Mineral sites (sorry if this has been done before)

[BuckSutherland]

SO what does everyone use??

I used to use deer cane. Sure seems to draw them in, but its more snake oil than anything else.


I know a very large buck that really liked my antler king in 2013. Last year I used the cheaper stuff from FF that has the same ingredients as AK and smelled like apples, but the deer didnt like it as much, but the bear did. Maybe it was more from a lack of deer year over year with the bad winter???

We have some generic AK out again this year and the deer seem to have no interest again. I also know a fella that swears by Lucky Buck. What do you experts think??

Here is a pic of Mr Antler King. He would hit my site about every 12-15 days until the neighbors dogs started showing up on camera every few days.

 

[wklman]

I just use the brown mineral/salt blocks you get from fleet. Cheap and the deer seem to like them. I figure the deer are there mostly for the salt anyway so why not save some money and go cheap.

 

[Jim Timber]

I've found the regular reddish brown 50# mineral licks sold for $6 at Fleet Farm do the trick. Deer hang out by them, lick their lips a lot, return daily, etc.

Been using them for 4.5 years and have had the same behavior the whole time. Maybe there's something else that works better, but this is pretty darn cheap and easy for me.

 

[tooln]

When I could I made my own.
1 50# bag of di-cal phosphate
2 50# bags of trace minerals
1 50# bag of fine stock salt
Got everything from Fleet for under $30 & made 200 lbs.

 

[SD51555]

This seems like what you're looking for:

 

[sandbur]

My deer preferred the Whitetail Institute apple flavored product. I have not used minerals or salt for 4 or 5 years.

 

[wiscwhip]

Back before the days of CWD and the subsequent baiting ban in the CWD affected areas and the bordering counties, we used a 50 lb. mineral block for cows we would get from the local coop. We would fell a large box elder(24"+dbh) to let it dry for firewood. We would then cut a 2' section from the stump end of the log to use as a "portable stump" to set it on. We would make multiple plunge cuts to make a sort of "hollowed out" area on the top of the stump to set the block in and then used a whole bottle of molasses to cover and fill up the "hole" in the end of the block and let it seep down into the cut area of the stump. The stumps would last about 3 or 4 years before the deer had them pawed to splinters and wood chips. We had no bears in our area back in those days, but I'm not sure we would get away with it now that there seem to be a few around the old area every year. Pretty sure a bear would destroy that molasses soaked stump in short order. We did try a few apple flavor blocks that were geared more towards horses I think, but they didn't see as much use as the cheap cow blocks. I had a few old photos of the way we set it up, but I would have to find them and scan them to be able to post them up.

 

[Steve Bartylla]

I've had really good luck with both Whitetail Institute and Antler King, but recommend Antler King, as it costs significantly less and they add a yeast to aid in the digestion of the minerals, which I have been told by several nutritionalists are very hard for deer to digest and that they pass the majority right through their system.

I get it. If your soils are healthy and contain all the minerals and nutrients that deer need, I can buy that minerals aren't anywhere near as beneficial. I also get that minerals have never been "proven" to help wild deer...That said, I don't pretend to be smart enough to know if my soils are lacking in a couple minerals and vitamins that are beneficial to deer and I refuse to believe that offering deer the minerals and vitamins they need doesn't help them, so long as they are able to digest them.

Fair warning, I pro staff for Antler King. There is a reason I do, though, and it sure isn't the $. I've been offered A LOT more by several of their competitors. There isn't a shred of doubt in my mind that Antler King does its best to address deer nutrition with their products, the owners are good, honest people and their margins are reasonable, in my mind at least....And their Trophy Clover & Honey Hole just plain consistently come out on top in my field trials. Their stuff is the best fit for me that I've found. add that all together and that's why I pro staff for them....take all that for what it's worth.

 

[UP Powers]

When I could I made my own.
1 50# bag of di-cal phosphate
2 50# bags of trace minerals
1 50# bag of fine stock salt
Got everything from Fleet for under $30 & made 200 lbs.

I do this same thing but add 50 pounds of dry molasses.

 

[biglakeba$$]

50 lb trace mineral blocks.

Cheap. Effective. Easy to distribute.

 

[gunther89]

I used to think that minerals helped out the deer but I don't know anymore. Since I'm located in the CWD zone we don't use minerals, and our deer seem to be just as healthy as they were before when we were allowed to use minerals. Our does seem to have healthy fawns including twins and even triplets sometimes. Our antler size is incredible. I'm starting to believe a better food source does more good for deer than minerals.

 

[biglakeba$$]

I use salt for one reason.

Get deer to move to a location that I have a camera waiting for some pictures.

 

[Steve Bartylla]

Stu I'm with on believing there isn't even a legit debate on whether quality food or minerals are more important. If I'm only going to be able to do one of the two, I'll take the food every single time.

 

[j-bird]

I just started this spring and got my sites started with trophy rock simply because I am lazy. Once the sites are established I will switch to something more cost effective like a cattle block more than likely. I don't expect to see any results from the mineral but I figured it would be a great tool for the cam. We can't use them for hunting here, and if they ban them altogether - which wouldn't hurt my feelings in the least - they are still going to sell a ton of it off the shelves at wal-mart.

 

[shawnv]

Question: If you add ground trace mineral salt as an additive to the plants, how does one distinguish that from baiting if it's say in your food plot because (it is good for the plants)? I was doing some work the other night in the office I had the Jim Ward habitat tour video on that some members from the Q-forum were talking about so I watched it so see what he had to say. Anyways he was saying he now adds Redmond's ground trace mineral salt (same company as Trophy Rock) to small chicory plots and the deer love it so it got me wondering if there was something to it.

 

[wiscwhip]

The added salt could potentially cause issues with your soil microbes(i.e. soil salinity/sodic soils). If you need trace minerals(micro nutrients/fertilizers), find out via a soil test and add the appropriate micro nutrient fertilizers to maintain your soil health. You will get all the benefits of the Trophy Rock without the added issues of the high salt content.

 

[shawnv]

The added salt could potentially cause issues with your soil microbes(i.e. soil salinity/sodic soils). If you need trace minerals(micro nutrients/fertilizers), find out via a soil test and add the appropriate micro nutrient fertilizers to maintain your soil health. You will get all the benefits of the Trophy Rock without the added issues of the high salt content.

I wasn't really looking at this from a nutritional point of view, more for plot attraction and it seemed the increased mineral content in the plants is what lead to the increased plot usage according to what was said. I will have to research this more in regards to the soil microbes before I do anything. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[wiscwhip]

All those "minerals"(i.e. micro nutrients) would be in a good micro nutrient fertilizer that your coop could easily mix for you and then they would be uptaken into the plant no different than any other fertilizer/mineral. Unless you are just looking for the deer to walk around your plot and eat the dirt? Then the Redmond mineral rock would likely be better.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

Throw out a bag of rock salt and trace minerals. Then I usually watch for black magic deer cane to go on clearance for $5 and I dress up my sites every yr with it.