During deer season, once November hits, we basically abandon hunting over Bean fields that have been cut due to not seeing deer here in central IN. On the contrary, cut cornfields seem to be a magnet for deer. I was wondering if the same could be said for Fox and coyote? Are they more attracted to cornfields or bean fields? The reason I ask, is last year my best hunting property was corn and I saw many predators. This year it is beans, and I am not seeing any and I’m not trapping any for now for over two weeks. Just wondering if anyone has any insight on this.


Thanks

Corn fields are always better. More cover = more food.

Thought so….thank you

The prey (mice/rats, etc) will be where the residual grain is. Where would the fox and coyotes go to catch that prey?

Family owns a 350 acre farm in MO River bottom. Year or so ago I had occasion to be down in the bottoms this time of year looking at it, and noted there wasn't a sprig of cover within half a mile of where I was standing. Tenants had fall worked all the ground and it seemed to be devoid of all life...plant or animal. But what there was were coyote tracks in the snow and lots of them. They were running a field road that ran north and south from river levee north well over a mile towards wooded bluff area. For them, a heavy travel route and when you came to a drainage ditch culvert that ran under the road, every one of them had checked it out. Hay sets on either end of that culvert would likely fill up in no time. And again, not a sprig of cover anywhere near it.

One of the things I like to do this time of year is when we get a fresh snow, go looking for tracks, and when you find a set, get on em and follow them. See where they go and what they do. Most of the time it is not what I would expect.

Decided to follow my own advice. Had about 4 inches of snow last night........so took a walk. Found this about half a mile down the road........and about 50 feet from where I expected them to be.




And this about 1/4 mile north of my house. Also about 50 yards or so from same place they always use. That was fresh..........less than an hour old. Had I not been looking down for tracks and up at the horizon, I might have spotted this one running.




Unfortunately can't trap these places. Lots of domestics running around and land is tied up in a bitter multi-tenant feud. I was pushing it to walk back there to look for the tracks.

Awesome Hayday! Went myself and found lots of fresh tracks in places I never expected. Set 3 sets and a CR directly on fresh tracks. Illl report back later if they work

In our area most acres get a lot of liquid manure after harvest and then chiseled so residue is about 30% of what it would be w/o tillage. Liquid manure is not a real attractant either. On the fields that are not tilled the deer, turkeys etc. are in both corn and beans. We don't have as nice level land as many bean areas do and we have stones so the combine heads run a bit higher here and we plant mostly 2.0-2.2 and lower for bean maturity which causes lower pod setting in shorter vines. With the use of shredder heads the residue in corn fields is not as tall either. We seem to have less field loss in corn than beans due to what I laid out above. This year due to some real changes in our hunting plans I hunted around 4 soybean fields that were woven in suburbs. Lot of deer and turkeys but not many shooting lanes. Deer were out every night in the bean fields.

Bryce

In my area bean stubble is better for yotes than corn. If the ground is worked it isn't good for any critter.

I do better on yotes in bean stubble but everything else like beaver and coon give me corn.