{{Short description|American bucking bull (2006-2024)}} {{Use American English|date=May 2020}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2020}} {{Infobox animal |image= |caption= |name = Bushwacker |nationality = United States |breed= American Bucking Bull |sex= Bull |appearance= Red with a Mottled White Face |weight= {{cvt|1,800|lb}} |birth_date = {{birth date|2006|6|1}} |birth_place = Marysville, California, U.S. |death_date = {{death date and age|2024|7|2|2006|6|1}} |death_place = Springer, Oklahoma, U.S. |years_active = 2009–2014 |parents = A67 Reindeer Dippin' (sire)<br>Lady Luck (dam) |owner= Julio Moreno, Julio Moreno Bucking Bulls |awards= PBR Bull of the World Finals 2011, 2013<br />PBR World Champion Bull 2011, 2013, and 2014 }}
'''Bushwacker''' #13/6 (June 1, 2006 – July 2, 2024) was an American bucking bull. He competed in the Professional Bull Riders (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.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://pbr.com/news/2013/01/little-yellow-jacket-sets-the-standard/ |title=Little Yellow Jacket Sets the Standard|work=PBR.com |date=January 17, 2013 |access-date=April 1, 2016}}</ref> He was awarded the PBR Brand of Honor in 2016. He has been referred to as the "Michael Jordan of Bulls."<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.newsweek.com/2014/10/24/bushwacker-michael-jordan-bulls-276748.html |title=Bushwacker is the Michael Jordan of Bulls|work=Newsweek.com |date=October 11, 2014 |access-date=1 April 2016}}</ref> In 2014, PBR co-founder and Director of Livestock Cody Lambert compared Bushwacker to the likes of Secretariat and Seabiscuit.<ref name="honored">{{cite web|title=Bushwacker ready to be honored in Las Vegas|url=https://pbr.com/news/2016/10/bushwacker-ready-to-be-honored-in-las-vegas/|website=Professional Bull Riders|date=October 20, 2016 |access-date=November 18, 2016}}</ref> He was inducted into the Class of 2020 in the Bull Riding Hall of Fame.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bull Riding Hall of Fame inductees|url=https://thebullridinghof.com/pages/inductee-list|website=Bull Riding Hall of Fame|access-date=August 19, 2023}}</ref>
In 2023, Bushwacker was ranked No. 1 on the list of the top 30 bulls in PBR history.<ref name="Top"<ref>{{cite web|title=PBR Top 30|url=https://PBR.com/pbrtop30|website=Professional Bull Riders |access-date=August 20, 2023}}</ref><ref name="Bushwacker voted No. 1"<ref>{{cite web|title=From the Vault: Bushwacker becomes the greatest bull in PBR history |url=https://pbr.com/news/2023/08/from-the-vault-bushwacker-becomes-the-greatest-bull-in-pbr-history#:~:text=The%20three%2Dtime%20World%20Champion,30%2C%20presented%20by%20Pendleton%20Whisky.|website=Professional Bull Riders|access-date=August 20, 2023}}</ref>
==Background== Bushwacker was sired by #A67 Reindeer Dippin' and Lady Luck.<ref name="lookback" /> Reindeer Dippin' was born and raised in Marysville, California.<ref name="lookback" /> He was the Bull of the Finals at the 2004 National Finals Rodeo.<ref>{{cite web|title=Flying C Livestock - Bucking Bulls and Heifers - Reindeer Dippin|url=http://www.flyingclivestock.com/reindeer.htm|website=www.flyingclivestock.com|access-date=January 26, 2017}}</ref> Reindeer Dippin's father was from Naccarato breeding on his sire's side and his mother was AN 11, an #34 Oscar's Velvet daughter.<ref>{{cite web|title=Featured Bull: A67 Reindeer Dippin|url=http://ridingbulls.blogspot.com/2011/06/featured-bull-a67-reindeer-dippin.html|website=Rank|access-date=January 29, 2017|date=June 21, 2011}}</ref> Oscar's Velvet was sired by the ProRodeo Hall of Fame bull Oscar.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Design|first1=Born to Buck Web|title=Breeder's Connection - Champion Bucking Bulls - Lot #01|url=http://www.thebreedersconnection.com/lotbc_cbb01|website=www.thebreedersconnection.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180701030611/https://www.thebreedersconnection.com/lotbc_cbb01|archive-date=July 1, 2018|access-date=30 January 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Oscar - Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame|url=https://www.prorodeohalloffame.com/inductees/livestock/oscar/|website=Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame|access-date=January 30, 2017}}</ref> Lady Luck's father was Diamond's Ghost.<ref name="ladyluck">{{cite web|title=Flying C Livestock - Bucking Bulls and Heifers|url=http://www.flyingclivestock.com/|website=www.flyingclivestock.com|access-date=January 26, 2017}}</ref> She was raised by David Fournier and acquired by Mikel Moreno.<ref name="ladyluck" /> David Fournier and Julio Moreno traded a few heifers each year at the American Bucking Bull, Inc. (ABBI) event in Weatherford, Texas – 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," Fournier said.<ref name="bloodlines">{{cite web|title=Professional Bull Riders - Bloodlines for the greatest|url=https://pbr.com/news/2014/10/bloodlines-for-the-greatest/|website=Professional Bull Riders|date=October 9, 2014 |access-date=January 29, 2017}}</ref>
Bushwacker was born in Marysville, California, on June 1, 2006.<ref name="ABBI">{{cite news|last1=Cartwright|first1=Keith Ryan|title=A Tale of Two Champions: Kent Cox and Bushwacker|issue=Nov/Dec 2011|publisher=The American Bucking Bull|date=December 2011}}</ref><ref name="lookback">{{cite web|title=Professional Bull Riders - Looking back at Bushwacker's career|url=https://pbr.com/news/2014/11/looking-back-at-bushwacker-s-career//|website=Professional Bull Riders|date=November 28, 2014 |access-date=26 January 2017}}</ref> 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.<ref name="lookback" /> Bushwacker was owned by Julio Moreno of Julio Moreno Bucking Bulls. After he was retired, he was used for natural breeding and had as many as 20 cows with him in the spring. Moreno maintained a Facebook page devoted to Bushwacker.<ref>{{cite web|title=Julio Moreno, Owner Of PBR Champion Bucking Bull Bushwacker, Talks With Jason Hetland|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhtAH5g9Zqo|website=YouTube|access-date=January 26, 2017|date=March 2, 2014}}</ref> The bull also had a Twitter account. Bushwacker's last public appearance was at the PBR World Finals in 2016.
{{Pedigree |name = Bushwacker, red bull w/ mottled face, 2006 |f = #A67 Reindeer Dippin' (US)<br />born 1999<br />retired 2008<br />died 2017 |m = Lady Luck (US) |ff = Naccarato Breeding (US) |fm = AN #11 (US) |mf = #780 Diamond's Ghost (US) |mm = Ratjen Breeding (US) |fff = |ffm = |fmf = #34 Oscar's Velvet |fmm = |mff = |mfm = |mmf = |mmm = |ffff = |fffm = |ffmf = |ffmm = |fmff = Oscar (ProRodeo Hall of Fame bull) |fmfm = |fmmf = |fmmm = |mfff = |mffm = |mfmf = |mfmm = |mmff = |mmfm = |mmmf = |mmmm = |}}
==Career== Bushwacker's notoriety was cemented during a PBR-record streak of 42 consecutive buckoffs, and 56 buckoffs in all levels of competition.<ref>{{cite web|title=Moreno congratulates, then challenges Mauney|url=https://pbr.com/news/2013/08/moreno-congratulates-then-challenges-mauney/|website=Professional Bull Riders|date=August 19, 2013 |publisher=www.pbr.com|access-date=February 26, 2018}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://pbr.com/news/2013/08/the-streak-slayer/ |title=The Streak Slayer|work=PBR.com |date=August 18, 2013 |access-date=1 April 2016}}</ref>
Bushwacker spent the majority of his career on the Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS), the major league tour of the PBR. He only bucked in the Championship rounds and the 15/15 Bucking Battles, which meant only the best riders got to try him. According to Probullstats.com, he had 87 outs with three qualified rides at all levels of competition. Of those, 66 outs and two qualified rides were on the BFTS.<ref>{{cite web|title=13/6 Bushwacker (17903) bull profile & stats|url=https://probullstats.com/bulls/outlist.php?bull=17903|website=probullstats.com|access-date=January 26, 2017|language=en}}</ref> 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 at the PBR World Finals for 89.75 points, and then his buckoff streak started after this ride. Then in August 2013, the 42 buckoff streak was broken by J.B. Mauney on the BFTS in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for 95.25 points. The bull scored 46.75 on the ride. Bushwacker would not be ridden again. <ref>{{cite web|title=Out List for 13/6 Bushwacker (17903)|url=https://probullstats.com/bulls/outlist.php?bull=17903|website=probullstats.com|access-date=January 26, 2017}}</ref> João Ricardo Vieira, who won the BFTS Iron Cowboy event title in March 2014, in Arlington, Texas, attempted to ride Bushwacker for a $1 million bounty, but was quickly bucked off.<ref>{{cite web|title=Vieira wins Dr Pepper Iron Cowboy V|url=https://pbr.com/news/2014/03/vieira-wins-dr-pepper-iron-cowboy-v|website=Professional Bull Riders|access-date=July 3, 2024}}</ref> He was retired after the PBR World Finals in 2014. The record of 64 buck offs in 66 BFTS outs ranks Bushwacker eighth in all-time buckoffs to date.<ref name="receivebrand">{{cite web|title=Bushwacker to receive Brand of Honor|url=https://pbr.com/news/2016/06/bushwacker-to-receive-brand-of-honor/|website=Professional Bull Riders|date=June 22, 2016 |access-date=January 31, 2017}}</ref> His career BFTS buckoff percentage is 96.969 percent.<ref name="receivebrand" /> He also earned an average bull score of 46.162 points.<ref name="receivebrand" />
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 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, alongside others like the first and three-time world champion Adriano Moraes or two-time world champions Chris Shivers and Justin McBride. <blockquote>"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."<ref name="honored" /></blockquote>
==Retirement== Moreno retired Bushwacker from competition in October 2014 after winning his third World Champion Bull title.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2014/01/23/bull-riding-famed-bull-bushwacker-to-retire-october/4783145/ |title=Buck stops here: Famed bull Bushwacker to retire|work=usatoday.com |access-date=April 1, 2016}}</ref> 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 late October and early November 2016. The PBR actually built a stage for Bushwacker inside the South Point Hotel where the awards were held. This is the first time an animal has been on stage to receive an award from the PBR. J.B. Mauney attended and spoke fondly about his longtime rival.<ref name="surprise">{{cite web|title=Bushwacker and Mauney team up for surprise|url=https://pbr.com/news/2016/10/bushwacker-and-mauney-team-up-for-surprise/|website=Professional Bull Riders|date=November 2, 2016 |access-date=January 26, 2017}}{{dead link|date=September 2025}}</ref>
<blockquote>"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."<ref name="surprise" /></blockquote>
==Death== Bushwacker spent his final years in the Springer, Oklahoma, ranch of Julio Moreno's stock contracting partner Dallas Schott, where he died on July 2, 2024, at the age of 18.<ref>{{cite web|title=Three-time world champion bull Bushwacker passes away|url=https://pbr.com/news/2024/07/three-time-world-champion-bull-bushwacker-passes-away|website=Professional Bull Riders|access-date=July 3, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Remembering Bushwacker (2006-2024)|url=https://pbr.com/news/2024/07/remembering-bushwacker-2006-2024|website=Professional Bull Riders|access-date=July 10, 2024}}</ref>
==Honors== * 2009 American Bucking Bull, Inc. (ABBI) Reserve Wild Card Champion<ref name="brandhonor">{{cite web|title=Professional Bull Riders - Brand of Honor: Bushwacker|url=https://pbr.com/athletes/heroes-legends/#BrandofHonor|website=Professional Bull Riders|access-date=January 25, 2017}}</ref> * 2010 ABBI World Champion Classic Bull & $250,000 winner<ref name="brandhonor" /> * 2011 PBR Bull of the World Finals<ref name="ABBI" /> * 2011 High Marked Bull 9 times<ref name="ABBI" /> * 2011 PBR World Champion Bull<ref name=stats>{{cite web |url= https://probullstats.com/bull-list/pbr-world-champions |title=Past PBR World Champion Bulls 1995 to Present |work=probullstats.com |access-date= April 1, 2016}}</ref> * 2013 PBR Bull of the World Finals * 2013 PBR World Champion Bull<ref name=stats /> * 2014 PBR World Champion Bull<ref name=stats /> * 2016 PBR Brand of Honor<ref>{{cite web|title=PBR Brand of Honor|url=https://pbr.com/heroes-legends#brand|website=Professional Bull Riders|access-date=August 19, 2023}}</ref> * 2020 Bull Riding Hall of Fame<ref>{{cite web|title=Bull Riding Hall of Fame inductees|url=https://thebullridinghof.com/pages/inductee-list|website=Bull Riding Hall of Fame|access-date=August 19, 2023}}</ref> * ProBullStats Hall of Fame<ref>{{cite web|title=ProBullStats Hall of Fame bulls|url=https://probullstats.com/bull-list/hall-of-fame|website=ProBullStats|access-date=January 11, 2023}}</ref> * 2023 ranked No. 1 on the list of the top 30 bulls in PBR history<ref name="Top" /><ref name="Bushwacker voted No. 1" /> * Held the PBR Premier Series record of 42 consecutive buckoffs for several years;<ref name="brandhonor" /> was surpassed by Cool Whip with his 43rd consecutive Premier Series buckoff at the 2024 PBR World Finals<ref>{{cite web|title=Cool Whip surpasses Bushwacker for most Premier Series buckoffs|url=https://pbr.com/news/2024/05/cassio-dias-crowned-2024-pbr-world-champion-and-rookie-of-the-year|website=Professional Bull Riders|access-date=May 20, 2024}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://probullstats.com/bulls/17903 Bushwacker stats] Bushwacker's profile on Probullstats * [https://www.facebook.com/BushwackerPbrBuckingBull/ Bushwacker Facebook page] Videos * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhtAH5g9Zqo Julio Moreno, Owner Of Bushwacker, Talks With Jason Hetland] YouTube Video * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VR2CGTMS5Rs ESPN E:60 Bushwacker] ESPN TV Show clip YouTube video * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmXJOLgkdUk Bushwacker: 'He is Muhammad Ali' (PBR)] Official YouTube video * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKSu7Mv8dD8 Bushwacker: The PBR Legend to Retire (PBR)] Official PBR video
{{Rodeo}} {{Authority control}}
Category:2006 animal births Category:2024 animal deaths Category:Bucking bulls Category:Individual bulls in sport Category:Professional Bull Riders: Heroes and Legends Category:Bull Riding Hall of Fame inductees