I have a blind set up in between a alfalfa field and bean field. The beans are dried and ready for picking. Will the deer come out of the alfalfa and head to the beans or will they want to stay in the alfalfa? This is in north east Wisconsin.
I think I read somewhere that the deer stay away from the beans until it starts getting cold. The cold makes them sweeter or something. I never really see deer eating beans once they dry and by the time it gets cold they are all harvested so I don't really have any first hand knowledge of this.
Deer stop eating beans when they turn brown/yellow. Then will go back to eating beans once the leaves fall off the stalk. I've seen deer paw the frozen ground to eat the remains in a cut bean feild
Basically the beans loose they're value to the deer about the time acorns fall. And untill the acorn crop is exhausted by the deer and squirrels the deer will come back to beans. They just have to hunt for them by then.
I agree with everyone here. Beans are high carb high protein and will be a cold weather food source. Alfalfa seems to be the first choice if its available. But once the soft mass food sources goes dormant activity should pick up.
Typically the deer are not browsing on the beans when they are green. They are browsing on the leaves and stems. Once they start to turn, the deer are no longer interested in those leaves and the bean are not ready to be consumed either. After the beans have dried down and the leaves have fallen off, the deer will hit the pods as long as the they are still standing. Once combined, they will forage for the loose beans on the ground all winter long. So basically there are two very distinct ways that deer browse soybeans. To answer the question, if the beans still have green leaves, it's likely they will browse them, but if they still have yellow leaves on them, they typically leave them alone and won't come back until the bean is completely dried down. I really don't think Acorns has much to do with it other than the fact that their dropping time typically coincides with the dry down period for the soybeans.
Yep, I was sitting on an inside corner of a bean field opening weekend in Minnesota. My stand is located in a strip of trees that is only about 20m yards wide. Beans on one side, with CRP on the other. I had a doe and 2 fawns come into the trees from the CRP, hung around for about 10 minutes, before turning and walking back out into the CRP, never going into the beans.
