Best way to set up mineral sites.
 

I'd like to get some more mineral to the herd out there and I was wondering if you guys do this often and how to best do it. I know you could just buy mineral rocks and blocks, but it's probably a lot cheaper to just make up a solution with water and the nutrients yourself and dig a decent hole to saturate with the solution. What else?

RE: Best way to set up mineral sites.
 

Never. It's a waste of time and money. Deer don't need help finding minerals and the only thing they use from mineral supplements is salt.

RE: Best way to set up mineral sites.
 

Apple over the years I have tried everything to get deer in front of my cams from Trophy Rock to home made mineral licks to Deer Cane and Buck Jam and the best thing I have found is generic 50lb. mineral blocks that you can get at your local feed store for $6.00 each. I have gotten pics of hundreds of bucks using these blocks over the last 2 years.
I dont know what ingredients, salt or trace minerals etc. are in them but then again I dont really care since mineral blocks, licks etc. do nothing to benefit the herd other than providing them with a source of salt but the deer sure do like them!! Just put your minerals/salt out in area's that the deer frequent and they will find and and start using it within a day or 2.
Here are some pics from last year.



























Here is some pics from the last 5 weeks. Pike

RE: Best way to set up mineral sites.
 

Go to Southern States and ask for 2 to 1...It's a cattle supplement with calcium, phosphorus and sodium...It helps the does produce milk and the bucks grow antlers...

RE: Best way to set up mineral sites.
 

That was helpful, thank you. The minerals are not always easy to find at certain points in the year and they don't just need the salt...it's ideal to provide them with calcium and phosphorus as the two substances best linked to antler growth.;)

RE: Best way to set up mineral sites.
 

Haha, you beat me to it, thanks man!

RE: Best way to set up mineral sites.
 

Read the following and save yourself some money--unless you just want to bring them to your trail cameras.

A classic study on the mineral needs of deer was conducted at Penn State University in the 1950s (French et al. 1956). In this study, researchers did detect a difference in yearling buck antler development between supplemented and unsupplemented groups. However, these herds were fed a nutritionally deficient diet below what most whitetails would have access to in the wild.Furthermore, when the same deer were examined the following year as 2.5–year–olds, no differences were detected between the two groups.

In a similar study conducted at Auburn University (Causey 1993), researchers tried to detect differences in body and antler size between an unsupplemented and supplemented group. The difference in this study and the Penn State study was that both herds were fed a nutritionally complete diet. In addition, one group was provided a commercial mineral supplement. Over a 4–year period the researchers were unable to detect any differences between the two deer herds.

A Louisiana study (Schultz and Johnson 1991) compared supplemented and unsupplemented wild herds in similar habitats. Although problems always arise when studying wild populations, they were unable to show any differences in body size or antler development using mineral supplementation.

Use of Mineral Licks by Deer
Without question deer need minerals and will readily use mineral licks. In fact, many licks 15 feet or more in diameter and several feet in depth have been documented. Why do deer use these licks and why is their use restricted primarily to the spring and summer? Many hunters mistakenly believe that it is simply because deer need the minerals for antler and body growth. However, several studies have shown that while deer will readily use mineral licks high in salt, they rarely, if ever, use pure mineral supplements. If deer were lacking minerals, why wouldn’t they use the pure mineral supplement even if salt wasn’t present? While the answer to this question is unknown, it is probably because minerals like calcium and phosphorus, by themselves, are bitter.
Could the use of salt/mineral mixes be due to an increased need for salt? According to research, the most likely answer is yes. During the spring and early summer, deer operate at a sodium deficiency due to the high potassium and water content of the forage (Weeks and Kirkpatrick 1976). This interferes with efficient sodium conversion in the body and increases the need for sodium intake. This makes deer actively seek out concentrated sources of sodium such as natural or man–made licks. Almost all soils more than 25–50 miles from a seacoast are low in sodium (Weeks
1995). Therefore, in these areas, salt may be as necessary as calcium and phosphorous to whitetails during the spring and summer.

RE: Best way to set up mineral sites.
 

Apple, fishguts beat me to the punch!!
There has been numerous studies done over the years and to date not one has shown and benefit (other than providing a source of salt) from mineral supplements.

Here is an article by QDMA.'s leading biologist Brian Murphy, If anyone would write an article that supported using mineral supplements it would be him since his employer (QDMA) generates alot of advertising $$$$
from companies that produce mineral supplements on their TV show and their Magazine.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""A classic study on the mineral needs of deer was conducted at Penn State University in the 1950s. In this study, researchers did detect a difference in yearling buck antler development between supplemented and unsupplemented groups. However, these herds were fed a nutritionally deficient diet below what most whitetails would have access to in the wild. Furthermore, when the same deer were examined the following year as 2.5 year olds, no differences were detected between the two groups.

In a similar study conducted at Auburn University, researchers tried to detect differences in body and antler size between an unsupplemented and supplemented group. This study differed from the Penn State study in that both herds were fed a nutritionally complete diet. In addition, one group was provided a commercial mineral supplement. Over a four year period the researchers were unable to detect any differences between the two deer herds.

Without question deer need minerals, and they will readily use mineral licks. But why do they use these licks and why is their use restricted primarily to the spring and summer? Many hunters believe that it is simply because bucks need the minerals for antler growth and does for raising fawns during these months. However, several studies have shown that while deer readily use mineral licks high in salt, they rarely, if ever, use pure mineral supplements. If deer were lacking minerals, why wouldn't they use the pure mineral supplement even if salt wasn't present? No one can say for sure, but it's probably because most minerals by themselves are bitter.
Could the use of salt/mineral mixes simply be due to an increased need for salt? According to research, yes. During the spring and summer, deer operate at a sodium deficiency due to the high potassium and water content of the forage. This interferes with efficient sodium conversion in the body and increases the need for sodium. This makes deer actively seek out concentrated sources of sodium such as natural or man?made licks. Almost all soils more than 25/50 miles from a seacoast are low in sodium. Therefore, in these areas, salt may be just as necessary as calcium and phosphorus to whitetails during the spring and summer."""""""""""""""""""""'""""""""""""""""""""



Here is what CJ said in an article on this subject, who by the way is not only a well respected biologist but an editor of Bowhunter mag.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""Over the last several decades, biologists at Universities across the country have researched the effects mineral supplementation has on a bucks' rack. In most cases, they put deer in two pens. In one pen, the deer were feed their regular diet. In the other, the deer ate a mineral in addition to their regular diet. After a few years in most studies, researchers did not see a noticeable difference. Many biologists bring up the research every time a hunter brings up minerals. C.J. Winand, a biologist from Maryland, believes that minerals are hocus pocus. "All of the data available today says that mineral supplementation doesn't have a lasting impact on antler size. Research is being done regularly and until I see a study that shows that minerals help deer grow larger racks, I will continue to believe what I believe," Winand explained."""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" "

RE: Best way to set up mineral sites.
 

Thanks for exposing some of this "dirt" on these "rocks"! Now if that doesn't go down as one of the lamest things said this month,I don't know what will.

Very helpful guys...I've read for a few yearsabout mineral sites, but always in QDM literature!-> so it's good to know why I would read that if it were untrue. Another promotional thing to look out for I guess. Hunting and hunting products seem to have plenty of gimmicks to look out for, this looks like another example.

RE: Best way to set up mineral sites.
 

what i do is i go to local ag store and buy a 5 dollar 50 lb. white salt block. i bring it homeand take a maddox or a sledge to it to break it up into pieces. so now instead of limitiing yourself to one site you can have a few. after that i go into the woods and find a good spot, and dig a hole about a foot wide and long. then about 6-12 inches deep. then i take some of the broken off pieces and put them in the hole and smash then into the ground. you can pour water in the hole aswell to make the pieces of salt block dissolve. i have had great luck with this and you can make 3 sites for 5 bucks. the deer wwill dig and paw at these sites like no other too