Stand Strategy Dilemma

[Culvercreek hunt club]

OK guys here is my problem. I have four feilds all soybean....the deer are pounding them. I had a hard time finding a time to hang trail cams without busting deer out of the feilds. the is a small strip of boarder brush...about 10 yards around the feilds...after that no permission to hunt. Surrounding area on adjacent property is classic thick bedding area. The perimeter is LOADED with trails entering the beans and every night they seem to take a different route into the feild with no pattern that I can identify. I don't have enough stand or cameras to cover all these entry points....very frustratiing trying to corner something entering a 80 acre area.

I got 2 cameras up last night and about an hour later they came into the feild from the opposite side....11 bucks last night and I know 3 are probably 120-130 and the BIG boy is all of 150.

Any advice on cornering these guys?

[WNYBuckHunter]

If they are strictly soybean fields, Id say not to put too much stock in them. This time of the year is when soybeans get hit the hardest, because they are still soft and the greens are fresh. Once they brown up and the beans dry, the deer will not eat them. Ive been seeing deer in every bean field for the last week or so, but that will come to an end before long. Also remember, you cannot pattern the deer for hunting season right now, they are in a summer time feeding pattern. Once we get closer to season and the velvet starts coming off, they are going to completely change their patterns.

If you really want stands on that field, set up on the inside corners.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

They aren't 100% bean. I see them back off when they brown also but they seen to return to pick up leftovers at the end of gun when pickings start to get slim...assuming they aren't plowed under. This farmer is not plowing them under this fall. I have stand at the corners and at both ends of a brush corridor through the middle....just damn frustrating. same issue last year and when they can just wander in any place they wish it turns into a crap shoot.

Thanks

[WNYBuckHunter]

HAHA, yeah it can be a pain on big fields. It might be a good place for late season if the beans are just left in there.

I have been glassing alot of bean fields lately though, some nice bucks around our neck of the woods this year. 

[Doewhacker]

You could put some article of clothing at the spots you aren't hunting and then play the wind. They will skip the spots with human odor and if you get the wind right come out close to you. But then again you might ruin it for yourself and spook all the deer out.

[Geno C]

They aren't 100% bean. I see them back off when they brown also but they seen to return to pick up leftovers at the end of gun when pickings start to get slim...assuming they aren't plowed under. This farmer is not plowing them under this fall. I have stand at the corners and at both ends of a brush corridor through the middle....just damn frustrating. same issue last year and when they can just wander in any place they wish it turns into a crap shoot.

Thanks

yeah they will usually come back to hit them even being brown at the end of the season. Ive seen plenty bucks come back to the beans near the end of the season when the bucks get back to hitting food soruces... ive seen deer hit the soy even after some frosts. i always thought the leaves became more palatable to the deer when the sugers rush to the leaves.

if i were you i would try to get to the feilds before the deer make there way out to it. watch it for a few days and observe 2 things, wind direction and what time the deer come out on different wind directions. i dont see why you can get in there to hang a few cams and since you think there is no ryhme or reason on how the deer enter that filed. Trust me there is! Take note to wind direction, you may not even see deer during certain wind directions during evening day light hours. ive been observing wind directions and how deer enter a field and where. I will tell you wind dependent, it is different almost everytime on how they enter it... and plays a huge role on how they approch, scent check and visually inspect the field before breaking out on to it. i can put myself within 100 yards of where the deer may enter the 50 acre field just but prior recon and observing the deer pattern in correlation to the wind. just spend some seat time and take notes. the best advise i can give you is scent blocker up and take the steps to remain as un seen or scented as possible!

hope that helps some!

[Geno C]

You could put some article of clothing at the spots you aren't hunting and then play the wind. They will skip the spots with human odor and if you get the wind right come out close to you. But then again you might ruin it for yourself and spook all the deer out.

im not so sure i would go that route only because if he is seeing deer that may call home close by and enter that field daily, you might not want to disturb that. he may want these deer to be as natural as possible and bring himself to pattern these deer by watching visually and using trail cams. although there is a chance they can change there patterns by deer season chances are if he leaves well enough alone and takes note to the wind observes the deer scent free and not being spotted and places himself is the right spot come bow season, he MIGHT just be able to get the drop on a nice deer who may be still in his pattern prior to hunting season... we know once hunting season pops and deer sense that, you tend to see there patterns change up.

just my .02

[Doc]

This is not just a problem with soybean fields. I have seen the same thing with corn fields years back when we still had a few farms in the area. A jillion well-used trails coming off the hills and into the corn and never set up on the right one ...... lol. The same thing is true when acorns are plentiful. The deer just meander through the oak stands just letting the acorns randomly lead them wherever they go. During bow season, this can be a real problem. During gun season where you can reach out a ways, you can usually set up where you can cover more of the possible entry/exit points. Rifle country gets even better. That's what makes bowhunting a heavy duty challenge.

Doc

[fasteddie]

Instead of concentrating on the soy bean fields , i'd be trying to figure what food source the deer will have once the beans are harvested . I havn't seen deer eat the beans . Just the fresh green tops . Anyway the beans are usually gone before mid October .

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I don't know all that much about soy. He didn't plant it until he harvested his rye straw...so only been in the ground about a month. He used a no till application ...maybe a soil drill. I was hoping that being planted late is might have made the first frost green and still been attracting. He did tell me he wasn't tilling it in this year so at the least maybe it will be a pull for gun season.