yoderjac
5 year old buck +
With my deer densities, growing soybeans has been a challenge. Without the protection of a gallagher style E-fence, deer killed any ag beans I planted and kept Eagle Forage beans naked all summer until I finally got up to 7 acres planted. My beans now mature and form pods. I also found that a very light mix of corn (7:1 by weight) has some protective value on the beans, provides some vertical cover to encourage more shooting hour use, and provides the added attractant of corn.
I'm in central VA, so bean pods are not used much by my deer. The fields stand all winter with few pics of deer but lots of turkey use. Summer is my major stress period, so the primary purpose is summer food. The Eagle beans are late maturity, so they are green and attractive through the first part of our archery season, but after that, they lose their appeal.
Back when deer were keeping my Eagle beans naked all summer, I would simply broadcast a cover crop into the standing beans like you do with Ag beans once they start to turn yellow. Because of the late maturity of the Eagle beans and how tall and thick they grow, broadcasting a cover crop becomes problematic. You can't walk through the beans, because they grow so thick and if I wait until they turn yellow, it is too late for most cover crops in my area. Besides, I don't want to be farming during hunting season. I also noticed that once the beans get ahead of my deer, the interior of the plots get little use. Deer love edges.
So, this year I tried something different. My plots are on a pipeline that is 60-80 yards wide. This year when I drilled my beans, I left 6'-8' lanes every 30 feet that were not planted. These lanes do have some beans and corn in some of them from volunteers of previous years crops, but mostly they are open:
Why 6'-8' lanes every 30' ? It is enough room for my ATV with a boomless sprayer and my sprayer with adaptation reaches about 30'.
When I first got the sprayer, I noticed that it did a good job on the sides, but left an unsprayed area directly behind the ATV. So, I added a regular boom sprayer type nozzle directly behind the ATV. I also have valves so I can turn any of the nozzles on or off individually for doing edges. I noticed that once I added the boom type nozzle on the rear, I could then rotate the boomless nozzles on the side a little further and increase my spray distance a couple feet beyond spec as well as get the spray a bit higher to avoid corn stalks knocking it down too quickly.
This is step 1. My next step involves a bushhog. As hard as it is to cut something down you've worked to plant, that is what I plan to do. Once my Eagle beans get ahead of the deer and reach the tipping point, the deer couldn't come close to eating all the forage they provide.
While much of my personal buck hunting time is spent on trails leading to food or small 1/4 - 1/3 acre food plots, we have stands for harvesting does and so I can take kids out on the pipeline. In another week or two, I plan to bushhog flat semi-circles through the beans from these stands. I'll probably do 6'-8' paths again. These will be at roughly 30 and 50 yards from the stand. I will then bushhog radial shooting lanes out from the stand cutting through these semicircles.
The idea is to create more edges for deer, provide shooting lanes, and to open some ground for a cover crop. When the second half of August rolls around, I plan to walk these lanes and paths and surface broadcast tuber type brassica (PTT & Radish). I'll come back in September and broadcast winter rye.
I'll try to take some more pictures as things progress.
Thanks,
Jack
I'm in central VA, so bean pods are not used much by my deer. The fields stand all winter with few pics of deer but lots of turkey use. Summer is my major stress period, so the primary purpose is summer food. The Eagle beans are late maturity, so they are green and attractive through the first part of our archery season, but after that, they lose their appeal.
Back when deer were keeping my Eagle beans naked all summer, I would simply broadcast a cover crop into the standing beans like you do with Ag beans once they start to turn yellow. Because of the late maturity of the Eagle beans and how tall and thick they grow, broadcasting a cover crop becomes problematic. You can't walk through the beans, because they grow so thick and if I wait until they turn yellow, it is too late for most cover crops in my area. Besides, I don't want to be farming during hunting season. I also noticed that once the beans get ahead of my deer, the interior of the plots get little use. Deer love edges.
So, this year I tried something different. My plots are on a pipeline that is 60-80 yards wide. This year when I drilled my beans, I left 6'-8' lanes every 30 feet that were not planted. These lanes do have some beans and corn in some of them from volunteers of previous years crops, but mostly they are open:
![a54c3fa1-d9f3-4b2a-8db8-411f452a0bcf.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yotechs.com%2FYotechsPhotoServer%2FUserUploads%2F111dcd1a-c90d-4405-806b-11c055cd7122%2Fa54c3fa1-d9f3-4b2a-8db8-411f452a0bcf.jpg&hash=ded1017c25954d42c91d2856b7cddde7)
Why 6'-8' lanes every 30' ? It is enough room for my ATV with a boomless sprayer and my sprayer with adaptation reaches about 30'.
![193d7803-14ec-409d-948d-d601c831e424.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yotechs.com%2FYotechsPhotoServer%2FUserUploads%2F111dcd1a-c90d-4405-806b-11c055cd7122%2F193d7803-14ec-409d-948d-d601c831e424.jpg&hash=66f4561b8b21460675c8ea5443002cbd)
![38823a5f-2928-4f7a-8407-8d223a7df15a.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yotechs.com%2FYotechsPhotoServer%2FUserUploads%2F111dcd1a-c90d-4405-806b-11c055cd7122%2F38823a5f-2928-4f7a-8407-8d223a7df15a.jpg&hash=da95eca6d87fc19d5c537615d550af97)
When I first got the sprayer, I noticed that it did a good job on the sides, but left an unsprayed area directly behind the ATV. So, I added a regular boom sprayer type nozzle directly behind the ATV. I also have valves so I can turn any of the nozzles on or off individually for doing edges. I noticed that once I added the boom type nozzle on the rear, I could then rotate the boomless nozzles on the side a little further and increase my spray distance a couple feet beyond spec as well as get the spray a bit higher to avoid corn stalks knocking it down too quickly.
This is step 1. My next step involves a bushhog. As hard as it is to cut something down you've worked to plant, that is what I plan to do. Once my Eagle beans get ahead of the deer and reach the tipping point, the deer couldn't come close to eating all the forage they provide.
While much of my personal buck hunting time is spent on trails leading to food or small 1/4 - 1/3 acre food plots, we have stands for harvesting does and so I can take kids out on the pipeline. In another week or two, I plan to bushhog flat semi-circles through the beans from these stands. I'll probably do 6'-8' paths again. These will be at roughly 30 and 50 yards from the stand. I will then bushhog radial shooting lanes out from the stand cutting through these semicircles.
The idea is to create more edges for deer, provide shooting lanes, and to open some ground for a cover crop. When the second half of August rolls around, I plan to walk these lanes and paths and surface broadcast tuber type brassica (PTT & Radish). I'll come back in September and broadcast winter rye.
I'll try to take some more pictures as things progress.
Thanks,
Jack
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