Hunting in South Carolina

[sniper13]

I have access to 200a. in Orangeburg, S.C. The land is largely soybean fields with some woodlots scattered about. Does anyone have a "ballpark" idea about when the beans will be harvested? Also, about how long will the deer use the fields after the harvest?

PS: If you want some interesting reading, go to the S.C. Dnr website and try to figure out their rules and regs. In Ga. we have the northern and southern zones, over there they have like 13 "game units", each with it's own rules.
My favorite,(being from Ga.), is that you can't "shine" deer AFTER 11pm.

Any info or ideas about hunting this area will be appreciated.

Sniper13

 

[LKennamer]

It depends on the weather

Depending on rain and other factors, the beans will probably be harvested in the late fall (probably sometime in November). They may be there into December, but much depends on when they were planted and fall rain. Often the beans will be ready but the fields will be too wet for the equipment, you'll notice the SC lowcountry is mighty flat! You might ask the farmer, I'm sure he won't mind telling you when he plans to combine. You are right about the SC regs. But they are not the only states with confusing regs, if you want a lesson in confusion, check out Arizona! Oh, and deer will use the fields as long as there are any beans left easily accessible. I've taken deer in bean fields even after they were plowed under in late December. Of course they were just crossing the open ground, but they tasted the same!

 

[gabowman]

Sniper,

My experiences with bean fields is that the deer feed in those fields until the vines yellow up and die. After the harvest the vines are bush hogged and the open country is over unless you catch a decent buck out in the wide open chasing does during the rut. Now is the time to jump on those fields, hunt the wood lots after the beans are gone.

GB

 

[sniper13]

How?

About a month ago when I was over there, the beans were about waist high or higher. the only way I can see to hunt the fields, is catch 'em on the edge and drop 'em in their tracks. They could have been a herd 20yds into the field and you couldn't see them.

 

[reylamb]

The regs for Orangeburg county are fairly simple, shoot as many bucks as you see every day. Does, only on doe days, or with your doe tags that yuo get with a license purchase. Any weapon any day, there are no "special" seasons in that county.

 

[spongebob]

Beans in the south come out earlier than up north (since they are planted earlier)...typically around 1st 2 weeks of October. But just put you some nice piles of eared corn in strategic locations, it is perfectly legal in SC. Enjoy....

 

[stumpman]

A buddy of mine just killed a nice 11pt with a 21" inside spread he said it weighed 192lbs saw the pic its a nice buck i got out of that club a copuple of yrs ago might need to get back in.

 

[Nitro]

I hunt a club in Bamburg County. We lease 2200 acres and I also have access to 10,000 acres of private farm.

The deer are feeding heavily on acorns and browse currently. We are allowed to bait for deer and they aren't hitting the corn piles at all. They are scarce around cut corn fields and beans- most of that is night feeding habitat. Once the weather cools they should hit those food sources hard.

The 3 does I have killed thus far were in cutover feeding on green browse.

Signs of the rut are increasing. Our rut is usually the second and third week of October. We do see deer breeding activity throughout the season. I witnessed 6 spotted yearlings last week , so there is always a secondary or late breeding cycle here.

Our acorn crop is huge. Water Oaks, White Oaks and Red Oaks appear to have a bumper crop.

We intend to harvest does heavily.