Hi everyone,
First off, this is my first post on this forum but looks like this is a good place to get some good advice on deer hunting in Texas. I hunt on a little place my fiances parents own in Jones county. Its a wooded area surrounded by open pastures and has a good little watering hole that is a honey hole for the deer in the area. Have seen several good bucks and even a axis doe. This place hasnt really been hunted in several years and I just put a feeder out a few months before deer season started. Feeder has seen a lot of action and with the addition of the watering hole, its a good little piece of property. Well, today I found out that they just put a few cattle out on the property. Ive hunted around cattle before, but where that was, the deer were use to the cattle so didnt make much difference. But with these deer not use to it, my question to yall is what effect do you think the cattle will have on my deer? Will they act like its nothing? Will it just some time for them to get use to it? Im a little worried...I was really looking forward to that cold front hitting this weekend and getting a big one on the ground...

I would guess the ranch next to it has cattle and so I feel sure the r not to bothered by cattle
They will love the feeder

Cattle might even make your deer hunting better. Cattle will remove coarse grasses that are useless to deer allowing deer palatable forbs to grow. The key is that there aren't so many that they overgraze th pasture. You might want to put up a pen around the feeder so your not feeding the cows.

deer on my place will not come around if cows are there. plus cows will knock your feeders over if the feeder is not fenced in. I'd try to put the cows in a cross fenced pasture to keep tem away from the deer., also fence in the feeder, and put out some alfalfa in the far corner of the pasture to lure the cows away

Cow cubes are also good to lure them away.

If all else fails get a slingshot and some marbles.

Where in jones co.? I live east of Hawley and the deer don't seem to mind the cattle. If the neighbors have cows, the deer won't be surprised. But I would put up a pen around your feeder. Cows can be deadly on them. LOL

Yeah, I would be more worried on what the cows can destroy vs. scaring the deer away. Our deer will shy away from the cows but return as soon as they move away from the feeders. Either fence your feeders off or just make sure the cows can move beneath them. All of our feeders that are not fenced are high off the ground like the ones pictured below

We have cows on our property ,some deer don't mind them while others avoid them. If you don't put feeder pen up at least stake legs down good with t post. Also, here before long when we start feeding hay ,they won't even be an issue because they will stay very close to the hay.

Never have had a problem with cows but i have a feeder about 200 hundred yards behind my house and my 6 horses hate the deer for some reason the deer will still come out but if the horses see them they charge them up and come back after the horses go on

Thanks everyone for the advice! Ill def be putting a fence up around the feeder and staking the legs down.

I have cows on my land. The deer don't really seem to care. By no means to they mingle, but they'll get within 100yrds of each other and not care.

To hold down my feeder I picked up a 10ft piece of 3/8" rebar, cut it into 1/3s, hammered the rebar into the ground about 2.5ft deep, and then put the legs over the exposed ends. It's worked so far.

cows will be ok there may tear down a feeder
wheres it located

Thats a great idea. Ill definitely give it a try!

If the cows have been there for a while it should be ok. If they were just dropped off recently then it's a game changer. Last year on my lease the owner dropped off over 100 head and I never saw a deer the rest of the season. Fast forward to this year and cows are still there but now we're seeing deer again. Had to build a pen around my feeder to keep cows out.

I have never had any luck on properties that had cows. I was seeing good deer before season started and the week before opening day 6 cows came through the fence. They have been gone for a week and a half and still no sign of the deer. I hope the rut will bring them back in.

Hope it works out for you.

Cows haven't bothered our deer any, but they been around em a long time. I guess they have to get used to em.

It all matters on the place. Every different tract of land has its own issue thus own remedies. I have hunted around cows for years on many different ranches. Deer typically are not afraid of cows, yet they will go around or avoid direct contact if able. Cows will play with feeders, as well as blinds. If your spinners don't allow corn to pile up the cows can't eat the corn, as the kernels are too small for their mouth and tongue. That's why breeder cubes are so large. Fences set up their own problems. I've hunted four foot cattle panel that deer would eagerly hop over. On the other hand I've seen other places deer won't hardly jump short hog panel. Some choose panels becuz hogs are eating there corn and that's another problem in itself. The more unaffected you leave the area the better. Try good spinners that spread corn, try not to put your feeders and blinds around places you continually see bedded cows, and avoid water or mineral licks ranchers put out. If you still have a problem fences are the only remedy. It may take some time, but typically deer will adapt to both cows and feeder rings.

Once the cows are able to eat piled up corn, they'll learn to check feeders just like a deer. Try not to teach them that trick if possible. also, if you keep your feeders relatively full they typically wont knock them over(pigs too). But, if your like the rest of us and don't keep the topped off during off season you will def need stakes.