Introduction: all I ever wanted was to be a cowboy -- "Deck" the trick horse -- Meeting Jerry Hair -- Steers in the canal: yearlings go for a swim -- Tom Braddock and the trip to Lake Okeechobee -- The surrency job -- Meeting Mr. General Hair -- Crate tucker cattle at Port Myakka -- Free at last: the plantation at Fort Lauderdale -- Smokey -- "Dairy Cow" at Wiles Road -- Cows in the marsh at Wiles Road -- The end of the open range in the big scrub -- The Reynolds steer -- The Eureka cow -- Heather Island bull -- Double whammy at the Double F -- Black Nick and the rattlesnake -- Donna Gayle and the big black calf -- Bad cows with bad horns -- The Guy Thompson affair -- Bonifay -- Stampede at the Baseline cow pen -- Burnt Island -- Boggy Creek and the cement Cadillac -- Emeralda Island -- Gary Brown's bulls -- Mr. Lykes and the job that almost happened -- A trip to Fort Basinger -- Weeks at the River Ranch -- Cow truck in the canal and a dose of adrenaline -- Back to the River Ranch -- The MacDonald bull -- Brahma heifers at Lady Lake -- Cow dogs -- Buck fever -- Cow horses -- Weeks at Rattlesnake Island -- Wild hogs -- Old General -- Buster and the alligator -- The Barker Gang shoot out at Ocklawaha, Florida.