Cows and deer

[jharrell]

This has probably been asked before but do cattle spook deer? If cattle show up at my stand I never see deer but if they leave I have had deer show up within 30 minutes after the cattle have gone.

 

[cybball]

Starting to wonder about that one myself. I have a stand in an area where the farmer just put cattle. Sudenly, no deer. Didn't see one over the weekend. ???

 

[Benny]

I would say deer tolerate cattle but I would not want them around my tree when hunting. If your spot is in a good funnel during the rut as long as the cows are not by your tree the boys still have to get from point A to B.

Take some small rocks with you next time and throw then at the cows they will leave.

Good Luck

 

[timekiller]

I do alot of hunting in a pasture. I don't go in until the farmer takes the cows out. They seem to start using it as soon as the cows are gone, but I can't say I have seen them use it while the cows are still in there.

 

[KansasHeadHunter]

Cattle and deer do not mix.Believe me,They have screwed me time after time.

 

[GotRack]

I don't think they hang out together but having cows or horses around gives you a great cover scent.

 

[Ghost]

Cows generally equal the distruction of deer habitat.

No food, no security cover,.....no deer.

I did hunt a timber that cattle grazed through years ago and it wasn't uncommon to have the deer brousing not far from the cattle. They sure can mess a hunt up though.

 

[jkratz5]

Good point Ghost, I also hunt a timber with cows usually adjacent, the deer don't mingle with the cows much because the area the cattle are in is pretty much destroyed, no thickets, no food, so not to many deer other than to occassionally get from one timber to the next. However, the areas just adjacent to the cattle are jammed full of deer, I think maybe due to the lack of bedding on the farm except in a few places.

 

[KSQ2]

Depends upon where you're hunting. Down here in Kansas when I hunt here in the Eastern part its usually bad news -- not very many acres per head. But, out west where you have a large number of acres per head, there's not much of a problem, unless the rancher has simply overgrazed, or like this year the drought has everything messed up.

 

[MNHunter]

I dont know about cows at this point, but I have had a cat scare deer out of the clover two times in the last week.

 

[MRH]

From what I have seen when my Dad was running his cows in the timber. Is that when the cows are ther4e the deer will pas thru but not spend much time there. After he moves them out into the corn stubble the deer move back into the timber more and stay there instead of just passing thru.

Mark

 

[TimberPig]

[ QUOTE ]
I dont know about cows at this point, but I have had a cat scare deer out of the clover two times in the last week.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've seen that several times also. Kind of funny that a little cat would spook a deer but they do seem to. Just another reason not to like cats.

As for cows, I would agree with the above posts. They are hell on a timber and sure dont help the hunting any. When I used to hunt cow pastures I carried a sling shot to move the cows along when they started to loiter too close.

 

[TallTines]

The farm I hunted last year had cows all over it. The deer populatoin was down considerably.
Like others have said deer tolerate cows but don't like being around them. They eat most of the browse and ruin other habitat.
If it were my choice again I would only hunt pasture ground during the rut and sit in the nice funnel on it.
I killed my deer last year on Nov. 6th in a funnel on a cow farm. It's hard hunting in my opinion. If you are forced to hunt pasture, hunt where the cows aren't in general and that's where most deer will be.

 

[G6]

I know deer don't like to use the same timber as cows and they absolutely hate horses. Both will ruin habitat.