Question about minerals for deer??? Is the cheapy stuff just fine?

[Mark Christianson]

In the Trail Cameras topic in the Hunting forum, we have gotten off track a little and started discussing minerals.

Well, I went astray.

What about all these mineral blocks.

We can spend our life savings on these fancy things supposedly made for deer, or we can buy the $5 blocks in the Fleet Farm Ag department.

Fleet Farm has cheap salt blocks, Trace Mineral blocks, range blocks, All-puprose blocks, etc....

I look at the ingredients on a spendy so-called deer block, and I sure seem to see a lot of the same things in these cheap livestock blocks at Fleet.

Sup with that?

What livestock block is best suited for wildlife(deer)? I gotta believe they are just fine in most cases.

A couple replies in the Trail Camera thread have guys saying the straight white salt block seems fine.

I have been using the trace mineral blocks lately, and they seem ok I guess. I actually dump loose trace mineral salt on the ground(for quick soak in), and put a block on top of it.

It just seems to me that some of the other block types would be better, just because the ingredients seem to be more comparable to expensive products, and also containing a wider variety of minerals. But maybe this whole craze of minerals, is just that. A craze.

Anyone else have thoughts?

[jlm]

Good question BLB. I bet if you ask a biologist, they would say the cheap stuff is great. However, if you ask an expert in the "deer gadget marketing industry" he would say heck no! Unfortunatly, many think a fancy package determines the effectiveness of a product (I get caught up in it to). Your mineral blocks from Fleet are pretty much identical to the fancy stuff. I stay save a few bucks! Just my opinion!

[Mark Christianson]

Bigger question now.

Which one of the half dozen blocks to pick?? Thats actually my bigger question.

I am convinced the cheap stuff is the way to go, but which one?

[Gissert]

I went with the reddish mineral block for two reasons.

1. It was a cheap experiment

2. The reddish color blended in nicely and did not stand out to draw attention to my trail camera location.

[jlm]

The best bet is to buy one of each....because they are soooo cheap...LOL! Seriously though, if you are using mineral licks to promote antler growth, you really want to get these out early in the Spring. Antler development is almost done so it will have little impact (if it will have any impact at all, most minerals are readily available in the environment) on antler growth. However, they can still serve as an attractant for pictures and stuff but I have had little luck with them when there is a nearby soybean field. Salt has been the best at least for me. All other mineral licks just dissolve from the rain and get little contact from the deer. Good luck BLB, let us know how the critters like your licks!

[Mark Christianson]

I had the expensive dump out this spring so the bucks would have antlers explode out of their heads. It hasnt worked like I wanted.

I currently have some white salt blocks and the trace mineral blocks out on my mineral locations.

Hard to know if deer are going to be pawing and sucking the ground around these spots because they could be still getting previously dumped minerals.

I don't want to create tons of different lick sites just for tests either.

OK, I'll just go buy one of everthing and report back. Why make it more difficult than it needs to be, eh?

PS - anyone feel free to stop me with some more insight. I'd rather get some tips, versus go into full blown experiment mode.

[PerchJerker]

The deer use the minerals, primarily in the spring like jlm said, and they don't need very large amounts of mineral. If they're not using your mineral sites very much it's because they're getting the minerals they need from the soil or from their food.

I've got mineral licks at two sites and mix the minerals in the soil and the deer eat the soil - so much so that I've brought in black dirt to fill the spots up and mix in more minerals.

Salt is a much better attractant than minerals but that's all it is - an attractant. I put out minerals but not salt. If you put out salt I would put out minerals too - it might not look like the deer are using them very much, but if they need them they'll use them. Remember, the deer don't need a lot of minerals or a lot of salt, but they like salt so they'll hit it like crazy.

Loose minerals are better than blocks. Easier for the deer to get. Some blocks and some loose minerals have a lot of salt in them - not as beneficial for the deer, but more of an attractant.

[BLACKJACK]

BLB, I was out last night putting a white salt block in the spot where I've been putting salt and blocks for the last several years. There are two red blocks that have been there for years, I can't remember exactly what they were, but on one the corners are barely worn off and the other one - which I think is a deer block because of its rough texture - is about half the size it originally was. Thats after sitting there for years. I'll be sticking with the white salt blocks. I might try some of the loose minerals next spring, to see if it will help antler growth, but thats it. One more thing with the salt blocks, move them out of the hole that the deer dig or they'll dissolve. Last year I bought two blocks, put one at my place and took the other over to my folks place where the deer had dug a hole and you could see after a rain where the bottom just melted away.

Last night I also decided to try Gisserts idea and pour some molasses over the blocks, I filled up the holes on the ends. We'll see how that goes over. And of course my cameras are sitting over these blocks

Has anybody ever tried the spendy minerals from the Whitetail Institute? They did have a sampler pack of three kinds for about $20 that I was tempted on... Was thinking of making a trough with compartments and dumping those three in, plus some others to see what the deer really did eat the most of.

Life is one big experiment, isn't it??!

[Gissert]

Blackjack - Keep me posted on how the molasses works. I know they really liked the Block Topper.

For those blocks that the deer are not touching, I'd bust them up with a hammer and mix them into the dirt and pour some block topper or molasses on it, with maybe a little salt mixed in.

I did a little digging on the 'net, and read where some of the mineral supplements have stuff the deer need, but it does not taste good to them. A 25 to 50% salt content was reported to have them hit it a lot harder.

I know I will be putting in mineral stations much earlier next year.

I wonder if we might not be coming to an end of the deer using licks so much when they start going into their fall patterns.

[CrappieJohn]

I put down a bag of Deercane powder in August and only put it down once during the entire season. I bring in a toothed rake and work the soil up a bit, spread the compound out on that soil and work it in good with the rake. As mother nature does her thing with rain the stuff dissolves into the ground and nobody knows its even there. The deer will visit this site quite often and I have seen deer literally eating the dirt well into the winter.

The molassas works as a suppliment to the mineral compound, but don't mix the two directly together. I buy the "dried" livestock stuff in fifty pound bags and keep it sealed in a plastic garbage can in the garage after it has been opened. I put this on the ground just like the salt product, but try and keep it about twenty feet or so away and, if possible, a little uphill so that when it rains it slowly leeches it's way to the other lick. I usually use a five quart ice cream pail full about every three or four weeks beginning the same day as when I place the mineral compound.

Just as an observation I have made over the last ten years or so of doing this, the biggest effect that this "treatment" has on the deer is that they tend to visit these spots either very early in the morning or very late into the evening. Often times their traffic is purely noctural. On the other hand though, if you want to see numbers of deer, this will do the trick if you don't mind the possibility of them coming for a taste at hours that may making shooting tough. These licks will draw does by the ton, but the does are what will keep the bucks close at hand. Wet weather seems to change the deer's habit around these lick sites and the deer will come to them readily during the day then. One several occasions I have seen deer wearing mud mustaches when it is raining out.

When you start one of these sites be sure to place it where you will no bother it during your coming and going from the stand and when building or tending these spots use knee high rubber boots and rubber gaunlet glove, both of which should be de-scented with spray before doing your work. Human scent at an active or newly created lick will blow it for quite a while!