No mast crop/are beans still the ticket?????

[stash59]

With very little to no acorns this year.In my area. Are the deer going to continue to use the yellowed and brown beans that they would normally be avoiding at this time period? If not what to look for.

[DeerDylan]

Are there any clover or alfalfa fields around?

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[seazofcheeze]

I think you will have better luck near alfalfa, corn, or apples than you will near yellow/brown beans. If the beans remain uncombined until late in the year, the deer will gravitate back towards them.

[Crazinamatese]

I haven't heard a single acorn hit the ground yet this month. I been seeing deer in the soybeans lately.

[john1984]

Last year the squirrel woods I hunt was littered with acorns but not this year. I've seen deer feed in yellow bean fields but I know most people say yellow beans are not a draw,,, so idk

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[Hawthorne]

I saw a lot of loaded trees in northern Ohio over the weekend. The woods was a racket the noise they make falling. In the past I've shot deer in October full of soybean pods and all the fields were brown

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[woodswalker]

Stash, while mast is important, don't forget a lot of deer's food is buds and bark of shrubs and young trees so while mast is good for them to put on fat, there are plenty of places where they don't have the option of soy beans and corn and if they have enough browse that is where they will be eating. Think old timber and clear cuts.

[Lockdown]

No corn in the area?? That's what they're hitting around here. Hard. Beans are irrelevant for the most part.

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[Dewey]

I don't hunt crop fields but shine them a lot. Right now it's very obvious as always deer are avoiding yellow beans but are still in hay and corn fields. I usually find lot's of white oaks on marsh islands but this year the ground is bare everywhere I have looked.

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[warhog23]

Id say look at the alfalfa and pumpkin patches... and on cold days if u know of a place with indian corn is great from my experience but ur a little ways from PA so just giving my 2 cents

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[warhog23]

And i have a late planted bean field on one of my prime areas and willl be scouting that here before the state opener more but they're still green and ive seen a nice ten and a big eight so fingers crossed... And ive had good luck with buck encounters in yellow beans but this is on unpressured land

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[cbay]

With very little to no acorns this year.In my area. Are the deer going to continue to use the yellowed and brown beans that they would normally be avoiding at this time period? If not what to look for.

Stash, the deer should stop hitting the beans when they turn. They will be back when they dry down / get combined and nail the spillage. If you have lots of beans around then when they yellow it should help to narrow down the remaining food sources.

[JoeRE]

Deer will be back in the beans and corn as it turns colder and they get picked. Seems like they really like going through fresh picked fields of both.

Now and for the next few weeks, till the first good frost I think, the biggest draws on lean acorn years are alfalfa and clover fields. But also watch maple leaves and soft mast like maple and boxelder seeds around here. Last year we had virtually no acorns and I saw deer feeding heavily on pignut hickories.

[Stanley]

Most of the other browse sources are green until the bean brown up. That said when the beans brown up you have about 2 -3 weeks and they will get combined. The deer love the chaff/beans left behind the combines.

[stash59]

Thanx guys.

I haven't done alot of hunting in areas with beans. Yes deer are primarally browse animals. In ag areas they will browse on their way to a preferred ag food source. There is corn in some places but the farmers seem to be primarally on a bean year around here. Without the acorns I was wondering if, like the debate over red oak or white oak. Would the deer feed on the not so preferred beans in this case. There is some alfalfa in the area, but most fields are farther away from what I can hunt. I have beans in or next door to many pieces I'm hunting.

Just thought maybe the beans would be a place the deer may head toward to hit first on their way to better choices. Since the acorns are basically non existent this year.