Time to start up mineral sites

[Fever]

I'm heading out to a couple sites tomorrow am to get my mineral sites going. I know it's a touch early but I have the time.

Going to use Lucky buck again along with some wild game innovations 4 lb blocks and a couple 6lb rack rocks. The way I see it if we can get those minerals out there and available for the heard - it helps the does through their last trimester which should help the fawns and birthing success, and it also maximizes antler growth by helping them get off to a faster start.

Also going to tape off a 20x50 foot area that has good southern sun exposure and spray it down with round up. Will revisit that area and knock down and clear all dead vegetation in a month or so. Then I'll repeat the round up later in the summer and clear again before i hand broadcast fertilizer and a mixture of radish,turnip,beet,beans,and peas. I plan on planting around mid August, as most of these have germination times of 60-70 days. I figure that little spot will offer a tempting variety of treats and will help draw deer from neighboring properties come the fall.

I spend my serious time hunting trophy deer in the Chippewa and am quite selective up there and typically target one of 2-3 specific bucks that have shown up on trail cams while passing on younger bucks. I never get a doe tag anymore. This project / spot that I'll be working is a 40 ish acre wooded area with another 20plus acres of tall grass/bedding area creek running through agriculture area. I fun fall back option maybe if I don't connect with a targeted deer up north in the big woods.

[BuckSutherland]

Started mine three weeks ago just to try and get them any help I could. Wont know til late May if it helped at all.

[slimngrizzly]

I wouldn't say its too early... its never too early.

Sounds like you have a good plan! I hope it pans out so Mr.Big walks by!

[smsmith]

Mid-August is pretty late for beets...if you're talking sugar beets anyway. Those should go in when farmers are planting corn. Personally, I'd just plant the turnips and forage radishes. The rest will likely not do well due to the brassicas germinating and creating a canopy that will choke most everything else out.

20x50 = 100 sq. ft. That would require no more than a handful (literally) of each seed.

[delcecchi]

And all this is different, in an ethical sense, from dumping a pickup load of corn in what way?

I realize this is "legal".

[jentz]

You mention public land where you target 2-3 bucks.Do you own the land you will use roundup on?? Lots of people do thisin Nemadji state forest also.I can't get that kind of mind set to do it myself on land I dont own.

[slimngrizzly]

The deer will eat the corn!

I too would plant like the last week of July/1st week of August. Beets, radish, turnips, oats... like smith says, a couple handfuls will do the job!

[harvey lee]

I do this on private property but doing this on public land may be going a bit far and may not even be legal. I do not know the laws in regards to spraying round up on State or Federal land in a state forest. That's if the Chippewa is the State or Federal forest you are mentioning.

[Jameson]

And all this is different, in an ethical sense, from dumping a pickup load of corn in what way?

I realize this is "legal".

Try them both, and see if you still have the same question.

[delcecchi]

And all this is different, in an ethical sense, from dumping a pickup load of corn in what way?

I realize this is "legal".

Try them both, and see if you still have the same question.

One is more effective, but aren't both of them really just baiting? I can see the mineral stuff. That is legal and doesn't seem like it is that attractive. But a food plot deliberately designed and implemented to attract deer during hunting season?

[Lunker]

Del,

This is obviously a discussion that has beaten to death, however a couple points

Natural growing plots vs bait

- Has a growing season that provides different foods for different seasons for example if you have a turnip plot deer feed on the greens at frost and beyond and the turnips during the winter, providing food for much more of the year.

- Amount- If you look at the amount of food provided by a food plot vs bait the sheer tonnage of a well maintained food plot far exceeds any feeding you could imagine.

-Variety - Planting food plot variety, clover, turnips, oats, alfalfa, etc you provide much more variety for different times of year and different nutritional needs for deer.

- Wildlife- deer eat food plots, but it provides forage for deer, turkeys, grouse, pheasants, and many non-game species.

- It focuses more on the health of individual animals and the herd than baiting

- Its fun, takes time, focus, and is an activity for sportsmen who want to focus on the herd and hunting year round

I've hunted over bait. I didn't enjoy it. I understand it's part of the deer hunting culture in certain areas (the U.P. for example). I also maintain food plots on our property in MN. It is an enjoyable recreation for me and rewarding, though it hasn't yielded amazing harvests, it is great to see deer using them year round for forage. I mostly hunt in WI and 90% of my hunting is done without either.

[Jameson]

One is more effective, but aren't both of them really just baiting? I can see the mineral stuff. That is legal and doesn't seem like it is that attractive. But a food plot deliberately designed and implemented to attract deer during hunting season?

Second question first. When I grew food plots my main concern was to fill the lowest hole in the food bucket for the deer. They had plenty to eat, except when there was two feet of snow on the ground, the time that is usually January and February, after hunting season. I grew corn and soybeans for this mostly. Did it attract deer during hunting season? Usually after dark, yes it did. My neighbors illegal corn pile in the middle of the dense woods seemed to attract them more during shooting hours. I also did try to grow anything and everything to attract them during hunting season, oats, late planted beans, late planted sunflowers, radishes, etc....nothing could compete with corn and soybeans for deer attractant where I was.

Aren't both of them really just baiting? By strict definition, yeah probably. I wish we would change the term to "placed food" so that there is a difference between it and "grown in place food." In your other post you mentioned ethics....do them both and I would bet you would feel the difference.

In the future I likely won't ever do much food plotting again. Would rather convert that land to shrubs and flowers that the deer like to munch on in hopes to attract deer during hunting season. Maybe go in every couple years and burn it or chop it down. Plant some evergreen cover for them. Would that still be baiting the same as food plots and placing bait?

[Fever]

Just to clarify, No, I'm not planting a food plot on public land in the Chippewa national forest. I think that might be illegal. As to my original post though - I was talking about some private land close to home.

Planting food plots is so much more than baiting. It is flat out a great way to help the wildlife in an area. As I've gotten a bit older, deer hunting has basically become a year round activity for me. So starting to dabble in the idea of a food plots seemed to make sense. Even small foot plots can make a huge difference in herd health. For hunting purposes, food plots are similar to dumping a bucket of corn I guess, but my hope was to plant the brasicas late so the deer can hit the greens in the late fall after the frost, then utilize the roots during the winter when they need the calories the most. In all honestly, my hope is to not even have to hunt on the land the food plot will be on. My main spot and priority is the North woods. The private land and food plot thing in central Mn is more of a project / hobby thing.

[MUSKY18]

I have had my mineral blocks out since the 6th of April. First week I had them out, I managed 193 pictures on the trail cam. Some of the pictures have up to 7 deer hitting the trophy rock at the same time. Almost like beef cows eating out of the feeder. My girlfriends father that I hunt with never had any faith in mineral sites or blocks. The last two years now I have been showing him the trail cam pictures from over my mineral sites. Needless to say, he called me last night and we are going to put his mineral block and trail cam out this weekend.

[smsmith]

Back to the original topic (mineral sites). What does everybody use? I just mix 2 parts of loose trace mineral to 1 part (50 lbs. to 25 lbs.) of di-cal.

There is absolutely zero "proof" of mineral supplementation helping wild deer, but there's nothing like a mineral/salt lick for getting pics of what's roaming your woods.

There is quite a bit of "proof" for using loose salt/mineral vs. blocks for supplementing livestock and farmed deer however.

[slimngrizzly]

Back to the original topic (mineral sites). What does everybody use? I just mix 2 parts of loose trace mineral to 1 part (50 lbs. to 25 lbs.) of di-cal.

There is absolutely zero "proof" of mineral supplementation helping wild deer, but there's nothing like a mineral/salt lick for getting pics of what's roaming your woods.

I hear this all the time... I guess until I see some "proof" that it doesn't help... I will continue to pour it on!

I use the same basic concoction as you at my sites. I also use the blocks as well along with a few other adders. Trophy Rocks worked great I thought, but got so expensive. I see they have come down in price this year I suppose due to the competition. Still the cheap loose mineral and cheap blocks work just as well from what I've experimented with.

[B. Amish]

I hear this all the time... I guess until I see some "proof" that it doesn't help... I will continue to pour it on!

[smsmith]

I hear this all the time... I guess until I see some "proof" that it doesn't help... I will continue to pour it on!

There is some research out there showing that salt licks help wild deer during the summer months, but only in soils that are seriously deficient in sodium.

I love putting out salt and minerals to do trailcam surveys, and the possibility that the stuff may do something for a deer who has an innate nutritional deficiency....makes it worth the few bucks for me. That said, if CWD ever gets a foothold here I'll be done with mineral/salt stations.

[slimngrizzly]

B. Amish... you got me there. But still is there anything saying it Wasn't good for the deer? In those studies it didn't help... but did it hurt?

Also, those studies were on bucks. How about helping does with milk production etc.?

Also, I bet the guys in the study WITH mineral got WAY better pictures on their trailcams! Thats good enough for me.

Smith... I agree with you, its just fun and hopefully it helps!?!

As far as CWD... no one even knows anything about it or how its spread. I think if it was gonna "take hold" it would have happened in the last 20 years already. Until someone can prove to me that my mineral sites, or winter feed piles etc is causing the spread of CWD, im not buying it.

[hockeybc69]

For me the mineral sites are all about trail cam placement.

If it helps the deer in any way. Great. If not, oh well.

I have to laugh when people think putting out minerals is going to all of a sudden give them trophy bucks.

[delcecchi]

B. Amish... you got me there. But still is there anything saying it Wasn't good for the deer? In those studies it didn't help... but did it hurt?

Also, those studies were on bucks. How about helping does with milk production etc.?

Also, I bet the guys in the study WITH mineral got WAY better pictures on their trailcams! Thats good enough for me.

Smith... I agree with you, its just fun and hopefully it helps!?!

As far as CWD... no one even knows anything about it or how its spread. I think if it was gonna "take hold" it would have happened in the last 20 years already. Until someone can prove to me that my mineral sites, or winter feed piles etc is causing the spread of CWD, im not buying it.

If there is no CWD in your area, it won't spread. If there is CWD, it spreads through saliva, from what I recall. This has been shown in cases where it got into game farm deer and elk, like it did down here near pine island.

So if you are somewhere a distance from any CWD cases, supplements don't lead to transmission.

[harvey lee]

AS with winter feeding of deer, if there is CWD in the area, yes, it can spread from saliva from deer eating closely at a hay bale or another food source like a pile of corn.

No CWD in the area, no fears as least from what I have read.

[smsmith]

Salt/minerals obviously don't result in "spontaneous generation" of CWD. Salt/mineral licks, especially those in certain types of clay are likely sites for the spread of CWD once its already in the area however.

Watch what happens in the counties nearest the IA county where CWD was just found...I'd anticipate some baiting/feeding restrictions...If (hopefully not) CWD crosses the border to MN...look out. WI just put in place a "bonus buck" rule in basically the southern 1/3 of the state. While hunters there may enjoy the chance to take a third (possibly fourth if the antlerless deer they take to earn the bonus buck is a buck fawn) buck...the rule is designed to reduce the number of bucks over 1.5 years old. Why? Because bucks over 1.5 have been shown to have the highest incidence rates of CWD and because they are most likely to spread the disease to new areas.

[slimngrizzly]

I can find nothing that suggests CWD is spread through saliva.... only that it "might be".

Its here, its there, and it probably always has been. Its been documented in Colorado since the 80's. And your right, once they "find it" here, look out! They will probably try to shoot the whole herd off because MAYBE that will stop it... or MAYBE slow the spread... but who really knows?

Until someone figures out what really causes it and how to actually stop it, I think everyone ought to settle down. The only thing that's wiped out any wild deer herds so far is DNR and Game & Fish jumpin the gun.

[smsmith]

I can find nothing that suggests CWD is spread through saliva.... only that it "might be".

Its here, its there, and it probably always has been. Its been documented in Colorado since the 80's. And your right, once they "find it" here, look out! They will probably try to shoot the whole herd off because MAYBE that will stop it... or MAYBE slow the spread... but who really knows?

Until someone figures out what really causes it and how to actually stop it, I think everyone ought to settle down. The only thing that's wiped out any wild deer herds so far is DNR and Game & Fish jumpin the gun.

Fair enough. One thing about CWD and central/east central MN....in many areas we are already BELOW the dpsm's that WI was attempting to manage for in CWD zones there