I am having an issue with Cattle wandering all over one of our leases. There is 200 acres of solid old growth hardwood timber that does not have a turkey or deer near it anymore. Is it totally dependent on the land owner?

Whose cattle are they? Call up the owner of them.

Call owner and tell him it's gonna be finders keepers after u give him sufficient time to fix his fences...i know I wouldn't want mine wondering around on somebody else...too much money to lose

I'm sorry but the cows aren't the reason there isn't any deer or turkeys. I hunt multiple places with livestock and it doesn't affect it

A nice fat steer would be a much better freezer filler than some old rutty buck. Change your tactics

While I agree most of the time because most of our properties are surrounded by cattle operations. In This case they have just about destroyed the habitat along this creek bottom and made it a muddy disaster. I used to have anywhere from 2-6 gobbling turkeys every year in this area and multiple cameras running. I am getting very little deer activity and have not taken a picture of a turkey since the problem starting occuring. It is most definitely the reason.

Ha trust me I have considered It.

Head shot so you don't lose any meat. When his cows stop coming back home he will understand v

I know a guy - not a friend, just have a dealing with him and he told this story - that dealt with this for a long time and he finally got fed up with it. Let's just say there was 20+ head of dead cattle on his property by the time it was all said and done that belonged to a black family adjoining his property. When it was all said and done, he had to pay them for the cattle and he was lucky to stay out of jail b/c he was well connected. He ultimately had to leave the area b/c those people wanted his ass.

Doesn't sound like your acquaintance made a smart decision.

I know shooting them is not the option. I was just wondering if anyone had dealt with this by getting the law involved or what all the options are? I have contacted the the land owner to see what he can do but not sure how that will go especially having it solved in a timely manner. This has been going on now for about 9 months.

Are you talking about the landowner of the property you lease, or the adjoining land owner with the cows? I doubt the guy you lease from really cares about the cows. Deal with the cattle owner yourself, and be nice about it.

Uh yeah, that's why I wanted to reiterate this wasn't a friend of mine. But, I could see how this scenario could drive you crazy and feeling like there is not other legal way of addressing it...

I know a guy that did that with a herd of goats that were eating all of his food plots down to the ground. According to him, the owners never knew what happened to them.

I have dealt with it too. It is frustrating to have cows, especially bulls on your place. It can be downright dangerous, especially if you don't know they're there. It's usually a fencing issue. I think if it keeps happening, and the cattle owner won't fix it, a police report and paper trail is definitely smart.

Call the Sherriff / Game Wardens / and any other authority involved consistently and stay on the phone until they are more sick and tired of you than you are these cows.

While it is illegal (and unethical) to shoot them, it's also the owners responsibility to keep them safely fenced. And if he makes no attempt to do so he can be held liable for any damages.
Since you've already broken rule #1 (putting it on the interwebs) I would pay a small fee to have a lawyer send him a polite letter.

Air horn and cattle prod?

If theres no deer on 200acres of hardwoods, its not the cows fault.

There is a fellow from FAIRHOPE who shot some cows a few weeks ago that got onto his property. I certainly hope it wasnt you, and if it was, I hope you get everything bad that is coming to you. I know the folks who owned those, and they are hard working, salt of the earth people. A tree fell across the fence and 5 cows got out. Guy paid men with horses to go looking for the cows, with no luck. A few days later, three turned up dead with gunshot wounds.

If you're not the person who shot these cows, then disregard. If you are the guy whose last name starts with an H, well you're a lousy individual.

Pellet gun.

I was Being a tad bit Sarcastic on the deer part but it is truly hard to have a good hunt when there are 20-40 cows walking thru the woods at all hours of the day and night. Average morning would be 10 or so deer 2-3 bucks. I saw one 2 yr old 8pt all season on this portion of the property. The deer just moved to another portion of the property. There are no turkeys that is a fact.

LOL I am not that individual. I will not harm this mans cows. I just want the problem solved or Im gonna drop the lease and do something else.

If you will contact the people on the link I posted, they will send someone out and address it in a firm, but legal, manner.

I had tried everything.....but, these guys spoke in terms that the guy understood. The cows were caught up and he seemed to no longer have all the little problems that he always told me about any more.

Have you tried to determine how the cows are getting onto the property? It might be cheaper and quicker to simply repair the fence yourself.

The cows ain't running the deer and turkey off .

Ive got turkeys that feed through a cow pasture every day.

Cows wont hurt your hunt it's the squirrels that throw pine cones you have to look out for . Lol

US too.

As do I. A few of our properties are surrounded by cattle operations, and our main farm which we own is surrounded by cattle. The difference is I have a great relationship with the farmers around our camp property any issue we have had is solved with little effort. I have killed many Turkeys with cows around and what not. So the cows don't ruin hunting crew is not following what I'm saying. Its a habitat issue. The farm I'm talking about with the issue is that its been going on with little to no resolution for months and they have really damaged the area I'm talking about. Also its one thing thing for turkeys to share a pasture with a cow, its another for them to be walking around the woods with 40 or so cows scattered throughout.

Bad fences make bad neighbors

We use to hunt next to a black guy with cows that miraculously got out during the week and up by the weekend. After a couple of years of fields being eaten and one of our Coonass members being there during the week hunting. He suddenly started keeping them up.

Just call him up weekly at 2 am with the old, your cows are in our pasture, prank.

It is if the cows are all the acorns

I have never seen a cow pick up an acorn. They can't even pick up all the kernels of whole corn on the ground when we feed them.

I have seen plenty of cows crunching acorns, and have set up on hot trees that brought in both cows and deer. The cows will scatter if you shoot a deer from amongst them.

I love turkey hunting areas where there are cows. Turkeys love flipping cow piles! I’m sure from time to time they might disturb a hunt but can’t see them running turkeys off, just the opposite. Now deer, don’t care for the clear understory that turkeys love.

I like cows for turkey season.

1) doesn’t seem to bother turkeys, have killed a pile in same pasture with cows
2) seems to help me a little with movement
3) seems to be less snakes (might just be in my mind)
4) donkey is ultimate locator call

Turkeys absolutely love ground cows are on.

I killed a ton of gobblers on dairy farms and where we outfitted in Florida was a working cattle ranch for PBR bulls.

Cows = feed to turkeys. Both in feed troughs or recycled in the cows droppings.

I dont think the cows are the problem.

I guy I know..lets just call him "Matt" to keep his identity hid...he thinks all the turkeys in Bama are dying from chicken litter!

Anyone spreading litter around you? THATS most likely the problem with your turkeys from what he always says....

There are solutions, but none are quick and easy unless you contact the owners and they are cooperative. Contact the agency that Hogwild gave you and they will advise you.

There are certain ways that in the end you can round up the cattle and they are yours. As you would figure, there are a lot of hoops to jump through before you get to this point.

Not only can you capture and sale them to recoup your losses, the owner can be also be held liable and responsible for your losses above what the cattle brought.

There are very specific Laws about this.

Correct, it is my understanding that it is kind of like a towing company towing a car and holding it for the storage fees. If not paid after awhile they file for the title. No title involved in cattle, but the situation is kind of similar. As in most legal situations, the first step would be contacting the owner and document it, preferably by certified mail.

Start reading Alabama code 3-5, I went thru 10, might help you legal wise to know where you stand.

After 7 years of cows getting into our foodplots
and calling the owner numerous times and offering
to help him fix his fence, we took another
strategy.
We sent him a certified letter demanding $700 for
damages. We also told him that we left our
gate open when we were working in there, or
hunting.
Then we told him that this letter put into writing
the potential liability he faced if his cattle caused a
wreck. We also mentioned that a teenage girl
had been killed in the area after running into
a bull.
We carbon copied the sheriff.
We got our $700 and never saw the cattle on our
place again.

don't do like a friend of mines father did several years ago in Greene Co. Seems his neighbor raised hogs and would let the fence down so they could get to his corn fields. This went on for a couple of years after repeated efforts to stop it. Opening day of dove season he had a big shoot and supplied everyone with buckshot and had a hog drive. Then told the neighbor to come get his dead hogs off his land. No more problems.

I used to know a guy that actually shot a horse. Seems the horse kept getting into his green fields. After numerous attempts to correct the issue, he shot the horse, hooked his Jeep to it, and drug it back to the owner’s house.

I've always been told that acorns are poisonous to cows. There was an explanation for it that I can't recall, but it has something to do with the Tanic Acid in acorns. True or not?

If the land owner has been notified his cows are out and he continues to do nothing, then show up with the sheriff and let him explain to the cattle owner that there are laws for running animals at large

Just find a discreet butcher