hunting with cows!!

[Morris]

I have been told by a lot of people that it is more difficult to hint where there are cows. Even though I know the cows won't bother the deer it makes everything harder to tell apart. How do you hunt with cows on the land. The trails are hard to tell cause you don't know if its a deer trail or cow trail. How do you tell which is a hot trail for deer? What kind of stuff can you put out for deer that cows won't get into Or if you have any other good info on ways to hint with cows on the land,I'd be glad to hear them. Any info that works will help.

[ckrich]

I'm hunting a new place this year that has cows on it year round. There is nothing that I have found that deer find attractive that a cow won't. Minerals, feeds, jams...cows will find it all, and stand there eating it until it is gone. They seem to especially like to use ladder stands as scratching posts.

The best way to tell a deer trail from a cow trail is plain ol observation. Often, deer will use the same trails as cows because it is the easiest route thru cover or across a creek. After these pinch points, the deer can split off on a different trail that offers better concealment and cover. If you can't spend the time just watching and scouting the trails with your binos, try a trail camera. The cows always seem to find any camera I put out and rub it out of position, so I would recommend using a camera mount that gives you the ability to hang it high enough that the cows can't reach it while being able to adjust the angle of shot to still take a good pic.

While I really don't like to hunt with cows nearby, they can be an asset every once in a while. They might see a deer appraoching from behind you and tip you off by their behavior.

[dbHunterNY]

yup good info above... usually deer keep there distance from cattle especially if they're crashing through the woods. they'll come right back though if they've got a reason to.

[CamoGuy]

It is my experience that deer avoid cows. I don't know why but you rarely see deer and cattle in the same field. Knowing this, if I am hunting a field with cows that tend to spend their evenings on the east end of the field then I will hunt the west end of the field in the evenings.