I hunted less than 100 yards behind their house and deer seemed to always spook when I hunted there. I also believe that those deer learned and became familiar with the scent of those landowners. My theory as to why those deer never ran away when the landowners were outside and close by is because they learned over several occasions that those landowners were not a threat to their safety. The landowners also told me that they rarely walked into the woods and mostly stayed on their lawn. When I asked permission to hunt they mentioned how they always saw deer while working outside and that they never seemed to run away. The landowners had a nice home on the property where they lived and they loved working in their yard directly around the house. I used to have permission to hunt on a ten-acre piece of property that was mostly wooded. Deer know when something changes in their environment and will become immediately alerted if they see, hear, or smell anything that they associate with a threat to their safety.

I mentioned that deer are great learners. I want to put a lot of attention on the word “consistent”.Ī whitetail deer is going to adapt and find comfort in its environment as long as that environment is safe and consistant.ĭo you want to know what really spooks deer? Anything that is out of the norm in a deer’s environment is what will put them on edge and send them running away. If the cattle just happen to consistently be around in that environment then the deer are going to be calm and relaxed around them. If you had to sum it up, most of a whitetail’s time is spent laying around, eating, and interacting with other deer in the herd in a fairly consistent environment. Imagine how a deer spends its time in a typical month. Through all of my observations over the years what I have come to learn is that deer are some of the best learners in the animal kingdom. And just like you, I have witnessed the spooky nature of a whitetail that every deer hunter has experienced. I have also witnessed a herd of does bedded down in the middle of chemical plant with loud equipment everywhere and people walking around. I have fed a free-range mature whitetail buck from the palm of my hand. The whitetail deer is one of the most adaptable creatures on earth.

The question is how long are those cows going to be around for and if they are going to be there long enough for the deer to have time to get used to them being around. If your neighbor decides to turn his property into a cattle farm and there are no other cattle farms close by, then I suspect that those deer aren’t going to be mingling with the cows very soon.

Deer sounds like cow