Eagle Seed Beans in the North States
Filed under: Ask Grant, Food Plots
Grant, As I walked out my front door this morning with calm winds and frost on the ground I wished that I was heading to the woods this morning rather than to school to teach, but I will do that tonight. A cold front pushed through last night with 30-35 mile per hour winds which lead to a calm and clear morning, I am sure deer were/are on the move this morning. What I am writing you about is that our property will be getting logged here over the next 8 months and my dad and I are thinking of changing our clover plot over to Eagle Seed beans. The plot is going to be utilized as a landing zone for timber, which will mean the plot will have to be reworked when completed. This particular plot rests between two ridges and is completely surrounded by timber; it is 175 yards long by 35 yards wide. After seeing how long the Eagle Seed beans stay green, we felt that we could get the best of both worlds if we switched from clover to beans, with green forage for an extended period of time and then a great late season food source. What are your thoughts on this? Also, we currently have four brassica/turnip plots, and I have read that it is not good to keep planting brassica plots year after year as a rotation is needed. Is this true? We apply fertilizer year after year, and a couple of our plots are better than they ever have been, but I am attributing a lot of that to the sufficient amount of moisture that we had in August and September. Hitting the woods tonight to try and score on one of our hit list bucks. The time is getting close, I feel like a 1.5 year old buck right now biting at the bit! Have a great day and thanks for all the information on GrowingDeer.tv. I have even used a couple of episodes in my classroom. What a great resource! Ryan
Ryan,
Thanks for the kind words! Eagle Seed forage soybeans are a great food plot crop. When managed correctly, such as planting enough acreage or using a Gallagher Food Plot Protector Fence, Eagle Seed forage beans certainly provide high quality food during both the warm and cool seasons. Managing these beans as a two season crop is about as inexpensive as possible for high quality food production. The fact that they remain green so late during the year means they provide an outstanding attraction during the early deer seasons in most states. Deer are still browsing the forage of the Eagle Seed beans at my place this fall!
The Eagle Seed Northern Blend of Wildlife Managers Mix is perfect for hunters at your latitude (Wisconsin, Minnesota, etc.). Be sure to adequately address the soil compaction that always occurs on active logging decks. Compacted soil will greatly reduce the crop’s production potential.
Crop rotation is a great tool to avoid the reduction of specific trace minerals and the buildup of crop specific pests. The number of years the same crop can be grown at the same site without detrimental affects is dependent on several variables such as weather, soil type, crop, etc.
Growing Deer (and crops) together,
Grant
