Time to kick up the mineral licks is just around the corner. What are your favorite minerals and why?
I use MonsterRaxx and I really like it a lot. It brings deer in really quickly and they come very often. When I start a mineral site using MonsterRaxx, deer hit it the same night. It has contributed to many deer making tremendous gains in antler growth on both properties I use it on. The aroma of it is amazing. It has a lot of ingredients that deer (bucks, does and fawn) need for their overall health.
I've used lucky buck for years with very good results...but last year I started transitioning to 30-06+ protein and will be using it exclusively this year. The ratio of mineral to salt by weight is very good, & I like the added protein it has also.
I make my own and also have the deer hit it the same night. at the end of summer i'll have a 3 foot circle dug down about 16" or so. I put down 5 gallons each time. one of those little bags from wally world just doesn't cut it. the more you put down the better your results will last for a longer period of time.
ive noticed that a majority of "mineral" is well over 90% salt. so i just make my own to get more calcium and phosphorus the main components of antlers. if i would buy one over the counter it would be monster raxx though they seem to have a lot lower salt and content than others with more of the good stuff haha.
Yes, salt is really only an attractant. Deer do need salt in their diet, and they do crave it, but they don't need it in the crazy high quantities that most mineral supplements have. When purchasing a mineral you need to ask yourself why you are putting it out. Are you trying to help improve the overall health of the deer population in your area, or are you trying to just attract deer to a certain spot. If you are trying to improve the health of the deer herd, then a high salt content mineral is really not doing the deer any good as their body will only absorb so much, the rest is just waste.
I switched to Monster Raxx a couple of years ago after meeting Tom at the Iowa Deer Classic. It flat out works. I have made mineral sites for 10 years and have tried a lot of different products. I have never had anything work as well. I had a target buck this last season that was hanging out in an area that did not have a mineral site. I went in there in July with ONE small bag of Monster Raxx and a shovel and made a new site and hung a camera. Less than 5 hours later, I had multiple pictures of the target buck and several others. It does not take a huge amount of product to do the trick. Here are the photos from that site; I let the camera sit for a week and the card was full after three days. I switched out the camera to a Covert that would hold a bigger card so I wouldn't miss anymore photos. lol
I don't use it but Monster Raxx seems okay, hard to argue with the results and testimonials it gets here. I just can't afford it for the amounts I put out over a year so I make my own from range mineral, salt and Di-cal phosphate and use Trophy Rocks for a more steady and available supplement. This is a site I set up this past spring. I poured my mix in it and set a trophy rock in it. First pic is at fall refresh after a spring start and second pic is pretty recent. It's pretty decent when they are trying to get to it through snow, ice and a foot of water.
I tried a mix the last couple of years covey that I had the local coop mix for me. It included di-cal. I don't know what it was about it but I couldn't get a deer use it anywhere I put it out. I was extremely frustrated after all the time I had put in to getting the mix to where I wanted it. The difference is I didn't put a Trophy Rock in the middle of it. I know you are doing more of these in a bigger area. Cost is definitely an issue.
Really? Odd...well deer in different areas I guess. I just pour it and mix it in buckets and dump it out and deer hit it like candy. I've heard that sort of story about every mix and mineral going though, including Monster Raxx from several people. I think it's just odd circumstances. I didn't used to use the trophy rocks and had the same results I have now, just started using them because the landlord and Grant Woods likes them. I do like that they keep a solid form on top of the ground though. It's nice when the resulting hole gets full of water to still have a rock there. There's one just out of frame in the pics I posted, the deer rolled it out of frame, lol. I don't even have a feeder at that spot in the pics, just a mineral lick and deer hit it 24/7 but there is about 90 acres of crop 360 degrees around that spot. They like to hit the mineral going in to eat and then hit it again coming out.
Making my own mix of stock salt, trace minerals, Di calcium and Mono Cal plus dried molasses. Looking forward to see how it works. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Deer mineral 3) 50 lb pasture mineral 1) 50 lb trace mineral 1) 50 lb dried mollasis 1) 50 lb di-cal This is the mix that I use get 300 lb for about $80 and use it all in a year
