Deer Caine/Mineral Site Question
 

Question for the members of the board who use mineral licks, a few years ago i was lucky enough to get access to a few hundred acres of farmland/woods to hunt in Maryland. Now this is all farm country where I am, corn and soybean being the majority. At first I would put piles of corn out covered with Buck Jam in front of my cameras to find out what was on the property. I would get tons of pics in every location. This past year, instead of spending all the money on corn and lugging it into the woods, I figured I'd set up some mineral sites with Deer Caine and just check the cameras every few weeks. Well i've had no luck with the Caine sites for 2 years now. I've moved some around and such but it seems the first few days they'll show up and then very very scattered after that. My question is, do you think Deer Caine just isn't good and I should try other minerals or could it be that the soil here is so rich already from all the farming, that they do not need minerals as much and don't make it a point to come to the sites? I know the deer are here and I'd like some pics without having to keep throwing corn out there.

Here in Missouri, we put out many many deer cain licks on the 20,000 acres we lease. We have great success with it. Deer cain is just salt and not something that the deer need, but they like the salt and come to it. There are many different products on the market, that enhance antler growth and will attract the deer to the lick, better than Deer Cain. It is possible that the deer are already getting salt from, either a natural lick in the area, or if there are cattle in the area, from a salt block put out for them. I would try something that is more enticing than just salt. Like i said, there are many products and flavors. Anything from fruit flavor, ie., persimmon, apple, etc.. To maple, acorn, molasses. Something that was sent to us a couple years ago to try, was Crushed Sugar Beets, put out by Wild Game Innovations. To give it a try, we simply used it on salt licks that were already established. We poured the crushed beets around the outer edge of the lick. I checked them 2 days later and was amazed. The deer hit the Beets like there was no tomorrow. There was nothing left of the beets.

Question about your licks? Are you putting them near trails that are well established? You want to put them near, (not on) trails you know they are traveling. You can also put them at a fields edge. Where either, a good trail is coming from the timber, or where you know the deer are traveling the field edge and won't miss it.

Good info. I have had real good success with the Buck Jam in apple flavor. Maybe I'll do like you suggested and try a "real" mineral lick instead of just the Caine. One of two of my sites are within 10ft of a trail, the other ones I know are in prime deer areas and are maybe 25-30 ft from trails. Its frustrating when I hear others say they have 2' holes where they put their licks out at and i just have a few tracks in mine. What other minerals do you use besides the caine or is it self made recipe? I think im going to try the corn and buck jam mix next week just so i can get some pics and then start experimenting again

Make ur own mineral licks. I just made 200 lbs for around 55 bucks.

Deer Cain is all i use. Works great around here.

I have been using the "Lucky Buck" minerals and they have a lot more minerals in theirs than most on the market,the Trophy Rock seems to work pretty good too or just a plain old 50lb white salt block.Another thing we tried just this weekend is an Arm & Hammer salt lick,You dig up the ground in about a 4 foot by 4 foot square and break it up finely and take a 3 lb 7 oz. box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda and spread about 1/2 of it onto the dirt and mix in,then spread about 20lbs of Salt or more on top and dump the rest of the A&H on top and after a good rain it will soak into the ground and the Deer will start hitting it.We put some corn or Rice bran on top of the Lick to get the Deer to find the food then they find and use the salt lick there.You can refresh it with more Arm & Hammer and more salt as needed.Rock Salt or water softener salt will work fine too.

Hopefully I will get a chance to set a trail camera up over the A&H salt lick and see what kind of action it gets?

I have used deercane in 5 or 6 sites and have never had any luck with it at all!

The best location for a salt/mineral lick is on an existing well traveled trail(no more than 4-5 ft off the trail), near a water source and by the side of a trail leading to a food plot. Natural minerals and salt are fairly common in almost all areas where the deer live however by making one and placing them near areas you want to hunt you can influence their travel routes. Do not place the lick so near water that the ground water table reaches the lick and leaches it away.

Creating your Mineral/Salt lick.
At the chosen location use a shovel to denude the area of grass, brush or debris, then dig a shallow depression in the bare soil. If bagged mineral salt was bought, spread the bag, in the hole then shovel dirt back over it and mix with the loose dirt. (Most directions tell you to mix with pond or creek water and pour into the depression.) Sprinkle a little on top of it to help the deer find the lick quicker.

If a mineral block salt lick was acquired, dig a hole to the depth of the block plus one inch. Set the block in place and lightly cover the block. To initially attract deer to the lick sprinkle some food on the ground above the lick. Over time the lick will dissolve in the ground.

Be aware that it takes time to dissolve a mineral salt lick block and some deer will not start using the lick until it dissolves into the soil. For this reason if a quick utilization is desired the hunter might opt for the bagged mineral salt or mix the two for longer refresh times.

Any salt lick should be refreshed at about six to twelve month intervals to keep the traffic active on the trail. This interval will be determined by the amount of rain and water table fluctuations.

Once you have the deer coming to the lick site, they will literally eat the soil, creating a crater in the ground.

GTO, Keep me informed of how your washing soda lick works. Am anxious to see how it draws them in. And how well they hit it.

25-30 ft is too far off their trail. Most of the deer don't even know it is there. You could possibly use some of these same licks, but you will have to put something else in them that stinks real pretty to the deer to get them to come off the trail to them. you could try something as simple as going to the local market and getting some peaches, apples, pears, or what ever fruit is getting too ripe for them to sell.(riper the better) Ask if they have thrown any in the dumpster. Smash this fruit up and put it on the licks you already have. This is how the majority of our licks end up, but this is over a period of years for it to get this way. The only product we use on a regular basis, is the Deer Cain.

I tried the A&H Super wash for the first time this year. I was a skeptic. And after about 2 weeks, the cam did show some action. Then it rained..... Now I have three of these licks on our property and I'm a believer. And they are getting HAMMERED. Super simple. Rake ground loose, rake in 1/2 super wash box, rake in 50 lbs solar salt, rake the other half of the super wash. Then I dumped 5 gallons of water on the whole thing and raked again.

In the videos, the deer EAT the ground. This video is after only 2 weeks.

It'll be the best $10 you'll spend this year on hunting stuff.

Several years ago I read an artical published by Auburn Universty's wild life management folks that had a recipe for a forlula for a "home made" supplemental minerals for white tail deer. I no longer follow the exact formula because I have had difficulty finding one of the ingredients.

I usually settle for simple salt (NaCl) mixed with dicalcium phosphate, usually referred to as Dical for short. If my feed-seed place sometimes has a particular dairy cattle supplement which is high in calcium. I'll often mix it in also. My formula ranges from about 50-50, to 2 parts Dical to 1 part NaCl. If I have the high calcium dairy minerals, I'll usually do a 2 NaCl, 1 Cal, 1 Dical. Each of the lick areas I have prepared are about 12-15 years old. All are well dug out, with a few darned near 3'-4' deep and 8'-10' across. I usually put about 150# in teach around February 15 +/-, and refurbish in late July with another 50# of so. As already mentioned, tryto put these near a known heavily used trail. The NaCl ias more or less the attractant in this mix. The calcium and phosphates are what do the deer good as far as nutrition. Interestingly enough, in all thenyears I have hunted this place I ahve only once witnessed deer using a lick. I have tons of trail camera photos of deer, a few racoons, a few foxes, several coyotes, lots of big woods rats and crows coming to the salt. Almost all of the photos of the animals are at night ... except the crows of course.

The stuff I use is granulated. The salt is about $6/50. Dical is about $20/50. The high calcium dairy supplement is about $20/50.

Initially I dug a shallow hole about 3'x3' and layed in the 150# mix, or busted bags over a stump. I tried using 1/2 barrels (plastic) in some locations and this worked superb for about 5 years, then the deer stepping in them to dig up the mix wound up busting out the bottom.