Do you guys buy your deer minerals, make your own like this video, or not even bother? What have you found if you have tried both? We are trying this out this year and already noticed traffic to the area, and it is WAY cheaper than buying them!
There must be at least a 2:1 ratio of calcium to phosphorous (12%-14% calcium and 6%-7% phosphorous) for there to be much of a benefit to the deer. Many minerals are packed mostly with just salt which is what attracts the deer. But the minerals with too much salt and not enough of the actual minerals and vitamins, then the deer won't be getting anything out of it. The key is in the combination of ingredients so you get both the benefit from the minerals while still convincing the deer to want it. Monster Raxx is great but like I mentioned in another thread, I buy a bag 4 times as big at the same price and it has the same exact ratio of calcium to phosphorous as well as salt content. It contains all but 1 of the same list of ingredients.
I keep hearing the 4:1 ratio.... I understand theory behind it but from a practical stand point it's pretty silly. A mineral site is just one of many places/ ways deer obtain trace minerals. There is no reason to assume that 4:1 ratio is carried over in to any area beside the lick site....so to claim that the benefit is from the ratio seems silly. That is if there is any benefit at all besides attraction to a given area.
Agree with trial, show me a study that show benefits of minerals in a wild deer herd. At best a deer may hit a mineral lick twice, three times a week? Hard for me to believe it does anything for a deer outside of fixing a craving for salt.
I mix my own. My deer in each area hit the mineral sites daily and generally twice, once on the way to the crop fields and food plots and once on the way back out at daylight. That's where I took all my pics last year, every single trail cam was over a mineral site.
This past spring and summer, I had 2 bucks over 170" hitting my minerals every evening and night. I'm sure there are some deer that roam a lot and don't hit licks every day, but there are definitely deer that hit them once a day at least. In my area anyways.
Do you just buy the materials similar to what we bought for the video? I am curious if there is a better source for the Calcium and Phosphorus because it was tough for me to find!
I have a local chain called Orscheln Farm and Home that carries some salt and mineral salt and also Tractor Supply that carries my preferred range mineral "Producers Pride Range Mineral". They have a range mineral that has far better ratio's of mineral to salt. The Dical I get from a local MFA dealer, I guess I got lucky because they always have it and were the first and only source I checked. I've gotten to where I don't use the plain crushed stock salt, the range mineral has quite a bit of salt already and I assumed it would be enough and it seems to be fine.
Different combinations of mineral/salt may be more successful in some areas while they may not work as well in another. It's all about land and resource assessment, testing soil, etc.
After years of trial and error, I decided to make my own with buckeyes advice. So far the deer have been visiting it daily. It cost me about $65 to make 200lbs. So obviously it was A LOT cheaper then buying commercial. Also, though it is high in salt, it has the majority of vitamins/minerals that the commercial brands had and in similar content (within 2-3%). That's just what worked for me. My main goal is to keep deer around and get inventory of bucks. I haven't read much research that proves bucks with access to mineral kicks actually grow bigger racks, butif they do...I'm glad mine is comparable to what's on the shelves. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
I've always just mixed mine up myself. 50 lb sacks of all the ingredients can be had at the feed store.. rip the bags open and use a coffee can to scoop out even increments into a 5 gallon bucket that you take to the site to freshen it up. Deer crush the site just the same as sites maintained with commercial blends. IMO
I would say you may be right, that a deer might visit "A" mineral lick twice, three times a week but likely that deer is visiting other locations those days in between, especially while antlers are growing. Once we established our third mineral lick on our almost 200 acres we discovered that at times doe groups would take over a mineral lick for a day or two and those bucks that were visiting end up showing up at other locations. I would bet that at those peak times of the year they visit sites close to daily and often more than once per day. I am also not talking about salt licks either. Over the years I have tried many types of mineral and salts from Trophy Rocks to other brands and even made my own from the recipe's out there. In my opinion minerals are essential IF you want to benefit your deer herd in a positive way that helps does while lactating and help bucks reach their potential while growing their racks. In years past we generally only had decent basket racked bucks, nothing much over 8 points were common. Granted we are giving bucks time to grow now but it seems we are having more and more bucks that are growing extra points, putting on great mass, etc.. Even this year I made an age estimation mistake on the buck I killed as it was a 2 1/2 year old 10 point. This past season I gave Monster RAXX a try as I was seeing the results many were posting in the years before. From the first bag I put out in early 2012 to the last bags I recently put out the deer seem to flock to it. Do I have scientific evidence that it is helping?? No, I wasn't smart enough to keep the statistics and document everything needed to do so. Do I think it is helping? Heck yeah I do and I will continue to use it. Could I just go to TSC or some other place and buy range mineral or make my own concoction? I could but I think I would be going backwards with what I am trying to accomplish.
I was worried about the deer not being attracted to it so I mixed it a little heavier in salt, and I left a little of the Di-Cal aside in a bag, and I am studying use. As long as they are hitting it I am going to continue to add Di-Cal to the mix to limit the percentage of salt and maximize the Calcium and Phosphorus intake at the sites. I think it is a great benefit of mixing your own, because you can tweak the ingredients as needed.
