kwaldeier

alright it snowed MAYBE an inch the other day(sunday day) and today it melted some but yet there is snow on the ground.before the snow there was about 2 inches of rain (all here in missouri)im gunna go scouting tomorrow because with all of that moisture that means that the trials will be visible.i have about 60 head of cattle(cows and calves) on the same property that i hunt.my question is how can i tell if a trail is from a deer or cow.i no some smart butts will say their tracks are different and i KNOW that...but still.....there is a number of trails that run through our property and i want to know which are cow or deer and which are main and secondary.my second question is how do i tell if they are secondary or main.my third quesion is which i dunno if anyone can answer....which trails lead to bedding areas?main or secondary or other?and i wanna take pictures around the bedding area correct?or the feeding area??this is my last and final question...do their bedding areas stay the same all year round or if i find 1 now will it change before next season?srry for all the questions but i wanna scout hard and get a good buck next year!!!kalvin

mobow

You answered your own question....if it's a cow trail.....cow tracks....deer trail....Yep, deer tracks. Honestly, it really is that simple. Cow trail will be bigger too.

kwaldeier

wow guys...thanks for ALLLLLL your help[:'(]

icedern

http://www.huntingnet.com/staticpages/staticpage_detail.aspx?id=149

Go to the menu's up top and go to deer hunting and tracks.

SteveO KanevO

Dude,

Im feeling ya on this one. I hunt on land that has about 40 head on it. I hate those cows man. I was out there scouting and thought I had found the mother of all deer trails only to look up and see a cow taking a dump in the middle of the trail. There really is no way to tell except that cows usually wont climb the taller hills and of course the tracks. And they will probably stay to the edges of the thick stuff so if you see any trails running through the thickets thats probably a deer trail. However when I hunted in MO during the opener this year. I saw trails up there that looked like cattle trails but they werent. Those deer had worn them to about 8 inches deep. Hard to miss those. Hope I helped

justhunt

I would think the cattle may avoid the thicker brushy areas.

GregH

The cattle will go everywhere, anywhere they want to. They will clean out a woods and make it look like a park. The deer will also walk on these trails. You'll know by looking at the tracks, which are cattle and which are deer. The cattle, even the calves, will have a much wider track and the toes will be very blunt. The deer have a narrow, pointier track compared to cattle.

JNTURK

well try this.....cows trails will be much wider then a deers trail...cows also tend to move in groups and in the same trail, so if you see a stampeded trail, then more then likely cows...if the deer in that area don't mind the cows then see if there are deer tracks in those trails and if so they you can bet they will be using the cow trails because both animals will use trails that are easy walking...cows don't like to be in thicker areas they preffer more open terrain...as for taking pictures, i would avoid the betting area as much as possible...if your memory is bad take pictures of the trails leading to the bedding area (in most cases you will find a few well used trails which lead to feeding then if you follow them back into the more wooded area they will tend to break off into many little trails or just tracks, these will lead to the bedding areas) or the feeding area, not sure why you would need pictures? NO bedding areas do not stay the same year round even with deer that are confined to a certain area....they may and sometimes tend to bed in a general area, but not the same exact spot year after year (this is in general, i am sure there are some few deer that bed in the same area but that is based on hunting and other human pressure) ..... your best bet to scout something like this is to put up trail cameras in the thicker areas where you find trails or deer sign...use these picutres to see what direction the deer are moving and determine how and when the move......right now unless your season is still going, scouting this early may not help because they will not pattern the same come next season, use the cameras to see how they move now and what kind of game you have on your land, then next July or August go back and put the cameras up again to see how they are moving ..

mobow

You're welcome....but that won't help.

kwaldeier

was a cry for help[8D]