What are you looking for?
Copy Link to Share
Share Title

Plant More Soybeans by Grant Woods

Deer love soybeans! They crave the protein rich forage during the summer and the energy rich grains during the winter.

In fact, deer crave soybeans so much that they can totally consume a young soybean crop in smaller fields such as food plots long before hunting season.Does that mean soybeans are a bad choice for food plots? No. It means the smaller the food plot and/or the more deer in the area the more seeds that are required per acre to produce a good crop that will be productive throughout the summer and into the late winter.

Preventing cookies from being stored on your device may interfere with your ability to view video content.

You can adjust your cookie setting by clicking the button below.

Deer (and other critters) will start removing soybean seedlings as soon as they are a few inches tall. So I’ve started planting way more seeds than needed to make a full crop by the end of summer. I know I need to allow for several of the plants being totally consumed or severely damaged by deer browse. That’s why I planted them!

It’s much less expensive to plant an extra bag of seed per acre than it is to prepare another acre of food plot including clearing land, adding fertilizer, etc. In addition, more quality food in a smaller area makes it easier to pattern deer.

If you’ve tried planting soybeans and were discouraged because most of them were consumed long before deer season, try substantially increasing the amount of seed planted. This is an easy way to provide quality forage and create a great stand location!

Growing Deer together,

Grant

Topics
Dr. Grant Woods
Dr. Grant Woods
Raised in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri, Dr. Grant Woods has consulted on wildlife research and management from Canada to New Zealand. A hunter since childhood, he not only knows how to grow big deer, but how to effectively hunt them as well. His work serves to improve deer herd quality and educate hunters about advanced management techniques.