by Terry Lidral
Rickey West Bucking Bulls has a good one in #647 Choctaw Bingo. As a 4-year-old, the bull was chosen as a PBR Finals Bull for the 2020 UTB Finals in Arlington, Texas.
“I took Choctaw Bingo to the Des Moines UTB event in September of last year. He got a chance to show what he could do and he showed really good,” said Choctaw’s owner Rickey West.
In fact, Choctaw Bingo bucked so good that he caught the attention of PBR Livestock Director Cody Lambert. Lambert was impressed with West’s bull’s performance and made the decision to include him in the elite list of bovine competitors selected to buck at the 2020 PBR UTB Finals.
“Cody Lambert told me, ‘I like that bull,’” West related about Lambert’s reaction after seeing the bull’s buck-off of Mauricio Gulla Moreira at 3.06 seconds. “And I told Lambert,” West continued, “’He’s really better than that.’”
Rickey West’s 4-year-old bull Choctaw Bingo had a stellar first year bucking in PBR events and earned a trip to the 2020 PBR Finals.
But Choctaw Bingo’s road to the PBR Finals was a tough one. To start out, he was a bull that almost wasn’t.
“I bought the bull from Clint Vickers. And Choctaw Bingo came with a story. But I think Clint should tell it,” said West with a laugh.
“Choctaw Bingo’s mother is my 47 Blaze Cow,” Vickers began the story of the bull who is now making a name for himself in the professional ranks. “She is a daughter out of 612 Kat Slinger, a futurity winner I had. She’s a big, nice looking cow but she hadn’t had a calf for me in two years. And she started having that big bully barren look to her.”
Because the 47 Blaze Cow showed all the signs of being a cow that wasn’t going to get pregnant, Vickers decided there was no reason to keep her in his breeding program. He took for granted that she wasn’t carrying a calf.
“I decided to go ahead and catch her up and take her to the sale barn,” Vickers continued. “My brother-in-law and my dad happened to be here that week so, between the three of us, we got her caught up. I hauled her to town and dropped her off at the market.”
But something told Vickers he should have his cow checked to make sure she wasn’t pregnant before he let her go. It was a very wise decision.
“When I went to leave, just to make sure, I decided to have her checked. I told the guy running the load out, ‘Hey, can you have them preg check her? And if she’s bred, just no sale her tomorrow and call me. I’ll come pick her back up.’ Then I drove off,” Vickers went on with his story. “Well, at 10 a.m. the next morning, they called and said she was bred so I could come get her. I pulled in to pick her up and there was the tag in her ear that said Bred – No Sale. The calf in her belly was 647 Choctaw Bingo. Crazy how close that came. It all could have changed if I wouldn’t have said anything and just left her to be sold without the preg check.”
And it was by chance that Choctaw Bingo came to be sold to Rickey West.
“I don’t spend a lot of time on Facebook,” West told us about finding Vicker’s video of Choctaw Bingo in a Facebook post. “I just happened to be scrolling on Facebook one night and found the video of this bull. Right there I decided I wanted him. Hatcher Porter was wanting to partner on a bull with me and so we bought Choctaw Bingo and brought him to Alabama.”
As a 3-year-old, the bull was a challenge. It took West some effort to get him ready for competition.
“He was a chore,” West told us. “That’s why he wears a halter. It took a lot of patience and time to get him to where he was able to go to an event. We went to several amateur events and I bucked him in ABBI events. He finally settled in.”
West believes that bulls need to get used to being on the road. With his young bulls, West hauls them to events close to home and then extends the miles.
Choctaw was a difficult bull to train, but as he matured and adjusted to competition, he settled down.
“The first time I hauled Choctaw, it wasn’t far from home. It was a 6 or 7 hour trip,” West explained. “Adjustment for bulls comes with maturity. It’s important to handle them right. Not all bulls are the same. Some bulls don’t do well with too much pressure and you have to know when to rest them. Others you can push. You have to take your time and get to know them,” West reiterated. “That’s what worked with Choctaw Bingo.”
In 2020, West felt the bull was ready to haul to competitions and Choctaw Bingo proved West right. West took him to ABBI events, then to PBR Velocity Tour and Touring Pro events and then on to Unleash The Beast events. Choctaw Bingo responded by qualifying for the ABBI Finals and starting out with a 41.5 bull score in his first trip ever in the PBR in the Jacksonville Invitational Pendleton Whiskey Velocity Tour event.
“The ground was deep,” explained West about Choctaw Bingo’s out at the Jacksonville Invitational. “It was his first trip at that level. There was a lot for him to deal with and he got along well.”
Choctaw Bingo sometimes throws off his rider so fast that he doesn’t get a chance to show the judges what he can do.
As the season progressed, Choctaw Bingo built on that first trip, raising his bull scores into the 42 and 43 plus range in the two lower levels of the PBR. He was adjusting to the demands and the environment of bucking in the professional leagues. And he was building a buck-off streak, sometimes bucking his rider off too fast to show well
“In his trip at the PBR event in St Louis, Choctaw Bingo bucked his rider off almost as soon as the gate opened. So, he didn’t get to show what he could do” West explained of the lower score his bull received.
But that lower score was not indicative of how the bull would do in the top tier events. His bull scores raised back to their impressive numbers and by the time Choctaw Bingo went to the PBR Finals in Arlington, he was ready to show what he had.
“He made the ABBI Finals and he was chosen as a PBR Finals Bull,” said West proudly about his bull’s accomplishments as a 4-year-old. “The ABBI Finals were in South Dakota two weeks before the PBR Finals in Arlington, Texas. I felt it would be too much travel to go to South Dakota and then head right to Arlington. I wanted Choctaw Bingo to buck his best at The Finals.”
“It’s not easy on a young bull at his first Finals,” continued West. “But Choctaw Bingo handled it like an old hand. He just settled in and hung out.”
When it was Choctaw Bingo’s turn to buck, it was obvious that he was comfortable at the top level of the sport. He made short work of rider Brock Radford at 1.96 seconds into the ride. And this time his short trip earned him his biggest bull score of an impressive 44.5.
“For a big bull, he has a lot of whip and kick,” West said of Choctaw Bingo’s outstanding athleticism. “He makes a lot of rounds and he’s kicking and doing it good. And he likes what he does.”
After being difficult at the start of his training, Choctaw Bingo has matured and started settling in and liking the travel.
So far this year, Choctaw Bingo is gaining confidence and bucking well.
The 2021 season started off with another quick buck-off for Choctaw Bingo which reflected a low score. But he came right back at the Rainsville Bull Bash to put up a big score of 44. And he’s continuing his season by building a buck-off streak which now stands at 7.
In the recent May 22nd PBR UTB Bad Boys Mowers Invitational in Jacksonville, Florida, Choctaw Bingo made another milestone. He put up a 44.25 bull score, bucking off Keyshawn Whitehorse in 4.54 seconds and was the high marked bull in the long round.
“I have confidence in my bull. I think there’s still some left and he can be even better than what we’ve already seen,” said West.
And right now, Choctaw Bingo is bucking real well. At this rate, he’ll be back at the2021 PBR World Finals in Las Vegas. And we might just see him be even better.”
Author: Terry Lidral
Terry Lidral is a western writer/journalist who lives in Idaho. She is the publisher and editor of the online magazine Bucking Stock Talk and the online magazine Western Living Journal. Her publishing credits include Storyteller for Real American Cowboy Magazine, writing feature articles for Humps N Horns Magazine as well as a wide variety of national and international web sites, historical magazines and news publications. She is known for her "up close and personal" profiles of celebrities and industry moguls such as NPR's Tom Bodett; PBR's Wiley Petersen and D.H. Page, PRCA's Sammy Andrews, Cindy Rosser and Julio Moreno to name a few. She has been applauded for her way of making a personal connection between her readers and her subjects. She indulges in her love of rodeo by serving as an associate board member for the Caldwell Night Rodeo. She is also an accomplished trainer and handler in dog agility. Her shelties Amelie and Milo are titled in NADAC, USDAA and AKC.
