From: viking@iastate.edu (Dan Sorenson)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Re: Weapon for defense from cows
Date: 22 Nov 92 23:55:37 GMT
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA

callison@essex.ecn.uoknor.edu (James P. Callison) writes:

#Personally, I would suggest using the same thing ranchers do in tight
#quarters (like in the stock yards); either a bullwhip or the good, 
#old-fashioned non-lethal cattle prod.

	I believe the cows he is talking about are not at all similar
to the domestic cows I raised as a youth with regard to temperament.
Those cattle prods were useful in persuading a cow to move up the
loading chute, but should she feel boxed in and need to escape the
prod was about as useful as teats on a bull.  I think Rodney King
showed that electricity just don't stop an enraged person.  But, as
range seems to be possible here, a taser or similar "long-range prod"
might be a viable alternative.

# If you shoot a cow, you're
#very likely to be held liable for the rancher's loss (which can amount
#to no small amount of change), even if it is on your property.

	You'll have to check your local laws here, but the preferred
method is to talk with your neighbor about the problem first.  Offer
to help him mend his fence, install a hot-wire (you're going to pay
for the right-side half of the fence due to custom, and be responsible
for maintaining it).  I forgot to mention that an electric fence is
fairly inexpensive, easy to maintain, and works quite well.  As a
last resort, talk to your county sheriff.  He has to enforce the law,
so tell him your problems and get his advice.

#Besides being a potential legal hassle, it's also a little bit cruel
#to kill a cow just because you got in its way....or is that too PC
#for you? :-)

	That depends on what the cow does, IMHO.  My brother spent three
weeks in a hospital due to a bull feeling frisky.  Myself, a week on the
couch waiting for cracked ribs to heal from a head-butt I took while
tagging a calf (mom knew me and would eat from my hands, but when baby
went "bwaah!" she knocked me about fifteen feet and rolled me over a
few times for good measure).  The former went to town, the latter I
forgave.  I'm such a nice guy, eh?  The legal hassle would involve your
neighbor, too, as it was his animal running loose that caused the
problem.  There are braided whips, about 5' long, available at tack
shops.  With a little practice, you can snap them quite well and this
is nearly as effective as the prod.  The short length is less likely to
be tangled up in brush and trees.  I recommend against trying to climb a
tree -- they move too darn fast for that, and if you're between a cow
and a tree guess who gets squished?

	Since the description of the cows and their behavior isn't known
exactly, and since experience is really the best teacher here, I'm
just tossing out ideas -- I'll let the poster, his wife, and his
neighbor decide what the best response is.
	[MODERATOR:  I keep having this vision of the Far Side cows reading
	 our discussion in the morning paper over coffee, and one remarking
	 to the other "Why Martha, these people are just so unCIVilized!"]

< Dan Sorenson, DoD #1066 z1dan@exnet.iastate.edu viking@iastate.edu >
<  ISU only censors what I read, not what I say.  Don't blame them.  >
<  "This isn't an answer, it's a pagan dance around a midnight fire  >
<   written in intellectual runes." -- Rich Young                    >