MO_Hoyt

i swear by mineral licks. the minerals grow bigger and healthier deer. 1st and formostthe minerals make the buck's antlers grow bigger and stronger, but mineral lick has benifits for does too. it makes their milk more nutritous so the fawns can drink healthier milk.
all my mineral licks are the same. you want 1 mineral lick per 100 acres and next to a spring, creek, or pond. heres my recipe
100lb of rock salt
100lb of mineral salt
100lb of dicalcium phosphate (12% or more)
just evenly mix these ingrediants and pour them in a prime location next to water. this mineral licks atracts all different kinds of animals. ive had racoon, quial, and bobcat prints in my lick. its awesome to go down to your lick after rain and see the fresh big bucks prints down there.
cant wait til sept.15 opener of bow!
-Bran

270 win.

What do you do just pour it on the ground and how long will one those licks last?

MO_Hoyt

just evenly mix these ingrediants in a wheel-barrow. i just dump it on the ground. march is the month you want to put it out, then refresh next march and so on. wher my mineral licks are on my property i also have foodplots next to them. so when im in my treestand the deer are either going to do 3 things. either eat the fooplot, lick the minerals, or get a drink of water.

RWK

MoHoyt i'm having a hard time finding DiCal around Buffalo NY. Any ideas

MO_Hoyt

RWK,

i buy all my mineral lick ingrediants from either Orschlins or M.F.A. look for these stores in the yellow pages or look up cattle feed stores. they sould have it. i live in the Boonies so its easy for me to get this stuff. the dicalicuim phospherous i buy cost around $14 for 50lb. its the best stuff there is. if you still cant find this stuff let me know and i might be able to ship you some, but it will cost $$$.
the cheaper lick is
half of it, so
50lb of rock salt
50lb of dicalicim phspherous
50lb of trace minerals.

i been trying experiments with white/brown sugar. it works very well, but sugar is hella expensive. they use the sugar minerallick just as much as the rock salt mineral lick. besides ifa buck is all hopped up off of sugar then he wont stand still for a bowshot!!!!

Tigerfan

I read in a magazine one time where they recommended digging a 4'Wx8'Lx6"-1'D foot hole (W=wide x L=Length x D=deep) and either use a tarp or visqueen (sp?) in the bottom of it, then mix your minerals and dirt together and put this back in the hole. This will allow the tarp/visqueen to hold the minerals and will create a man made salt/mineral lick. Refresh every year or so. Deer love fresh dirt so by doing this they will find it and your minerals will keep them coming back. If you have a disc or tiller you can do this really easy, disc it up and scoop it out, lay your tarp in and mix and replace. I have never tried this, I normally just buy the mineral/salt blocks and use them. It is not doing as much good as what he suggested because it is only a TRACE mineral block, but they seem to like it.

derodkey

Mineral licks are great. MO Hoyt, are you in Missouri? If so, be carefull, using sugar is baiting and all bait must be gone 30 days prior to hunting season. If not, nevermind, I only know about Missouri.

doughboysigep

I just got some di-cal phosphate at agway ($14/50# bag)

Matt/TN

ive got a few questions? how much does the 50 lb version cost and what if it isnt near water, will it still work>?

GMMAT

I bought the exact mix these guys explain above.....and 200#'s cost me <$30 ($26+ to be exact).

I put it out last Wednesday night..........got two GREAT rainstorms on it over the weekend.......and put my trail cam on it last night. I could tell they were already messing around with it.

Jeff