Deer vs Cows

[SHoff10]

One of the places I hunt seems to have cows in it every other year. How do cows affect deer movement? What about mature buck movement? I am talking about 50 cows in a 160 acre piece. Mostly hills and praise grass. It seems like if we walk anywhere near a cow, they all come running after us. Do deer get bugged by them? I know there is a very nice buck living in this same piece of land/pasture but I'm trying to figure out how to hunt it with the cows there.

Thoughts?

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[CRK925]

Deer tend to avoid cows from my experience.

Deer and horses tend to get along though.

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[Stanley]

Just hunt where the cattle aren't. Deer and cattle don't coexist very well. I have had to chase the cattle out of some spots at times because I wanted the buck to move through that area.

[keb]

Deer that live in cattle country are use to it, one of my biggest deer was in place with cattle.

[keb]

I actually like the places with cows, guys wont hunt them places, because of the typical stereo type about cows and deer not getting along. If there are to many cows for the actual land that can be an issue.

If you have ever hunted true cattle, prairie ground you will know what I mean.

[AntlerAddiction]

It really just depends on how the CATTLE are managed. If they are overgrazing the pasture too low and run out of palatable grass then they will also browse like a deer. This is because of boredom and also hunger in some cases. This especially true if the cows are allowed to enter the wooded areas of the farm. If so, they will absolutely clean out the understory/cover under the trees.

So yes, cattle that are mismanaged on a farm can DEFINITELY cause deer to seek other properties. I don't think this is because they conflict or "don't get along" with cattle. I think its because all deer need food, water and COVER. If you take one or more of those away from a property then you cut down on deer usage dramatically esp. mature bucks. It doesn't matter if this occurs because of cattle or a bushhog. If the woods are bare and you can see 150 yards in each direction, you wont see very many bucks in that area, at least not in my area of the country.

If the cattle are managed and they are NOT allowed to loaf in the wood lots of the farm, then it doesn't matter IMO.

[jonsimoneau]

I've got an area like this. Believe it or not this area is very good during the rut. The deer aren't living in there with the cows but they travel through it to get to other areas. The cows will often follow me to my stand location but they are pretty dumb. You climb the tree and they think you just vanished out of thin air. They will look around for a few minutes and then just walk away.

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[CRK925]

Let me clarify my earlier statement. Deer won't abandon an entire area because of cows. But don't expect them to use the same areas at the same time. Once the cows have left a field deer will move right in.

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[dkoy85]

I think there is a common misconception about deer and cattle not coexisting. One of my best and favorite spots was a cow pasture with trees. I would have never hunted the spot if I didn't see 2 big bucks fighting over a doe in the open part of the pasture. That night I set up right along the open pasture and the wooded pasture and quickly learned the mature bucks were using the wooded pasture frequently while it had cattle in.

One of the bucks I shot from that spot was weaving between pockets of cattle while 2 bulls were posturing and making all kinds of commotion to each other on opposite sides of a fence. I remember thinking with all the noise that it was a perfect time to stand and stretch out and draw my bow(A little after 11am)- moments later, bow in hand, my buck strolled through all the commotion and cattle, unfazed. Needless to say I'll never overlook a cattle farm(if sign is on it).