This guide focuses on white-tailed deer around private or public soybean fields. It explains crop-stage scouting, field-edge and staging-cover setups, wind and thermal planning, landowner communication, harvest safety, firearm and bow precautions, legal recovery, and responsible meat care.
Quick Answer
To hunt soybeans, first verify the current hunting rules and obtain legal access. Identify the crop stage, then scout secluded corners, timber points, fence crossings, low green patches, waterways, and trails that connect bedding or staging cover to the field. Choose a setup that keeps your scent away from deer movement and provides a known earthen backstop; never shoot toward roads, homes, livestock, machinery, people, or unknown ground. Rescout immediately when beans yellow, acorns begin falling, or harvest changes the field.
Important Legal and Safety Notice Before You Hunt
Regulations vary by jurisdiction, season, property, species, and hunting method. Check the official wildlife agency and property rules before every hunt.
- Verify licenses, permits, tags, season dates, legal hours, bag limits, harvest reporting, and transport rules.
- Confirm legal firearms, bows, ammunition, blinds, tree stands, cameras, scents, and baiting practices.
- Obtain private-land permission and clarify boundaries, guests, parking, equipment, recovery, and neighboring properties.
- Ask about planting, spraying, irrigation, livestock, harvest, hauling, and machinery schedules.
- Use required blaze orange or other visibility clothing.
- Identify the target and everything beyond it. Never shoot toward movement you cannot clearly identify.
- Use a full-body harness and lifeline for elevated stands and raise an unloaded weapon with a haul line.
- Complete hunter education and hunt with an experienced ethical mentor when possible.
Why Deer Use Soybean Fields
Soybeans can offer multiple food forms through the year. Young and actively growing plants provide tender foliage. Mature plants produce pods and beans. Harvest may leave scattered grain. The field edge also creates a transition between open food and secure cover.
However, soybean use is not constant. Deer may shift because of:
- Planting date and maturity group
- Green-leaf availability and yellowing
- Drought, rain, or browse damage
- Acorn, fruit, clover, corn, or other food availability
- Harvest timing and tillage
- Hunting pressure and human activity
- Distance from secure bedding cover
Soybean Growth Stages and the Hunting Strategy
| Field Condition | How Deer May Use It | Main Hunting Challenge | Scouting Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seedling and early vegetative beans | Tender browsing near cover | Crop damage, short plants, and rapidly changing growth | Tracks, clipped plants, droppings, and edge concentration |
| Tall green beans | Leaves, concealment, and predictable evening feeding | Deer can spread across a large food source | Secluded corners, entry trails, staging cover, and field points |
| Mixed green and yellow patches | Remaining green areas may concentrate feeding | Preference can change within days | Late-planted, shaded, wet, or low green sections |
| Mostly yellow leaves | Reduced green forage use | Deer may switch to mast or another field | Alternative foods, oak cover, travel corridors, and fresh sign |
| Mature standing pods | Potential pod and bean feeding | Use depends on ripeness, weather, and pressure | Tracks, opened pods, corners, and evening observation |
| Freshly harvested soybeans | Waste beans and exposed travel | Machinery, dust, new edges, and rapid pattern changes | Fresh tracks, residue, staging cover, and safe equipment routes |
| Winter standing beans or stubble | High-energy food may become attractive in cold conditions | Snow, wind, exposure, and difficult recovery | Sheltered entry points, pods, grain residue, and daytime feeding |
Field use depends on local conditions. Use direct observation, fresh sign, legal cameras, and landowner information to verify every assumption.
Soybean-Field Features Worth Scouting
Secluded Inside Corners
Timber or brush projecting into the field can reduce open exposure and concentrate entry trails, especially near secure staging cover.
Low Green Patches
Wet, shaded, or late-planted sections may remain green longer than the surrounding field and temporarily act like a food funnel.
Fence Crossings
Look for tracks, hair, worn soil, and repeated trails. Never alter the fence or treat a crossing as permission to enter.
Grassed Waterways
Drainage strips can connect field interiors with cover and provide visible travel. They may also hold water, unstable wind, or machinery traffic.
Hedgerows and Shelterbelts
Linear cover may connect multiple fields and bedding areas. It can also hide roads, buildings, neighbors, workers, and livestock.
Timber Points
A point of cover extending into beans may collect trails from several directions and provide earlier staging movement.
Field Roads and Terrace Lines
Deer may use easy walking routes, but farm operations have priority. Never block a lane or place equipment without approval.
Staging Cover
Brush or young timber between bedding and beans may hold deer during legal light after the main field becomes heavily pressured.
What You Need Before You Start
Legal and Access Information
- Current license, permits, and tags
- Official regulations and property rules
- Documented private-land permission where applicable
- Boundary, recovery, reporting, and transport instructions
Farm and Crop Information
- Soybean planting and maturity timing
- Spraying, irrigation, and harvest schedule
- Approved parking, entry, exit, and equipment locations
- Homes, livestock, workers, machinery, and neighboring parcels
Safety Equipment
- Required visibility clothing
- First aid kit and emergency communication
- Headlamp and backup power
- Full-body harness and lifeline for elevated stands
Observation Tools
- Binoculars
- Legal wind indicator
- Offline map and compass
- Field notes or legal mapping app
Hunting Equipment
- Legal, maintained firearm or bow
- Safe case and transport equipment
- Landowner-approved blind or stand
- Haul line for elevated setups
Recovery and Meat Care
- Clean gloves and tools
- Game bags and cooling plan
- Approved removal route
- Harvest reporting and transport supplies
How to Hunt Soybeans: Step-by-Step Guide
1
Check Current Laws for the Exact Hunt
Confirm species, seasons, legal hours, licenses, tags, bag limits, equipment, baiting rules, stands, cameras, reporting, disease zones, and transport. Never assume farm-crop rules are universal.
2
Obtain Detailed Permission and Farm Instructions
Discuss parking, access, crop rows, workers, livestock, spraying, machinery, harvest, stands, cameras, guests, boundaries, and game recovery. Farm operations always have priority.
3
Identify the Soybean Stage
Determine whether the field is actively green, beginning to yellow, mature with pods, standing late, freshly cut, or tilled. The correct hunting plan changes with the crop.
4
Map Cover, Food Alternatives, and Hazards
Mark bedding cover, oak stands, corn, clover, fruit, water, trails, roads, homes, barns, livestock, workers, public paths, property lines, and safe backstops.
5
Scout the Field Perimeter Carefully
Use approved routes and inspect tracks, droppings, browsed plants, trails, fence crossings, rubs, scrapes, field corners, waterways, and staging cover. Avoid damaging beans or walking sprayed areas.
6
Locate the Current Preferred Portion
Compare green patches, secluded corners, shade, low ground, browse intensity, pod availability, and field-entry timing. Do not assume the entire field is equally attractive.
7
Connect Feeding Activity to Bedding Cover
Identify the routes deer use between beans and secure cover. A staging trail inside timber may offer more legal-light movement than the open field edge.
8
Plan Wind, Entry, and Exit Together
Choose a route and setup that keep scent away from bedding, staging, and entry trails. Plan a screened exit that does not cross feeding deer after dark.
9
Select a Safe Setup and Backstop
Eliminate any direction toward roads, homes, barns, livestock, machinery, people, trails, hidden low ground, or neighboring property. Soybean plants are not a backstop.
10
Install Equipment Without Damaging the Farm
Get permission before placing a blind, stand, camera, marker, or trimming vegetation. Keep all equipment out of field entrances, terrace lines, waterways, irrigation, and machinery routes.
11
Observe With Binoculars and Update the Pattern
Identify movement with optics, record field-entry timing, and monitor crop color, wind, temperature, workers, vehicles, livestock, and other hunters. Be ready to leave when conditions change.
12
Take Only a Legal, Safe, Ethical Opportunity
Act only after positively identifying a legal animal, confirming an unobstructed path and reliable background, and judging the opportunity within your practiced ability. Pass on uncertain or rushed situations.
13
Follow Recovery, Boundary, and Reporting Rules
Complete required tagging and reporting promptly. Stop at property lines, obtain permission before crossing, and protect the crop during recovery.
14
Care for the Harvest and the Property
Use clean gloves and tools, cool edible meat promptly, comply with disease and transport rules, remove trash, close gates as instructed, and notify the landowner when you leave.
Wind, Thermals, Entry, and Exit Around Soybean Fields
Open bean fields expose a hunter’s approach. Timber edges, hedgerows, ditches, buildings, crop height, and temperature changes can still make local wind less predictable than the forecast.
Field-Edge Turbulence
Air crossing open beans may roll when it reaches taller vegetation or timber. Check scent near the deer trail and at the setup, not only at head height.
Evening Cooling
Cooling air may settle toward low patches, waterways, creek bottoms, and ditches. A safe afternoon setup can become poor as sunset approaches.
Morning Warming
Warm sunlight may lift air along an edge, while shaded low beans remain cool. Cloud cover and stronger regional wind can alter the transition.
Entry Rules
- Avoid crossing the feeding field when deer may already be present.
- Use landowner-approved edges, lanes, and cover routes.
- Do not walk through planted rows merely because they conceal movement.
- Arrive early enough to move carefully and identify farm activity.
Exit Rules
- Select an independent exit before choosing the setup.
- Use screening cover rather than walking across the field.
- Arrange any permitted pickup strategy before the hunt.
- Follow all legal-hour, lighting, and weapon-handling requirements.
How to Hunt Soybeans Around Harvest Safely
Harvest can expose waste beans and fresh tracks, but it also turns the property into an active work zone. The farmer, operator, and equipment always have priority.
- Confirm the day’s harvest and hauling plan before entering.
- Keep stands, blinds, cameras, and vehicles away from combines, grain carts, trucks, and turning areas.
- Never assume an operator can see a hunter in dust, low light, or mirrors.
- Stay away from headers, augers, power takeoffs, unloading zones, grain bins, and moving equipment.
- Rescout only after the work area is safe and access is approved.
- Expect fresh edges and residue patterns to change after each pass.
- Leave immediately when the safe separation or farm plan becomes uncertain.
Soybean-Field Setup Options
Staging-Cover Setup
A position inside brush or young timber may intercept deer before they reach the main field and often provides a cleaner exit.
Inside-Corner Setup
A secluded corner can concentrate entry, especially where a timber point, fence, or waterway narrows movement. Verify wind and the complete background.
Remaining-Green-Patch Setup
When most beans yellow, a legal setup near a still-green patch may follow current feeding. Avoid walking through the crop to reach it.
Waterway Setup
A grassy drainage may create interior movement or visibility. Confirm footing, water, machinery use, wind stability, and a safe shooting direction.
Field-Edge Tree Stand
Where legal, an elevated setup can improve observation. Use a full-body harness and lifeline and eliminate unsafe directions before hunting.
Ground Blind
A blind can work on treeless edges with landowner approval. Anchor and mark it as required and keep it clear of harvest, irrigation, livestock, and workers.
Best Time, Place, and Conditions for Soybean Hunting
| Condition | Potential Opportunity | Main Risk | Responsible Response |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green early-season beans | Predictable foliage feeding | Large fields spread deer and summer patterns may change | Glass from a distance and hunt a confirmed entry or staging route. |
| Yellowing beans | Remaining green patches may concentrate use | Deer may leave the field entirely | Rescout acorns and other current foods before hunting. |
| Mature standing pods | Potential late-season grain feeding | Use may be inconsistent until cold weather | Confirm with fresh tracks, pods, cameras, or observation. |
| Fresh harvest | Waste beans and exposed routes | Machinery, workers, dust, and rapid change | Coordinate with the farmer and enter only after the area is safe. |
| Cold front | Increased feeding demand may improve movement | Wind shift, exposure, and difficult recovery | Carry appropriate clothing and maintain conservative shot limits. |
| Light rain | Quiet vegetation and visible tracks | Mud, crop damage, fog, and cooling | Follow wet-weather restrictions and choose safe access. |
| Heavy hunting pressure | Deer may use secluded staging cover | Other hunters and reduced daylight field use | Increase visibility, communicate, and use backup setups. |
Helpful Tips for Better Results
- Track soybean color and maturity as carefully as deer sign.
- Glass fields from a legal distance before walking to the setup.
- Scout the transition from secure cover to beans, not only the open crop.
- Locate still-green patches when surrounding plants turn yellow.
- Watch for a shift to acorns, fruit, corn, clover, or other food.
- Use binoculars instead of a firearm scope for identification.
- Check wind at the setup and at low entry trails.
- Maintain several legal locations for different winds and crop stages.
- Plan the exit before the stand or blind placement.
- Pass whenever target identity, legality, path, background, distance, or recovery is uncertain.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Hunting last week’s food pattern: soybean use can change rapidly with maturity and mast drop.
- Assuming the whole field is equal: browse and daylight movement may concentrate near specific cover.
- Walking across the destination field: use approved screened access.
- Ignoring the exit: feeding deer can trap an edge setup after legal light.
- Using vegetation as a backstop: leaves, stalks, and hedges do not stop projectiles.
- Hunting near active equipment: operators may not see you.
- Leaving a blind in a machinery route: coordinate every placement and removal date.
- Assuming spilled soybeans are legal bait: verify the exact rule and species.
- Overhunting a field edge: pressure can shift entry after dark.
- Crossing a property line during recovery: obtain permission first.
Troubleshooting Common Problems
| Problem | Possible Cause | What to Do |
|---|---|---|
| Deer stopped using green beans | Yellowing, acorn drop, drought, pressure, or another preferred food | Rescout the current food source and travel corridors rather than forcing the old field. |
| Deer enter only after legal light | Exposed edge, repeated pressure, or setup too close to the destination | Move to a legal staging route with a safe wind and cleaner exit. |
| Only one corner remains active | Green patch, secure cover, or preferred bedding route | Confirm wind and access before moving; avoid contaminating the active trail. |
| Wind swirls near a low patch | Cooling air, ditch flow, and edge turbulence | Move to a simpler edge or higher position with stable airflow. |
| Harvest erased the old pattern | Cover and food distribution changed | Rescout residue, new field edges, tracks, and adjacent cover. |
| Machinery arrives unexpectedly | Farm schedule changed | Unload and leave by the safe approved route. Never remain in the work zone. |
| The background is unclear | Fog, terrain, distance, homes, roads, or neighboring land | Do not shoot. Relocate to a position with a reliable visible backstop. |
| Unknown soybeans are piled on the ground | Spill, feed, harvest residue, or possible bait | Stop hunting until the wildlife agency and landowner clarify legality. |
| Game crosses a boundary | Normal movement after the opportunity | Stop at the property line and follow legal permission or agency procedures. |
Ethical Hunting and Conservation in Soybean Country
Responsible soybean-field hunting protects wildlife, people, crops, landowner relationships, and the future of access.
- Obey seasons, limits, legal hours, tags, methods, and reporting requirements.
- Take only opportunities with a clear target, unobstructed path, safe background, and realistic recovery.
- Respect farmers, workers, neighbors, livestock, buildings, equipment, crops, fences, drainage, and roads.
- Do not leave cartridges, broadhead packaging, flagging, food waste, or damaged vegetation.
- Use the harvest responsibly and cool edible meat promptly.
- Close gates and report crop damage, trespass, injured livestock, or unsafe conditions.
- Support conservation through lawful licenses and responsible participation.
When to Get More Training or Professional Guidance
Seek help when you have not completed hunter education, are new to a firearm or bow, cannot identify property boundaries, are unsure about baiting or agricultural practices, cannot confirm a safe background, or need legal recovery or meat-care assistance.
Reliable sources include the official wildlife agency, certified hunter education instructors, conservation officers, landowners, farm managers, experienced ethical mentors, and lawful tracking services where available.
After the Hunt: Follow-Up, Gear Care, and Learning
- Complete tagging and harvest reporting accurately and on time.
- Use the landowner-approved recovery and removal route.
- Clean mud, crop residue, moisture, and dust from boots, optics, stands, blinds, and tools.
- Unload, transport, clean, and store firearms or bows according to law and manufacturer instructions.
- Record soybean stage, field color, alternative foods, wind, trails, sightings, and pressure.
- Notify the landowner when you leave and report any issue.
- Update backup setups after yellowing, mast drop, harvest, or tillage.
Recommended Hunting Gear and Tools to Consider
Expensive equipment does not guarantee success. Choose dependable gear based on law, crop stage, property, weather, hunting method, safety needs, and skill.
- Legal hunting firearm or bow used according to manufacturer instructions
- Required visibility clothing
- Binoculars for safe identification
- Offline property map, compass, GPS or phone, and backup power
- Legal wind indicator
- Supportive boots and weather-appropriate layers
- Headlamp, first aid kit, water, food, and emergency communication
- Full-body harness, lifeline, and haul line for elevated stands
- Landowner-approved blind or stand
- Clean gloves, game bags, and cooling equipment
Final Thoughts
The key to learning how to hunt soybeans is understanding that one field can function like several different food sources during a single season. Green leaves may drive early use, yellowing can send deer elsewhere, mature pods may attract them again, and harvest creates a new residue-and-travel pattern.
Verify the law and permission, identify the current crop stage, scout the routes between cover and food, protect wind and access, coordinate around farm work, and reject every unsafe shooting direction. Hunt patiently, respect the farmer and wildlife, and pass any opportunity that is not clearly legal, safe, ethical, and within your practiced ability.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What does hunting soybeans mean?
It usually means hunting legal game around green, yellowing, mature, standing, or harvested soybean fields. This guide focuses mainly on white-tailed deer because soybeans can provide seasonal leaves, pods, grain, and predictable feeding destinations.
2. Do I need a hunting license to hunt soybean fields?
Usually yes. Check the current license, tags, permits, season dates, legal hours, bag limits, weapon rules, reporting requirements, and property-specific regulations with the official wildlife agency.
3. Do I need permission to hunt private soybean fields?
Yes. Obtain clear permission and discuss boundaries, parking, guests, crop protection, stands, blinds, trail cameras, farm machinery, recovery, livestock, tenants, and neighboring properties.
4. Why do deer eat soybeans?
Deer browse soybean leaves and stems during vegetative growth and may return for mature pods, spilled beans, or unharvested grain later. Actual use depends on crop stage, weather, nearby foods, cover, and hunting pressure.
5. When are green soybeans most attractive to deer?
Green, actively growing leaves can be attractive during summer and early season, especially near cover. Planting date, variety, drought, browse pressure, and alternative forage can change which field is preferred.
6. Why do deer leave soybean fields when leaves turn yellow?
Yellowing signals crop maturity and a decline in tender green forage. Deer may temporarily shift to still-green beans, acorns, fruit, clover, corn, or other available foods.
7. Do deer return to soybeans later in the season?
They may return to mature standing pods, waste beans after harvest, or unharvested fields during cold weather. The timing varies with harvest efficiency, snow, pressure, and competing food sources.
8. Are standing soybeans better than harvested soybeans?
Neither is always better. Standing beans retain pods and some concealment, while harvested fields expose waste grain and tracks. Scout current use instead of relying on the crop label alone.
9. What is the best soybean field to hunt?
The best legal field is the one with fresh use, secure nearby cover, a workable wind, low-impact access, a safe background, and an exit that does not disturb feeding deer.
10. How can I tell whether deer are feeding in soybeans?
Look for tracks, droppings, clipped or browsed plants, trails, fence crossings, rubs, scrapes, and repeated observation. Ask the farmer before inspecting crop damage or entering planted rows.
11. What does deer browsing look like on young soybeans?
Browsed plants may have clipped upper foliage, jagged stem damage, and missing leaves along rows near cover. Similar symptoms can have other causes, so avoid diagnosing farm damage without the producer or an agricultural expert.
12. Where do deer enter soybean fields?
Common entry areas include secluded corners, points of timber, fence gaps, hedgerows, waterways, drainage ditches, low spots, field roads, and trails leading from bedding or staging cover.
13. What is staging cover?
Staging cover is secure brush, young timber, weeds, or a small feeding area between bedding cover and the soybean field where deer may pause before entering the open crop.
14. Should I hunt directly on the soybean edge?
Sometimes, but a setup slightly inside adjacent cover may intercept earlier movement and offer a cleaner exit. Choose based on fresh sign, wind, visibility, backstop, and pressure.
15. How far inside the woods should I set up?
There is no universal distance. Use concentrated trails and staging sign while avoiding bedding disturbance. Beginners should favor a conservative setup they can enter and leave cleanly.
16. What are inside corners?
Inside corners occur where timber or brush projects into a field. They can reduce the distance deer must cross in the open and may concentrate entry trails.
17. Why are low green patches important?
Low or shaded sections can mature later and remain green after the rest of a field yellows. Deer may focus on these remaining palatable areas, but confirm with fresh sign.
18. How does soybean harvest change deer movement?
Harvest removes standing plants, exposes beans and tracks, increases machinery activity, and may shift deer toward residue, neighboring crops, mast, or thicker staging cover.
19. How soon after harvest should I scout?
Coordinate with the farmer and wait until the work area is safe. Rescout soon afterward because the new field edge, waste grain, and travel visibility can change quickly.
20. Can I hunt while a combine is operating?
Do not hunt near active machinery unless the landowner has explicitly coordinated a safe plan. Operators may not see you, and dust, noise, traffic, debris, and changing routes create serious hazards.
21. How important is wind near a soybean field?
Wind is critical because open fields provide little scent protection. Plan for the forecast wind, edge turbulence, terrain, evening cooling, and the route you use to enter and leave.
22. Why does wind swirl at field corners?
Timber edges, hedgerows, buildings, crop height, ditches, and terrain can redirect airflow. Temperature changes may add rising or sinking thermals.
23. Do evening thermals matter around soybean fields?
Yes. Cooling air may settle toward ditches, creek bottoms, and low field corners, carrying scent into entry routes that were safe earlier.
24. What is the safest shooting direction near a soybean field?
A direction with a clearly visible earthen backstop and no road, home, barn, livestock, machinery, person, trail, or neighboring property beyond it.
25. Can I shoot across a large soybean field?
Only when legal and when the target, distance, path, entire background, property boundary, roads, homes, people, livestock, and machinery are positively known. Open space is not automatically a safe backstop.
26. Why should I use binoculars?
Binoculars allow safe observation and identification without pointing a firearm at unknown movement. Never use a riflescope as a general viewing tool.
27. Is a ground blind useful on soybean fields?
Yes where legal and approved by the landowner. Place it where it does not damage crops or interfere with machinery, drainage, irrigation, workers, livestock, or harvest.
28. Is a tree stand useful on a soybean edge?
Yes where legal and where a suitable tree exists. Use a full-body harness and lifeline, inspect the stand, and raise an unloaded firearm or safely covered bow with a haul line.
29. What if there are no suitable trees?
Consider a legal ground blind, natural cover, or an approved elevated structure. Never attach equipment to utility poles, farm buildings, or fences without authorization.
30. What is the best time of day to hunt soybeans?
Early and late movement is common, but legal hours, crop stage, weather, breeding activity, hunting pressure, and local patterns matter. Midday movement can occur during the rut or severe weather changes.
31. Can morning soybean hunts work?
They can, but deer may already be feeding in the field before dawn. A morning approach can disturb the field, so a legal route that avoids feeding deer is essential.
32. How do I exit when deer are feeding in the field?
Plan the exit before hunting. Use screened cover, a separate route, or a prearranged landowner-approved pickup strategy where legal and safe. Do not improvise by walking through the herd.
33. How often should I hunt the same soybean field?
Avoid repeated pressure, especially with poor wind or exposed access. Rotate legal setups and rescout when the beans mature, acorns drop, harvest occurs, or deer shift entry points.
34. What happens when acorns begin falling?
Deer may leave exposed soybeans for mast inside cover. Scout oaks and travel routes rather than continuing to hunt a field that has lost current use.
35. How does cold weather affect soybean hunting?
Cold conditions may increase feeding demand and make standing pods or waste beans attractive, but wind chill, snow, ice, and recovery difficulty require conservative planning.
36. How does rain affect soybean-field hunting?
Light rain may quiet dry vegetation, but mud, crop damage, exposure, fog, and difficult recovery can create problems. Follow the farmer’s wet-weather access restrictions.
37. What if I find a pile of soybeans or grain?
Do not hunt until the landowner and wildlife agency clarify whether it is a normal agricultural result, livestock feed, spill, or prohibited bait. Rules vary by species and jurisdiction.
38. Are deer baiting rules the same as migratory-bird rules?
No. Agricultural and baiting rules can differ by species. Verify deer, dove, goose, and other applicable rules separately before hunting.
39. What if a deer crosses onto neighboring land?
Stop at the property boundary. Obtain permission and follow local recovery rules; do not trespass even when recovering legally taken game.
40. What should I do after a legal harvest?
Follow tagging and reporting rules, recover responsibly, use clean gloves and tools, cool edible meat promptly, comply with disease and transport requirements, and use an approved removal route.
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