I was thinking about this recently. I've heard that cattle rustling has been around for thousands of years, but I've never actually know the details of how someone in a time where we had a structured society yet didn't have modern technology such as motor vehicles, managed to steal cattle without being caught.
Also, where did they sell these cattle? People have branded cattle for a long time as well, so who did they sell to and where did they do it?
Thank you very much for taking the time to answer this question.
You may be interested in Australia’s best known cattle duffer Harry Redford (Henry Readford) and his methods.
In 1870 the 29 year old Redford was working as a station hand (cowboy) on the remote Bowen Downs cattle station in central Queensland colony. Stock in the backblocks of the station were rarely mustered or counted. Redford and two companions built stock yards and slowly collected over 1,000 head of cattle. They made the mistake of including in their collection a pedigreed white bull.
He commenced a cattle drive further inland and south west through unexplored and recently explored country, along the Barcoo River and Cooper Creek, down Strzelecki Creek and through the Strzelecki desert into the colony of South Australia. It was a trek of over 2,000 kilometres taking months. After arriving in South Australia, he sold the white bull in exchange for rations and stores, then trekked on and sold the herd for 5,000 pounds at Blanchewater station in central South Australia near Marree. Redford travelled down to Adelaide, got married and moved to Sydney, in the colony of New South Wales.
The manager of Bowen Downs, noticing that the bull and some stock were missing, took a group of station hands and black trackers and tracked the cattle drive into South Australia. Although they were months behind the cattle duffers they were able to identify the bull. The theft was reported through the colonies and Redford was arrested in Sydney in 1872, He was transferred to Queensland for trial at Roma courthouse, where, despite overwhelming evidence, an admiring jury found him not guilty. The verdict was considered a scandal at the time. He had other later brushes with the law but also ran a large cattle drive into new territory on the Barkley Tablelands in what is now the Northern Territory and managed several major cattle stations.
So one type of cattle thieves were able to steal cattle because they were in the business of working with cattle, stole from remote locations, had the capability to move cattle long distances and the effrontery to sell to legitimate markets.
There are other types of cattle thieves such as people who stole small numbers for their own use from neighbours, and simply butchered them or those who stole unbranded calves, branded them and ran them with their own stock (poddy dodging).