Turkey and Cattle

[huntingwithjim]

We were hunting turkey on a preserver near Sacramento and had very little luck. It was probably just in the cards, but there was a heard of cattle that were near by and i kind of wonder whether turkey avoid herds. Could this have caused us to have bad luck?

[BuckRogers]

Its pretty much the opposite. Although turkeys probably wont go into the middle of a herd, they love active pastures. They like to scrape apart the cow pies looking for food. Sorry, but that wasnt the reason you had bad luck.

[shamlin]

I hunt around cattle all the time. I will say that I wouldnt expect them to walk through the cows at all. If the cows are not directly between you and the birds you should be good. I will remind you to always make sure that there are no cows beyond your target, a cow with a mouth full of lead will most likely prevoke your hunting privlages.

[huntingwithjim]

Oh we were very careful to keep clear of the heard....but they were awful noisy in the distance...I almost thought that their moos would dilute our calls.

[mauser06]

only problem ive had with cows is the cows running the bird off[:@] had a BIG ole boss tom in a pasture strutting for a good hour...finally took the saftey off he finally got close enough...waiting for him to break strut and maybe gimme a few more steps when he took off running...looked behind him and here came the herd of cows charging...i couldnt figure that out.....one of the bigger birds ive ever worked...that was the closest i got to him too..

[4 Buck]

I cant keep them out of the pasture in my area. They camp out all day and flip over cow pies for food...

[shamlin]

ORIGINAL: huntingwithjim

Oh we were very careful to keep clear of the heard....but they were awful noisy in the distance...I almost thought that their moos would dilute our calls.

That might be the case sometimes, but there have been plenty of times where I have had a bird gobble to the sound of the cows mooing. I dont know though if you are hunting in the same pasture with a few hunderd head, they may drown you out to some degree.

[Gamblinman]

Out in Western Oklahoma during the fall and winter, we've witnessed flocksof turkeys actuallyrun the cattle off of a newly placed round bale of wheat straw.

[demoIL]

I hunt a cow pasture as well, I usually see birds there but did not this year.. They were down in the bottoms instead of up in the pasture.. Oh well I guess, although I did see some hens up there dusting where the cows have a mud pit worked up..

I don't think that's your problem, I agree with the others..

[SHOTARYE]

I hunt cow pastures all the time, but try to get away from the area their using. I do itas a curtousy to the land owner, I don't want any problems / lose hunting land.