Hunting Near Cattle

[jchisum23]

I recently acquired free access to 50 acres of land, 20 of which are wooded. I haven't seen much sign other than a few droppings back in the woods. Question is the farmer allows the neighbors cows to graze on his property and they have access to all 50 acres. I was up in the stand this morning and about 5 cows came right up to me, I didn't think they could get back that far in the woods, am I wasting my time hunting near these cattle?

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[arctic_cat]

My old employer let us hunt his land he owned in Mt.Pleasant. Over700 acres and he let his brother run cattle threw all of it. Place was loaded down with deer and turkey. From my experience hunting farms, I don't think they will hurt you.

 

[Backstrapcrazy]

Deer are used to them walking all over property, have seen them grazing in pasture near the cows.

 

[TNGRIZZLY_]

you will also be able to get away with more noise then before. Nope they wont hurt you at all. Good luck

 

[jchisum23]

Aright cool, I appreciate it guys. Wish me luck.


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[Snake]

I really don't like to hunt property than has cattle on it but have and still will if it's good property . Hard to pattern deer because of the cattle sign you just have to hunt it .

 

[Poleaxe]

I've seen deer walk through where cows are but I never in 28yrs in the woods seen deer feeding in the same field as cattle. I have although with horses. Don't know what the difference is to them.

 

[GoldenEagle09]

I shot a nice but last year who stuck his head out of a thicket, while cows were out in the field about 20 yards away. As long as they don't stampede through the woods or in the early morning, you should be ok. Might be hard hunting based on the area.... not the cows.

 

[BlackBelt]

I see deer feeding in the same field as the cattle all the time. The deer actually get pretty close to the cows...like 30 yards away from them.

 

[Labboy]

There are deer eating in the pasture with my cattle every day!

 

[Nimrod777]

Never known cattle to put deer off. I have, however, watched horses physically run deer out of their pasture.

 

[tree_ghost]

i have a farm that we hunt that has about 100 head of cattle on it. it seems to me that the deer will come into a field with the cattle but keep there distance. the turkey on the other hand will mingle right in there with them...i do have a picture i got last year on trail cam however that shows a mature buck checking a soy bean field standing right next to the herd...i guess anything is a possibility


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[Headhunter]

I've seen deer walk through where cows are but I never in 28yrs in the woods seen deer feeding in the same field as cattle. I have although with horses. Don't know what the difference is to them.

I have killed many deer that I had to wait on cows to clear the line of the shot. I have also seen deer "leave the county" when cows walked into a field. No absolutes.

 

[Hunter 257W]

Only 1 time do I recall seeing deer standing in our pastures before selling all our cattle. This is a time frame from the early 1960's to 2007 when I sold the cows. After that, the deer started slowing moving in and can be seen in old pastures, which are still in fescue and cut for hay. Cows seemed to be equal to perfume and gasoline as a deer repellent around my place.

 

[PillsburyDoughboy]

No deer and cattle get along quite nicely.

 

[PillsburyDoughboy]

As a matter of fact some of the best cover scent you can use is to step in cow manure or horse dung if you are hunting in a area that has them. Its a great cover scent. Deer are so use to that smell being all over the place.

 

[oldmanelrod]

As a matter of fact some of the best cover scent you can use is to step in cow manure or horse dung if you are hunting in a area that has them. Its a great cover scent. Deer are so use to that smell being all over the place.

X2

 

[TnKen]

I think it depends on the place. My in laws place the deer would avoid the areas the cattle were in. When the cows were moved out the deer would move in and leave the area the cows were moved to.
When they got out of the cattle business, I started seeing more deer.

 

[PillsburyDoughboy]

As a matter of fact some of the best cover scent you can use is to step in cow manure or horse dung if you are hunting in a area that has them. Its a great cover scent. Deer are so use to that smell being all over the place.

X2

Yep!

As soon as I get far enough away from my truck I look for a pile of cow manure and step in it,
i also look for deer poop to step in. I think it makes some great natural cover scent,

Sometimes the natural elements are the best elements,

 

[csi-tech]

It sucks when they all wander right under your stand and lay down. You can also forget even the smallest food plot. Every time I have put corn and trophy rock down in the off season for cameras they manage to find it. Having said that, I have never failed to shoot deer when I have been around them. You may just have to be mobile and move around the cattle.

 

[Mark71211]

Would it be illegal to put corn down for those cows? Put it in a homemade cow trough on the other side of the property to keep the cows over there while your hunting.

 

[PillsburyDoughboy]

It sucks when they all wander right under your stand and lay down. You can also forget even the smallest food plot. Every time I have put corn and trophy rock down in the off season for cameras they manage to find it. Having said that, I have never failed to shoot deer when I have been around them. You may just have to be mobile and move around the cattle.

Food plots?

Usually with cattle the farmers plant sufficient crops and vegetation to feed the cattle and that feeds the deer as well.

As a added bonus farmers will supplement a cattles diet with grain and other nutrients which I am told so long as it during normal agricultural,purposes it's not considered baiting and its legal,to hunt over. So naturally the deer are drawn into it. So yes find cows and hunt over them like crazy,

 

[PillsburyDoughboy]

Would it be illegal to put corn down for those cows? Put it in a homemade cow trough on the other side of the property to keep the cows over there while your hunting.

I was told under the TWRA thread last year as long as it's under normal,agriculture pour poses and you are legitimately feeding your cattle it's not considered baiting and it's legal to hunt over. That thread is archived here somewhere and I even saved a screen shot of it somewhere,

TWRA has some weird way of linterpreting hunting over bait, it's something like 40 acres or something that you have to be away from bait. Not just so many feet or yards like many states have or line of site. So in your scenario just putting it across the field would not necessarily indicate itself get you out of the baiting regulation, it's the totality of the normal agricultural practices that would probably protect you from getting charged with baiting.

 

[280longshot]

I hunt 550 acres of land that mainly pasture and can't wait to find another lease. The deer I have witnessed avoid the cows and actually come out to the fields looking for them. I've witnessed several deer come and get spooky once they see the cows and then return to the woods.

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[saddleman1]

I would definatly put time in the stands to see, this is my experience, a landowner real close to the house let me hunt exclusively his 40 acre's. At this time he had sold all of his cows, when the cows were there you would see NO deer, as soon as he shipped them off they started coming around. He has since leased it to a guy to run cows on, low and behold no deer now. Just my experience. :bash: :bash: :bash:

 

[Winchester]

My experience has been the deer will still use the property in most cases but they rarely spend much time in close proximity with the cows.