S P E C I A L T Y
A C T S
Bullfighters Photo by Miller Photo
Photo by James Fain
QUIRT HUNT
LUKE KRAUT
Quirt Hunt started his bullfighting career in high school rodeos, stepping in as a back-up.
Raised on a small cattle station in Queensland, Luke Kraut was born with a passion for livestock and knew that he would make his living around livestock.
Since then he has become one of Pro Rodeo’s top bullfighters. Good friend and rodeo announcer Hadley Barrett describes him best, “There are many responsibilities that go along with wearing clown and bullfighters makeup, and Quirt Hunt meets them all head on. He can protect a bull rider from a charging bull, to entertaining an adult audience, yet create the kind of image that a child can have as their hero and parents can be glad that they did. These are the kinds of things that go through the mind of Quirt the Clown and Bullfighter each day of his pro rodeo life. In my opinion he meets these qualifications and does them well.” Quirt was ranch raised and knows the value of man’s relationship with animals. This makes him a natural at bullfighting and protection. He also has a love for horses and established himself as a topnotch horse trainer. It is a treat to watch him ride and work horses. If you are fortunate enough to see him training a horse between rodeo performances, be sure to take advantage of it. It truly is amazing!!
At 15 he started entering some small rodeos in steer riding and novice bullriding then continued to ride bulls in Australia until the age of 19. He came to Arizona with some friends and went to an elite rodeo school and knew America was the place to be if you wanted to rodeo for a living. Luke thought that sounded like it was what he had been looking for and moved to Arizona permanently in1995. He fought bulls at an amateur level to supplement his living to get on his feet while starting a farrier service in the greater Phoenix area. Luke then got his PRCA and PBR cards and rode bulls for approximately six years, but he truly missed fighting bulls. Luke says, “Fighting bulls has been great to me, and it’s truly my passion, it has enabled me to see this country and to supplement my living and pass on this great lifestyle to my three sons and their kids, hopefully.” Over the past 12 years, Luke has been selected to fight bulls for the Turquoise Circuit Finals, he also got selected to work the 2019 RAM National Circuit Finals.
104 WORLD’S OLDEST RODEO® • 1888-2022
