic work with his own herd. Lotta excitement from the bovine science types over that, but now he has to live with them. Last time I worked with him, by the end of the day he was ready to shoot them all.

It's a blood and guts rodeo any time you want to do anything with them, and he can't keep them anywhere near where other people might turn up. You don't DARE come in sight on them on foot, and your horse better be darn quick and surefooted if you try to work with them. The worst I've ever been around. I'd sooner shoot one than walk across a pasture.

 

[Kapow]

No, definitely on my feet. We call the other one a G Banger or dental floss. It is way to hot to wear long pants and gaiters. It is seriously 5 - 10L water per day. The bugger is with taipans - they strike high such as your torso so the venom quickly reaches your major organs and making it untreatable with a pressure bandage.

Have been seeing some big lizards too. Retrieving the boat in the dark up to your knees in water makes you pay attention. I really need to find an expendable deckhand.

Anyways I hope you enjoyed the pic and the yarn. Cheers to all of you.

 

[jamesthomas]

Yep, you Aussies have some the baddest critters on the face of the earth! :shocked2: Salt water crocs, Taipans, Eastern Brown Snake, Tiger Snakes, Etc, Etc, Any where there is water you have a bunch of deadly critters around.

 

[Patocazador]

You said they were wild Brahman cattle. We have a bunch of "wood cows" in Florida that live off palmettos and whatever else they can find and they are Brahmas or crossbred Brahmas with white-faced cattle. They have humps and dewlaps and look nothing like the one you killed. Yours looks more similar to a buff or banteng than any of our Brahmas.

I'd try to eat that thing for sure if I could get it out before it spoiled. Congrats! :thumbsup:

 

[crockett]

I think the true Brahma is like what you see in India. The wild Florida cattle are a mix of a lot of breeds and have adapted to a wet climate. As was told me the Brahma are toleratant of diseases that relate to wet land and can kill off other types of cattle- that's why you have Brangus in Florida (3/5 Brahma- female & 2/5 Angus Bull) or the Santa Gertrudis in South Texas (3/5 Brahma female & 2/5 Shorthorn Male)- or so I've been told.
That Autrailian animal- one tough looking character.
Range cattle are usually pretty poor eating. My grandmother in Wyoming would cook either Swiss Steak and Chicken Fried (cubed) steak- trying to create something you could actually eat. Any range bull that's been away from people can be potential trouble- I had a couple last Spring (turkey hunting) that weren't backing off so I circumambulated a field; and, about 10 years ago one busted up some guy's truck.

 

[Kapow]

It could have had anything in it, it was wild, not selectively bred, but it would've had brahman in it for sure. They are about the only thing that can handle it up north - too hot and dry.

The domestic brahman stock are mostly for export, Aussies won't eat them I believe. Last year our prime minister (pushed by the Greens Party) declared an immediate halt to export because of some handling/cruelty issues in foreign ports so over the next few months farmers shot thousands of cattle in the field because they were worthless. Incredible waste.

 

[FishDFly]

"Range cattle are usually pretty poor eating."

Range cattle are also called "grass fed" as all they get to eat is grass. The meat is much tougher since they are walking all day and the fat is totally different from fed cattle along with a different taste.

About the only thing grass fed meat is good for is cutlets and ground meat.

We stopped butchering our own calves.