Who’s hunted around horses?

[buttonbuck]

Just picked up a 30 acre piece. House at the front and the rest is a horse field with fingers of cedars that run into stands of oaks. Creek at the back and fennel grass has been allowed to grow head high in the fields. I asked him to leave the fennel grass up and he said okay. 2 horses roam the property and everywhere I found deer sign I found horse tracks. Deer seem to be bedded in the fingers of trees near the oaks.

How do horses affect deer behavior in this type of situation?

[seazofcheeze]

Don't rattle and decoy, the horses come running and then they won't leave The big buck we saw run into the CRP wasn't as cooperative, unfortunately.

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[Dhoff]

An area i hunt is about that same size that has horses pastured until winter hits. There is usually 3 or 4. Deer roam through during that time but there's never really any activity consistent enough for a deer "pattern" compared to the week after the horses are hauled out. If you hang a camera put it extra high... For me its a spot to hunt on occasion if things are right but the only good part of the horses is stomping in horse turds for a nice cover scent before the walk in....

[OH nontypical]

My favorite public piece has horse trails all through it. People have come right by me on horses and never knew I was there. I use the horse trails to navigate and access stands. Mostly big woods hill country setting.

My experience is the deer walk the trails too and don’t seem to mind the riders too much. I see scrapes and deer tracks all over these trails. Younger bucks and does seem to use the actual trails where the older bucks don’t walk them as much but I do see them cross them.

Last year I was hunting about 60 yards off a trail on a point and killed a P&Y about 10 minutes after two riders came through right above me.

I think it depends on acreage and the amount of horses concentrated in an area.

[Cvanheel]

So my experience is fairly limited, but I have a buddy who has six horses in the pasture behind his house. There are regularly deer out there including some decent bucks. I think just like anything else as long as the horses are there, and been there for awhile the deer get used to them.

[Wlog]

There are a lot of horse farms around my area and I see deer in the pasture with horses pretty regularly. They don’t seem to bother one another but they don’t intermingle. One time I had a run in with a horse in the dark that was a little scary though. I hopped the fence before daylight and cut across the horse pasture of a farm I had permission on when I was a teenager. The horse didn’t know what I was I guess and starting running full speed towards me. I could hear it coming but couldn’t really see it. It ran right up to me and threw on the brakes right before it ran me over. I almost pooped my pants!

[Dewey]

I did quite a bit of hunting near horse trails this past fall and saw good bucks just about every hunt. Many days the trails had pretty heavy traffic especially during the warm early part of November and it didn’t seem to affect the deer at all. Many times I had deer around me and they just held tight until the horse riders walked by and then resumed normally. The bonus is access on the horse trails is a great jumping off spot because the deer are so used to smelling human scent there and don’t feel nearly as threatened by it. Of all the cams I was running I consistantly got my biggest bucks on the cam that was less than 70 yards off a very busy horse trail.

Might want to utilize one of those horses and have it drag your big slob buck out.

[KLEMZ]

I will echo Dewey with his observations. On one property I hunt, I have mature buck bedding within 40 yards of regularly used horse trails. It is a big convenience to be able to walk the horse trail in to the area. I have not killed there yet however. I suspect it is a timing issue as to when he is there.

[Jurist]

Piece of land I hunt has horse trails all through it, but what I’ve determined from all the scouting, is the deer seem to bed where they can see the horse trails and the access in. I took the advice that Dan had put out, how these deer are living and sitting and watching the access where people park and go in. So this year knowing where their bedding And watching, I will come in from a different direction and get close to them.

[Mopar1169]

Don't recommend 4 of them for the truck.

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[buttonbuck]

There are a lot of horse farms around my area and I see deer in the pasture with horses pretty regularly. They don’t seem to bother one another but they don’t intermingle. One time I had a run in with a horse in the dark that was a little scary though. I hopped the fence before daylight and cut across the horse pasture of a farm I had permission on when I was a teenager. The horse didn’t know what I was I guess and starting running full speed towards me. I could hear it coming but couldn’t really see it. It ran right up to me and threw on the brakes right before it ran me over. I almost pooped my pants!

Yeah, Id have been spooked at that. I started hunting when I got out of the Army in 2015. First property a guy let me hunt had horses there and I didnt know it. It's legal here to shoot deer in the dark 1 hour before sun up. I began my egress into the field and was met by 2 sets of eyes shining off my red light. Being very excited I immediately drew my 30-30 up and set the red dot on the eyes. My brain then told me "this may be a bad idea, would deer really just sit 40 yards in front of you and stare" " perhaps you should not shoot a target you haven't ID yet". I let down and turned my white light on. It was two horses, later I found out they are prized race horses. Whew...

[muddy]

I will carry a small handful of corn on the one place I hunt. The horses follow me all mellow across the pastures and when I'm about to my stand I toss the kernels and the horses cover my movements. It's pretty awesome. It's not so awesome when the hay burners come up snorting like trains when I rattle, especially the geldings.