Tuesday, January 27, 2015

The Mighty Hunter



This is the Prince of Wales, 
son of Queen Victoria, and later Edward VII, hunting a "wild" Chillingham bull at Chillingham Castle in 1879. This seems to be a serious photo, as laughable as it appears.  For the record, these "wild" cattle have been fed hay in winter for at least 300 years, are housed in a fenced area of half a square mile (365 acres), and have been a tourist attraction for as long as anyone can remember. Not even feral; just ill-tempered

When Edward died in 1910, his terrier, Caesar, led the procession, and the dog's likeness is part of Edward's tomb at St. George's Chapel.

3 comments:

SecondThoughtsOptional said...

Sure it's serious. There's people paying good money to chuck chickens (um, I mean pheasants) out of pens into the 'wild' for a few weeks to shoot them then drive the survivors back into pens, aren't there? Not surprised the line's a little blurry for some. :)

Heather Houlahan said...

Jacob sheep breeders sometimes refuse to sell their impressive multi-horned rams to anyone because jackasses buy them so they can charge other jackasses thousands of dollars to shoot them.

Pet. Tame. Sheep.

andrew said...

I don't know....

I grew up in a rural area and the neighbor had a bull that was very aggressive, and very alert. Unlike most animals it wasn't alert because it was planning on avoiding humans, it was alert so he could mess up anyone that came in his pastures. He rolled the pickup of the NSP guy (electric company).

Provided you were in the pasture with him vs taking a 300 yard shot , 'hunting' that bull would have been bigger hunting accomplishment than bagging a trophy whitetail.

Ornery untame yet domesticated cattle aren't to be viewed lightly.


also, lots of places elk herds are fed during the winter.