Yall are killing me. First of all yes if the cattle come to the feeder during your deer hunt they may run them off. But other than that they are together all year. We killed three 150 class deer this year with cattle in every pasture. These pastures are for ranching first, hunting second. We live on these pastures every day not just during deer season. These cows are our livlyhood and the reason we have ranches that you can hunt on. Try to have some respect for the land owner and appreciate that you can come to his home and invade his territory for 2 months out of the year. It would be like me coming to your backyard to bird hunt and gripping because your dog is barking.

I got out of my stand friday while it was still dark and threw rocks at a calve that they didnt get off when the got all the cows. If I see a cow around my stand I dont see deer.

Good post but not all leases are where the landowner resides. My lease has no dwelling on it and is 20 minutes from my LO. It's actually good to hear the success on your place with cows in every pasture . I am lucky to have a cross fence that I can lock em in one pasture and hunt the other

Along with the 3 places I mentioned above, I have about 100 acres in northern Brown count a few miles from the Callahan county line. There haven't been cows on that place in a year. It is in an area that (supposedly) has higher density than where I live. It has a wheat field and ver thick cover. I have hunted two weekends up there and I have seen a total of 1 deer. The county I live in with the 3 places mentioned above is a 2 buck and no doe county.
I don't really know everthing that goes into deer patterns, but from what I have seen cows have little to do with it.

my opinion, cows on a small lease (that don’t have cows all year) negatively affect deer movement big-time...our place (400 acres) does not have cows year around, it’s been 2 years since we had cows...rancher put 40 head of cattle on mid Oct this year…we have not seen a single deer on our place since…5 weekends of hunting data, no deer…just got back from this weekend, no deer…pulled our 6 trail cams, there was (1) pic of a small back out of hundreds of cows, coons, pigs, porcupine, turkey, only (1) deer pic…cows are starting to eat the cactus…rancher is bringing in feeding the cotton believe it or not now…guess times are tuff in Abilene…

You could also respect our opinions as well. If you are leasing your land out so people can come to your home and invade your territory, then you should appreciate that there is someone willing to pay you to do so. Not criticize people for having opinions and making it appear we don't respect the land and landowners we lease from.

My biggest pet peeve is when a landowner tells you that there will be cows on the land during the off season and removed or confined to a certain area and then doesn't follow through with his word. Or when a landowner says there will be no more than 10 or 15 head of cattle and then you show up to count over 50 on your lease. Or when you show up to hunt and your feeder pens you had to unexpectedly build are destroyed due to cows that arent supposed to be there during hunting season and your feeders are lying on the ground.

Is it in your contract that there will be no cows during hunting season? If not, you really don't have a choice other than to deal with it. Im sure thats what you are doing.

No...there is nothing in the contract and I do deal with it. You are missing my whole point though.

I know landowners often say they are going to do something and then end up it's the opposite. A lot of them believe that cows are more valuable than deer which is the case. So the needs and wants related to deer are placed as an afterthought.

Thanks for clearing it all up for all of us dumb hunters who don't have a clue why a landowner would have cows. Cows are awesome! I am thankful for landowners who put cows on their deer leases! Geeezzzz

WOW.....DAM deer hunters and their hatred for cows! What did the cows ever do to them??? Well no more beef for those guys!

We actually raise cows and pay to deer hunt with cows, "sorry for being a fence jumper"...

No need to apologize. I now look forward to my next weekend with the cows. I love cows now since all the brilliant minded people on here have enlightened me to the fact that...... without cows, I would not have a place to hunt and that my deer hunting experience will be far better with the cows. Oh yes and since i have the privelege to hunt with cows, I should be thankful to my landowner. Especially since he lets me pay him to invade his cow farm.

He is making a lot more off of the cows than he is off of you deer hunting. Unless he just wants to be accommodating and has another place to put them on during deer season I find it hard to believe that you upping the pay is going to make that much difference.

Haaaa.....you guys are all amazing. I wasn't born yesterday. I hunt on a lease with cows. They screw up our hunts regularly. We deal with the screwed up hunts, busted feeder pens, busted feeders, etc. We know the landowner's primary purpose for the land is for the cows.

Do I have to like hunting with cows? No...I do not.

I don't need people telling me I should be thankful my landowner lets me invade his land during hunting season.

People get on here and share their opinion about whether they believe cows can hurt the deer hunting or not. No one ever asked why cows are on deer leases. We know why the cows are there.

Bottom line....in a perfect world, if there were two identical properties where one had cows and the other did not, I would choose to hunt the property that did not have cows.

We have 720 acres and is split in two sections. Our land owner rotates them every six months. Just so happens that he rotates them off my side a couple of weeks before bow season. The only deer that have been shot off our place have been from the side with the cows. But with that said, this year is all about my boy getting his first deer. It's not like we haven't had th opportunity. You know all about that. Also, in eight years I've only taken three deer off our place. Two bucks and a doe.

What the guys on the cow side have told me is if there is a cow within 300yds they won't see a deer.