soybeans

[ousoonerfan22]

I read that soybeans have 35% protein so I just bought some and added to the corn in my feeders.Have you guys tried soybeans in your feeders?
When I pulled up to one feeder earlier there was about twenty turkeys under it. A friend raised them and turned loose around thirty 2-3 years ago.I would like to see them make it but I know a neighbor has shot at them during bow season.

[wtnhunt]

Honestly only use corn at one of my cameras, and not the entire year. Am thinking about putting a timed feeder out before next year though and will use a mix of feed with corn and may possibly use soybeans. Not to hunt over, but to get the deer around the camera and further onto our property during shooting hours.

Far as the turkeys go, from what I understand when they were reintroduced out here 8 or 9 years ago, they released 12 dozen pairs or so around us. the population of birds here seems to be thriving depsite the rise in predation from a rising number of yotes.

[gitcha_some]

honestly alot of people say soy beans work well for them, but around my place the deer dont touch them. if its a soybean field, there are all over them while the beans are still standing, but as soon as they are harvesed the deer population drops by half around here because they leave to go find corn fields

[dogdoc]

gitcha--that is true. You will see a big decrease in the deer sightings once the land is harvested but if we are planting them for deer they go unharvested!

todd

[ousoonerfan22]

The deer cleaned them up under the feeder last night this morning there were a lot of tracks and the beans are gone.
The deer are finally feeding in this food plot behind my parents house.
The plots I planted on my brother-in-laws land have been hammered.

[mike]

from what i have noticed, the combines don't drop as many beans as they do corn. so once the field is harvested there isn't much food left in the bean fields. i don't think it has anything to do with preferrence, Quanity

[ousoonerfan22]

Do you guys keep the feeders going all year?
If the deer start feeding well on the soybeans would the high protein help them through out the year?

[dogdoc]

soybeans in the spring and summer--then start adding corn back in midfall when the temps start to fall.

Protein during the antler growing/fawning season. Carbohydrates (corn) during the cold/rut season for heat and energy.

todd

[ousoonerfan22]

Yeah,I remember reading something about not to feed corn during the summer because it's not good for the deer or hard to digest?

[wtnhunt]

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah,I remember reading something about not to feed corn during the summer because it's not good for the deer or hard to digest?

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't know that I believe that completely. Here, the deer are in the corn in the summer big time. Some corn fields around here are picked as early as the beginning of September. Have had deer raid the corn in our garden in July. If they can eat the corn from fields and gardens without ill effects, eating it from a feeder would not be any different would it?

[dogdoc]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Yeah,I remember reading something about not to feed corn during the summer because it's not good for the deer or hard to digest?

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't know that I believe that completely. Here, the deer are in the corn in the summer big time. Some corn fields around here are picked as early as the beginning of September. Have had deer raid the corn in our garden in July. If they can eat the corn from fields and gardens without ill effects, eating it from a feeder would not be any different would it?

[/ QUOTE ]

I've never heard that either. What can make a deer sick is if the flora in the rumen aren't adapted to digest a grain such as corn. Where a deer can get sick is if someone decided a week before season to dump a couple hundred pounds of corn in one spot--then the deer (especially if hungry) over eat and come down with acidosis--a very deadly disease. When feeding corn it is always better to start out with small amounts and gradually increase.

[LETMGROW]

Thank you dogdoc for that info. I have commented on this several times. Especially up here in a normal winter anyone would be doing the deer a huge injustice by putting large amounts of corn out for feed in an area where corn hasn't been in the food supply for a couple months or more.
I have been told by a couple knowledgable biologists a deer can actually starve to death on a full stomach if it were to gorge itself on corn when their systems were not used to it.

[bowhtr1]

The reason you dont feed corn in the summer is the protein content is around 12%. The bucks need on average of 16% protein to reach there full potential (rack). I feed only soybeans in the summer and only corn in the winter for the carbs. If the deer are not eating the beans then you need to mix it with corn at first and then slowly cut out the corn. They will keep coming to the beans. They will cut back some in the summer because of the other food sources growing but they will keep coming to the feeder. If you use soybeans make sure to use a spincast type feeder. The beans will get soggy if you let them get wet. I get 60 lbs bags from the barges on the Miss river for 5 bucks. Cheaper than corn. I just got 10 bags and put 8 in my 8 feeders to start getting them going on the beans and corn mixed.

PS. You will save on feed also because alot of the birds and coons will not eat the beans. You will think it is not good or that the deer dont like it in your area but it is just the fact that mainly deer eat them. I have seen a few rabbits and squirrels eat them.

[anderson3]

dogdoc, you did a good job explaining the corn digestion issue. There is a lot of 'mythology' floating around concerning deer and corn. Corn feeding can certainly do some harm, but not because they can't digest it certain times of year. Starved deer with bellies full of corn (or alfalfa or whatever) have created confusion. Mycotoxins in corn are a particular concern of many in the southern states.

On deer forums and in articles, I hear corn protein content described everywhere from 5% to 12%. Corn kernels are almost always 9 to 10% protein on a dry matter basis. Soybeans vary a little more, but are usually close to 40% protein on a dry matter basis (close to the 35% figure on an as-fed basis). Roasted soybeans are more palatable than raw soybeans, for what that's worth.

As for the ins and outs of feeding deer, that is a bigger issue!

[Tominator]

I plant them every year. This year the deer didn't even let them get over 6" or so, they were completely grazed before ever setting a pod.