imo, if you use deer cane or c'more deer type products, you need to have thick, solid, THICK ground to put it on. for the minerals to be able to form, the contents you poor down dont need to seek into the ground. down here we have sand and clay so we came up with a nifty trick. we cut a tarp about 4x4ft and bury it maybe 4-6 inches in the ground. then we pour the cane on top. the tarp traps thecontents so they form high enough for the deer to notice and bury into. we find some of our tarps torn out a good 10ft away from the original spot because the deer keep tryin to digaround to get the crystals.good luck. hope this helps