Is anyone using any minerals? If so what kind? I put out deer cane in April and haven't have much traffic at the site?
Soda ash/ sodium bicarbonate. 50 pound bag for 15$ put it side by side a trophy rock at 2 different locations and it out preformed the rock hands down. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I wouldn't be wasting time or money on minerals during the season. your best bet is to keep them in your areas when there is snow on the ground or just in the coldest months. Deer tend to lay off minerals during the summer. I dont know why but your best results should come in the early spring and mid to late winter. I recommend a combination of general purpose minerals(such as producers pride $13.99 for 50lbs), trace mineral salt(champions choice $7.49 for 50 lbs),soybean meal (around $20 per 50 lbs market pricing), corn(50 lbs), and Lucky buck for some added scent enhancement. If you do it right you can get 220lbs of mineral for around 45 or 50 bucks. I suggest tractor supply for the mineral and mineral salt. You can find soy meal at your local feed mill(best prices are in early spring) and lucky buck is on sale alot of times for around 15 dollars for 20# bucket in the off season. Best way to mix is in a concrete mixer if you dont have one a big bucket and a stick should work just fine. I did alot of researching and antler composition is made up of alot more than alot of mineral products for deer offer. this one hits all the major components a big one being protein. Good luck.
If you can get trophy rock, or a friend of mine jus took a bag of cattle salt and they will were a big hole in the ground ive always used trophy rock tho
I used deer cane both the liquid and brick form and within a week I had several new bucks on camera. I thought it worked great. I used Roasted corn freaks as well and seen increased activity. I even arrowed a nice buck coming back looking for the corn freak a week into the season.
Can they find them? Sometimes plain salt or other items are harder for the deer to find. Some soil types also seem to make minerals unpalatable. Try making a site somewhere else or use on product with an attractant in it or use an external attractant. I, of course, will recommend Nelson Creek Outdoors minerals and other products in the Lucky 7 line up.
The quote about soil types is especially true. Some one I hunted with put deer caine in amongst spruce and pine.....deer wouldn't touch it. About 150 yds away in the hardwoods, he tried the caine again and the deer were tearing it up. I use something up here called Rack Stacker. Minimal salt but has many other nutrients. I put it on rotten logs where I want to position deer . The deer caine tends to work best in low , moist areas. And yes....get the stuff out in February rather that October.
I always had good luck using the Bags of Swimming Pool Rock type Salt. Bought cheap at Lowes. I pour it in a stump hole and doctor it up with Powdered Jello or Molasses. Deer and hogs zero in on it, and keep coming back long after the mineral salt is gone.
Pro-Phos 8 by land 'o lakes if I can find it. Purina Fescue Pro Mineral 8 or Regular Pro Mineral 8 is a close alternative.
So...what do you have against salt? Are you an anti-salt snob or what? I like salt, salt is good...unless it's too salty and then it's not.
Well if we are getting technical, Salt is Sodium and Chlorine (NaCl) which are both minerals. So even a 100% salt block can be labeled a mineral.
A vast majority of people creating "mineral sites" are simply looking for products to attract deer - i.e. Salt. If that is your intent I have a 2 step process that is sure to attract deer. 1. Place cattle salt block in heavy traffic area. 2. Spread corn around block to attract deer (this step is optional).
I've never seen that stuff before. Good results with it? I was going through old threads yesterday about salt licks/mineral stations and noticed you were using Lucky Buck. Have you moved on from that?
