# Eagle Soybeans



## shortmag (Nov 26, 2008)

I wanted to pass along some information regarding Eagle Seed Forage Soybeans. We planted them at our place in Wilcox county on the first of May, 2010. We used an electric fence to keep the deer out for seven weeks, which worked with a 100% success rate. When we dropped the fence they started smashing them right away. These forage beans are very drought and forage resistant. When we let them in, the plants were about mid-thigh high. They fed on them all the way through the drying down period at which point they were over six feet tall. I will do my best to post some pictures. The plants produced over 200 pods per plant with three or four beans per pod. Here in mid-January, the deer are still eating beans (which we left standing). We planted two ten acre fields and mixed the beans with corn and had an unbelievable stand of both. Never had a lot of rain, just timely rain. 

The distributor that I purchased the seed from is Don Willis out of Rome, GA. His website is www.dbwoutdoors.com and his cell phone number is (706) 506-0204. Visit his website or give him a call with any questions you may have. I have absolutely no interest or stake in his business. His service before and after the sale has been incredible and he is extremely knowledgeable in all aspects of whitetail nutrition. His deadline for ordering for the Spring planting is February 15. I know it's early, but Eagle Seed sells out of the seed and it happens earlier every year. 

This is the first year we have planted these beans and the results have been amazing. This is our 6th year hunting our place and the heaviest deer we've ever killed was 215 lbs. Last month I shot a buck that weighed 256 lbs. I'm not saying it was 100% a result of the ag and that everyone that plants them will see jumps that large, but it certainly helped. All of our weights have been up and the same is true for our antler size. Good luck for the rest of the season.


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## shortmag (Nov 26, 2008)

*pic of 256*


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## Wharf Rat (Sep 27, 2007)

Chris - that you? Lowdown told me about it, but I didn't realize how huge it was!!! Give me a shout sometime if you still have my digits.

Hall


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## shortmag (Nov 26, 2008)

yea, it's me. don't have your number anymore. hell it's been a year


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## shortmag (Nov 26, 2008)

*Beans Pic*


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## Wharf Rat (Sep 27, 2007)

shortmag said:


> yea, it's me. don't have your number anymore. hell it's been a year


I know, I know. I'm a slacker. Dammit man...that's a beast of a deer. I'll be up that way the next two weekends, we should have a cold beverage. I'll PM you my number.


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## Beaver Creek Kid (Jan 16, 2011)

Wow, That has got to bring a smile to your face. Very Nice indeed.


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## Bone Yard (Feb 2, 2009)

I would definitely say thats a well feed monster deer. Thanks for the info. I've been researching what to plant this spring. You have proof positive. I'm convienced. How well did your corn produce with the beans being so thick? Did you row or scatter your seed?


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## CHUMM BUCKET (Jul 2, 2008)

*beans*

whats did it cost you to plant?


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## shortmag (Nov 26, 2008)

We broadcast both seeds at the same time. It was not optimal or recommeded, but we were up against the calendar. Our seed bed was garbage, so we broadcast and dragged after cutting and discing. We will be drilling the seed in this year. The corn made very well. We had two to three ears per plant and they were over 12 inches long. As for the cost, I don't remember off the top of my head, but Don can certainly help you on that end. The corn and the beans are roundup ready which is a tremendous help for weed control. That's one big difference between these beans and some other ag type and forage type beans.


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## tyler0421 (Jan 10, 2008)

Nice buck and good looking plot! Which eagle variety did you plant? large lad, big fellow etc...?


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## shortmag (Nov 26, 2008)

We planted large lad and big fellow. The leaves were about the size of a dvd at full size.


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## bcbz71 (Dec 22, 2008)

Brad at Eagle seeds recommended the Game Keeper over the Wildlife Manager's mix for Florida. They work well if your plots are 2 acres or better and you can keep the deer off them for 8-12 weeks.

Here is Brad's justification for Eagle Game Keepers:

_"Game Keeper would be a better choice. It has 80% Large Lad and 20% Whitetail Thicket by weight. Wildlife Managers Mix has 25% Large Lad, 25% Whitetail Thicket, 25% ES4333, and 25% ES4818. The last two are earlier maturing ag types, which you do not need in Florida. They mature way too early. "_


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## shortmag (Nov 26, 2008)

Yea, I'd definitely take his recommendations. I don't know a fraction of what he knows. As I mentioned, Don is a great resource also. A friend of mine planted some in the Brewton area and had great success. Keeping them out is the most critical component to having a long term food source. The e-fence was the best move we made (other than buying the beans to begin with).


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## WW2 (Sep 28, 2007)

Illinois is full of big deer, drive down the road and you will see Corn and Beans. That is a magical blend.


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## eddiem84 (Nov 3, 2010)

On the website it says $82 for Big Fellow/Large Lad, I assume that is for a 50 pound bag?

Does anyone know how that price compares to other brands/dealers?


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## shortmag (Nov 26, 2008)

The cost from dealer to dealer will all be about the same. Roundup ready brings a higher price, but the benefit of weed control is worth it. Compared to other brands, I don't know. Don can help you with that. They will definitely be more costly than a traditional ag bean (not forage variety). However, the drought and browse resistance is not even close in comparison. These things are unreal. The deer take a bite, the plant grows even more. I've never seen anything like it.


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## eddiem84 (Nov 3, 2010)

shortmag said:


> The cost from dealer to dealer will all be about the same. Roundup ready brings a higher price, but the benefit of weed control is worth it. Compared to other brands, I don't know. Don can help you with that. They will definitely be more costly than a traditional ag bean (not forage variety). However, the drought and browse resistance is not even close in comparison. These things are unreal. The deer take a bite, the plant grows even more. I've never seen anything like it.


Thanks. I'm working on setting up a lease for next season near your area, so it is nice to know what is working around there. I'd like to use something that is proven to work, but I'm going to have to talk other members into shelling out the extra money. Most of these guys have never even planted for summer on previous leases, so it's going to be a challenge in itself just talking them into that!

I guess I shouldn't have said different dealer, I guess I meant comparable/similar products. I know it's definitely more expensive than a traditional bean, I just wonder how much more?


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## tyler0421 (Jan 10, 2008)

bcbz71 said:


> Brad at Eagle seeds recommended the Game Keeper over the Wildlife Manager's mix for Florida. They work well if your plots are 2 acres or better and you can keep the deer off them for 8-12 weeks.
> 
> Here is Brad's justification for Eagle Game Keepers:
> 
> _"Game Keeper would be a better choice. It has 80% Large Lad and 20% Whitetail Thicket by weight. Wildlife Managers Mix has 25% Large Lad, 25% Whitetail Thicket, 25% ES4333, and 25% ES4818. The last two are earlier maturing ag types, which you do not need in Florida. They mature way too early. "_


 
Where did you buy yours from? straight from eagle or dbw?


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## shortmag (Nov 26, 2008)

I got mine from dbw. He delivered them which helped out tremendously on shipping. I know he has clients in south Georgia, NW Florida, and us near Camden. If you're anywhere near one of those areas, he can get them to you pretty easily. He'll let you know.


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## Bone Yard (Feb 2, 2009)

Thanks Shortmag! OH, and welcome back to the forum.


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## SKATR JIM (Oct 2, 2007)

Just wanted to give my support to Don Willis and Eagle Beans.

1)These beans are UNREAL. Search online and read about them. They have become the default summer foodplot for Dr. Grant Woods and most members of the QDMA foodplot forum. The comments you will read about them will seem hard to believe, but as far as I can tell people have undersold these beans. The more the deer eat them, the faster they grow. They are unlike any soybean you have ever seen. If you plant summer plots, you owe it to yourself to give these a try.

2) Don's service is second to none. Most seed guys will sell you a product, pat you on the back and tell you Good Luck. Not Don. He will answer ANY and ALL of your questions, at ANY hour of the day. However much you think you like talking about deer, Don likes doing it twice as much. Don talked us through the entire process of planting our plots. I bet 50 calls were placed to him, and he answered every one of them. I can't speak highly enough about Don and his services.

3) The guy on Don's page standing in the dried out beans looks like a total stud.


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## R. Long (Apr 22, 2009)

3) The guy on Don's page standing in the dried out beans looks like a total stud. 

Oh look its a oger in your beans roofus


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## bcbz71 (Dec 22, 2008)

- We got ours from DBW last year. He delivered them to Dothan, AL and we drove up from Panama City, FL to get them. 

- Last year, Brad quoted me this price directly from Eagle Seeds. You can use that to compare to DBW's price: _*2 bags of Game Keeper at $73.50 each plus $4 for inoculant each and $25.84 each for UPS shipping. Total is $206.68*_


- Soybeans are hands down the best spring crop for many reasons, but if your plot is not at least 2 acres (preferrably 5 acres), I would not bother with them. We tried some plots less than 1 acre and were successful in keeping the deer off them until they were waist high and in a week they were nothing but stems.

- Optimal pH is 6. And make sure you hit them hard with phophorous and potassium....they make their own nitrogen. 0-30-30 or some derivative of that with the first number (nitrogen) being as low as you can get.


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## Tightline (Oct 4, 2007)

This is great information, but I would like to know more about the electric fence. (power source, hight, strands, spacing etc...)


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## shortmag (Nov 26, 2008)

Tightline said:


> This is great information, but I would like to know more about the electric fence. (power source, hight, strands, spacing etc...)


We cut 2 ft pieces of rebar and pounded them into the ground leaving about 6-8 inches above the ground. They were spaced about every 30 ft. Then we slid a 10 foot piece of pvc (1.5 inch, I think) over the rebar to keep it standing. We drilled holes in the pvc and connected the hot wire to the pipe with a small piece of wire looped through the holes. We did five strands 16 inches apart. We used ten foot t-posts for support and strength at corners and direction changes and about every 120 ft. in straight aways. Thats what we did last year. This year we are going to do a totally different system. Same materials, but a different setup. Go to the gallagher fence website and check out their food plot protection systems. Their stuff is expensive but works great. I will do their type of system but with my rebar, pvc, etc. I will use their turbo wire and turbo tape this year. We used ten mile chargers and they worked great with 17 ga. wire. Their website has drawings and diagrams that help. We figured ours out on our own and it worked, but it was a lot more work than it had to be. Basically, there was no way that a grounded deer could ever hit the top two wires on our fence. Yes it was a visual deterrent, but all the deer that got zapped were zapped by the bottom three. Once a deer jumps and hits the wire, obviously, it can't shock them if they're not standing on the ground. You will see why the gallagher fence system makes more sense and works. I know this sounds confusing, but hopefully after viewing that site, it'll make more sense. Good luck and let me know if I need to try and make it more clear.


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