PUEBLO, Colo. – Chad Berger was sitting on a picnic bench not too far from the locker room at Cheyenne Frontier Days when he took off his cowboy hat and wiped his forehead.
Berger had deep bags under his eyes and a look of exhaustion as he sat waiting for the PRCA rodeo’s bull riding section to get underway.
The PBR’s Reigning Stock Contractor of the Year also had bulls loaded and ready to compete later that evening during the PBR’s two-night event at Cheyenne Frontier Days.
Cheyenne was one of the latest events for Berger’s summer PBR/rodeo run, which has his travels rivaling that of some of the PBR riders that are flying and driving all over the United States.
“I don’t know anybody that helps put on more Touring Pros in the summer than we do,” Berger said. “We go to Deadwood, Bismarck, Binford, Thief River Falls, Big Sky, Montana. Livingston. Eureka.”
Berger then stops again and just shakes his head in a tad bit of fatigue.
“I am missing some in there.”
Berger was back at it on Thursday evening at the PBR Big Sky Touring Pro Division event, which is the 14th PBR or PRCA event at which Chad Berger Bucking Bulls has been.
The Mandan, North Dakota, bull man is responsible for 60 of the 69 bulls competing during the three-day event in the beautiful southern Montana resort town.
Round 1 winner Taylor Toves rode Berger’s Machinery Auctioneer’s Crazy Horse for 87.5 points.
There were 10 qualified rides in Round 1, nine courtesy of Berger Bucking Bulls and his partners.
Dead Calm was the high-marked bull on Thursday night after he was scored 45 points for a 2.4-second buckoff of Derek Kolbaba.
Berger has been hauling the majority of bulls to Big Sky ever since PBR photographer Andy Watson began to produce the annual bull riding event in 2010.
The longtime stock contractor admitted he wasn’t sure if the bull riding would be a huge hit when he was first asked to supply the bucking stock.
“I have been going since day one,” Berger said. “They support it. The business around there and the people support it. I really didn’t know what we were getting into going into this resort – in the middle of a parking lot. I wasn’t really skeptical, but I was wondering how it would work.”
The event takes place in Big Sky’s Town Center in a man-made arena in an open field. The five-time PBR event of the year sells out annually with 2,600 fans per night.
The event brought in over 15,000 visitors to the Big Sky region in 2017.
Big Sky PBR raised over $115,000 for local charities last year.
Money is also donated every year on behalf of the Western Sports Foundation, which was previously known as the Rider Relief Fund.
“Andy and Eric Ladd do a hell of a job there,” Berger added.
Berger has provided the bulls at every PBR event Watson has organized. Berger has hauled bulls to Livingston and Bozeman for 12 years, Big Sky for eight years and two years for Fort Hall and Helena.
He also brought bulls to the Jackson Hole, Wyoming, PBR earlier in the month.
“Having Chad here is very instrumental in this event,” Watson said. “For two reasons. One, it allows me to focus on the event and making the event great because I don’t have to deal with gathering bulls and working with contractors. Chad comes with his crew and just does it. Second, the pen of bulls that Chad brings to these type of events aren’t always his big, best bulls, which gives these guys a chance to get on and ride and excite fans at this level. These fans aren’t diehard PBR fans that understand the bull power is so great that sometimes a bunch of guys buck off.”
Berger says one factor behind his summer run is to experiment with some of his younger bulls and see who he may have in the back of his pen that could potentially become something special.
“We supply a whole herd of them,” Berger said. “We get to see a lot of our young bulls buck. I love to watch a lot of bulls buck, especially when they are mine. It gives us a chance to see a lot of our bulls and see which ones should go to the (premier series) and which ones won't."
Two of the bulls that he has grown proud of this summer are No Prisoners and Midnight Rain.
No Prisoners is 7-0 at all levels. The 4-year-old is coming off two of his best outs – a 3.6-second buckoff of Daylon Swearingen (45.5 points) and 1.33 seconds against Cody Casper (46 points).
Midnight Rain was most recently ridden by Sean Willingham for 90 points after he bucked off two-time World Champion J.B. Mauney in 6.72 seconds.
“We are going to see some new faces around there,” Berger said. “I got some young bulls coming.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
