OT: still searching for those calves!

JRSutton · Dec 14, 2015

Had about 30 volunteers on saturday help us comb the woods, all day long. But it's like searching for a needle in a haystack. Not a single sighting so we had no good
place to focus the search.

Of course, the next day he was spotted, but then we didn't have the volunteers available.

Unbelievable how elusive this thing is.

Every time we find him, it's only one or two of us around to try to catch him, which is impossible. He's just too skittish and we can't get within 50 feet.

We keep setting up a "trap" to try to push him into (a big corral panel funnel) But with two people in these woods that are FULL of thick patches of pickers, we just
can't do it. And wherever we put the trap - he seems to pop up a mile away.

So frustrating!

I don't know how long we can continue trying. Might just have to get two more calves and start over.

Russ from MN · Dec 14, 2015

Veal calves? Have a rifle?

LonM · Dec 14, 2015

Maybe putting a couple of old cows out there will settle down the wild one. Start feeding a little grain to the cows and sooner or later the calf will join up. Good luck!

4520BW · Dec 14, 2015

A buddy of mine had one out all summer and this fall he got my .300 weatherby mag and dropped it in the corn stalks and drove it to the locker on pallet forks.

Straw Boss · Dec 14, 2015

If he can't be chased then try to lead him.
Try putting out a few piles of sweet feed calf starter with the molasses in it somewhere nearby him and hope he finds it. (The deer might find it to.)
Check it regular like a trap line. Once he finds it, replace the pile every time he eats it until it becomes a daily routine.
(Maybe set up a game camera to make sure it isn't deer eating your piles.)
Once he's comfortable with hanging around and waiting for his treat, then start moving the pile a bit closer to your corral each time you feed him but not so far he won't find it, until you can get him to go into your corral. You may have to feed him in there for a week or so before you can get close enough to shut the gate on him.
Also remember that he needs water daily. He must be getting it somewhere. Maybe there's something you can do there to restrict his access to water to force him to move your direction in search for a drink.

Bill in IL · Dec 14, 2015

My opinion is your going to have to put him down. If you can get him in a corral do you think he will stay in there?

rrlund · Dec 14, 2015

Did you get one back and are only trying to get the other one? I don't remember. If you still have one,can you build a stout temporary corral and pen him in the back of it? Then have it set up so the other one can come in to a larger enclosure to get near him. They're a herd animal and don't like to be alone. He'd come to another one quicker than he'd even come to feed.

Mike M · Dec 14, 2015

Amazing it has survived the pumpkin army so far.

I like the idea of using another one penned up to lure it.

LAA · Dec 14, 2015

The more people involved the less chance of ever getting them, look on google earth in the vicinity where they are at and find water, they will be close to a water hole late in the evening or early in the morning and probably bed down near by. If you find sign of them put out feed and after a few days set up a pen and put the trough inside the pen.

roy prins · Dec 14, 2015

I had one just like that once -- called up the local cowboy -- he came with his boy and two horses -- the calf was used to horses so they got right close and lassoed him -- hog tied him -- drug the critter into the trailer -- locked him in the barn for two weeks till he got used to me then all was ok -- good luck

ditchwitch · Dec 14, 2015

Do you know of anyone that has a couple of good dogs like border collies , Maybe that would work also

J.Wondergem · Dec 14, 2015

You're going to start thinking like the calf, scared to death, and hungry, then lure it in. Then the odds are still against you.

dhermesc · Dec 14, 2015

Brother had one like that, took 8 months to get him back. Had him corralled twice and he broke the corral once and the second time he literally climbed the bars over the top. Chased him down with a 4 wheeler and tranquilized him with a dart gun. First one did nothing, second one did nothing and hit him with a third and could chase him down and roped him from a horse. Loaded him on the trailer with him fighting the entire time. Closed the gate on the trailer and buttoned it up. After 20 minutes of trying to kick the trailer to pieces he suddenly laid down and died.

Next time he said he'd shoot one that went crazy like that.

Dick2 · Dec 14, 2015

Set up your corral/trap and put some feed inside and leave the gate open. Let him eat and leave the trap until he is used to it, the spring the trap (close the gate). I've always found that it's better to lead them with food than it is to chase them.

JRSutton · Dec 14, 2015

we've been doing that for a week now - we also have some heifers in there to try to get his herd instinct going.

He's been around, but doesn't go in.

The good news is he's at least staying in the same general vicinity. +/- a mile.

At least he's not moving in a straight line away - he'd be in Rhode Island by now if he were.

JRSutton · Dec 14, 2015

There were two missing, a white one and a red one.

The only one that's ever been spotted (and more then 10 times now - crossing roads, in yards, etc) has been the white one.

We heard a hunter mistook the red one for a deer - took a shot - but doesn't know if he hit it. So, by now we're assuming he did. We'll still look - but we're kind of doing that by default by looking for the white one. But the white one's the only one we really expect to get.

And to the point about water - there's a lot of water around here. Lots of small hills, and there's a brook at the base of every one of them, with a lot of small ponds.

In fact, he's really doing just fine - lots of water, lots of second cut fields that never got cut this year - he's living it up out there. The only real threat to him is getting hit by a car or shot by a hunter. And shotgun season's now over anyways.

Part of me wonders if we shouldn't just delay the search for a year and a half, THEN go get him.

But we'll keep trying - I think once we catch him and get him into the herd he'll stick around.

Hank ABAB · Dec 14, 2015

So, what happened to the other one?

keh · Dec 14, 2015

Had a cow that was always wild, but had good calves. Once she got out and I couldn't get her back in the gate. I ran a temporary electric across the narrow part of the pasture with the rest of the cows on the side with water, then left the gate open. The cow had been hanging around the herd trying to get back with them and overnight she went back through the gate and I found her at the electric fence across from the rest of the herd. Had already closed gate, so took down electric fence so cow could get back with the herd.

I don't know the situation there, but maybe you could set up a temporary electric fence to funnel the calves toward the pen. When you catch them I would take them straight to the sale or have them processed for beef and not take a chance on settling them down. Buy some more and start over with a stronger pen to keep them in for a few days. I have a strong pen with a nose high hot wire inside.

KEH

fixerupper · Dec 14, 2015

For one thing, the hunter that mistook it for a deer shouldn't be hunting! Shooting it for a veal calf isn't the most desirable thing to do but it might be the only way you will get anything at all out of this situation. We had a couple of wild calves get loose in the middle of the night when we were unloading them off the truck but it was in the late fall after the crops were out here on the barren plains of Iowa. Finding them was easy because they had nowhere to hide. A tame old stock cow finally led them home after they enjoyed three weeks of freedom.

Donald in MN · Dec 14, 2015

i got a couple suggestions wait until a cold miserable day here in s.e. minnesota we worked cattle when it was cold and even snowy they were more cooperative . i had an austrialian shepherd that was good him and i would find cattle and run till they were tired and corral them had one holstein heifer took 45 minutes to catch .my dad had a holsten that fences met nothing would jump them like a horse . but me and sam tired her out and caught her. finally dad had a friend that would take a .22 and shoot them in the front leg to slow down wild cattle i never did that i thought it was to mean

OT: still searching for those calves!

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