Looking Back at Bushwacker’s Top-5 Bull Scores

PUEBLO, Colo. – Three-time World Champion Bushwacker will receive the Brand of Honor this coming fall during the Heroes and Legends Celebration on Nov. 1 in Las Vegas.

It comes as no surprise either seeing as Bushwacker retired as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, bucking bulls of all time following a dominant career in the PBR.

Today, PBR.com takes a look back at Bushwacker’s Top-5 outs of his career.

Bushwacker’s first world title starts with a thunderous out – 48.5 points against McCoy

Bushwacker won the first of his three World Championships with two of the best outs of his career during the 2011 Built Ford Tough World Finals.

Julio Moreno’s bull entered superstar mode by erupting for a career-high 48.5 points, using a masterful blend of brute strength and sneaky speed to buckoff Cord McCoy in 3.39 seconds.

“You just can’t ask one to buck any harder than this,” said CBS Sports Network commentator and nine-time World Champion Ty Murray. “He does his deal where he bounces off those front feet and he messes a guy’s timing off.”

The 48.5 points is the second-highest bull score in PBR history.

Bushwacker would then buck off J.B. Mauney for a 47.5-point score in the Built Ford Tough Championship Round to clinch the championship.

He finished 2011 14-0 on the BFTS and had a career-high average bull score of 46.63 points.

Bushwacker extends record buckoff streak to 41 – 48.25 points against Jones

A year after failing to repeat as the World Champion, Bushwacker began the 2013 season on an absolute tear.

He averaged 47.15 points in his first five outs and then crushed Ben Jones in 2.04 seconds for a 48.25-point bull score.

“That’s incredible,” said Kent Cox, Bushwacker’s handler at the time. “That’s what we go for. I don’t know what to say about it. That’s just him. That’s his heart and his will.”

In fact, Bushwacker hadn’t even been marked below 46 points since April 2011 – a span of two years and 23 outs.

Bushwacker takes down World Champion Mike Lee – 48 points

2004 World Champion Mike Lee had the fortune – or maybe it is misfortune – to draw Bushwacker during the final out of his career at the 2014 World Finals. It was in Las Vegas where Bushwacker bucked off Lee in 2.13 seconds for a bull score of 46.5 points and his third World Championship.

However, the two met three previous times as well, including during Bushwacker’s masterful 2013 campaign.

Bushwacker bucked off Lee in 3.31 seconds, and added in a slight head-butt, at the 2013 Kansas City 15/15 Bucking Battle for a 48-point bull score.

“This bull is outstanding and he is on a mission to win another world title,” said CBS Sports Network commentator and two-time World Champion Justin McBride.

The beginning of a rivalry – Bushwacker marked 47.75 points in first meeting with Mauney

The first of 13 meetings between Bushwacker and J.B. Mauney went just about how all of them would go.

It was in Anaheim where Bushwacker made Mauney look like a helpless Cirque de Soleil performer.

Bushwacker (47.75 points) erupted high into the air and tossed the 2009 World Finals event winner toward the rafters of the Honda Center, before gravity saved Mauney in mid-air and brought him crashing back to earth in 2.67 seconds.

“He really, really fired and got in the air as high as he could, and J.B. was riding as good as he can be, and Bushwacker spun him like a ragdoll,” Moreno recalled. “Flung him like an airplane.

“They all took notice. That is really what caught everyone’s attention.”

Mauney said, “The first time I got on him, he jumped up five feet off the ground.”

Over two years later and Mauney would end Bushwacker’s record streak of 42 consecutive BFTS buckoffs by riding the World Champion bull for 95.25-points in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Bushwacker clinches first title against Mauney – 47.5 points

Bushwacker won his first world title by following up his demolision of McCoy by making quick work of Mauney again in 3.58 seconds.

The bovine superstar was marked 47.5 points and it was one of 17 times in his BFTS career that he was marked 47 points or higher.

Bushwacker finished his six-year career with 20 consecutive buckoffs and a 64-2 BFTS record. Overall, he has defeated 84 of his 87 oppononets since his first out in 2009.

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko