What Impact do Cattle have on Mule Deer?

HuntinAddict

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The 120 acre area of land where I will be hunting (in 1.5 weeks)has been infested by 11 head of cattle from an adjacent ranch. I have repaired adjacent fences and tried running them out with horses but it is so thick that it is hard for one person to do.

To make a long story short they have been there for about 1 month and they have been grazing and messing up the place (as cattle do). The owner of the cattle has not been responsive and I have escalated it to the athorities (different story).

Anyway, I am very depressed/PO'd as my hunt is coming up in 1.5 weeks and I am thinking all the deer will be pushed out of there and may not have enough food by then as the cows continue to cause problems. Should I just give up on this area and not even bother to hunt it? Did I mention that I am FRICKEN PO'd.
Sorry, I just had to vent....
 
My personal opinion: Deer and Cattle dont compete. Deer eat browse, cattle grasses, a little browse. What happens when grasses are eaten down? Browse increases. Deer are tolerent of cattle... usually however a herd of cattle means people who maintain the cattle, that can drive off deer.

Cattle and elk do compete for the same food. Elk are tolerant of cattle as well but will move out when the grasses are eaten off.

Damn big deer were continually taken back in the 40s and 50s when cattlemen were allowed to graze forest lands. We had less forest fires too as the cattle ate alot of the fuel sources.

... but thats just my opinion :)


-DallanC
 
Well, Mule deer are browsers, and cows are grazzers like stated earlier. The only problem I can see would be the cows destroying much of the cover the deer use. so if the field is larger grasses(CRP) and they are gowing to town on it there will be less cover for deer. As long as there is adequit cover you should have no problems finding deer.
 
Some of the best hunting I've ever had in my life was on a 26,000 acre ranch in Coalville. The owners ran 16,000 head of sheep on it. Man that place had amazing Deer, Elk and Moose. I missed the single largest deer I've ever seen in my life one day there... /sigh


-DallanC
 
There is a 4x4 Mule deer hanging at my parent's house that was harvested within a small herd of cattle. IMO I enjoy the cattle being there since I usually cover my footsteps' scent by deliberately stepping in cowpies. Sometimes I'll follow cattle around in the washes cause they make a lot of noise and usually don't "spook" deer but just move them away at a slower pace up the hills. We all know Mule deer like to get out of the way by climbing ridges.

Just my opinion too.

Chef
"I Love Animals...They're Delicious!"
 
Hey Paul, if you don't come home with any venison, make sure you come home with beef :). I hope it hasn't messed up your hunt. Good luck.
 
Thank you all for the great feedback. I will try to maintain a positive attitude and I WILL give it a go. On the plus side, the area is full of thick stuff pinon/juniper trees, sage, etc. The lack of cover is not an issue here.
Danny,
How's it going danny? How much would you charge to do a shoulder mount of a Black Angus? I guess I will have to buy a bigger freezer for all the T-bones too... hahaha
 
I raise cattle and the deer feed right along with them. 11 cows on that much property will not do a whole lot of damage in just a month, unless there was nothing to graze on in the first place. Besides, deer like to use the same mineral blocks and water that the cows do. It can actually be beneficial for antler growth to hang out with cattle.
I have a 2500 lb Black Simmintal bull that I would like to have "stuffed" when he is past his prime. Haahaaaa...
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Eric
 
live the place queit if you going with a horse and make a lot noise you will do more harm than good just hunt and hope for the best. good luck
 
I find myself compelled to reply to this thread. Deer maybe be "browsers", but they will only eat browse when a higher nutritional value food such as grasses and grains aren't readily available. Hence they can switch to browse in the winter when grasses are covered up. Haven't any of you seen mule deer grazing in a grassy bench or meadow? Get real. You bet they compete for food with cattle. They compete for food with elk too.

So when cattle overgraze an area, the deer will move out to another if better feed is available ( or they will starve if it's winter range and a hard winter). Typically on private ranches there isn't much over grazing since that is not in the interest of the rancher. In Idaho, he will lease out the state lands and national forests to do his over grazing.
Can I bold face and underline that last sentence? Let me repeat it: In Idaho, he will lease out the state lands and national forests to do his over grazing.

Private ranches will always have a good chance to hold trophy class animals when hunters are limited, no matter the the food available. Thats just common sense. Now I have seen first hand what a few flocks of 200-300 sheep will do to public lands near the seven devils (hells canyon) in idaho. They drink small ponds dry in "drought" years. They eat every bit of grass down to the soil so there is only dirt left. They make whole hillsides smell of piss and sheep droppings.... And the B&C class typical you saw scouting will leave the area. This is how it is in Idaho unit 22. And the whole unit for the most part is now overgrazed wherever the sheep and cattle are.

Idaho though, is an extreme case of overgrazing on public lands thoughout the state. I've hunted other states such Montana where it seemed the ranchers knew what they were doing , and cared about the condition of the range (at least at the Private lands level). Perhaps other states have good knowledgeable, "caretakers of the land" ranchers who use public lands for grazing? And I'm sure the state of the wildlife in the area is their main concern.
 
Actually, 11 head of cattle is nothing for 120 acres, I wouldn't even notice them on that much land. Is this private land you hunt on or public? Who ever land it is should be responsible for calling the rancher and telling him to get his cows, if not call the correct authorities to come and get them. I have 80 acres and during our season there is usually around 30 head there, we just have to watch which direction we are shooting.
 
Where I archery hunt there are cattle out there. I have come to find that in the years I have hunted out there in the desert I find no deer in with cattle. I am talking maybe 100 head or so. This is just my area of hunting. I have 1 sage brush patch that holds deer every time out there. But if cattle are in that section then there are none. I do not think they are competing for food but I feel that they know if cattle are there then so will humans. At least the big bucks I hunt. So I have this area pretty well figured out on if I dont find them in one area I can look in several others and know I will find them eventually. I find alot of hunters overlook areas to hunt because they do look or spend so much time in with the cows. I find deer out of the sections with cows. I have spent about 6 yrs totally out there scouting and been riding motorcycles out there since 1986. So I know the area pretty well. I do go back threw areas with cows to try and figure out why the deer are not in the area but have yet to figure out why. But to have only 11 I cant see that as being a major problem.
Good luck and keep us posted on how the hunt goes.

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Dear Mr. P.O'd I'd probably be pissed as well, like Mr. Lew. said about deer feeding in a pasture, there are times when the deer may be browsing, on the same chow the cows are working over, but I doubt, they have pushed them completely away.
I think bigger than the feed impact, the deer are bothered by them crapping everywhere & being loud, especially if the deer have a lot of predators & their is a nearby peacefully ranch where they can use their sense of smell & hearing better to protect them self from being eaten. I know they can peace fully co-exist but given the choice would rather not. So if all the surrounding ranch's have cattle which most do, I wouldn't sweat it at all.
 
The 120acre area that I will be hunting is private and adjacent to 4 other ranches. The area is very thick so it is mainly used as cover for deer(I am not sure why the cows have been hanging in there as there are NO larege pastures/meadows). The positive side is they are not always in there as there is NO water and they have to head back to their 3000 ranch to drink everyday. I have notified the rancher and he has tried to round up the cattle with no luck as they are very WILD. I told him just to leave them alone until the hunt is over as I do not want to make anymore camotion in the area. I will go ahead and hunt it as planned and just try to keep a positive attitude.
We'll see how it goes. Thank you all for the insightfull info.
Good Luck in all of your hunting endeavors.
 
I have watched deer eat lush alfalfa my entire life, I know they browse when they need to but they enjoy the softer more palitable plants life has to offer as well if not more. Here in UTAH our game biologist are more concerned about sage brush than anythimg else, according to them that is what our deer eat. I do not have the answers to all things but I do want to say I believe we better wise up, cattle when correctly managed will do the range good. They keep a cycle of life in progress, without grazing all native grasses would grow and stand and become course, they litterally need to be grazed and physically walked through by animals to have the seeds nocked off for regrowth the following season with new gass. This does not mean overgrazed. I think any good steward of the land knows this. Alot of water developments the majority have been designed payed for and constructed by cattlemen. I am sure not many deer hunters contributed to the chaining of cedars to open up some tree infested messes, and Ive never driven through the reseed areas and watched deer by the droves eating crested wheat and rye, of coarse not they are browsers. There is a happy medium to all things, The ranchers have to monitor their ranges and hunters and sportsman have to quit shooting every deer with horns. I think the real argument would be why are the deer heards in UTAH depleting and why is it so hard to find decent bucks. I know we need to blame this on something so lets blame it on the cattle. I think we need to start gut shooting the lazy SOB's that cant get off their 4wheelers to scout and hunt, We should reduce the # of tags sold overall and go to a state wide draw to ease pressure on non limited areas that are hunted to death. And most importantly have some ethics and if you want to shoot a quality animal then have the gump to wait even if it means not shooting a 24 inch 4 point. We need to own up to this problem, we want to fix it but we always blame everyone else, oh and maybe shoot a few of these damn cats when were being stalked by them. I dont claim perfection believe me I really dont but we need to step up and give a little. When a dedicated hunter can buy out his hours or go down to the DWR and do landscaping, what the hell does that do for the wildlife. My brother and I have hauled water to guzzlers that dry up in JULY every year any way. WE dont need a reason to do this. IM done,fire away, but pack a lunch and do something to make it better. Later
 

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