Have an opportunity to hunt farm that has cows on it. How do the cows affect deer movement? Pros and cons of cows on hunting properties?
Hunting Farm With Cows
- Thread starter useyourbow
- Start date
Remington700
Well-Known Member
The deer will move off and let the cows come through. Then move back in the area to feed. No real impact you have to worry with.
BSK
Well-Known Member
From a hunting standpoint, not much to worry about. From a management standpoint, cows are a very bad idea.
Tweeter
Well-Known Member
I hunt 3 farms with cows, my advice is, always hunt from elevated stands ( as you'll be shooting at the ground if you miss)
Deer and cows will use the same trails, food plots are out of the question! Mineral sites will be used by the cows and deer, turkey will scratch in the cow poop for grains. If you are not familiar with cows, keep your distance, a cow with a calf will hurt you! Cows will tear up a steel ball so don't leave nothing on the ground for them!
Also if cows are calving you have a higher traffic of predators in the area!
Deer and cows will use the same trails, food plots are out of the question! Mineral sites will be used by the cows and deer, turkey will scratch in the cow poop for grains. If you are not familiar with cows, keep your distance, a cow with a calf will hurt you! Cows will tear up a steel ball so don't leave nothing on the ground for them!
Also if cows are calving you have a higher traffic of predators in the area!
backyardtndeer
Well-Known Member
Cows and deer on my farm don't mind each other at all. I have had cows behind me and bucks chasing does in the pasture right there with the cows. Agree with using elevated stands or elevated terrain for sure.
Dennis
Well-Known Member
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- Aug 27, 2019
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If there are large hay feeders for the cows, deer will find them also.
peytoncreekhunter
Well-Known Member
Would you expand on the bad points on management. Is it because of cattle eating up food plots?
Reason I'm asking is the farm I hunt (and surrounding farms) all have cattle on them. No food plots on my lease. We have good deer every year.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Deer are very selective feeders. They pick and choose the foods that are best for them at the time. And unless food sources are very limited, deer tend NOT to eat all of a plant, just the tender tips. Cattle eat everything and eat it completely. I've seen more than one property where cattle have devastated the habitat. The key to having both is having the cattle limited in the areas they can access. As long as cattle are fenced in pastures, and good low-to-the-ground food sources provided for deer outside those fences, everything is OK. But giving cattle free-range of an entire property is bad news for deer.
Just a personal observation. Open Fields or pastures that have cows in them almost never have deer at the same time. It seems when the cows are there the deer are not.
peytoncreekhunter
Well-Known Member
Thank you for the explanation.
kaizen leader
Well-Known Member
I do t know about deer but they surrounded me when I was in my tent blind. They kept getting closer until the biggest one stick her nose in my window. Damn they are big. I shook the blind and it jumped back. Then they went over and about destroyed my turkey decoys. The next time I went I brought a slingshot. Yup they came to me again and wack. Then to my decoys and wack again. Stupid cows.
That is my experience as well. When my in laws had cattle, I would plan to hunt where the cows weren't.
Funniest thing I ever saw about live stock, deer, and elk...I was driving up to Steamboat lake in Colorado. There are a lot of ranches on that road. Saw a bunch of cows at the big feeder, and saw a really nice rack in the midst. Beautiful bull elk picks his head up, looks around and continues eating with the cows.
I have limited experience(only two seasons) but I agree with what some others posted. Deer and cows keep their distance. When the cows leave the area I'm hunting I get ready because the deer seem to come through right after they leave.
The cows have access to their entire property(woods and pasture) and there seems to be no shortage of food for the deer.
The cows have access to their entire property(woods and pasture) and there seems to be no shortage of food for the deer.
And if they are both in the field cows will be at one end deer in the other . Also where cattle are its difficult to find deer sign because deer will follow cattle trails . I really don't like hunting an area with cattle but if it's a good enough property I'll hunt it but like others have said from an elevated stand always which is very common for me anyway .
and turkeys.
Boll Weevil
Well-Known Member
In addition to BSKs points eating everything vs selectively, soil compaction, erosion, and surface water quality are all negatively affected by cattle.
I agree with BSK assessments. My dad had a hobby farm of 25 acres with cattle. No deer to be seen. When he finally got rid of the cattle, the deer moved in immediately.
