Mineral/salt lick

C

crumper

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
7   0   0
Location
Next door to the Shwa
I plan on being in the woods soon as turkey season will be opening so I would like to put a mineral/salt lick out to help the bucks grow their antlers. I’m curious if a block works best or the loose variety. Also if a particular brand seems to work better. Sorry if this question has been posted before (I’m pretty sure it has).
Thanks
Don
 
If you have access to the same land year over year you can end up with something like this
A7FD084A-BC53-4CF3-94AC-1DC5B885D132.jpg
I’d only use loose stuff on clay soils or the stump like pictured
 

Attachments

  • A7FD084A-BC53-4CF3-94AC-1DC5B885D132.jpg
    A7FD084A-BC53-4CF3-94AC-1DC5B885D132.jpg
    103.6 KB · Views: 379
Both work, I’ve always used loose mineral/salt. Dig a hole and dump a half bag in every so often, after a few years it turns into a big hole they keep at all year. Had a trail cam in one soapy all year for awhile and they were on it all year, I stopped hunting that spot for awhile but I continued to put out the mineral salt as the deer loved it.
 
I also would like to try it this year. i'll probably use a powder, maybe try mixing it myself. I've found blocks people have placed by cutting a small tree at about 3 or 4 feet and sticking the block on the stump. Does it make it easier for deer / moose to find it if its elevated?
 
In Finland they sink a 4" pole with a half inch bolt sticking out the top. Their salt licks are large cubes with a hole through the center so it stays put on the pole.
 
We put out the brown blocks every spring on the ground. They last past hunting season that year. The cameras are set up there, quite interesting to watch the “ comings and goings”
 
I dug a hole and threw a bag of water conditioner salt in it and mixed it up. Deer were still coming back to it years later. I was sitting at the base of a tree during turkey season one year and watched four deer pushing each other out of the way to take their turn digging in the hole.
 
Hollow Point said:
I also would like to try it this year. i'll probably use a powder, maybe try mixing it myself. I've found blocks people have placed by cutting a small tree at about 3 or 4 feet and sticking the block on the stump. Does it make it easier for deer / moose to find it if its elevated?
Click to expand...

I don't think it makes it easier for them to find. It just provides some structure for the salt to soak into whenever it rains or snows. Instead of cutting a tree, better to just find an old rotted stump and put the salt on that. Deer will be working that stump for years.
 
I bury a couple bags of blue iodized livestock salt and a few buckets of blaze or glory in different locations close to water close to bedding I basically stopped with apples and corn because the salt draws them in almost better
 
The moose here love the salt blocks .... doesn't matter what flavor .... deer as well love them all year round.

My trail camera caught one moose sleeping with his/her head on the salt block .... I had thousands of pictures of the whole night .... only the ears of the moose were moving .... and sometimes the moose would raise its head .... and then go back to sleep ... It was funny to go through all those pictures.
 
Thanks for the responses. I have picked up a block put out by rack stacker as well as 2 bags of loose mineral that the sales guy said is really good for does and fawns. One bag will be dumped on a punky stump now with the second one added when the first one seems to be used up. With the mineral licks being on camera I will try to keep track of the traffic and update thru the summer.
Don
 
crumper said:
Thanks for the responses. I have picked up a block put out by rack stacker as well as 2 bags of loose mineral that the sales guy said is really good for does and fawns. One bag will be dumped on a punky stump now with the second one added when the first one seems to be used up. With the mineral licks being on camera I will try to keep track of the traffic and update thru the summer.
Don
Click to expand...

The picture I posted is not nor was a punky/rotten stump it that way from decades of deer and the odd moose licking and pawing at it
 
I use the salt blocks from the feed store for cattle. 1/4 the price of of the hunting gear brands and they do just the same thing.

We always place the salt block elevated off the ground.

eike-tiefe-messen-2.jpg
 
I use Rack Stacker Minerals on a large punky stump and find a dead tree that i cut in 2 to 3 foot lengths then split them and lay them middle/punky side up around the stump side by side and pour minerals on those . One good rain and it soaks in . Once soaked in the deer will eat rotten saturated wood . When i started the stump was fairly fresh so i drilled 3/4 x 6 inch holes all over it and filled the holes with mineral and then poured mineral all over the top of the stump . The deer have been hitting it hard for the last 6 or 7 years . We dug a small pond with natural drainage into it about 10 yards from the minerals .
 
Here are some pics of the mineral fountains I use. Rackstacker mineral in a bucket with small holes drilled in and when it rains the mineral seeps down the tree. Usually refill only once depending on how wet a season its been.





 
an old time hunter told me that if you can get your hands on some pantyhose and cut the legs off of them, stuff each leg full of rock salt and hang them from a tree branch in late spring spring or early summer it will be attracting deer by hunting season.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom