salt

rci2950

rci2950

BANNED
CGN frequent flyer
EE REVOKED
EE Expired
Rating - 98.1%
52   1   0
When do you guys start putting salt out for the deer? I'm thinking of running a bag of water softener salt up And pouring I in a hollow stump I saw last season near my stand. should I wait?
 
Blue powdered cobalt salt is best. Harder to steal as well

I salt year round. The salted areas have become deep potholes filled with salt water. I dump 200lbs a year and does and fawns use it year round. During the hottest driest part of summer its like liquid mud and the deer dig in it.
 
brybenn said:
Blue powdered cobalt salt is best. Harder to steal as well

I salt year round. The salted areas have become deep potholes filled with salt water. I dump 200lbs a year and does and fawns use it year round. During the hottest driest part of summer its like liquid mud and the deer dig in it.
Click to expand...

Where do you get the powdered cobalt salt?
 
I have found over the years for my property the best salt is the course salt you buy to spread on ice in your driveway, it is just crushed with no additives and cheap at Home Hardware. And for best results dig a hole in some soil that tends to stay quite moist, like close to a swampy marshy area and fill the hole up with salt. The deer seem to like the salt mixed with soil especially clay best.

I tried the salt blocks for livestock when I first started putting out salt many years ago, but where I live the bears find them and play with them and they push them around and you can't find them. One time I carried in two salt blocks in a pack sack put them out in different spots came back a couple days later and both were gone, I looked around for about an hour and found one but I never did find the other one.

I started with a small hole filled with driveway salt by a swampy area with some clay in the soil about twelve years ago and I put out a 40 kilogram bag every spring and fall. The deer and moose have dug up the area so big now I can actually see the dug up spot from google earth
 
Here is what i ended up doing today. a 20KG bag of water softener salt. Said on the bag the only ingredient was Sodium Chloride. I also checked the SDS sheet and it lists the recommended uses as "De-icer. General industrial and water softening/conditioning purposes. Animal Nutrition". So if animal nutrition is on it then it must be ok. I like saving money where I can. Anyway these two stumps are in my firing lane about 100 feet from my deer stand. I used my knees to push the entire 20kg bag into the stumps. The tiny left over bit I dumped between them.

20180424_132905.jpg
 
I found a big livestock salt block at the end of an overgrown logging road on crown land last fall.

Tons of deer tracks around it in the fresh snow.

Should I go back this fall if no one else is there or is that considered somebody else's "spot"?
 
MD said:
I found a big livestock salt block at the end of an overgrown logging road on crown land last fall.

Tons of deer tracks around it in the fresh snow.

Should I go back this fall if no one else is there or is that considered somebody else's "spot"?
Click to expand...

I would consider that someone elses spot. Hunters around here get pretty defensive of their spots. I know of many incidents where vehicles were vandalized. I know of a another incident where a hunter was blocked in by downed trees when he was hunting in someone elses spot. They literally used a chainsaw and toppled trees across the logging road. This is in Nova Scotia. I am sure someone else from these parts can attest to this behaviour.
 
MD said:
I found a big livestock salt block at the end of an overgrown logging road on crown land last fall.

Tons of deer tracks around it in the fresh snow.

Should I go back this fall if no one else is there or is that considered somebody else's "spot"?
Click to expand...

If nobody else is there when you get there, it is your spot. That's the BC way (on Crown land).

Although, it is always a good idea to have a chain-saw in the truck. :)
 
Here in saskatchewan we are having a serious increase in CWD cases showing up. CWD is said to pass through saliva so bait stations and salt licks are good ways to spread the disease. I have salt out for the cows in the summer just like all the others but I pick them up in the fall and we are trying not to use them deliberately for deer and such. Crappy this CWD thing as there were five confirmed cases within miles of home this past fall.
 
rci2950 said:
Here is what i ended up doing today. a 20KG bag of water softener salt. Said on the bag the only ingredient was Sodium Chloride. I also checked the SDS sheet and it lists the recommended uses as "De-icer. General industrial and water softening/conditioning purposes. Animal Nutrition". So if animal nutrition is on it then it must be ok. I like saving money where I can.
Click to expand...

The blue cobalt or red iodized salt for livestock doesn't cost much more than softener salt, maybe $1-$2 per bag more.
 
billdick said:
Here in saskatchewan we are having a serious increase in CWD cases showing up. CWD is said to pass through saliva so bait stations and salt licks are good ways to spread the disease. I have salt out for the cows in the summer just like all the others but I pick them up in the fall and we are trying not to use them deliberately for deer and such. Crappy this CWD thing as there were five confirmed cases within miles of home this past fall.
Click to expand...

It seems to be more CWD in places where mule deer is abundant. Unfortunately we have an open season for white tail and draw for mule. Should be the other way...
 
MD said:
I found a big livestock salt block at the end of an overgrown logging road on crown land last fall.

Tons of deer tracks around it in the fresh snow.

Should I go back this fall if no one else is there or is that considered somebody else's "spot"?
Click to expand...

I see salt blocks all the time on logging roads and cut blocks, around my way and in a lot of B.C. the cattle ranchers range their livestock and they put out salt blocks to the cattle to use.
 
If those stumps arent pretty solid they'll get demolished long before the hunt. Every animals in the bush is going to be licking, chewing, kicking, pissing and who knows what other bodily function on them in short order.

Ideally you want a hardwood (maple, oak, ash etc) thats partially decayed.

Heres two of mine. Two good solid maple stumps that Ive been running for almost a decade. Most of the time I just use rock salt, sometimes they get a block. The one stump has a cavity which I like to fill.

Same stump

EWcWTjrl.jpg


G9YbBVxl.jpg


different stump

ZkhFjYU.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom