Encountering Large Livestock While Fishing

I had my first negative experience with large livestock while out fishing the other day.The river beat had cows and a couple of young bulls grazing on pasture on both sides of the double bank fishing beat. I kept my distance after crossing a stile into the field and walked calmly and slowly towards the river bend. A heifer 10m away decided that she didn’t want me there and charged at me head down and snorting. I am 2m tall and weigh 120 kg so am not a small man. I raised my arms but she didn’t slow down and I was forced to take evasive action down a steep bank onto a muddy ledge at the waters edge. Fortunately the cow decided not to follow. I crawled out the other side and took stock of the situation sheltered behind a tree. I could hear a bull on my side of the river bellowing at one on the other side and it responding. Unfortunately, it had now spotted me and it approached head down, snorting and pawing at the ground. I knew I was in trouble and planned a hasty leap into the river assuming the bull would be unlikely to leap from the bank over large tree roots 3 feet down into the river. The only thing in my favour was he was on a gravel road above me and the bank between us was very steep. Also the the narrow fishermans path between the bank and the river showed no sign of hoof prints so hoped I would be safe. I tried not to look directly at the bull in the event it thought I was challenging it but also kept half an eye on the situation so I could react quickly if required. It wandered round the corner to the heifer and I took my chance to slip off down the river bank to find a quiet place well away from the pair. 

Two casts later I could hear hooves and the pair had decided to come and find me. I was lucky that they weren’t confident to attack me fully. They made short charges at me head down, pawing the ground and snorting trying to drive me off. I was happy to oblige and hastily made my way to the nearest stile staying close to the river as this was my only way out if things escalated before I got to safety. I restricted my fishing to a much smaller portion of the beat where there were no animals and while frustrated at this limitation was glad to be safe.

I have never had any trouble like this before but this got me thinking about what I should have done differently. I have scoured the internet and the short answer is not a lot. I was right to be worried and show extreme caution as several people get trampled and even killed by large livestock each year while crossing fields. The rules for crossing fields on public rights of way are quite simple but even then there are hundreds of posts from walkers saying they found themselves suddenly in a similar situation despite following the available guidance. There is little by way of advice for fishermen who might be staying in an area in close proximity to livestock. So keep your eyes open, plan an escape route for each location you fish and it is better to safe than sorry. Also, if you do have any issues then do report it to the river keeper or land owner. Below are links with advice for walkers:

• Ramblers Association
• NFU
• Countryfile

Tight lines and stay safe

Greg