StrungOutOutdoors

StrungOutOutdoors

Tough crowd

c-rad

Why not jus buy 1 bag of stock salt and dical then 2 bags of trace mineral salt. Mix together and you have 200lbs for 70 dollars.

Berserker

Last year I bought couple hundred pounds of various stuff that you commonly read about. Dug 3 holes. Didn't really notice anything. I have seen holes where blocks were in spring.

salt, minerals, molasses, and di??? I don't remer. I will put more of it out until gone.

c-rad

I put 2 100lbs licks out in mid February. They will dig it up until july then never touch it again much until the following February. A deer wont touch it unless there is white salt mixed into it. I did dehydrated molasses before but the bears and raccoons tear it up before the deer. Does it help the buck grow bigger antlers directly in my opinion no. From what I read it will help the doe and fawns out

MudderChuck

Hard to tell what trace elements and minerals a Deer needs. Unlikely they are going to get it all from forage in one area.

I read a study that said one main reason a Deer nose is so good, beside detecting predators and threats, is to detect dietary deficiencies. They say a Deer nose can detect the plants and minerals needed to correct dietary deficiencies in parts per billion/trillion and from great distances. They also said, besides weather, predator pressure and the rut, dietary deficiencies are a main reason for migration.

Trying to mix up a batch which fulfills all the deficiencies IMO is likely to be a shot in the dark.

There is a thousand year old game trail in the woods near my house. It leads to a mineral deposit. Deer from all over the valley periodically migrate there, stay for awhile then migrate back where they cam from. They fenced that mineral earth and the Deer tore up an eight foot chain link fence trying to get at it.

I personally think big antlers is more hereditary than dietary. People have been shooting the best Bucks for trophies forever, I shoot the culls, inferior Bucks, but I'm just one hunter in a million. The Bucks on my lease have some nice racks.

Semisane

Inferior bucks are mighty hard to identify. Here's a buck that was a 3-point last year. He looks a little different this year. (2017 & 2018 photos.)

Berserker

Sometimes the groomer mixes up the collars on my dogs.

MudderChuck

You are right about that, I'm middle good at it, another guy I shared a lease with is much better at it. If you hunt one area for enough years you can often pick out the lineage of the Deer, coloration and build. We get quotas and have to shoot a certain number of Deer from different age groups and gender. Picking the right ones is as much a talent as a science. Still if a Buck with an impressive well formed rack and a good build walks by, I let it go, I have one Doe now that looked three at two years, long legs and a really red coat. I tell anybody that hunts my lease if you shoot her you get your ass kicked.