holy browse

Here is a pic of part of my 4 acre bean plot that is bordered by corn. I could not find a plant that did not have the top browsed off. I know a lot of areas have deer populations that are low, but not us. Wow, haven’t seen this kind of browse pressure ever before.

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   browsed-beans.jpg
   

Hmmmm. Do you think the deer know something about the coming winter that we don’t?

It could be a sign. A bad, bad sign.

Grouse

Todders’ beans were also heavily browsed.

So riddle me this. We don’t see much if any browse on our beans in SD. The deer are there, we see them all the time on camera and in person.

kooty wrote:

Todders’ beans were also heavily browsed.

So riddle me this. We don’t see much if any browse on our beans in SD. The deer are there, we see them all the time on camera and in person.

It’s a good point. My guess would be relationship to cover, but that’s just a guess.

I wonder if soil conditions don’t impact the taste such that beans grown in certain soils taste FAR better to deer?

Grouse

I tell my buddies how much the deer love them over here and they just scoff. We seem them in our alfalfa primarily.

I’d say it’s about prefered browse and for sure cover near the beans. My beans are bordered with standing corn so the deer feel very safe in there and the wood line is 20 yards away. Your deer may prefer alfalfa, at least this time of year and will switch to the beans when they dry up and the alfalfa freezes.

I have beans at home also and a 60 acre bean field right next door. My plots are definitely getting hit, but they are also spending a lot of time in the field next door.

Grouse might be on to something with he soil type affecting the taste, that is a great theory!

But to contradict everything I have just said, I have never known deer to not like, no LOVE beans as an early and late food source. All my experiences with beans is deer will crawl through broken glass to get them.

I know. It’s so weird. I’m gonna have to get a plot watcher camera going next year to further investigate this phenomena.

It probably has something to do with availability of a more preferred food. I have friends that have brassicas in western WI that have been barely touched at this time and a friend near Bemidji MN and his brassica plots are chewed to the ground plus lots of half eaten bulbs laying everywhere.