Bulldoggin’ with Cowboy Bill Pickett

tony | May 4, 2013 | 0 Comments

No matter what it is …

… someone was the first to do it.

In modern rodeo and cowboy times, steer wrestling known as “bulldogging” is as common as grits on a southern breakfast table.

Who was the first cowboy to chase a steer at full gallop, come up next to the running steer, jump off the horse onto the steer, grab the steer around the horns while it is still running at full speed, flip the steer onto its back while sliding to a stop, run a rope around the steer’s legs and tying them tight together, throwing up your hands to signal you’re done and then create the term and technique of bulldoggin’ that is so very common to even the city-slickers of today?

He was an American, of course.

He was from Texas, of course.

He had a true American melting pot family linage, of course.

He was a real cowboy, of course !

He was Cowboy Bill Pickett of Texas, born in 1870.

He coined the term of his steer wrestling technique as “bull-dogging” on this day in history in the year 1893.

But why call it “bull-dogging” ???

Because he had trained a bulldog to help by running along with the horse that would distract the steer to not notice a cowboy was about to jump off his horse onto him …

Cowboy Bill Pickett surely had no idea when he quit school in the 5th grade to become a ranch hand that he would one day become a famous rodeo star and even have a rodeo named after him that still runs to this day.

He grouped up several of his brothers to form The Pickett Brothers Bronco Busters and Rough Riders Association. His name was soon synonymous with only the best rodeo and Wild West Shows.

Pickett joined the 101 Ranch Wild West Show in 1905 and performed his stunts and tricks solo and along side of other famous Wild West stars such as Will Rogers, Buffalo Bill Cody, Pawnee Bill, Tom Mix, Cowboy Bill Watts and Bee Ho Gray.

He also starred in a few early movies from the silent era. These were produced by a movie studio in Jacksonville, Florida which was one of the movie production centers in the early days of movie making.

Here is an actual movie clip of Cowboy Bill Pickett from the movie that bore the name of his steer wrestling technique: “The Bull Dogger”