Congressman Frank Lucas Discusses Bull Injury Recovery, Absence At The Capitol

The Republicans’ slim majority in the United States House of Representatives has been even slimmer of late, in part because a member of the Oklahoma delegation has been laid up at his home in Cheyenne in Roger Mills County.

For the first time since his very close call with a bull nearly two months ago, Congressman Frank Lucas spoke with Griffin Media's Washington Bureau this week.

"The old adage about maybe a part of your life passing before your eyes in a few seconds -- I was at that point," said Rep. Lucas (R-OK3) in a Zoom interview Thursday.

On August 4, at the start of a six-week recess, the Congressman/rancher was attempting to load up a stray bull that had found its way onto his property to take to the sale barn.

"I got the bull into the trailer," Lucas recounted, "but because he wasn’t something I’d raised or been around, he had a different temperament."

Lucas said the bull unexpectedly and quickly turned and headed back down the shoot before he could close the gate.

"So, a thousand-pound bull and a 250-pound guy passed each other in about a 3-foot wide space -- that wasn’t enough room," Lucas deadpanned.

The bull's hind quarters crushed Lucas's right hip joint and pelvis, but he said it could have been worse.

"If he put his head down and hooked me -- he was a poll," Lucas explained, "but if he'd hit me with his head, we’d be talking about a special election now."

Lucas has represented what is now Oklahoma's 3rd Congressional District for 29 years, and he'll be able to continue in that role, he said, thanks to the good work of an OU medical team that he said "put me a couple of great big screws in and put me back together." But he said it's been seven long weeks since then of having to lay low, not put any weight on his leg, and not be at the Capitol.

"I’ve been watching C-SPAN at home, and I have been getting a constant stream of text messages and calls from my colleagues," said Lucas, acknowledging GOP leadership's interest in knowing when he would be able to come back and vote.

The good news, Lucas said, is that his doctors now say he can put 25 percent weight on his right leg and have cleared him to fly. He is happy to report that he plans to be back at work next Wednesday and is quick to admit he will not be doing much, if any, work on the ranch for a time.

"I won’t be chasing cattle for the rest of this year, and I probably won’t drive a tractor until next spring," Lucas laughed. "Rehab is slow, but I will be 100 percent, I’ve been assured by the doctors."

Lucas said for the next weeks, and perhaps months, he’ll be using a walker and wheelchair to get around the Capitol, but he said at least he’ll be there, able to vote and work on things he and his constituents care about, like the 2023 Farm Bill.