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Cows Attack Hikers!

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I’ve hiked around cows my entire life, and there’s been several times when cattle have been aggressive toward me. Cows attack hikers? It definitely happens, as you’ll read below and especially in the comments. Many of the stories are from trails around the Bay Area in California.

When Cows Attack Hikers

Tom Mangan of the excellent Bay Area hiking blog Two-Heel Drive writes in exquisite detail about his recent outing to Ed Levin County Park. He’s got great photos of his jaunt, but what interests me the most is his encounter with cattle:

I saw the little black angus calf wandering about, baying for its mom, about 100 yards down the trail. I wondered where mom was because the only time a cow will trouble itself to stop grazing is if you block her view of her baby. Not seeing baby can cause cows to identify the nearest hiker in the vicinity, assign blame, then charge. If you were as dumb as the droppings you leave all over the trails, you’d do the same.

So I wander past the baby and sure enough, just down the trail is Mom. And a friend. A large black head with big bulbous eyes arises from just beyond her tail region and gives the universal “Dude, would you mind?” look known to all guys who stumble into another guy’s amorous action.

So, this is why Mom isn’t milking the brat. Some bull has his nose so far up her fanny she’s getting, well, distracted. The loving couple decided to make their way down the trail in the general direction of the wayward calf. I didn’t wait around for any Discovery Channel moments.

Cows Attack Hikers? Sometimes!

I Was Chased by Cows While Hiking, But Was It an Attack?

Here’s the comment I left on Tom’s blog post:

I spent much of my childhood near Anderson, California around cattle, both on our property and in the surrounding pastures and hills. It was great training for watching your step.

I only got truly chased once. I was hiking in the Bald Hills west of Redding at twilight. Something spooked a large herd of cattle and they all thundered toward me and my companions. We sprinted to nearby oak trees and climbed up, just before the cattle ran through the grove.

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Have You Been Attacked by Cows While Hiking?

Have you ever had an uncomfortable hiking encounter with a cow near a trail? Do tell!

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Comments

  1. Roy Scribner says

    Not cows, but I have had a close encounter with some wild boars. We were moving down into a ravine and we could hear them nearby. Needless to say, we backtracked out of there!

    Reply

  2. The Trout Underground says

    Cows are the fisherman’s nightmare animal; imagine it’s dark, you just hiked into a remote stream, and you’re just not sure if that snorting noise behind you is a cow, a cow bent on revenge for some perceived slight, or perhaps a bear.

    Reply

  3. John Soares says

    Roy: I saw boars several times when I lived on Kauai, including have one massive bastard to some sprinting 360s around my front yard while my two golden retrievers barked from the relative safety of the open garage.

    Tom: I know what you mean. I’ve been surprised several times by cows in the dark. I also have some intense memories of walking through cow pastures on dark nights hoping the silly beasts wouldn’t accidently run me down and then trample me to death in their collected droppings.

    Reply

  4. Gambolin' Man says

    While hiking Wildcat Canyon in the Berkeley Hills a few years ago, with an obstreperous but cowardly German Shepherd and Red Cattle Dog – no less – in tow, we were herded into a small copse-like enclosure off the main trail by a steaming mad herd of bulls and cows whom the Red Cattle Dog had tried to round up. We were actually held hostage in there for thirty minutes while a dozen bovines blocked our entrance. At one point, a big ol’ cow came charging in the small enclosure and I barely had time to scramble up a tree (got nasty poison oak) and could only laugh at the sight of the cow chasing the German Shepherd around and around the tree. Finally, they backed off and we made our break and the Shepherd ran like the dickens way ahead of us, while Osa, the Red Cattle Dog, and no bigger than a little chow, insisted on carrying out her duties some more. All in all, I’m very fond of cows (I do not eat them – “now I can look at you in peace” said Kafka on becoming a vegetarian), but NOT very fond of them on our public park lands. I know, I know, there are supposedly legit reasons for allowing them to roam, but I wonder if they’re all really true.

    Reply

  5. John Soares says

    Gambonlin’ Man–great story!

    Reminds me of one time when I was a kid about ten years old. We usually had four or so cattle on our small acreage outside Anderson, California.

    One time I was putting out hay in the corral when one of the cows came charging at me. I don’t know how I did it, but I manage to rematerialize on the other side of a six-foot fence instantaneously.

    Now, the cow was probably in a big hurry to eat the hay, but it scared the living crap out of me.

    And I also wish we could keep the cows out of the parks.

    Reply

  6. Victoria says

    I have had several “cow encounters” while out running with my dog. She never bothers them but the cows at Wildcat and Briones are not fond of dogs. At all. I have had cows start to run at me and the dog, but nothing so exciting as Gambolin’ man’s story– mostly because I usually end up walking through miles of foxtails and thistles to try and avoid cows if they are on the trail.

    Reply

  7. John Soares says

    Victoria, I’ve done a lot of hiking around cows with dogs, initially two golden retrievers, now down to one. I’ve seen a bit of the behavior you describe, but I wonder if the actions of a specific dog (aggressive, herding, chasing) are more likely to trigger an angry response from the cattle.

    My goldens were mellow and mildly inquisitive around cows (and horses), although my deceased golden Hana loved to chase deer (and bears!).

    Reply

  8. Jennie Barber says

    Yes, I had an unfriendly (to say the least!) encounter with a cow! I had seen an unleashed dog at the beginning of my hike through Briones and also encountered the same dog (minus its “people”), panting heavily, on the way down. I found some water for the dog and continued on my hike when I encountered a Momma cow and calf directly in the path, with barbed wire on the other side. I DID NOT get on calf side of Momma but she didn’t like me anyway! She charged at me, sending me into the barbed wire. She was ready to charge again when the little dog came out of nowhere and got between us. I still think I’d be dead if not for the little dog, who got the cow to back off. My clothes were torn, my hands were bloodied and I think I had cracked ribs where the cow butted me and I also had a tailbone injury for many months that made it very difficult to walk. I haven’t been back to Briones since then although I think there are now signs that warn hikers of the rare but potential dangers of the free roaming cows.

    Reply

    • John Soares says

      Wow Jennie. That’s quite the encounter. I’m sorry you got hurt so seriously, and I’m glad that little dog was there to keep the cow from charging again.

      I’m always wary around momma cows and their calves. I’m even careful around does with baby fawns, which I do see every year in June.

      Reply

    • Jackie says

      Hi Jenny
      I am collecting some first-hand accounts of Cow attacks in Brioni’s park. Would you like to write this sign it and send it to me?
      There have been numerous attacks on hikers and dogs, but very few people report them. I plan to address this problem with the park.

      Reply

      • John Soares says

        Jackie, Jenny’s email address is no longer valid. You can present her comment and just refer to the the specific link for this blog post. Not as strong as a specific, signed letter, I know.

        Reply

      • Kate Branning says

        We were almost attached today. I was wondering how common it was since it’s the second time in a month a cow has shown aggression towards me there.

        Reply

        • Jessica says

          I know this post is very old, but I went hiking at Briones this past Sunday and encountered an aggressive cow and immediately went online to see if others have had similar experiences (and found this post!). I was on a trail and I spotted a group of cows (about 6). A group of runners ahead of me passed through them just fine but when I tried, a certain cow did not want me to pass. It blew through its nose and tried to charge at me. I ran away (like 40 feet), waited about 5 minutes, and then tried to pass again. The same cow tried to charge at me. It makes me never want to hike here again. 🙁

          Reply

  10. Janet Winter says

    I encountered an aggressive group of cows today (2/7/20) while hiking the Maguire Peaks Trail in Sunol Regional Wilderness. They were a mixed group of adult and young cows across and around the trail, so I couldn’t go around them. I tried to swing wide of them, and go calmly around the group, careful to not come between any cows and calves, but that wasn’t good enough. One cow followed me aggressively, huffing and drooling, then suddenly charged at me. I yelled and poked my hiking sticks at her and she backed off, but then she bellowed for help, which came running from every direction until I was almost surrounded by about a dozen cows. I got a deadfall tree at my back and waited until my husband came back up the hill and with two of us, they decided to walk away, but I could see some following us, so I was nervous for the rest of the hike. I’m going to report the ear tag numbers I saw to the parks department.

    Reply

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