If velvet beans are such a good deer food, how do I prevent deer from eating the young velvet bean plants in my deer plots?
A. Good question. Deer will browse velvet bean ‘forage’, but the forage is not a preferred food if other quality deer browse is available (natural or planted). The real value of velvet beans for deer is the high protein/high energy seed pods and seeds produced during the fall. These seed pods provide a buffet of high quality food for deer during the bleak late winter months. Since velvet beans are planted well after frost, there should be ample natural deer browse available to attract deer away and prevent over-browsing of velvet bean forage in the plots.
