Bull rider Austin Meier loves to hunt

Austin Meier of Kinta rides bulls for a living. But what he really loves to do is hunt whitetails and mule deer.

“When I am not riding or working on the ranch tacking care of cows, I am always working on hunting, whether it's checking trail cameras or working on food plots or checking trails or scouting,” said Meier, who is competing Sunday in the PBR's WinStar World Casino Invitational at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. Sunday's final round of bull riding begins at 2 p.m.

Meier's hunts are oftened featured on outdoors shows, most notably Hard Core Hunting but also on PBR Outdoors, a show that debuted last summer on the Outdoors Channel which features PBR bull riders such as Meier and two-time world champion Justin McBride from Sayre.

Meier has chased whitetails and mule deer in Kansas, Texas, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana. “Kansas is about the only state I didn't have any luck in,” he said.
But the best deer he shot last season was near his home in Haskell County, a 16-pointer with a drop tine and lots of mass.

“It was just a phenomenal buck,” he said. “I got him with a bow. I do it all, but I primarily bow hunt.”
Meier thinks deer hunting in Oklahoma can be just as good as any other state.

“I think it is a sleeper state,” he said. “I know there is really good deer around here. You just got to know where to find them. It's definitely a state that has some really big whitetails if you know where they're at.”
Meier said the adrenaline rush of riding a bull only compares to the adrenaline rush of getting close to a big whitetail or mule deer.

“It's hard to explain why I like it so much,” Meier said. “I guess it's just bred into me, being out in the wild.”
His wife, Kristen, also is an avid hunter and the couple has spent countless hours together in a deer blind.
As far as the proposed new deer hunting regulation which would limit Oklahoma deer hunters to one buck for the combined gun and muzzleloader seasons, Meier said, “If it was me, I would make it where you had to take a doe out before you could use your buck tag. Being so overpopulated in does, we've got to create it where hunters want to take does.”

And on his bucket list?

“I would like to do a red stag hunt in New Zealand and I really want to try and get me a moose. I have been a couple of time but I haven't got one yet,” he said.
“I don't' do a lot of elk hunting. It's not something I try to schedule. I am chasing them whitetails.”

Written By: Ed Godfrey