Prime food sources...?

[DannyBoy]

I have my any-sex muzz tag in hand. Haven't had an opportunity to hunt yet so I'm curious what kind of food sources everyone is seeing deer on. I took some guys out 2nd gun with a doe tag and we sat saturday night. It was very clear that they really were not willing to dig through a solid foot of snow in the alfalfa fields. Most of the sightings were on a corn field that had several acres left standing way out in the middle, which have since been picked. The other good sightings (number-wise) were on a picked bean field adjacent to a hay field. I sat in the timber and only saw one deer, a nice buck.

So, I guess it should be pretty apparent where they are feeding this weekend when I make it out, but any heads up would be awesome. I basically can only choose from corn or alfalfa this year and one hayfield that's adjacent to picked beans but I don't have permission to shoot the beanfield, though they often come from the timber around the alfalfa and cross the fence. Any suggestions?

 

[Gundog]

They have been hammering corn fields here in southern iowa, especially recently harvested ones. Good Luck!

 

[BrewCrew]

I have been seeing alot in picked cornfields. I have a few farms with standing corn that I have been watching and nothing has been hitting them AT ALL! The snow is too high in them.

We are getting pounded with more snow now, if I wasn't clearing it out for the whole town of OMAHA then a picked corn field is where I'd be.

 

[NWBuck]

Where I hunt the deer have been literally running to a two acre food plot of standing corn. Not sure what this latest round of snow will do to it, but as of last weekend, it was the preferred source, as they were going through the bean stalks and turnips to get to it. A few stopped to browse for a minute or two in the beans and/or turnips, but not long...they were headed for the corn. I usually like a good hayfield this time of year as well, but it's now got SO much snow on it, not sure they'll be willing to dig down through it.

NWBuck

 

[THA4]

Picked corn, i watched the deer completely avoid two alf-alfa fields and head straight for the corn

 

[sofakingfast_1]

Do deer prefer a picked cornfield over standing corn? How about a picked beanfield over standing corn? Or does it just depends on the layout.

 

[rutnstrut]

This could be useless now that weve got more snow but in my area they werent touching the picked corn. They were all feeding in picked beans on hill tops or rises that the snow had been basically blown off of so they didnt have to dig.