Ok so one of the farms I hunt has 20 cows on it. Prior to this year the farmer had a keeper who took care of the cows and he would shut the gate that lead to the area that I hunt, and keep the cows closer to the barn for the winter. Well yesterday I found out that the keeper had a heart attack a couple of months back. The farmer now has a new keeper who lets the cows go wherever they want, to include where I hunt. I sat in one of my favorite stands last night for the first time, and had cows all around me. Does anyone else hunt with cows around? IF you do does it affect deer movement?
we have a cow pasture next to our property and the deer seem to avoid the cows. Everytime I would see them in the pasture it is always on the opposite side where the cows are. never really seen them in the same area so if you have a cow by your stand I am guessing the deer won't be.
I've hunted with cows around before with no success. When I hunted the cows were about 150 yards away. I think that was enough for the deer to just avoid the area. It's probably not that the deer are bothered by the cows, but why would they walk right through the herd when they could go around them?
This topic came up in a different thread the other day and I stated that I had never seen anyone successful with cows present. A few guys replied back they had never had any problems with deer staying away from cows. In my Opinion I would stay away from the cows.
My boss was telling me that years ago he was hunting in a cow pasture. Just as he got to wondering if the cows would have any affect... about that time, this deer came running up over the hill, with a small stier chasing after her. He got down and never went back to that spot.
Original topic Here is the other thread the topic came up http://forums.bowhunting.com/bowhunting-talk/52115-%2A%2A%2A-official-live-stand-thread-%2A%2A%2A-108.html
I hunt a farm that the farmer never takes his cows out of pasture. He has land on both sides of the road, so I just hunt the side that the cows are not on. My experience and cameras tell me that the deer stay out of the area the cattle are in.
Yes and no, while I have seen deer in with cattle as a general rule they seem to keep some distance. That being said I kill deer off of land with cattle every year so....... However I would not want them under my stand if I could help it. Sometimes dumping them a cheap bag of feed away from your stand helps. I currently have one pain in the butt heifer that won't stay where she belongs. Was bout ready to shoot her butt last weekend, spent over 2 hours between Sat and Sun chasing her back to where she belongs. Only to have her right back out a couple hours later. Sometimes a couple loud snort wheeze sounds will shoo them away also. She has gotten wise to this now so I started throwing things at her. lol After she finally left on Sunday I saw alot of deer... and killed one
Half of my stands are in our pasture with 120 cows in it. I see deer just about every time I am there. I in no way believe cows are going to screw up your hunting.
I don’t think the deer like cows but I do believe they get somewhat conditioned to them. We’ve got 200 acres and the neighbor has permission to run his cattle on 160 of it. If the cows are in the pasture I have no problem hunting the woods within about 150-200 yards or so. However if the cows come into the woods I prefer to hunt somewhere else. Last year two cows from another neighbor got into the 40 acres that we have fenced off on two separate occasions. This is our prime hunting location with all of our plots and a few mock scrapes. I have no way to prove it and maybe it was just bad luck but I would swear to you that the deer knew the cows were not supposed to be back there and it freaked them out. We didn’t see anything those weekends.
I try to avoid it. We've killed deer out of a pasture with deer in it, but they were not in with the cows. With that said, there's a nice oak tree in the pasture across from my parents house. The other evening there was a doe and two fawns standing under the tree, eating acorns with cows all around them. I just don't enjoy my hunting experience if I'm worrying about the cows, so I just avoid it. They are very annoying.
I've got about 100 head of cows roaming the farm I hunt. Most of the ground is fenced in and has cows in it at one time or another throughout the year. For the most part the deer don't really mingle in with the cows but they do hang out in the same pastures the cows are in. I usually avoid sitting in those area, mainly because if the cows see me they'll be around me and my stand the whole time. I have had some luck but most of time I try to pick a different spot to sit.
Cows are a dealbreaker around here. The deer definitely avoid pastures and timbers that have cattle here. To the point that I will not hunt where cows are.
I have quite a few acres of pasture with cattle on them. Ill remember never to try and hunt them now thanks.
