I was just wondering what you guys thought of cattle in hunting land. I have 40 cow calf pairs that i rent pasture for that a hunter just bought and now hes not sure that he is going to rent out the pasture land. The pasture is 200 acres what is plenty big for the cattle so food is not an issue. the cattle are also out of the pasture before the gun hunting season begins. So i was just wondering if you guys thought the deer would be effected by the cattle. I myself being a hunter never noticed a difference.

Deer and cattle just dont get along, i gues its like turkey and crows or owls and crows, they just dont click... my dads friend owns a farm and he said deer and cattle hate eachother...

We run a cattle operation here in saskatchewan. Deer and elk jump the fence to get into the cattle pasture to lick the salt blocks and lap up some of the spilt grain. I have no reason to believe deer and elk do not get along with cattle because i have seen them in our pasture eating close together. Some of the biggest deer i have ever seen have been on our cattle pasture so i would have to say if the cattle are moved out by deer season (no risk of one getting shot) then it would be fine to hunt.

Lets define this a bit...40 pairs on 200 acres probably wont hurt anything if they are rotated off the pasture when they have grazed it down and the pasture needs a rest. But you need to use sound judgement...some years it may support 30 pairs ,others 50...and some years you may get 120 days of grazing, others 90 days...

Do cows and deer coexist? Sure...Missouri has an overpopulated deer population and is the number two state in the nation for Cow calf numbers...the deer dont pay much attention to the cows and vice versa.

If you over graze, mismange numbers and abuse the habitat with cows...the deer will go away. with proper management they can get along great.

One other thing...if you graze it up to a month before the season then take the cows off...the deer numbers will go up because thay dont have to compete for food with the cows, the grass will start to recover and be at that tasty stage, and where the cows are, people tend to check on them and that makes deer nervous so they go where people are not.

I have about 25 cow/calf pairs on 200 acres. About half of my land is in trees. My cattle are supplimenting my hunting habits. I have been farming this way for 20 years. Here a few things I've have seen in the deer/cattle interactions.

Cows can make deer nervous and even spook them. For every time I seen this, I've seen four of five other instances where deer walk among or near cows without paying any attention to them.

Normally deer will not remain in any area where cows are nearby. Generally deer will just walk away from the cattle. After saying this, I have seen cows graize near bedded deer without the deer spooking.

In general I believe the deer will alter their movement to avoid interaction with cattle. This does not mean that deer and cows will not be in the same pasture. This does mean that deer will be in parts of the pasture where cows seldom frequents like the brusher or wooded areas. Travel areas where deer frequent and the times deer frequent them seldom coincides with cattle use of the same area.

I know you didn' ask for this, but here are a few things that you could suggest and work out with the new owner so that he has a rent income and you still have your pastures. Fence off the woods and brusher areas. These are valuable deer habitat and of little value to cattle. Fence off a few food plots for the new owner and help him get them establish. Plant legumes in the pastures which will improve the pasture for deer and cattle. Keep the cattle out of hunting areas during the hunting seasons. (I know you're moving the cows.) You may need to reduce your cow numbers. You may need to decide if suggesting and working with the new owner is bettter then losing the farm for pasture.

Good luck

Good answers already. Technically, since cows are largely grazers and deer are largely browsers, they shouldn't compete too much for the food resource. However, this flies out the window if you overgraze. Cows will actually go to browse if they lack for grass, then competition becomes a problem. I read this in a book one time.

in our hunt club,we have cattle in with the deer. they are together all the time with no problem.

I also have some private land I hunt.there are cattle on this property.it is cut up into 5 different pastures so they can move the cattlle around.when the cattle are in a certan pasture the deer are no where to be found.when we move the cattle to another pasture,the deer move to where the cows were. they will not mix with the cows.
Go figure. I think it is what they get use to.

I have hunted Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma all big cattle states. I have never had a problem with them not mixing. I taken a number of deer with cattle less than 100 yds. away.

I have hunted in timbers/pastures where cows and deer co-exist. Deer will keep an eye on the cows, but will browse in the areas. I chased 3 large bucks (2 ten point, 1 14 point), one whole day during bow season and they were using the cows as a buffer that prevented me from ever getting a shot. The nimbleness of the deer kept the cows from ever being a threat to them. Either the deer were in front or behind them and no chance to make a shot. At one time they bedded down almost in the middle of the cows, until they came too close. I finally left that afternoon, totally defeated by 3 smart bucks.

Russ

From what I have seen, I feel like greg-dude hit it right on the money. Deer and cattle will use the same areas, but I have never seen them do so at the same time. At least not around here. From talking to neighbors about this issue, I found that some have seen them relatively close to one another, but the occurence is rare.