Only a couple weeks ago I saw a picture on Facebook of a woman standing very near a buffalo at the side of a road. Its caption stated, “Tourist Tossing Season in Yellowstone.” It is doubtful she possessed any talent as a bison whisperer, but she seemed willing to check it out. Others who have tried and failed can be seen on video flying through the air after being hooked by buffalo horns. The term wild animals doesn’t carry the impact that it should. As we move through time some people relax and assume we have conquered the world and tamed all the species in it. Not yet.
Buffalo, or bison if you wish, possess an ungainly appearance, but that can fool the unsuspecting person. I once attended a buffalo sale at Kist Livestock Auction barn in Mandan. Things went as well as could be expected as small groups of them entered the sales ring. The ringmen, either experienced or forewarned, exercised caution and respect for the beasts. It was while the gate opened for one group to exit that a two year old exhibited a physical feat I never thought possible. His mates weren’t leaving fast enough, so for a quicker escape, he made an amazing vertical leap no pro basketball player could match while trying to clear a high barrier at his side. It was a remarkable demonstration of strength, agility, and determination.
Public television carried a documentary in recent months about the American buffalo. Ken Burns based it on Dayton Duncan’s book titled Blood Memory. Some of the pictures Duncan used shows buffalo being loaded onto railroad cattle cars. One shows where a bull broke through the boards of his car. The photographer caught him with his head and forequarters hanging through the opening. It is unknown if his bid for freedom succeeded, but I can imagine a very exciting scene as they worked to get the situation under control.
We can add another category to this and call it “Cowboy Tossing Season.” Of course, here we will talk about bucking bulls at a rodeo. While their physiques are a bit different from the buffaloes’, they too are well-muscled, fast, and very agile. We can observe them in an arena where a cowboy tries to stay aboard for a mere eight second count. Many quotes from riders tell us they never knew eight seconds could last so long.
Watching slow motion video reruns of riders gives a good idea of the action. The cowboy hangs onto a surcingle with one hand and keeps the other aloft. All the while he is spurring the bull’s flanks and trying to stay upright on an agitated bull that is bucking, twisting, and swapping ends. Every animal reacts differently, so a cowboy doesn’t know what to expect. That’s where athleticism and much luck come into play as he tries to ride to victory.
Rodeo people judge whether a bull is any good by tracking the times he bucks off a rider. For instance, this year the bull called Cool Whip scored his record 43rd buck-off in a row at the 2024 Pro Bull Riders World Finals. One called Bodacious was known throughout the rodeo world as "the world's most dangerous bull.” The rodeo clowns had their hands full keeping him from riders he’d thrown. Out of 136 riders he threw 127 of them. This bull smashed Tuff Hedeman’s face which required six hours of reconstructive surgery.
One bull made it into the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in the animal division. I used to say he’s my favorite sports hero from the state. Little Yellow Jacket proved to be a big winner for the Berger operation south of Mandan. During his career of 93 riders, only 15 ever made it to eight seconds which gave him an 84% buck-off statistic. A model of him sits on my desk today complete with that one downturned horn.
A large number of rodeos are held around the state each year with the number probably growing. A quick count of them on their tentative rodeo schedule shows that 29 of them will be held in 2024. Each of them features several events in addition to bull riding: bucking horses, both saddled and bareback, cutting, barrel racing, steer wrestling, and more.
As for the cutting horse competition, some cowboys, while training their horses, will run out of cows to practice with. The cows learn what’s happening and soon won’t offer a good workout for the horse. One time in Missouri I saw a man giving his horse a workout using buffalo. The reason given was that cows “sour quickly” after being worked, whereas buffalo can be used over and over.
One time at a wedding reception west of the Missouri River in real cowboy country one young fellow told of learning how fast he could run when he just made it over a fence with a bull at his heels. I had my experience as a young lad playing behind the barn and seeing a bull in the pasture pawing clouds of dirt who then started after me. Luckily I made it to the roof of the barn’s lean-to. The singer Lyle Lovett suffered a badly broken leg when attacked by a bull. Lovett saw his uncle flipped by the animal and while running to help him got trampled in turn.
Rodeo clowns aren’t present to provide some comic relief; they play an important role in distracting bulls from participants. Wild bulls or domesticated bulls would love to sink their horns into anyone who would simply become another statistic in the “tossing season.”
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