PUEBLO, Colo. – Kenny McElroy was standing in the back pens of the Target Center a few weeks ago when Stetson Lawrence came up to say hello.

The two got to chatting, when of course the conversation shifted toward Bad Touch.

“Is that big, white whale back there?” Lawrence asked.

McElroy laughed then just as he still laughs today.

The Mount Orab, Ohio, stock contractor understands Bad Touch is by far the riders’ least favorite bull in the PBR. Bad Touch could be strong, tricky, dirty, trashy, unorthodox and all of the above.

McElroy, though, embraced the jovial trash talk thrown his way by the riders who have continuously been bested by Bad Touch.

The 49-year-old learned to love it.

Good, bad or ugly, Bad Touch was always victorious – a perfect 34-0 on the PBR’s premier series – and that is something McElroy always hung his hat on despite his bull’s inability to put up massive bull scores.

“I know guys don’t like getting on him, and I joke around with all the bull riders all the time,” McElroy said. “They are like, ‘Gosh, I just hate getting on that big, white whale.’

“And I just laugh. I’m like, ‘Guys, I love y’all, but I love that bull, too. My job is to throw you guys off and your job is to ride him, and if you can’t ride him, then he is right where he needs to be at this level.’”

Bad Touch will finish his career undefeated as McElroy and K-Bar-C Bucking Bulls have decided to retire the buckoff artist from PBR competition after Bad Touch was not selected for the 2019 PBR World Finals (Nov. 6-10).

The 9-year-old bull turns 10 next April, and McElroy admitted he had begun to see age taking a toll on his bovine talent.

“With him going to be 10 years old next year, I am not going to push him and take a chance of hurting him,” McElroy said. “What is the sense of putting him through another year? Just for the record? That record don’t mean (enough) to me.”

Bad Touch’s 34 consecutive buckoffs on the PBR premier series is tied with Mick E Mouse for the fifth-longest streak in PBR history. Bad Touch made his PBR debut at the Baltimore Invitational with a 2.93-second buckoff of Tanner Byrne on January 3, 2015

The son of Oklahoma Wishes needed nine more buckoffs to break three-time World Champion Bushwacker’s all-time record (42), which likely would have been a tall task for the veteran bull to accomplish in 2020.

“If we would have done it, it would have been great,” McElroy said. “Maybe I wouldn’t have retired him if I only had a few outs left to do it. He missed three outs he could have had this year. If I only needed three or four, I probably would have bucked him because he loves the cold. He doesn’t mind going to Chicago and those places.

“Christy (McElroy) and I are content and happy that he is undefeated. There aren’t a lot of guys in this country that can say that about their animal. We feel pretty blessed.”

Bad Touch was never ridden at any level of competition. According to ProBullStats, Bad Touch is a perfect 50-0.

McElroy bought Bad Touch in 2014 from Flying High Rodeo Co. (Lorne High) following the 2014 ABBI World Finals in Las Vegas. Bad Touch bucked off Josh Birks in 2.68 seconds and McElroy came away impressed with what he saw.

Coincidentally, Bushwacker retired a few days later following a record-tying third World Championship at the 2014 PBR World Finals.

Bad Touch never became a World Champion-caliber bull like Bushwacker. Bad Touch instead used a combination of strength and unorthodox trips to confuse and frustrate the best bull riders in the world.

In fact, Bad Touch was never marked 45 points or higher in his premier series career and averaged only 42.25 points per out, but that did not make things any easier for the top bull riders in the world.

The 9-year-old bucked off five PBR World Champions – three-time World Champion Silvano Alves (twice), two-time World Champion Guilherme Marchi (twice), 2004 World Champion Mike Lee, 2016 World Champion Cooper Davis and 2018 World Champion Kaique Pacheco – and two PRCA champions – Cody Teel (three times) and 2007 PRCA champion Wesley Silcox – a combined 11 times at all levels of competition.

Bad Touch bucked off his 34 opponents in an average of 3.54 seconds. In comparison, Bushwacker’s 42 buckoffs came with an average time of 3.22 seconds, and Heartbreak Kid’s recent streak of 38 buckoffs had an average buckoff time of 3.63 seconds.

“I hang my hat on that,” McElroy said of his bull’s perfect record. “There are not many bulls that can go through their whole career being unridden. He is probably 50-0 considering some of the Touring Pros and stuff, and the deals he went to at 3 or 4 years old. That bull the last five years has been on the Unleash The Beast and thrown them all off.”

Teel attempted to ride Bad Touch more than anyone, and the longest he ever lasted was 4.97 seconds.

“The forward motion he has, and not following it up with a lot of kick, just wants to keep you on your pockets,” Teel said earlier this season. “From my few experiences, his first long stride out is very difficult and awkward to pick up rhythm and timing with right from the start.”

Davis made it 6.06 seconds on Bad Touch before getting tossed in Chicago two years ago.

“I don’t know,” Davis said, puzzled by the fact no one ever made the 8 seconds against Bad Touch. “I think I would ride him if I got on him again. The main thing is, at first, everybody underestimated him. Then once they started getting on him and thinking they had him figured out, he would step ahead and roll. You knew he was going to circle around to the left every time. He was just strong and stepping ahead.

“I don’t know to this day. I can’t tell you what is special about him because he is not special to watch. I don’t know. He was hard to ride.”

PBR Director of Livestock Cody Lambert did not select Bad Touch for the 2019 World Finals after previously taking the bull to the Finals last season. Bad Touch also competed at the 2015 and 2016 World Finals.

Lambert compared Bad Touch’s trickery and bucking style to that of a dirty offensive lineman.

“There was one of the greatest offensive linemen of all time that played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Conrad Dobler,” Lambert said. “He was one of the greatest offensive linemen at his position that there ever was, but he was also known for being the dirtiest player ever because he had so many holding calls and things like that. So he was more well-known for being a dirty player than being a great player. That is how I will remember Bad Touch.”

Lambert agreed with Davis that it was surprising a rider never conquered Bad Touch.

There were two riders who came close to riding Bad Touch this season, but being close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

2016 World Finals event winner Ryan Dirteater appeared poised to riding Bad Touch in Columbus, Ohio, this year before losing his rope at 7.7 seconds. Joao Ricardo Vieira lasted 6.98 second in Fairfax, Virginia, before Bad Touch crashed into the gates for a re-ride.

Therefore, the undefeated streak will live on forever.

Bad Touch may be ugly and trashy to some, but beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, and he will now retire to the open arms of the McElroy family on their ranch.

McElroy may even decide to buck Bad Touch around the house if the bull is ever up for having some fun, but the main goal is to continue to work toward the next generation of little Bad Touch hell-raisers.

“I got some calves out of him that I think are going to be really, really good,” McElroy said. “We are just playing it by year, and I bred him three years in a row now. I bred him to my good set of cows down here, and I bred him to some Page-bred cows that I am partners on. In two or three years, the cowboys will be back to making fun of me.”

McElroy then laughs again.

“They will probably say, ‘Quit bringing that big, ugly, junk-headed thing.’”

SLINGER JR. ALSO SET TO ENJOY RETIREMENT

McElroy also announced that he is retiring four-time PBR World Finals qualifier Slinger Jr.

The 8-year-old concludes his career with a 51-6 record on the premier series since debuting in St. Louis in February 2015 with a 4.07-second buckoff of Stormy Wing.

Davis recently rode Slinger Jr. for 88.25 points a few weeks ago in Minneapolis.

“I got on that bull as a calf when he was 3 or 4 years old,” Davis recalled. “He had bucked about as hard as anything I had been on at the time and, to this day, what he lacks in bucking ability he made up for in smartness and making a guy work for it to figure out where he was going. He is an athlete like any of us guys are. He would do whatever it takes to get you off his back. He wasn’t the flashiest bull, but he dang sure was one of the hardest ones to get by.”

McElroy said Slinger Jr. will join Bad Touch for a relaxing life of retirement on the ranch.

“Slinger has been one of them bulls. He was unpredictable and just a solid bull,” McElroy said. “We couldn’t be happier with what he and Bad Touch have done and how they performed. Now that they are retired, they will live out their life here on the ranch just like my other bulls do and just live the good life.”

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko