Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Soybean usage

C

chokepoint

New Member
It is strange with all the reading I have done that I have no clear idea of Soybean usage by deer after they drop their leaves. I was in a picked bean field yesterday and there were lots of waste beans. In the past, I haven't noticed much fall usage of beans around here but that doesn't mean they don't use them.

So do deer target waste beans in the fall and for how long?
Are they a key food source in November?

There are corn fields here too. There are still green clover fields here and some alfalfa fields. Which will they prefer?

BTW this is in Canada.
 
I'll chime in with my observations, but I will be curious to see what others have seen related to beans in the fall and then on into the winter.

I think everyone knows that deer really hammer beans while they are still green, which is mainly in the summer, but I have never really seen much deer activity in the yellowing or browning stages in the early fall. Note - this could also be because this is about the time that acorns are falling in the timber and my persuasion is that deer will favor acorns over all else, when available.

Deer seem to get right in on cut cornfields, but there really isn't much forage to be found in most cut beanfields and I have never really seen deer feeding in cut beanfields. Now then, a still standing beanfield in say December or later yet will draw deer like crazy from what I have seen.
 
I notice deer key in on beans in mid-late summer obviously... then they hit them good again for a week or 2 after they have been picked... and then hit the standing beans hard again late season... I see it as kind of a 3 wave system.

These are pretty broad generalizations, but I think they hold some relevance.

There can always will be a "depends" in there; these are just my observations. Any other ideas?
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">So do deer target waste beans in the fall and for how long?


Are they a key food source in November?

There are corn fields here too.

There are still green clover fields here and some alfalfa fields.

Which will they prefer?
</div></div>

Feed preference can vary a little in different areas or regions but for the most part.

Soybeans when the pods dry and leaves have fallen they will hit the soys and depending on other food sources and adjajent cover, they may glean the cut fields for spilled grain.

Usage of any crop can depend on safe cover and avaliable alternative food sources but I would say soybeans, especially harvested beans, would not be at the top of the list.

As long as they are standing they can be a darn good draw however.

Corn...generally corn is hard to beat! A freshly combined corn field will draw deer like a magnet! I doubt that deer would bother with soys in any stage if there is fresh corn next door.

Alfalfa they never stop feeding in mine other then perhaps Feb/March, no matter what feed is available. They love high protien alfalfa!

If I could have a stand between a newly combined cornfield and an alfalfa field. perhaps in a nice funnel or draw...I'd be a happy and confident deer hunter! /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
An interesting range of responses.

I guess the consensus is :

Standing beans good.

Picked beans not so good.

picked corn good.

alfalfa good.

Does the alfalfa have to be green?

It will be frost killed and brown here soon. A farmer told me it doesn't do so well here as we are on the freeze thaw line and the plant gets damaged. He says it lasts a couple of years and has to be replanted. There is still quite a bit here though.

We have corn here but I doubt there is more than 5 square miles of it total in the area. We have a classic fringe habitat scenario here. I can't say I have ever seen deer in picked corn here but will have to check into it.
 
Sat in an obsevation mode last night and watched 25+ deer walk through picked corn to eat standing soys. The night before it was the picked corn. Last night was wet and rainy I don't know if that made a diffrence. They will keep you guessing.
 
I agree that they love alfalfa all year long and standing corn and picked corn, but beans they don't favor at all except mid summer and once it's picked there isn't much there for them.
 
It might be different down here in KS, but unless the weather is REALLY cold, they'll hit a picked bean field all winter long. If the weather is cold though, they definitely prefer picked corn. Around here though, we just hunt winter wheat most of the season after the first of Nov.
 
A few years ago I was hunting late muzzy and we had over a foot of snow on the gound. Every single day when it was the warmest there were tons of deer out digging through the snow to get down to alfalfa sitting under the snow.
 
More interesting comments.

I checked a day old picked corn field the other day and I couldn't see much that would interest deer. A few crows were in it but there wasn't any corn laying around that I could see. This farmer seems to have a harvester that takes the kernels off the cob. Other guys here chop it into silage. Almost all crops here are to feed dairy cows.

What strikes me as odd is that the picked beans have lots of waste but the birds, etc don't seem to be in it. I would think waterfowl would be on it. There were hundreds of geese in a picked grain field this month until they cleaned it up.

I was watching a standing bean field from a corn field last Sunday and ate some corn then some beans. To me the beans are much better but it seems the animals don't care. The farmer I know says he doesn't see many animals in his picked beans. Do they spoil fast on the ground?
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Chokepoint</div><div class="ubbcode-body">More interesting comments.

I checked a day old picked corn field the other day and I couldn't see much that would interest deer. A few crows were in it but there wasn't any corn laying around that I could see. This farmer seems to have a harvester that takes the kernels off the cob. Other guys here chop it into silage. Almost all crops here are to feed dairy cows.

What strikes me as odd is that the picked beans have lots of waste but the birds, etc don't seem to be in it. I would think waterfowl would be on it. There were hundreds of geese in a picked grain field this month until they cleaned it up.

I was watching a standing bean field from a corn field last Sunday and ate some corn then some beans. To me the beans are much better but it seems the animals don't care. The farmer I know says he doesn't see many animals in his picked beans. Do they spoil fast on the ground? </div></div>

The "harvester" is call a combine and it has rollers that snap the ear off the stalk and then a cage/drum inside that shells the corn from the cob.

1593812257_55df6056d5_o.jpg


During that entire process corn gets spilled, cracked, shattered etc. and is left on the ground. This is sorta like scattering candy around a room for kids! /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif

Corn chopped for silage doesn't leave much residue for deer.

Soybeans tend to swell and they are difficult to digest which is why we process soybeans into soybean meal. We don't feed soybeans directly to livestock or poultry except via processed meal mixed with other grain.

I suspect birds may have trouble digesting the raw beans and often there is little left anyway. The beans will usually sprout if there is any moisture and warm weather after harvest. Sometimes they will grow enough to actually draw deer but cold weather soon nips them.

Hunting an area where the sole draw was cut beans might make for tough hunting if there are better food sources nearby... /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
When I was down in Washington county late season last fall they were hitting the cut beans hard every day.

Up by my place theres not much corn or beans, and its up by the interstate. Mostly Hay, and on the hills where the wind blows the snow off, there will be a dozen of them every day.

This year they were on the hay consistantly every night, but as soon as we got a first good frost, I saw them switch over to acorns.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom