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A different twist on deer and cows #8330798 07/25/21 01:10 PM
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Texas Dan Online Content OP
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I'm sure it's because of the old timers that first me taught how to hunt deer in the Piney Woods of Mississippi that I've always enjoyed reading old books about how to hunt them. One such book is Hunting the Whitetail Deer, Copyright 1960 by A.S. Barns and Company, Inc. written by Tom Hayes. A former businessman, sportsman, and author, Tom was born in Dallas in 1909 and ended up selling his wholesale electronics business so that he could devote all of his time to hunting, fishing, and writing.

While I've had good success using tree stands and ground blinds to hunt deer on tracts that had cows on them, I can't say I never saw cows passing through an area as "messing up" my hunt. It was something I just learned to tolerate for the most part, hoping they would make it through the area before too long so that the area would once again become quiet and still. I can also say it's my lack of patience that has never made me a good still hunter, so that the tactic Tom shared in his book never dawned on me...

The good still hunter is an opportunist constantly on the alert to take advantage of any unusual situation. One morning Tom Junior fell in behind a small herd of cattle heading in the general direction which he intended to travel. Presently a huge buck jumped from behind a brush pile at thirty yards and, as he dashed clear of the cattle, Tom held for the chest and dropped him with a perfect neck shot. His rack is the largest and heaviest that we have ever taken.

After reading this, it made complete sense that such a tactic would carry significant benefits. First, there's no doubt deer are not bothered by cows after spending so much time around them. I can see it entirely possible that a deer might be easily spotted as it eased off, rather than bolting away after being jumped by a sole human. Secondly, for this same reason, the sound of several cows moving slowly through brush is sure to mask the sound of a human easing along with them, so long as he does his best to mimic their movements. And finally, how likely is it that a deer is going to quickly and easily pick a human out from the movements of a group of cows, given he puts forth at least some effort to lag near trees and brush in order conceal his outline. Obviously, the greatest concern is being careful not to shoot a cow when getting off a shot.

I should add that looking for old books on hunting and firearms can make it much easier to tolerate the wife wanting to spend time in book stores and antique shops. I have no doubts it's how I found this one that's even signed by the author.

Last edited by Texas Dan; 07/25/21 01:51 PM.

"Some people will never like you because your spirit irritates their demons."
Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: Texas Dan] #8330809 07/25/21 01:33 PM
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That simply won't work here.
Only because all of my cows are spoiled rotten and will come to me and stand around waiting for me to hand them a cube - from across the pasture.


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Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: Texas Dan] #8330813 07/25/21 01:39 PM
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It depends a lot on the mood of the deer, I think and or their past experience with cows. A good friend shot his best buck after putting out range cubes then looking back out there and a buck was eating range cubes with the cows. I have been watching a buck walk slowly toward me, the wind in my face sitting there watching him when he turned and ran off I looked around and there were the cows. Same buck about a month later I was watching him in a wheat field and when the cows came into the other end of the 100 acre field he ran out of it, again the wind was there wa no way he smelled me


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Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: Texas Dan] #8330818 07/25/21 01:54 PM
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the cows rarely come up to where i hunt.... last time they did they did not show any sign of noticing me. and moved through the area in about 10 minutes picking up acorns. I'm sure if they did notice me, a select few would have surrounded the stand and never let me down until they got a cube.


Do not forget to entertain strangers, For by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels
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Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: Texas Dan] #8331541 07/26/21 12:04 PM
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We don’t see the cows much

Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: Texas Dan] #8331549 07/26/21 12:13 PM
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The author mentioned in the beginning of the article about him being able to tolerate!
That is exactly what deer do, and that is tolerate to a point that is!
If they can avoid the cows they will, and they won't go out of their way to mingle with them unless they are after the same food source, and then there are limitations.
Cows make a lot of noise, and movement, and cows take away the deer's sense of smell as well as it's hearing to a great extent.
Deer will "tolerate" to a certain point, and then they are out of there!
I've watched deer that were feeding calmly that would then begin to get nervous and looking off in one direction, and then bolt, only to see cows come strolling in a couple of minutes later.



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Once i learned that i didn't "NEED" to kill something, and that if i did kill something all the fun stopped and work began, i was a much better hunter.
Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: Texas Dan] #8331803 07/26/21 04:13 PM
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My experience that if cows are around a feeder, the deer will remain in the area, but not too close. Not uncommon to see deer in the same pasture as cows, but not in amongst them by any means. We cube near the front gate, so whenever I have guests hunting, I put them in one of the closer blinds and let them know that if cows move in to the feeder they are hunting to shoot me a text to let me know. Easy fix then, I just walk out an honk my truck horn and throw out a few handfuls of cubes. Cows will move up front.


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Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: Texas Dan] #8331994 07/26/21 07:04 PM
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Hunting in the Texas panhandle where it's flat as a pancake, I've used cattle on a number of occasions as "cover" to move across a wheat field that otherwise had none.


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Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: Texas Dan] #8332045 07/26/21 07:51 PM
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I used Cattle once to stalk within 40 yards of deer feeding in a pasture. I also bought the big red cow from Montana decoys. I have no clue if it will work, but I plan on using it this bow season.[Linked Image]

Last edited by unclebubba; 07/26/21 07:53 PM.
Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: Texas Dan] #8332046 07/26/21 07:51 PM
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We started seeing many more deer on our place once we sold our cattle and switched to wildlife valuation. Lots more deer.


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Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: unclebubba] #8332229 07/26/21 10:04 PM
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Originally Posted by unclebubba
I used cattle once to stalk within 40 yards of deer feeding in a pasture. I also bought the big red cow from Montana decoys. I have no clue if it will work, but I plan on using it this bow season.[Linked Image]


Now that's definitely thinking outside the box. One of those things where people may laugh until you have a deer hanging from a meat pole.

I also seem to remember hearing that using animals as cover was common to Native Americans who lived on the Central Plains.

Last edited by Texas Dan; 07/26/21 10:11 PM.

"Some people will never like you because your spirit irritates their demons."
Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: Texas Dan] #8332245 07/26/21 10:18 PM
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Originally Posted by Texas Dan
Originally Posted by unclebubba
I used cattle once to stalk within 40 yards of deer feeding in a pasture. I also bought the big red cow from Montana decoys. I have no clue if it will work, but I plan on using it this bow season.[Linked Image]


Now that's definitely thinking outside the box. One of those things where people may laugh until you have a deer hanging from a meat pole.

I also seem to remember hearing that using animals as cover was common to Native Americans who lived on the Central Plains.

Up to this point, nobody has laughed harder at me than me! If it works, it's gonna be fun. If it doesn't work, it's gonna be fun!

Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: unclebubba] #8332309 07/26/21 11:11 PM
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Originally Posted by unclebubba
Up to this point, nobody has laughed harder at me than me! If it works, it's gonna be fun. If it doesn't work, it's gonna be fun!


Just so long as you don't wear a cow hide and crawl on your hands and knees.

New settlers were impressed with just how close native people could get to their prey in order to kill or manipulate them. One technique that is well-documented was the use of animal hides. Some animal hides (such as baby bison or whitetail deer) were tanned so that they left as much of the animal intact as possible, including ears, tails, legs and heads (faces, minus the skull). Hunters would try to cover up their scent by rubbing grasses and bark over their bodies. Then, relying on an animal’s poor eyesight (such as buffalo, deer, elk and moose) they would cover themselves in the hide of a grass-eating animal and crawl or walk slowly, as if they were grazing animals. As long as they moved slowly and their scent did not betray them, many hunters were able to literally walk right up to an animal and either spear it or stab it.

If this account is factual, I suspect it was a deer's inability to differentiate the human form that made the trick work. It seems much the same as deer not being able to differentiate the human form while driving a tractor, ATV, or vehicle. We all know deer see very well.

Last edited by Texas Dan; 07/26/21 11:24 PM.

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Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: Texas Dan] #8332401 07/27/21 12:38 AM
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We hunt on a working cattle ranch and the deer are not necessarily scared of the cows but they will move along in lieu of hanging around when they are nearby.

Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: soonersorlaters] #8332422 07/27/21 12:51 AM
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Originally Posted by soonersorlaters
We hunt on a working cattle ranch and the deer are not necessarily scared of the cows but they will move along in lieu of hanging around when they are nearby.

Same here. I would rather they stay the hell away from my feed pens.


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Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: unclebubba] #8332453 07/27/21 01:14 AM
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Originally Posted by unclebubba
I used Cattle once to stalk within 40 yards of deer feeding in a pasture. I also bought the big red cow from Montana decoys. I have no clue if it will work, but I plan on using it this bow season.[Linked Image]

Any bulls close by?
bolt


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Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: TCM3] #8332460 07/27/21 01:19 AM
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Originally Posted by TCM3

Any bulls close by?
bolt

That would be a hazard that I hadn’t considered...

Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: Texas Dan] #8332534 07/27/21 02:21 AM
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I saw the dangers of using a cow as a stalking horse in the movie "Top Secret!"

I never forgot it!


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Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: Texas Dan] #8332818 07/27/21 02:22 PM
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I move my cows to my house pasture where we don't deer hunt about 1 week before gun season starts. They've messed up some hunts for me in the past.


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Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: Vern1] #8333638 07/28/21 03:19 AM
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Originally Posted by Vern1
That simply won't work here.
Only because all of my cows are spoiled rotten and will come to me and stand around waiting for me to hand them a cube - from across the pasture.



Same here.

Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: unclebubba] #8333810 07/28/21 01:39 PM
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Originally Posted by unclebubba
I used Cattle once to stalk within 40 yards of deer feeding in a pasture. I also bought the big red cow from Montana decoys. I have no clue if it will work, but I plan on using it this bow season.[Linked Image]


Haven’t tried it on whitetail, but that decoy absolutely works on pronghorn in Wyoming. Area we hunt has free range cattle, and we have used this Montana cow decoy to make several successful stalks. Crazy walking to within 75 yards of a pronghorn buck in the wide open.

Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: Adchunts] #8334026 07/28/21 05:14 PM
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Originally Posted by Adchunts
Originally Posted by unclebubba
I used Cattle once to stalk within 40 yards of deer feeding in a pasture. I also bought the big red cow from Montana decoys. I have no clue if it will work, but I plan on using it this bow season.[Linked Image]


Haven’t tried it on whitetail, but that decoy absolutely works on pronghorn in Wyoming. Area we hunt has free range cattle, and we have used this Montana cow decoy to make several successful stalks. Crazy walking to within 75 yards of a pronghorn buck in the wide open.


Ha! Almost seems like cheating. Still, I'm sure it takes a lot skill that one might believe.

Thanks for sharing.

Last edited by Texas Dan; 07/28/21 05:15 PM.

"Some people will never like you because your spirit irritates their demons."
Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: Texas Dan] #8334044 07/28/21 05:31 PM
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Those cow decoys work on pigs, we cut out a sheet of plywood and painted it like a dairy cow and used it a bunch of times getting closer to pigs in the middle of wheat fields. It was really heavy by the time we got to them though, that decoy looks light. We never tried it on deer but I could see it working somewhat, maybe

Last edited by Ol Thumper; 07/28/21 05:34 PM.
Re: A different twist on deer and cows [Re: unclebubba] #8334634 07/29/21 01:52 AM
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Originally Posted by unclebubba
Originally Posted by TCM3

Any bulls close by?
bolt

That would be a hazard that I hadn’t considered...

roflmao


Do not forget to entertain strangers, For by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels
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