Soybeans for deer

[marty]

Just wondering if anyone has ever planted soybeans for deer? Will they grow in sandy loam soil? Thinking about putting in about 1/2 acre for a warm season plot. I have heard they will freeze out first good frost so probably wouldn't last till hunting season. Any info would be great. Happy hunting..marty

[SalmonSlayer]

On the contrary Marty...soy beans will last well into winter. Yes, they may be dead and useless for harvesting, but the deer eat the heck out of em! A few years ago I hunted a soy bean field both in October bow season and november gun season. Even after the field was harvested, the deer came back to graze on the missed beans. There was a single row of beans no longer than 20 ft about 50yds away from my stand. I saw probably 20-30 deer opening week of gun season graze on that small strip. Even when snow was on the ground, the deer dug through it to find the dropped beans! I may plant some beans next to my clover this year and see how it does. Oh yeah, the soil was very sandy by my stand.

Do you know what month is best to plant soy beans? I don't.

Best of Luck,
Ben

[marty]

Thanks Ben for the info. I believe anytime after the threat of frost has been gone would be a good time. Going to try them. I don;t know if I will go with rows maybe try to broadcast them. Don't know if they would choke each other out or not. I guess the only way to find out is to try it. Good luck marty

[Slugshot1]

Marty, beans are less suceptible to frost than many crops. That is one reason why you see farmers plant them before their cornfields. It is hard to plant soybeans too thick. I read on one bag of beans that you can plant them up to a rate of 80 pounds per acre. That's thick. Of course that would be with a grain drill and proper spacing, depth, etc. Broadcasting should work fine and they will grow just about anywhere. Since you are not harvesting them and are only interested in foodplots, you should have good enough results no matter how hard you try to screw up the planting. :)
Just make sure they get buried and with as little air around them as you can.