In Carter’s experience, “You decide which side to put the knot on depending on which way a bull turns back. Sometimes, you’ll put the knot on the right side of the backbone and they’ll turn back left; sometimes they’ll turn right. It depends on the bull, and you have to learn about each bull. When you get a bull to buck, then that’s how you flank him.

“I don’t try anything different until the bull is not performing like he has been or I think there’s a lot more to him. If he backs off and starts doing something different, then that’s when you change how you flank him.

“If a young bull runs across the pen, but he does show some athletic ability, has some snort to him and he’s pretty mean, then I’ll try him again.” Tightening the flank should get some more kick out of the bull, said Carter. “Put some more flank in him and snug it up. If he shows me some more, then I’ll try him like that a few more times, and if he gets better I’ll stick with that. If he backs off, I’ll snug it up a bit more. If he shows me nothing, then he’s not going to make it and I’ll send him to the sale.

“When a bull really flattens out, sometimes putting more in them will make them better, sometimes it’ll make them flatter. It depends on the bull, because some bulls can’t take a lot of flank and sometimes they can. They’re like a person; you have to find out what they like and what fits that bull.

“Hipping the bull one way refers to having the flank strap sitting in the middle of the flank on one side and being pulled back over the bull’s hip on the other. I might put it over a hip to see if it makes a difference, and sometimes it will change them, but usually there’s not that big of a difference. Double-hipping is when the flank is behind both hips. I’ll usually get rid of one if I have to double hip him,“ confirmed Carter. “However, there are some bulls that are good like that.”

If an older bull that used to buck well has gone off the game, the first thing Carter does is make sure that the bull is feeling well. Once he gets the physical green light, then he’ll try putting the flank over one hip.

The trick to flanking bulls is maintaining consistency with each bull. “With Eddie Munster and Fraggle Rock, I barely hang the flank on them; they’re just like Kid Rock, I put just enough in the flank to keep it from falling off.”