Shore’s Miller has bulls selected to highest bull-riding honor: PBR World Finals

PHOTO PROVIDED
Shown is one of Mike Miller’s bulls competing at the world finals in bull riding in this photo by Bull Stock Media. Miller, a Jersey Shore resident since 1998, owns Mike Miller’s Bucking Bulls, which raises and sells bulls for bull riding competitions throughout the country.

JERSEY SHORE — In the world of bull riding, nothing’s really a given. When you’re a rider, no amount of confidence can guarantee you’ll stay on a bull for any set amount of time.

As someone who raises and sells bulls for said events, there’s even a bit more uncertainty when it comes to raising a bull. Will it be a prize winner? Will the bull be a stud? You never know.

Sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes you have a true winner. For Jersey Shore’s Mike Miller, it’s the latter.

Miller was born and raised in Oklahoma, but since 1998 his wife and he have called Jersey Shore their home. Miller is the owner of Mike Miller’s Bucking Bulls in Jersey Shore which not only raises a few bulls each year, but also buys and sells bulls for competitions. Miller estimated that he raises a couple bulls, but overall they have close to 70 bulls.

Miller established Bucking Bulls when he was in his late teens and started hauling bulls regularly when he was 18 or 19.

“I’m pretty happy where I’m at,” Miller said. “We go to a lot of events and bigger events, so I’m happy where I’m at.”

And this year, Miller had several bulls selected to buck at bull riding’s most prestigious event: the PBR World Finals in Texas. The PBR World Finals is the highest of the high when it comes to bull riding competition. It’s a three-stage event this year which concluded this past weekend at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The winner receives a coveted gold buckle and a $1 million bonus.

The 2024 PBR World Finals awarded $3.13 million collectively.

“This is the top of the food chain here at the PBR. You can’t go any higher than right here at PBR and one or two or however many (bulls) at the finals? It’s a pretty big deal,” Miller said. “They only take a certain amount of bulls in the US or Canada, so it’s a pretty big deal.”

Miller started out in the world of bull riding when he was 16 years old buying bulls to practice on in Oklahoma. He had a few fine bulls in his own words to practice on, and a guy in Oklahoma who had a rodeo company asked Miller if he wanted to bring bulls to his rodeo because they were in need of some. As they say, the rest is history.

“I took some bulls over there, one thing led to another,” Miller said. “It just kind of grew from there. Thirty-something years later, here I am at the PBR.”

Miller noted that he brings bulls to competitions all over the country throughout the year, between 25 or 30 weekends each year. And that many events helps the bulls get more and more practice in bull riding.

“There are bulls that show potential, but sometimes it takes a bull a couple years as they grow and come to their full potential. You have to be willing to wait on them and take them here and there and get them where they’re dialed in,” Miller said. “They might not be as consistent the first year you brought them. The next year, you have a few more events, and they get a little better. They might be 5-years-old and fully matured then, and they start to get where they’re a consistent animal.

“As far as knowing that they’re going to get to this level?” Miller continued. “You really don’t know until you take them to a few events.”

Miller takes a ton of pride in having his bulls selected to bull riding events, and even more pride in being at the top of the mountain at the PBR World Finals.

“You’re happy to be able to get the phone call to be able to go. There’s a lot of guys who are trying to go that don’t make it, so you’re sure glad when you get the phone call,” Miller said. “This sport will humble you because the day you think you’re on top, you’ll have a bad weekend and maybe all the bulls you thought were so good don’t perform that good against the best in the world. You’ll be humbled.”

Contrary to most people’s beliefs, the goal of a bull owner isn’t to see his bull buck off competitors seconds into a competition. Instead, he’s more happy seeing his bull not buck everyone off.

“Being a contractor, you want the guys to ride your bulls and get 90 points and not buck everyone off. You’re happy for a guy to ride your bull,” Miller said. “They all need bulls, if you have one who doesn’t get ridden, he gets kind of lazy. It’s good to get a bull rode (for that reason).”

Miller’s no stranger either to winning titles thanks to his bulls. Last year, Miller had a bull brought to the finals which won a round on the weekend before the finals and this year, that same bull is back at the finals.

“It’s good for your business, you get recognition of the bulls and see them and they keep going back to the finals next year,” Miller said. “If you’re trying to sell a bull or two, people think you sold some good bulls.”

For Miller, having bulls get to the PBR World Finals not only is prideful and is something he’s more than happy to see, but he also is glad it helps him as a business owner.

“It gets you a lot of work later throughout the year. They might see the finals and want to bring bulls to your events. We’re trying to get them to come to our events and sell more tickets because they can say they’re bringing such and such that went to the world final,” Miller said. “It gets you more work in the long run. It shows that your work pays off. You went and took good care of your bulls and tried to do the best you could, and it paid off at the end of the year.”