Mineral site advice

Ahh makes sense now!


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I use it year round and will be hitting all my spots in the next few weeks as the snow here starts to melt. If you want some without molasses just send me a message like Ty said. I always have some bags without for my personal use. I rarely use the bags with molasses except for early in the year.

 

Lucky Buck seems to be the stuff around here, but cant go wrong with a trip to the feed mill for some di-cal and trace salt

 

65% salt was last I saw...just call your local softener salt company basically...

 

Im the worst guy in the word to post on the subject, but, the only mineral lick i ever got to work on my property was a trace mineral block placed on a stump. Deer hit it from 2008-2011. Everything else has failed miserably, some without a single deer even stopping for a smell as they walked down a trail 5 feet away. Quite puzzling.

I WILL get a mineral lick established this year if its the last thing i do. Will.

 

20 pounds of Trace Mineral and 5 pounds of Dical-phosphate to each lick.

 

I'm a nutritionist and formulator. I have invented some interesting mineral mixes that are unlike any in the US and also have helped some others in the hunting industry with their mineral's they sell. So many of the products on the market are not good science or are way over prices. It drives me crazy seeing some of the stuff sitting on the shelves. That being said here is some tidbits:

Trace mineral salt is just that. 95% OR MORE SALT and the rest being small amounts of trace minerals
Trophy Rock is redmonds salt that is sold for 4 times the price that it should be. I love redmonds salt and do have it in my deer mineral but people don't know that you can buy a 50lb bag of redmonds #10 for $10 instead of the trophy rock 15lb size for $15...Oh the marketing. Ok, ok so you want a block for some crazy reason, deer will consume more loose salt than they will blocks. Why is this? They are ruminants and they are built to have their nose on the ground. It also produces more saliva when this happens and the ruminant naturally "buffers then selves more."

Most deer minerals contain zinc oxide and manganese oxide, which are your higher requirement trace minerals and oxides are way less available than sulfate forms , which would be zinc sulfate and manganese sulfate. Now for top nutrition mineral mixes I use chelated forms like zinc polysaccaride and manganese polysaccaride.

Another factor is salt regulates intake up and down. Too much salt in a deer mineral , you will not get the consumption. Too little and it's more "dusty" and the lower salt usually has the mineral less palatable. I have played with just about every level of salt and know the range that gives one maximum consumption. On a good year i've had over 1400 pounds of deer mineral placed and consummed. No one has taken me up on the offer recently on doing trials using THEIR MINERAL, against sound science. But i welcome any free product to analyse and put against a control.

 

I use that biologic rock. Seems to attract more doe and fawns. But one 10 lb block will only last a couple of weeks for me. I like it!

 

Do people just want to get to attract deer to trail cameras when they use trophy rock or attractants? Because trace mineral salt doesnt lead to any increase in antler growth and only is a smaller piece in the puzzle . There is small amounts of major minerals, no vitamins and missing one huge thing...selenium.

I just am wondering why people use a salt program for deer and yet could spend the same money and get a really sound mineral program going?

A great mineral will still attract the deer and yet give you something for your money to help the deers immune system, reproduction, growth, fiber digestion, and much more.

 

I think most guys using salt or trace mineral just don't understand the science behind minerals. Sure salt will "attract" deer and could even lead to shot opportunities, but it does very little to benefit the deer. When I first got into the mineral game, I started with a salt block. Then moved to bagged salt and trace mineral. I attracted lots and lots of deer, but eventually realized that was all I was doing. That's when I started to look around for a product that would not only attract, but also benefit the heard. In the last couple seasons, I have noticed a couple things. First, I have noticed an increase in antler size on my local bucks compared to previous years. Secondly, I have went from at least 50% of my bucks breaking their racks to almost none with broken racks. I have no proof that pure salt or trace mineral lead to more brittle racks. Who knows it could be something completely different, but since I have started using a quality mineral I have not had that issue.

 

Do we have any physical proof that these minerals will in fact benefit a wild deer population? Or is it still theory?

I can't help but think that the majority of my "minerals" or "salt" get diluted and washed away with every rain. Especially in the spring. Obviously a block would be the way to go because it takes longer to break down...any thoughts on this?

(For the record, I used dicalcium phosphate and Producer's Pride general purpose mineral in my licks this year)

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I do not believe it gets washed away. These minerals dissolve and leach into the soil. That is why you see deer eating the dirt in and around the mineral site. Once it has dissolved and leached into the soil it is much easier for the deer's body to use the mineral.

Here's how I look at whether or not the minerals benefit the deer. If their body was not craving them, they would not seek them out and ingest them. I think it's pretty clear that a deer's body is warn down and lacking nutrients after the rut and a hard winter. Does will also be lacking due to carrying fawns and then while lactating. These minerals need to be replaced in the body to keep the deer healthy. They can find most of these minerals in nature, but if you offer them to the deer in a one stop shop they will have to expend less energy trying to locate it.

 

Proof they work?
Ok, i could take about 2 hours to cover this but i'll try to focus here.
There are pen deer who have over 300" of growth as year old bucks. These deer would put no where near as many inches if they weren't fed high protein and high mineral diets. These diets if they didn't contain an added level of especially zinc, copper and selenium would have major issues. If there wasn't the high amounts of calcium, phosphorous and magnesium, the inches would be way lower.

I say, i hope to get 15" of added growth on wild deer by a good mineral and food plot program. Pen deer that number can be 50 inches or more in theory.

Look at the areas where there are some of the highest concentrations of boone and crocket bucks. Looks at their soil types. People's soils also match up with their plants. I at times have had people call me with health issues and if one's soils are off, their forages also when samples usually match. Everything in life is about balance.

If we as humans, didn't consume any dairy, and very little green vegetable's how would our health be? Everything in life is about balance. Parts of the country will receive more benefit from mineral programs than others. But all areas benefit from a mineral program.

But that being said, one will get even more units of calcium, phos, trace minerals and protein if one knows how to get their soils in line, plant the right forages for deer. Everything taken into a deers mouth affects growth, reproduction, fiber digestion, antler production, milk production etc etc. The only issues would be if one has some crazy out of wack minerals thats placed, that can cause toxicities or deficiencies by excess.

 

does anybody every use lucky buck lot of people use it in south east Mo

 

lucky buck is made by someone i know..
It is basically salt
If your putting any product out with over 35% salt, then thats the biggest benefit your getting.

That product like many with high salt levels should be called attractants, not minerals. What grows antlers is the major minerals -calcium, phosphorous and magnesium. Crude protein is the biggest factor. If your lacking trace minerals, you won't get as good of digestion, which is what you need for maximum feed efficiency.

Salt regulates intakes, up and down. If I put 50% salt in a mineral mix, you'd only get about 1/2 as much intake as the minerals i have formulated and recommended. Nutrition is all about balance.

A sound deer mineral should have 15-20% calcium
7-9% phosphorous
around 1% magnesium
a good level of copper, zinc and selenium
Vitamin levels are not as important during the spring flush but also once a mineral is put out in the elements, their levels rapidly decrease.
You also want to have chelated forms of trace minerals verses oxides. Unless one can prove to me that the deer are visiting the mineral piles every day or 2.