croc2116

New to deer hunting and I have a few questions.Does anyone put out salt and other minerals? If so how much and how often? When? Does it actually do anything? What are you putting out, Ca,Phosphorous etc...?

Thanks guys

squireboy

www.btosupply.com .... I think they are currently working on the site, but this stuff has been seen on a few DVDs & shows from some of the guys I've watched over the past year and it works good for me. Not sure when the site might be ready (if its not now). Seems like you get a lot more too

Alltlk4

I make my own

50 pounds stock salt
50 pounds trace mineral
50 pounds dried molasess
50 di-calcium phosphate (for antler growth)

Mix it all in a 55 gallon trash can. Put it in 5 gallon buckets. Pour it on the ground and rake it in. A little water on top will help get it going. It will do 6-8 sites. I replenish it every 6 months, usually March and September. They would dig a whole to china if they could. I actually think that you end up in the ocean but all the cartoons end up in China so who knows.

Mojotex

I too make my on. Usually a mix of about 50% NaCl, 25% Dicalcium Phosphate and 25% High Calcium "dairy supplement". OFten times use trace minerals salt insted of pure NaCl. Cannot legally use sweet mixes or any other "feed" like molasses. I have tried half barrels, cut length wise. That works fine, but also have simply dumped on the gound, usually over a stump. Have 12 lick areas. I put out about 2000# - 3000# every year on the 3150 +/- acres where I hunt. Done this for years. Put it out in Feb.-Mar. time frame. Refresh with about 600# of NaCl in August or so. Have some areas that are 3'-4' deep holes. One place on a hill side is dug out into the back so far that it is a small gully now.

jrbsr

Can you get this in smaller amounts?

Alltlk4

In Missouri you can't use feed like molasses and hunt over it. If my lick contains molasses it has to be gone 10 days before you hunt over it. I spoke with a local agent to check what is considered over it and when the molasis would be considered gone. It is legal to put it out for the cameras and such. I have a few licks that I leave the molasses out because stands are close by when I replenish in the fall but they all get molasses in the spring. They consider it gone if I only use the molasess in the spring near my stands if that makes sense.

Alltlk4

jrbsr, I think the stock salt atually comes in 40 pound bags. Those size bags are the smallest I have been able to find. You can make them in as small batches as you want, just try to keep the amount equal parts of each. You could make 8 pound batches by using just 2 pounds of each mineral. Does that help?

Sfury

Here I thought deer supplements were coyotes, small game, or pretty much anything you could hunt outside of the whitetail season.

In Wisconsin we are very limited to what we can put out due to abuses in baiting deer. I'm waiting for the outright bans now.

highlonesome

I feed alfalfa hay year round. For minerals I use general purpose blocks from TS or the apple flavored blocks Academy sells. A local feed supply sells a 24% protien block with Calcium phosphate mixed in. It can be costly. Last year this time I had corn growing in the feeders, this year they are eating a 12.00 bale of alfalfa in three days per feeder.

The main thing I have learned about feeding is consistency. After three years of alfalfa, bucks gained an average of 10 lbs comparing with same aged deer the year before. Spring and summer is when supplements are needed most. We affect the habitat anytime we "enhance" nature. By far the best I can do is clear under and trim the live oak trees that produce acorns and keep the troughs running over. It's hard to beat what nature provides in a good year.

SteveBNy

Check to see what is legal in your state - varies wildly.