For much of the 70's we live caught buff and scrubbers from Lake Argyle to Arnhem land. The Buff at that time were in big mobs under the led of the dominant cow. The big bulls had the life of Riley wallowing or sharpening their horns on ant hills or just resting in the paper barks. Folk should be aware as the swamps recede over the dry the fringe between thr ridges and the water line grows with nutritious feed as the water drys up. Pet meating only required dropping them in the field and dressing them from cradles on the ground. They had banned spine shooting and crocks as well by then as refrigeration and Tojos and the odd grader had made things a little more accessible. The big $ were in live animals paid by the kilo in unbruised dressed meat,hence our goal of individual selection of the biggest. The main method till then was mustering with the occasional help from a chopper. Buff because of their water weight bruise easy. A former shooter Kal Karric developed the mechanical arm, I helped and drove but mainly hased till he got ousted then Me and Bobby Big eye kept it going. We pursued big bulls only for the export of game meat to W. Germany, and the US, later Japan, our main markets. There was only one abattoir in the alligators were most big herds still were (All human consumption had to go through this process while pet meating was still field work). From the closure of Cannon hill to us, now Kakadu National park, the Kimberlies station owners required the clean up the big roan bulls that had been loose for decades as they were trying to introduce Brahma Bulls to alter the long term production of their stations. Most remote scrubbers had never seen a ringer. The nearest abattoir's then were Katherine in the NT and Wyndham further down, where u could see crocks and tiger sharks rolling about fighting the offal pumped out into the bay. The live catching of all big animals regardless if it be horses, camels or either of these two crackers presents their own specific problems as does the terrain specific to these regions. Of the many thousands of individual animals caught and were interested in the bigguns there is no doubt of these fellas running away when chased in this manner, eventually if u loose momentum or the advantage of flanking directional dictation most would turn in a spin and charge at u and the tojo flat out with a smash send horns flying and do real damage. These fellas had NO fear. Big Buff are strong enough to rip in a horn to the belly of another bull and shake it round like a rag doll. An impression is left on one.
Dark faced scrubb bulls were always the craziest while not as strong as the muscle of a buff built up by the plodding in mud were equally dangerous. We had played with bows then but had no real access to the good stuff from the states. A few of the boys are still flinging arrows while others of us are just taking up the string again. Many of us injured and alive will argue that any other "BOVINE" whether statistically or otherwise can be as close a shave and produce the tang of adrenaline and the pucker of your nethers to this degree. Happy hunting!
R we there yet are my points building up, bugger! U all only have o put up with me for another 78 poststs
Topic: Feral Cattle (Read 8411 times)
