HuntingNet.com Forums - Do Salt Blocks Help?

HuntingNet.com Forums (https://www.huntingnet.com/forum/)

- Wildlife Management / Food Plots (https://www.huntingnet.com/forum/wildlife-management-food-plots-11/)

- - Do Salt Blocks Help? (https://www.huntingnet.com/forum/wildlife-management-food-plots/5452-do-salt-blocks-help.html)

Do Salt Blocks Help?

I was wondering if Salt Blocks actually help deer out. I put out around 5 5pound acorn/corn/apple/regular salt blocks each spring. They are entirely gone by mid summer and I wonder how much it actually helps deer. Any info would be appreciated, thanks.

Good Luck This Season: Buck Magnet
P.S. Only Chuck Adams can sit at home and see deer so get into the woods. =;^)

RE: Do Salt Blocks Help?

Buck Magnet; the deer mineral that St. Croix is putting out would probably help them more. It's high in calcium and phosphorus. I use the same blocks as you do and they do supply some micronutrients. The deer enjoy them as do the porcupines.

Hint: buy the apple flavoured blocks for horses at the Coop. They're the same as the deer blocks sold in hunting stores but a lot cheaper.

Dan O.

Edited by - dan o. on 02/14/2002 08:39:53

RE: Do Salt Blocks Help?

Farmers offer them free choice to livestock. The animals use them free choice to make up for deficiencies in their diet. If deer are using them then either the deer need them health wise or they're the next best thing to an ice cream store.

Dan O.

RE: Do Salt Blocks Help?

BSK;

Cattle and deer basically have the same digestive system. I can't find a chart that says how much salt and minerals improve antler growth. What I have found is from livestock books. They speak of calcium, phosphorus, salt, iodine and cobalt being deficient in some soils and crops. So it may be a case of the deer living up to genetic potential by not being deprived rather than an increase based on the amount fed. They say that a lack of these chemicals will result in: poor bone growth, poor fertility, goiter, unthriftiness, listless, rough coats, anemia and weight loss. If they are lacking in these elements they develop a depraved appetite and eat wood, soil etc. It appears to be recommended that salt/mineral blocks should provided free choice for all grass eating animals.

Dan O.

RE: Do Salt Blocks Help?

BSK;
Deer don't have a set type of bacteria that are designed to digest certain foods. Ruminants are so successful because the bacteria develop in the their warm and comfy stomach's to digest whatever they eat. If a deer that has been eating brouse (tree limbs) fills up with corn it will starve until the bacterial population develops to digest corn. Cattle will eat anything a deer eats and visa versa.

I looked after a waste water treatment plant for 8 years. If you gave me enough time and storage capacity I could build bacterial populations that would digest almost anything.

Dan O.

RE: Do Salt Blocks Help?

BSK; Here is the list of summer deer food from a vegetation management book I have: acorns, mushrooms, grasses, asters, milkweed, dog-tooth violet, clover, goldenrod, many other kinds of herbaceous vegetation. Deer graze the same fields that cattle do.

Ruminants are sewer systems on legs. Cattle can be fed urea and animal excrement as cheap nitrogen sources.

Could you name me one crop that cattle will eat that deer won't?

Dan O.

RE: Do Salt Blocks Help?

Deer are beautifully adapted so they can survive and fluorish in a wide vary of environments.

From the Hunting and Fishing Library on Whitetailed Deer: "The rumination process allows whitetails to digest a wide variety of plant material. Primarily grazers, deer gain weight quickly during the growing season by consuming grasses, forbs, legumes, agricultural crops (especially corn and soybeans), flowers, nuts, fruits, vegetables, emergent aquatics, mushrooms, winter buds of woody plants, and high-moisture succulents such as cactus."

Beacause deer have no upper front teeth they pinch food off between their lower front teeth and the tire tread roof of their mouth. So BSK you're right, they can't mow grass down like a cow can, but grass is one of their main foods.

Dan O.

RE: Do Salt Blocks Help?

BSK; could you please refer me to your literature sources? There is a section on this website which lists common foods of deer:

http://www.whitetaildeer.com/about/

If you are correct we need to have the lists modified to offer the most accurate information to the public.

Dan O.

Edited by - dan o. on 02/16/2002 10:09:59

RE: Do Salt Blocks Help?

BSK; I've got my information from the Ontario government, Hunting books, this website even the North American Hunting Club includes grass seed in their seed mixture. You may have knowledge that the average person doesn't have access to. If that's the case, then I would hope the moderators would seek out that information so they could have the most accurate site possible.

I've learned a great deal from this site and I believe that it has helped many people to avoid repeating others mistakes.

Dan O.

RE: Do Salt Blocks Help?

ok guys back to the question. does salt actually help deer. ive heard people say the deer need salt to help digest food and ive also heard it provides them with everything they need. then there are the people that say it does very little for the animal itself. i am not talking about mineral mixes, just plain salt. ive heard ofpeople using everything from table salt to rock salt to water softener salt. can to much salt have harmful effects on the deer?

RE: Do Salt Blocks Help?

St. Croix is putting out a mixture that is high in calcium and phosporus. This would seem to be the best route.

Dan O.

RE: Do Salt Blocks Help?

From what I've gathered in my studies - Plain salt is craved by most animals, and trace amounts are indeed beneficial to animals by providing Na+, or K+ and Cl- for cell metabolism. In most ranges, the ions provided by salt exist naturally in sufficient quantities to allow for a healthy deer herd. I understand that lactating does can benefit from excess salt (NaCl) in their diets, and is often seen when salt licks are hit especially hard in May and June. Milk quantities are increased as a result of increased water intake and excretion.

That being said, too much salt can indeed be harmful to deer, and other animals. The primary knock on salt is that it causes deer to drink more water (just like it does for a person). Food consumption decreases as much as 20%, because the digestive track is full. On poor ranges, this can be a problem because the needed quantities food required to obtain the correct nutritional balance is cut down. An argument can be made that on good ranges, with excess nutrients, additional salt does not hurt anything. But...my feeling is why would you want to limit the feeding potential of your herd??

My advice...Yes provide good mineral supplements year round for the deer... Increase the Salt content to 30-40% in the fawning months, then go back to a 10-20% salt content for the rest of the year. The salt in your mineral mix is important to bring the deer to your lick - but do not over do it.

RE: Do Salt Blocks Help?

BSK - You are very right about this - I am not denying it. - In fact its fairly easy to find information or studies proving NO correlation to anlter/or body size development in free ranging herds of deer, directly. eg.http://jrm.library.arizona.edu/data/1992/456/8schu.pdf

Other studies suggest that excess salt could be a mojor problem, eg.http://www.rirdc.gov.au/reports/DEE/00-108.doc

We use mineral supplements and some salt, in the form of licks for reasons that some might find controversial. First off, I think that the experience many hunter's and hunt clubs have had with licks is not to be discounted. I really think that many have had good successes in harvesting larger and heavier antlered deer after implementing a mineral supplement program. Personally, I cannot conclude that the licks actually helped any of the harvested deer acheive their size directly, and likely neither can they (as you said its very difficult to obtain hard, scientific proof to this effect). However, I cannot deny that in some cases, better deer are harvested as a result.

My theory goes like this. Salt/Mineral licks have very little impact, if any on the actual health of a deer herd. However, deer choose their home area based upon their basic needs, and the better deer choose the best of the best of these areas. Deer, like many other animals crave salt, and other trace minerals. If you have an area that supply's excellent cover, browse, and food plots - you will attract your share of good deer. If you throw in a mineral supplement program, including some salt - You up your odds!! Deer do not know that they do not need it, they do know that they crave it and with all else being equal, may alter their behavior as a result. Does this mean that a large buck may give up a little better cover, to have his core area in an area with a mineral supplement - I think yes - it may. Or that more better does might reside in a parcel with a mineral supplement, raise more male offspring there, and atract more and better bucks - again yes I think they do.

If all your neighbors have mineral/salt licks as well, the effect is likely mimimized, and your back to managing for best cover, browse and food plots.

Another thing we've learned about licks - Deer will alter their patterns to get at them. This sounds silly when you first hear it, but think of the implications. You have a great spot (you think) for a stand, but the deer do not agree, they'd rather skirt the swamp on your nieghbor's land. A properly placed lick on your property encourges them to cut right through the swamp on a daily basis. Come fall, even though thier craving for the lick is all but gone, since deer are creatures of habit, they continue to use the route they are accustomed to, and you get a shot you otherwise would not have had.

We stop putting out minerals in August, because its illegal (and unethical in my mind) to hunt over bait or a lick (season starts Oct 15). Still we have in some cases altered deer movement through behavioral adaptation. In fact we've wrestled with this one from an ethical standpoint - another whole topic.

So - Do mineral supplements help the deer herd - maybe not. Do they increase your odds for a better harvest - Yes, I think maybe they do.

RE: Do Salt Blocks Help?

if deer dont like or need salt then why do i catch them getting it out of our salt trough? they will go right into our cattle lot and get there supply of trace mineral salts. so... i started putting it out in the woods for them and they get it there to. but they still come to the cattle lot . i guess it is a hard habit to break.

RE: Do Salt Blocks Help?

Everything that I have read recently was said in farm hunter's above posts. Most mineral/salt licks are made up of too much salt to draw deer. The deer love salt, so they consume it. The salt makes the deer thirsty just like popcorn at the movie theater makes us thirsty. The deer then drink more water leaving less room for high protien foods (that have been proven to help grow larger antlers in many studies)! Deer and cattle need different amounts of minerals at different times of the year. Cattle minerals should not be thought of deer minerals. I have a mineral site started already this year and hope it will help lure a group of bucks into staying on my land instead of traveling a large distance to feed on my land at night. If they stay on my land longer the next few weeks I will have a much beter chance in finding their sheds. The bucks proved what I already thought was a problem... my land lacks the cover they need/want. The grass was greener on the other side of the fence in this case. We'll have to see whay happens next year!

RE: Do Salt Blocks Help?

chdeerbio; I would also like to see legitimate proof in black and white. But I posted the links to show BSK that there are sites which back up what he says. The concept that BSK is putting forward isn't outrageous, but it would change the way I manage my property.

Remember chdeerbio I only found one site with that viewpoint. It's only a rumor until you read it twice.

Dan O.

RE: Do Salt Blocks Help?

Interesting topic,alot of pro-cons.

We have put various salt licks on our farm over a period of 3 years.The deer,or any other animal for that matter hardly touch them.
Our farm borders a salt water marsh,tidal river and Delaware Bay = Lots of available salt.The conclusion we've come to,is they have ample salt in their diet.We stopped puttin them out.We've had tons of luck with blocks containing various seed product,
molasses,and apple resin - they tear that up - gone in couple weeks!!

RE: Do Salt Blocks Help?