[Cdt-l] unilateral bovine concessions

[Brett]

I realize this on a tangent, but I've never found a way to remediate cows with a propensity to "spook." Not all of them do, of course, and bless their bovine hearts, but certain groups with that tendency are generally incorrigible. And frankly I don't feel remediation is my job out there, as an individual quietly recreating on my public lands. Give us hikers a fair break, dear rancher. The idea of a mother permanently abandoning its calf because a hiker came along and failed to leave the trail and walk a wide, stealthy circle sounds like a red herring to me, based on a certain bias that probably needs no introduction. And yes, that bias can run both ways. But of course it shouldn't, because we've both camps have had a history of coexisting for years, flourishing finely, and hikers - at least those who avoid bathing in stock ponds, trespassing on private ranches, and so forth - are, I think, demonstrably easy for the livestock industry to live with.

At the end of the day, hiker-rancher conflicts are generally nothing that a campfire and a little cowboy coffee can't mend. Any fence that can't be mended sounds like a design flaw to me. Possibly a fence laid out by a bogeyman.

- blisterfree

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The big concern is that hikers may spook 
cattle. One rancher has this advice/comment: Hikers on foot can spook 
cattle simply by their presence. Heifers will sometimes leave their 
calves causing additional labor for the rancher in getting them to 
"mother back up". I try to educate the hikers and recreationalists to 
walk a wide circle around cattle so as not to spook them. Cattle see 
ranchers on horseback and when something out of the norm comes along 
they will flee. Sometimes if a hiker will stop when they spook cattle, 
the cattle will turn around and look, and then be allright with their 
presence, at which time the hiker may continue without any disruption.
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