spinefxr

The land I hunt is part pasture that has alot of big oak trees. The pasture borders a bean field, a corn field, and a big patch of CRP land. My question is: do cows affect deer at all? Will deer avoid coming thru the pasture if cows are there?

by23856

It's been my experience, growing up and hunting in dairyland in PA, that cows and deer intermingle quite freely in the pastures. You shouldn't have any problems, as far as the cows go anyway.

-Brad
Eastern Nebraska Bowhunter

rockytop

I've bagged a few deer by watching the cows. When cows are around, like any animal, the cow will usually know the deer is there before you do and will be looking in the deers direction. I've never seen a hostile interaction between cow and deer. Just be carefull and don't ruin the farmers day.

BobCo19-65

I have hunted pastures in the past and usually avoid the areas that are cows currently using. I don't like cows within about 200 yards of me while I'm hunting. Just my experience.

Rickmur

What rockytop said but I experienced it with horses.

Rick

DaveH

Several places I hunt (including right here at home) feature horse/cow pastures. The deer use them too, but not when the cows or horses are close by.

skeeter 7MM

While they will intermingle, I have found livestock often make the deer spooky. Found the deer are real alert and well almost jumpy, when around cattle. Also cattle may blow your cover thinking you got some chop or treats, so be careful of that as well.

I do a far bit of hunting in pasture lands or grazing areas, my general rule is try and isolate myself from the bulk of the cattle and I find the deer largely do the same here. I think it depends on every location, a buddy in the south part of our province arrowed a large mulie buck at a dugout with cows all over the place, so you never know! (His dad's land & herd by the way.)

jroot

i haven't hunted any place with cattle on the east coast yet but out west deer and cattle get along fine, never noticed any shortages of deer when cattle were around. however last year we had cattle on my farm all year and they overgrazed not leaving much food for the deer which drove them out of the area.

Jason Root

SCRIDER1

I used to hunt a lease that had 1000 acres of timber surrounding a couple of 50 acre fields. There were a lot of cattle on the place and one of the cows wore a cowbell. No matter where you were in the woods, you could hear that cowbell clear as a....well, bell.. After a couple of years, one of my buddies said he decided he was going to wear a cowbell around his neck when he travelled to and from his stand and between stands during the day. I thought he was nuts and teased him unmercifully, but he did it anyway. He saw nothing the first day and withstood another night of merciless teasing, but wore it again the next day. I'll be danged if he didnt have a nice 8 point let him walk up within 60 yards. The 8 point was looking for him, but didnt see him (I guess you wouldnt notice a small guy in camo if you're looking for a a 600 lb. cow)anyway, my buddy stopped and froze and waited for the buck to start browsing again and managed to take him EVEN THOUGH the bell tinkled a few more times while he was sholdering the gun...he said the buck didnt even look up. Just goes to show you that deer are not much bothered by things they are accustomed to! I still didnt ever wear a dang bell, though.

IndyHunter

I've seen deer in the same fields as cattle, but they usually aren't standing close together. A farm I hunted in college had a field of 30 or so cattle, and while I never saw any deer in that field, there was a lot of sign on the back side of the field just outside of the fence. During one bowseason I sat up a ground blind on that fence row looking into the woods, with the pasture at my back. I figured out a couple things real quick...if the cows saw me walk in and sit down, they would slowly work their way towards me and stop about 20 yards behind me and eat/stare until I left. I found a way to sneak in without them seeing me which worked well until I used my grunt call one afternoon. I don't know what it was about the grunt call, but every cow in that field was once again standing behind me within 10 minutes. Didn't take me long to find another spot to hunt. 30 cattle standing 20 yards behind you gets loud and annoying real quick.

--Man who fish in other man's well often catch crabs--