Bushwacker #13/6 (born June 1, 2006) is an American former
bucking bull
A bucking bull is a bull used in American rodeo bull riding competition. They are usually a Brahma crossed with another breed, weighing 1,500 pounds or more, selected for their tendency to "leap, plunge and spin" when a human is on its back. C ...
. He competed in the
Professional Bull Riders
The Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) is an international professional bull riding organization based in Pueblo, Colorado, United States. In the U.S., PBR events have been televised on CBS and CBS Sports Network since 2012. In 2013, the ...
(PBR) circuit and was a three-time PBR World Champion Bull, winning the title in 2011, 2013, and 2014. His three titles match the record established a decade earlier by
Little Yellow Jacket from 2002 to 2004. He was awarded the
PBR Brand of Honor in 2016. He has been referred to as the "
Michael Jordan of Bulls." In 2014, PBR co-founder and Director of Livestock
Cody Lambert
Cody Lambert (born December 2, 1961) in Artesia, New Mexico is an American former professional rodeo cowboy. He specialized in saddle bronc riding and bull riding. He was also a co-founder and vice president of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR). ...
compared Bushwacker to the likes of
Secretariat
Secretariat may refer to:
* Secretariat (administrative office)
* Secretariat (horse)
Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred racehorse who is the ninth winner of the Ame ...
and
Seabiscuit
Seabiscuit (May 23, 1933 – May 17, 1947) was a champion thoroughbred racehorse in the United States who became the top money-winning racehorse up to the 1940s. He beat the 1937 Triple Crown winner, War Admiral, by four lengths in a two-horse ...
.
He was inducted into the Class of 2020 in the
Bull Riding Hall of Fame
The Bull Riding Hall of Fame, located at Cowtown Coliseum in the Fort Worth Stockyards in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, is a hall of fame for the sport of bull riding. It is incorporated as a non-profit organization in the State of Texas, a ...
in August.
Background
Bushwacker was sired by #A67 Reindeer Dippin and Lady Luck.
Reindeer Dippin was born and raised in Maryville.
Reindeer Dippin was the Bucking Bull of the Finals at the 2004 NFR. Reindeer Dippin's father is from Naccarato breeding on his sire's side and his mother is AN 11, an #34 Oscar's Velvet daughter. And Oscar's Velvet is sired by the
ProRodeo Hall of Fame
The ProRodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy was opened in August 1979 as a museum designed to "preserve the legacy of the cowboy contests, the heritage and culture of those original competitions, and the champions of the past, pr ...
bull Oscar. Lady Luck's father was Diamond's Ghost.
She was raised by David Fournier and acquired by Mikel.
David Fournier and Julio Moreno traded a few heifers each year at the
American Bucking Bull
American Bucking Bull (ABBI) is an organization dedicated to the registration of bucking bulls and establishing the American Bucking Bull as a documented breed of cattle. American Bucking Bull, Inc., is owned by the Professional Bull Riders ( ...
, Inc. (ABBI) event in
Weatherford, Texas
Weatherford ( ) is a city and the county seat of Parker County, Texas, Parker County, Texas, United States. In 2020, its population was 30,854. Weatherford is named after Thomas J. Weatherford, a State senator and advocate for Texas’ secession ...
– one of these was Lady Luck. "Julio told me, 'You know, Bushwacker’s out of one of your cows' and when he (first) showed it to me, I knew exactly which one. "But I had gotten rid of her mother already," Fourner said.
Bushwacker was born in Marysville, California, on June 1, 2006.
In 2008, as a two-year-old, he moved to Stephenville, Texas, to work with the late handler Kent Cox. Kent Cox hauled and raised many of Julio Moreno's bulls since 2005.
Bushwacker is currently owned by Julio Moreno of Julio Moreno Bucking Bulls. Now retired, he is used for natural breeding and may have as many as 20 cows with him in the spring. Moreno maintains a Facebook page devoted to Bushwacker. Bushwacker has a Twitter account also, but it has been inactive since 2014 when he retired. Bushwacker's last public appearance was at the PBR World Finals in 2016.
Career
His notoriety was cemented during a PBR-record streak of 42 consecutive buckoffs, and 56 buckoffs in all levels of competition. It started after being ridden by Thiago Paguioto, and after that, no one would stay on him again until August 2013, when
J.B. Mauney was finally successful in riding him after nine previous tries.
Bushwacker is a bull who spent the majority of his career on the
Built Ford Tough Series
The Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS) was the elite series tour name of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) competitions from 2003 to 2017.
The BFTS kicked off its tour on November 16, 2002 with the Mohegan Sun Invitational in Uncasville, Connecticu ...
(BFTS), the major leagues of the PBR. Bushwacker only bucked in the Championship rounds and the 15/15 Bucking Battles, which means only the best riders got to try him. According to Probullstats.com, he had 87 outs with 3 qualified rides at all levels of competition. Of those, 66 outs and 2 qualified rides were on the BFTS. In October 2009, Markus Mariluch was the first to ride Bushwacker in the PBR for 88 points in Las Vegas, but this was not on the BFTS. Then, also in October 2009, Thiago Paguioto was the first to ride Bushwacker on the BFTS in Las Vegas for 89.75 points, and then his buckoff streak started after this ride. Then, the 42 buckoff streak was broken by J.B. Mauney on the BFTS at
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
, for 95.25 points. The bull scored 46.75 on the ride. Bushwacker would not be ridden again, and he retired after the PBR World Finals in 2014. That record of 64 buck offs in 66 BFTS outs ranks him eighth in all-time buckoffs to date.
His career BFTS buckoff percentage is 96.969 percent.
He also earned an average bull score of 46.162 points.
Throughout his six-year BFTS elite career, Bushwacker "became a world-famous superstar". During his retirement in 2014, PBR co-founder and Director of Livestock
Cody Lambert
Cody Lambert (born December 2, 1961) in Artesia, New Mexico is an American former professional rodeo cowboy. He specialized in saddle bronc riding and bull riding. He was also a co-founder and vice president of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR). ...
compared Bushwacker with other preeminent animal athletes
Secretariat
Secretariat may refer to:
* Secretariat (administrative office)
* Secretariat (horse)
Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred racehorse who is the ninth winner of the Ame ...
and
Seabiscuit
Seabiscuit (May 23, 1933 – May 17, 1947) was a champion thoroughbred racehorse in the United States who became the top money-winning racehorse up to the 1940s. He beat the 1937 Triple Crown winner, War Admiral, by four lengths in a two-horse ...
. When asked what Bushwacker has meant to the PBR, Lambert took his remarks further. He immediately placed Bushwacker in an exclusive class of PBR legends, alongside others like the first and three-time World Champion
Adriano Moraes or two-time World Champions
Chris Shivers
Chris Shivers (born December 30, 1978) is an American former professional rodeo cowboy who specialized in bull riding, and competed on the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) circuit. He turned pro in 1997, and earned the title of PBR World Champion ...
and
Justin McBride
Justin Travis McBride (born August 7, 1979) is an American former professional bull rider. In his career, he competed on the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) circuit. He was a two-time PBR World Champion (2005 and 2007), has a record 32 career PBR ...
.
"He is as important to the sport as any of the riders we have ever had and more famous than most of them and more well known," Lambert said. "We will have all of the great bulls from now on, and all of the great bull riders from now on, and we will never replace Bushwacker or Chris Shivers or Justin McBride or Adriano. We have fans that don’t know any of the riders' names that know Bushwacker," Lambert said. "Lots of them. It's a level that no animal has taken it to so far – until Bushwacker."
Retirement
Moreno retired Bushwacker from competition in October 2014 after winning his third World Champion Bull title. When the PBR awarded Bushwacker the PBR Brand of Honor, Julio brought him to "accept" the award in person in Las Vegas during the PBR World Finals in Oct-Nov 2016. The PBR actually built a stage for Bushwacker inside the
South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa
South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa (formerly South Coast) is a resort located along Las Vegas Boulevard in Enterprise, Nevada, south of the Las Vegas Strip. It is owned and operated by Michael Gaughan, the founder of Coast Casinos. It includes a c ...
where the awards were held. This is the first time an animal has been on stage to receive an award for the PBR. J.B. Mauney attended and spoke fondly about his longtime rival.
"I hung on to him long enough for them to say I made the whistle, but in my eyes he is the greatest bucking bull there will ever be," Mauney said. "People will raise bulls their entire life and they will never have a bull like Bushwacker. It couldn’t have happened to any better gentleman that I know than Julio Moreno." Mauney and Bushwacker met 13 times in Bushwacker's career. Bushwacker bucked Mauney off in all but one of those rides. The always superstitious Moreno said, "I thank J.B. J.B. was on him 13 times and Bushwacker’s number is 13. It kind of worked out good like that."
Honors
* 2009 ABBI (
American Bucking Bull
American Bucking Bull (ABBI) is an organization dedicated to the registration of bucking bulls and establishing the American Bucking Bull as a documented breed of cattle. American Bucking Bull, Inc., is owned by the Professional Bull Riders ( ...
, Inc.) Reserve Wild Card Champion
* 2010 ABBI World Champion Classic Bull & $250,000 winner
* 2011 PBR Bull of the World Finals
* 2011 High Marked Bull 9 times
* 2011 PBR World Champion Bull
* 2013 PBR Bull of the World Finals
* 2013 PBR World Champion Bull
* 2014 PBR World Champion Bull
* Holds the PBR Premier Series record for 42 consecutive buckoffs
* 2016
PBR Brand of Honor
* 2020
Bull Riding Hall of Fame
The Bull Riding Hall of Fame, located at Cowtown Coliseum in the Fort Worth Stockyards in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, is a hall of fame for the sport of bull riding. It is incorporated as a non-profit organization in the State of Texas, a ...
* ProBullStats Hall of Fame
References
{{Use mdy dates, date=May 2020
External links
Bushwacker statsBushwacker's profile on Probullstats
Bushwacker Facebook pageVideos
Julio Moreno, Owner Of Bushwacker, Talks With Jason HetlandYouTube Video
ESPN E:60 BushwackerESPN TV Show clip YouTube video
Bushwacker: 'He is Muhammad Ali' (PBR)Official YouTube video
Bushwacker: The PBR Legend to Retire (PBR)Official PBR video
2006 animal births
Bucking bulls
Individual bulls in sport
Professional Bull Riders: Heroes and Legends