Cattle

Goosemaster

Goosemaster

Well-known member
I like steak, it might be my favorite food, but cattle can really mess up a farm. The Munch everything down, and trample the cover, and mess up the water, and they just do a lot of damage to the land. Pheasants generally don't like to be around cattle.
 
Yup. Bad snow and them and turkeys will be picken corn from the cow pies. Adds a different flavor to the meat though.
 
I questioned a rancher in N.D. once about how the birds out there survived the blizzards. He said the pheasants were the 1st to come to the cows and hay bales. Sharptails 2nd and the Huns last. He also said that the deer ruined some stacked round bales. lived on them for a while.
 
The best pheasant habitat I ever hunted has been ruined by putting cattle on its stalks every fall. Used to have plum thickets, yuccas, native grasses, hemp, and koschia in its draws, and - lots of pheasants. All gone.
 
Without cattle ranching and feed operations in the north countries would have very few pheasants survive the bad winters! Fact. McFarmer is dead right . Sharptails evolved in the northern plains and they are survivors . Pheasants have to have food , where The drifts cover crop land , cattle yards are tromped down by animals, and food is constantly deployed.
 
I'm OK with cows. Ace really likes cows. Without cows, there'd be much less corn planted. Sometimes they ruin a hunting spot short term. I've "herd" there are supposed long term benefits, although I honestly haven't noticed any. I guess as long as they keep providing steak & don't dump fresh mud all over where I'm trying to walk, I'll be alright.

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A5 Sweet 16 said:
I'm OK with cows. Ace really likes cows. Without cows, there'd be much less corn planted. Sometimes they ruin a hunting spot short term. I've "herd" there are supposed long term benefits, although I honestly haven't noticed any. I guess as long as they keep providing steak & don't dump fresh mud all over where I'm trying to walk, I'll be alright.

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Bigger issue is when they graze a WPA and the cows put pock marks all over the ground and then when I get there, they are frozen pock marks and making walking less enjoyable.

I understand the role of grazing as so many grasses evolved with the buffalo herds. As McFarmer mentioned, cows and pheasants can get along just fine, as long as you've got a rancher that is cognizant of the impact cattle can have on pheasants/wildlife and habitat.
 
my experience
cattle in the feed lot/close to home and near but not in shelter belts help pheasants alot
cattle in corn stalks really do ruin any marginal cover that was present such as small water ways
i have shot very few pheasants where cattle had been run
i do not let my renters run cattle on corn stalks until after Jan 1
Yes, it is a business for them and I am sensitive to this, so i think this is a great compromise
 
wildcat said:
my experience
cattle in the feed lot/close to home and near but not in shelter belts help pheasants alot
cattle in corn stalks really do ruin any marginal cover that was present such as small water ways
i have shot very few pheasants where cattle had been run
i do not let my renters run cattle on corn stalks until after Jan 1
Yes, it is a business for them and I am sensitive to this, so i think this is a great compromise
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Good summary wildcat. Often times the farmer would let us know before moving cattle to the prime pheasant cover. We appreciated the heads up and worked that ground while we could.
 
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