soybean/wheat = deer ?

[heavyBullet]

The the two small pastures on the small farm I hunt have been planted for the first time in many years. The property is divided by a road. On one side of the road wheat has been planted, and on the other side soybean.

My question is, at what stage of growth are these crops more attractive to deer ? and when are these crops normally harvested??

 

[sunray]

Deer love everything about soy beans. They can be very destructive to soy bean fields. They usually feed on soy bean plants in the Spring, but setting up a blind overlooking a soy bean field during hunting season isn't a bad thing. Don't think it'd be illegal either. Baiting deer usually is but hunting over a field isn't.
I believe deer will ignore wheat. Wheat being a grass.
Soy beans are harvested in late Fall. Does depend on where the field is though.
Have a look at this. The company sells food plot seed(one of their brand names is Imperial 30-06. snicker.) and there's a good reply to an FAQ under "Why do I need to plant a food plot..." question about half way down.
http://www.magnummarketing.net/en/?page_id=118

 

[John Y Cannuck]

Deer eat wheat when it is green shoots, not so much into the headed grain.
Soybeans, and white beans they eat all the time. They even come back to harvested fields, and eat beans the combine missed.

 

[fergie.17]

i watch deer across the road in a 20 acre soybean field everyday and watch turkeys and deer everyday in our 35 acres in the back of the house. always in the evening at the moment. during the winter i watched dozens of deer in the 20 acres in the front after it was harvested and of course it was after hunting season. this is the first year we have enything other than hay since we bought and it's been years that the fields have been seeded in hay.
we'll see what happens this fall or should i say october 1-4 when they'll be easier to pattern....
the farmer that does our fields is getting a freeby from me as long as he plants what i want.

 

[fergie.17]

actually after writing the last post i felt like going for a ride. don't mind the crappy pics they were taken with my crackberry torch.
busted two does and three fawns but this one stayed for a photo op.

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this one is far but in the field across the road and the deer had just come out of the beans into the hay, she's bye herself but there was half a dozen about an hour ago. she's right in the middle of the pic at the edge of the hay field. don't know if you can zoom in but again, crappy blackberry photo.

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[fergie.17]

it's easier to see them with the spotting scope.

 

[heavyBullet]

So the deer are probably eating the wheat now as we speak, but will not later on in the fall, but the they will feed on the soy bean right up until it is harvested. Good info to know, thank you guys

My spot is about 300yards into the woods from the wheat filed, and about 400yards(and across a road) from the soybean field. Hopefully the deer will be hangin out near my hunting spot before heading out to the fields.

 

[Deerdr]

Deer like soy beans from emergence to 2 feet of snow to after snow goes. Because wheat is a grass, it grows from bottom so tips are old vegetation. Clover grows from the top and new growth is always fresh at top. After the wheat is harvested the lost seeds sprout and if not plowed it can make good deer feed. As is winter wheat planted in Sept. You are wise to hunt the runways to the crops instead of the crops. Unless you are have gigantic fields, hunting pressure in the fields will turn them nocturnal. Deer are naturally crepuscular. Respectfully Jim

 

[heavyBullet]

Thats exactly what I did DeerDr, I Hunted the runways, my buddy hunted the field and he never seen one deer.