Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Value of Cow Catcher Bumpers

The old chrome ones that affix to the bumper were notorious for causing damage. They were flimsy and you were guaranteed to lose a hood.


The heavy ones, like the Ranch Hand I have bolted to the frame of my feed pickup are much better. I went on a deer killing rampage one night and got three, at high speed. Just a few grease spots on the bumper.

There used to be an excellent front bumper called Del Rio Bumper made down here. They had a guarantee that if you hit a deer and damaged the bumper, they would replace it free. Saw many guys I know hit deer, but no replacements needed.

I have a chrome guard on my feed truck - we took it off a truck Dad was trading off, so I adapted it to my (slightly) newer model.
Surprised me a lot - how heavy it was. I've never bent it, and don't expect to. I believe it's comparable to the Ranch Hand on "The Warden" s truck.

How is it affixed?

I was thinking about the old clamp on style.

I have welded up a couple of bumpers for my Toyota pickups over the years. Two pieces of two inch schedule 40 pipe across the truck and 3/8" by 3" flatbar forward to the frame. Then bolted to the frame with 1/2" grade 8 bolts, just like a receiver hitch, which was incorporated into the bumper.

Mine did not offer the all around protection of the Ranch hand front. But when my little brother spun out on the ice and hit a big tree with the butt of his 92 Toyota, all he got out of the deal was a bit of a bend in the pipe bumper. He found another big tree, tied a chain to it and the end of the bumper, then whacked it hard enough to straighten the bumper back out. I had to look pretty close to tell it had been hit. It saved him the cost of a bed, tailgate, and rear lights.

He pulled it off and saved it when he sold the pickup, I put it on an 82 Toy 4X4 a few years later.

The Proline pictured is bolted to the frame same as the original bumper. When we first purchased the Ford, the amount of plastic in the grill that would provide minimal protections to the radiator, coupled with oil and air conditioning coolers just behind the original bumper convinced use we needed something substantial. Lots of bouncing around in sagebrush country and timber and the very real potential to take out mule deer and elk were also convincing arguments. There are no shock absorbers built into our system, but I think I've seen some such structures in the past.

If we ever purchase another truck, it will for sure be similarly equipped. I have seen a great number of chrome pipe additions to bumpers that look cool, but really provide no structural protection at all.

FWIW I'd do some research in Australia and talk to some Aussies about their roo bars. One of the surprising things to me when I cruised around Australia several years ago was that virtually every vehicle outside of major cities had a massive steel guard on the front that extended out past the sides. Also, in some places there was a dead kangaroo every 100 yards along the highways, big ones that looked about the size of mule deer does. Those people know a lot about bumper guards and theirs are bigger, wider and more massive than any I've seen in North America.

Okanagan:

Totally agree. Spent several months there many years back and was amazed at the "roo guards" one saw on even the smallest of rigs. Given an large roo can be 5 ft tall and weigh 200 lbs, I'd not want one coming through the windshield of an English Ford.

Looking at repair costs here today, and the seatbelt and airbag repairs will be about 3 times the cost of the bumper.

The one thing that drives me crazy with the aftermarket bumpers is the fact that they will bottom out depending on the dip.

Lose traction and momentum. Get stuck way easier...



But they sure are nice for (inadvertently)hitting things....grin