rem33, no problem about starting a thread as to what's done in your area. I guess my comments should have specified "SFAIK, in Texas..."
I know that on occasion, ranch hands in Texas brush country occasionally "daub a loop" on a deer. From what I hear, it makes for an interesting bit of rodeo. A 200-pound deer isn't gonna bother a thousand pounds of horse, much, though. One way to get "camp meat" for supper, for sure...
The old time vaqueros of early California used rawhide lariats of some 60 to 70 feet in length. Open-country ropes were longer than what cowboys use(d) in the "brasada" or brush country of south Texas. Anyhow, from time to time the spirit of adventure would outweigh commn sense, and two of the vaqueros would spot a grizzly out in the open--and they'd rope him.
Now, that sort of deal works if you get both nooses around his neck, and the riders could stay opposite each other with the bear in the middle. "IF", the largest word in the English language. The horses' weight, pulling opposite directions, could choke down the bear.
I don't know if it's still done, but the Mexican vaqueros had a game: Stand on a handkerchief. Hold the end of the lariat in your teeth. The other guys would run a horse past, and the deal was to rope the front feet and drop the horse before he hit the end of the rope. Being short in the skill department easily meant fewer cavities--on account of fewer teeth.
Art