A BATTLE WON BY A RUNAWAY CALF

PROTECTED CONTENT

If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.

Lost your password?

Username and Password Help

Please enter your email and we will send your username and password to you.

← Back

SPECIAL FEATURE FROM FRIO COUNTY HISTORIANS

23rd annual Pioneer Day set for Saturday, March 26 in Pearsall

The Frio Pioneer Jail Museum will host the 23rd Pioneer Day celebration Saturday, March 26, on the grounds of the museum.
The event will feature stories and demonstrations by a group of Lipan Indians and music by The Almost Patsy Cline Band,
storytelling, chuck wagon cooking, arts and crafts and food.

You might have observed that there are two kinds of cowboys in the world. The first kind is young and foolish. He expects livestock to do what he wants them to do. He expects his work to go smoothly and according to plan. When it doesn’t, he loses his temper and often curses.
The second kind of cowboy is old and foolish. He expects exactly the same things, even though he’s old enough to know better, and he loses his temper and curses too.
The major difference between the two is that when the young cowboy loses his temper, he often takes actions which hurt him more than they hurt the animals he’s mad at. The older cowboy, somewhat wiser from his years of experience, will think twice before he lashes out in rage. If any blood is to be shed he will see to it that it’s not his.
One of the dumbest stunts I ever heard was one that a young cowboy pulled. This cowboy was a fellow I am going to call Rowdy, who happened to be the teller of this story. It occurred on a very hot summer day. As his story goes, he was cow-boying for a rancher out near the Frio River. A cow and calf belonging to one of the neighbors had strayed into one of their pastures and was enjoying free room and board for a few weeks. Rowdy decided it was time for them to leave. He saddled old Buck and off he went to throw the rascals out. When they saw him coming the cow went south and the calf north, he ran the cow all the way to the hole in the fence (she knew where it was). He then went back for the calf. Rowdy had decided that this calf needed roping.
The calf weighed about two hundred pounds. This calf ran like a deer and dodged like a jackrabbit, and he made a complete monkey out of Rowdy and his catch rope. When he finally got the calf caught he was in a towering rage. He flanked the calf down and started tying him with his pigging string. The calf kicked it out so he tried again and the calf kicked it out again. Then he kicked Rowdy. Sweat was stinging his eyes and he couldn’t see well. He cocked his fist and aimed a right hook at the calf’s neck. The calf squirmed, and the blow landed square between the horns, which was the very hardest part of his anatomy.
As this story went on, I wish that I could report that the calf shuttered, stiffened, and then died on the spot, but that was not the story. Instead Rowdy howled and drew back a withered limb. For the next six weeks, Rowdy had to explain how he got a plaster cast on his right hand. No matter how well Rowdy told the story or how hard he tried to improve on it, he couldn’t quite conceal the truth of it, which was pretty stupid thing for a grown man to do.
The Frio Pioneer Jail Museum will host the 23rd Pioneer Day celebration Saturday, March 26 on the grounds of the museum. The event will feature stories and demonstrations by a group of Lipan Indians and music by The Almost Patsy Cline Band, storytelling, chuck wagon cooking, arts and crafts and food and a Corn Hole Tournament hosted by the Frio County Sheriff’s Department.