scouting trouble: cows
 

Hey, I need some help. Was out scouting this weekend and it' s on a farm. The farm has cattle, soy beans, corn (will be gone soon), & wheat (is gone already). There are fingers of woods (like Matt was saying) going between all of these pastures with one that would have to be the main cause it ties them all together. Well my problem is that the cattle have free access to here and roam EVERYWHERE! It was VERY hard to make out any tracks and if you did they was only 1 or 2 before it went into a mess of cow tracks. And forget finding a trail, everything has been mashed down by the cows!

Any advice on what to look for?

RE: scouting trouble: cows
 

Look in the fields. You should find alot of whitetail tracks in there. You didn' t mention any ponds, but I assume that since there are cattle there, they are there also. Remember, whitetails also like to take the easiest paths to and from their bedding areas and will probably use the cow trails too.

Best way to scout that place is to set back from a distance, at dawn and dusk, and glass the place to see if you see deer movement. Pay attention to the fields and the fingers of woods. Deer don' t move in the open too much unless there is no choice.

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RE: scouting trouble: cows
 

I think the biggest problem hunting around cows would be to make sure that the brown you see in the thick stuff is what you are looking for;)

RE: scouting trouble: cows
 

Brucelit I' m not so sure about that, we' re talking no hormone, fed all home-grown no-chem feed, 500-700 lbs. of beef vs. 125-150 lbs of venison... A mistake wouldn' t be exaclt HORRIBLE ;) :D

The owner said (he' s not an ' avid hunter,' but used to hunt deer) that he thought the deer moved through dry creek beds that go throughout the main vain of trees... anyone seen this with regularity?

RE: scouting trouble: cows
 

bscofield, makes sense to me, I' ve watched deer follow creeks I don' t see why a dry creek bed would be any different?

My son-in-law hunts on a property where the guy has horses and I' m scared to death one of these days he' s going to make a mistake[:' (] He gets awfully excited:D I keep telling him to make sure of his target before any shot. In your case a mistake might be alright;) in his I don' t think they could sell enough glue to make up for what it will cost him[&:]

RE: scouting trouble: cows
 

i got good advise GO SOMEWHERE ELSE or keep your eyes open. i hunt every year with cows on our land and i dont seem to have a problem killin deer it is just to find them. if u see em at one spot they will go through there again. not for sure on those cows but the cows on our land stay mostly in the same area so i hunt away from them who knows u may have to break out the old one eyed bulldawg.
lol;) u might also try looking for places where youve seen deer before if its pasture wich i guess it is and has some woods on it look for higher area with a white oak tree youll see sign there every time well it works for me ne ways

RE: scouting trouble: cows
 

Use it as a positive - If deer don' t mingle with cows and cows cover 50% of your land - you know what 50% to hunt.

I do that with unter movement all the time - throw away the open woods and the ares other hunter frequent - and the game plan becomes that much easier.:)

RE: scouting trouble: cows
 

I wish someone would please come and hunt the COW that is mooing like a nut at 12:00 midnight near my house right now.........that puppy might have an accident if I don' t get some sleep here soon.[:o];)

Sorry, it was cow related anyway.

RE: scouting trouble: cows
 

1 of the farms we hunt has cows and crops as well. A good place to set up is somehwere along the fenceline keeping the cows out of the crops. You' ll notice the spot the deer are using, it will be a dip in the fence and there will be a clear landing spot from where they jump over .. or the fence will be slightly lifted up from where they slide under it.. look for their hair caught in the fence, and the holes won' t be necessarily large ... they can slide through some tight spots.

Find a spot like that where there is good cover all the way to the fence line and you" ll be in business.