Does the presence of cattle affect deer hunting?

In my experience, deer and cattle don't mix well together... Watched deer skirt boundaries around cattle, when it would have been much easier to just jump a fence and cut through... I suspect part of it may have to do with scent, and the smell of cattle as strong as it is, could mask the scent of a potential predator...

 

I feel they don't want to be close to cattle just because of all the noise cattle make. It may very well overwhelm their scent defense too when in close vicinity to them. Close vicinity to cattle has to greatly impede their threat detection.
Makes me think about how often I see turkeys and deer feeding together. Between a turkey's eyesight and a whitetail's nose, quite the compliment.

I think they don't like when anything takes away from their threat detection. When it's a really windy day I hardly ever see deer moving where I hunt. It is a timbered area and also has lots of terrain features. Trees and branches are creaking and popping and the wind swirls around a lot. All they hear is constant noise and if they did smell a threat they'd have no idea where the smell actually came from. Makes them just hunker down in heavy cover and hold tight. They are like pheasants on these days, you have to dang near step on them before they'll move.

 

I actually had a rogue calf living on our property last summer. I walked up to a couple of our kill plots and they were mowed down and I knew it was something else. It was confirmed when I say the cow pie. It was definitely confirmed when this thing started living in my blind. We evicted her from the blind and moved her into my freezer. We did find the owner before we took her down and he was the one who told us to do it.

 

I've never thought of it that way but I think you are 100% right on that. The cows probably take away a deer's sense of comfort.

 

Haha! That's actually awesome!

 

I was hunting a 10 acre spot that had lots of cattle pasture Around it and I actually caught a cow coming under or over my fence and eating my corn. Didn’t seem to stop the deer from coming in tho.