Bushwacker (bull)

Background

Bushwacker was born in Marysville, California, on June 1, 2006. He was sired by #A67 Reindeer Dippin and Lady Luck. In 2008, as a 2 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. Reindeer Dippin was born and raised in Maryville. Lady Luck's father was Diamond's Ghost. She was raised by David Fournier and acquired by Mikel. Reindeer Dippin was the Bucking Bull of the Finals at the 2004 NFR.

Bushwacker's dam side. David Fournier is one of few men who can say he has impacted the breeding of a World Champion bull. Yet, in his dealings with Julio Moreno, he can say he did just that. Having had nothing to with the raising of Bushwacker, he had much to do with his breeding. He and Moreno traded two or three year old heifers each year over about a three-year period of time. This occurred at the annual American Bucking Bull, Inc. (ABBI) event in Weatherford, Texas. The last of those deals is how Moreno ended up with Lady Luck, Bushwacker's mother. "He had two or three of them I was looking at," Moreno said. "I picked her because of her looks and, sure enough, it happened to be the right one." "Julio wanted some different bloodlines," Fournier recalled, "and so, at the time, we traded heifers for heifers." And it turned out that the specific bloodline Moreno was looking for was Diamond's Ghost. "Julio and I, we’ve traded quite a bit of stock among us that nobody knows about and that’s one of them," Fournier said. "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." While Bushwacker's paternal ancestor is more famous, it is actually the maternal side that gives Bushwacker his incredible ability to kick up high over his head. Fournier credits the breeding he did that brought him Lady Luck.

Bushwacker's sire side As stated, Reindeer Dippin is his father. 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 great ProRodeo Hall of Fame bull Oscar.

Bushwacker is currently owned by Julio Moreno of Julio Moreno Bucking Bulls. Now retired, he spends his days in the pasture enjoying himself. Julio gives him plenty of company. He is also 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 where you can see pictures of Bushwacker and his companions and see what Bushwacker is up to. 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. 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 (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. This makes his record even more impressive. 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 finally broken by J.B. Mauney on the BFTS at Tulsa, Oklahoma, 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 elevated the sport of professional bull riding to new levels. The bull Bushwacker became a global superstar. During his retirement in 2014, PBR co-founder and Director of Livestock Cody Lambert compared Bushwacker with other preeminent animal athletes Secretariat and Seabiscuit. 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. Names like the first and three-time World Champion Adriano Moraes rolled off his tongue. Both two-time World Champions Chris Shivers and Justin McBride were brought up to help show how important Bushwacker has been to the 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." A good portion of his popularity came from a dominance that cannot be compared to any other bull in the history of the sport.

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 where the awards were held so he could actually be present. 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