BM - your off to a good start. From your pictures, I'd say you already have a good genetic line to work with.

One bit of advice I think North Jeff hit on, do not put much stock in the "quick fix" types of attractors like Deer Cocaine and other sweeted type mineral blocks. At best they might attract a few deer, but you already have them in your area. From what I've learned they offer the deer very little most of the year. Even with quality mineral licks, you will find it very hard to prove that they made any difference - especially when you are doing other things to help the herd as well.

It sounds like your area is kind of an island between feilds. Am I right? - Work on habitat imrovements and good food plots. You want to make the best deer in your area want to reside, or take refuge on the 200 acres or so that you control. Keep up with the aging of your woods, as they get older, that hold less deer unless you cut back or offer new growth.

Keep your standards in line with what you can expect to harvest - both buck size and doe numbers. Keep records. Make a plan and stick to it. It takes at least 4-5 years to see real results.

Farm hunter, the area I hunt looks kinda like the videos from Canada, big corn/alfalfa fiels, with strip and patches of woods scattered in the middle of them. There are roads with a couple houses between some of the plots, but thats about it.

Mossy Oaks BioLogic Whitetail Addiction is

"Scientifically reformulated to combine the proven attractiveness of active sodium with several key vitamins and minerals that will provide your whitetail herd with missing nutrients. These missing nutrients are believed by many scientists to be the missing key ingredients to "unlock"antler development and improve overall herd health. Whitetail Addiction forces many minerals already in the soil to rise to the surface where they can be utilized by your deer herd.

This product is extremely attractive to deer and they will quickly develop a wallow as they frequent the site seeking the minerals and nutrients that surface. Refresh the lick periodically to ensure continued usage.

Where to Use
Whitetail Addiction will work better in heavier soils, as they tend to hold the minerals longer, sandy soils certainly work but they allow minerals to leech out quicker. Try to pick a site that is shady to allow the soil to hold more moisture for longer periods of time. Do not place anywhere you don't want a massive wallow created and place it in an area that will allow you to view with out disturbing the animals.

How to Use
Rake back leaves and remove vegetation in a three-foot area. Mix contents with six gallons of water and pour on a bare spot. To keep the site expanding and insure continued activity, refresh the site several times during the year.

Creates a massive "HONEY HOLE" that is continuously visited by the whitetails in your area. Provides key missing nutrients to unlock massive antler development and overall herd health."

Thats what there website says. You can go to it http://home.mossyoak.com/mossyoakbio...ants/index.htm and check it out. Thats the stuff I tried and NOTHING happened. I don't know if it was a bad area or what, but it actually seemed like the deer stopped traveling on the trail that it was beside.


Good Luck This Season: Buck Magnet
"Hunting is not a sport, it is a passion, it is a WAY OF LIFE"

Yeah - the key is the statement: "are believed by many scientists".

Sceintists do not perform research to "beleive" an outcome - they try to disprove a hypothesis - pure scientific method. They do not reference this research because it probably does not disprove the hypothesis that "bucks will grow smaller antlers on natural habitat compared to those with "whitetail addiction" introduced. Thats if the research even exists - they do not say it does.

The statement on the package is not neccesarily false though - its just a bit misleading. The fact they do not list the ingredients should tip us off.

Here's what I think:

1. "Activated Sodium" is NaCl (salt)...............Pure sodium (non activated?) explodes when introduced to water and is extremely dangerous! Did you taste it? - I bet it was Very salty.

2. "Whitetail Addiction forces many minerals already in the soil to rise to the surface where they can be utilized by your deer herd."
this statement is the best - its like some kind of magical magnet that draws nutrients up out of the soil. What it likely is, is calcium
salt,and phosphorous with maybe a few trace elements - the common ingredients in most cow/cattle salt blocks. I do not know of any mixed product that draws nutrients up out of the soil.

It should be noted that properly limed and fertilzed food plots, does do this. When the optimum Ph for a given crop is established - maximum uptake of nutrients (Phospurous, Fe, K, N, along with protein anc carbohydrate production)is acheived by the plant. You may have read it here before, but crops growing in acidic soil might even look good, but the plants simply cannot uptake all the nutrients available to them because exchange sites in the roots are occupied by cations due to acidity in the soil. As a result, the food ingested by the deer will have less % of nutrients than could have been acheived. Therefore simple LIME could be billed as a product that: "forces many minerals already in the soil to rise to the surface where they can be utilized by your deer herd".

Just my thoughts - beware of sensational advertising like this - If you cannot verify the ingredients, do not buy it - not for helping the herd. If you want to attract deer - well then maybe its a different story - or you could just out some salt on the ground and get the same results.

Yeah, that is the last of that stuff that I am going to buy. It seemed too good to be true at the time, but I figured that it was worth trying out. It was only 4 bucks at Wal-Mart so it isn't like I lost alot of money. I do have a question though, what would you consider to be the best deer attractant that is sold in stores. I would like to purchase some of this for the spring when I plant my food plot. I would like to draw some deer in. O yeah, another thing, how often is it that deer get diseases from feeding to close to each other? I have been hearing that alot lately. People are saying tha planting a food plot is a bad idea because it causes the deer to get diseases. Thanks for the help.

Good Luck This Season: Buck Magnet
"Hunting is not a sport, it is a passion, it is a WAY OF LIFE"

Okay

Here are a couple items that I am looking at for attractants. Tell me if they work and if it is a good price.

1. Robinson Labs Inc. Bi-Agra Vitamin/Mineral Supplement & Attractant.
5lbs for $9.99

2. Determination Corp/Fore Buck Wallow
2lbs for $5.99

3. Determination Corp/Fore Deer Dynomite
2lbs for $4.99

4. Evolved Habits Inc Apple Mineral Block
4lbs for $3.99

5. Evolved Habits Inc Beast Feast
3lbs for $6.99

6. Evolved Habits Inc Deer Co Cain Rack Up
6lbs for $6.99

7. Evolved Habits Inc Pro Graze
4lbs for $21.99

8. Evolved Habits Inc Stump Likker
1 gallon for $7.99

9. On-Time Wildlife Feeder Scout Feeder
$62.99

10.Moultrie Feeders The Hunters Feeder
$82.99

Thanks.


Good Luck This Season: Buck Magnet
"Hunting is not a sport, it is a passion, it is a WAY OF LIFE"

If you plan to use the minerals only as an attractant, they you already have you answer in one of your posts: salt. Deer are very attracted to salt. Never place mineral licks with low sodium content near an area where you have salt. They will hit the salt more every time. That does not mean it is better for them. You can eat a truck load of sweets and sugar and a small helping of vegetables. That does not mean that because you ate more of the sweets it was better for you. Don't be mislead by how big a hole the deer dig to get to something. And you need to be realistic. When dealing with only 200 acres there is only so much that you can accomplish. The deer are not staying solely on your 200 acres but traveling a much broader area. And keep in mind that with 200 acres you have a limited number of does. If you overshoot the does on smaller acreages the bucks will not hang around on your land when the rut comes in....and that is the best time to get an older buck. The bucks will be where the does are!

See, one thing you said, and everyone else says, I don't believe. I have watched deer on my property. A little 150 acre area and the deer stayed there for two years straight. They stayed in the same bedding area, they feed from the same corn/alfalfa fields. They did everything exactly the same and ALWAYS in the same area. They never wandered off into a different patch of woods. I don't know, I am sure that deer do what you said, but they just don't seem to do that in my area. Each plot of woods has a herd of deer and they all seem to stay in that plot. I have been INTENSLY watching deer for about 4 years now. I have never seen any bucks leave an area. I have never seen any deer in an area that wasn't where I normally see them. I just don't see them moving around on these huge journeys. Maybe it is just the way of the land around here. Every patch of woods is full of white oaks, thick bedding area, surrounded by corn/alfalfa fields, and it has its own source of water. The deer have everything they need in one plot of woods, so they don't need to move to another plot. When rifle season is in, they run from plot to plot trying to escape hunters, but that is the only time.

Good Luck This Season: Buck Magnet
"Hunting is not a sport, it is a passion, it is a WAY OF LIFE"

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If the deer are not shot up all the time they will have a tendency to stay in the same area, but they will journey off a 150 acre plot.... They will not stay on a smaller plot at all times unless it's fenced.