Planning on setting up a mineral lick/station later this winter and want some of your opinions on how to set it up. I live in central MN and the land I can hunt is covered in corn/beans but want to set up a station at the beginning of March or so. I have a perfect place near bedding that will work for a station but need some opinions. I put out a trophy rock this last year along the edge of a corn field and the deer did not touch it. I was thinking of trying another one in this better location and also adding some minerals as well. I know the majority of people on this website use Monster Raxx - But are there others I should be considering? I am strongly considering Monster Raxx but am not sure if it will be effective in the heavy AG area I am in, etc. What is the best way to set it up/use it? What are some suggestions you have, how do you set your stations up, etc? Thanks!
Now is certainly the time to be thinking and planning in my opinion. We have used minerals for several years now and I feel they certainly have helped the deer herd on our property in Ohio. We have agriculture all around us as well and they definitely use ours, especially in the key months from late winter through the end of summer. We have used several different types from Trophy Rock, home made concoctions, bulk/bag cattle mineral from TSC, to finally trying Monster RAXX this past year. The Trophy Rocks worked well the first time or two but there were a couple that the deer did not seem to touch and trail camera coverage proved that. The home made concoctions involved mostly salt, some mineral salt and di-calcium phosphate (di-cal) and worked pretty good at attracting deer. The bulk cattle mineral also was a decent attractant as well. We felt at the time that we did see some benefit in adding the minerals/salt, namely in the bucks. However I always wondered if that much salt was a good thing and the cattle mineral we had to watch because it could get mold on it. The last few years I saw Monster RAXX being touted on a couple of the forums I frequented. Of course at the time I thought it was all hype because I had my mixtures and it was cheap. After a while I just couldn't believe some of the bucks these guys were showing trail camera pictures of. Sure location, environment, etc. has a lot to do with it but some of these bucks seemed to have incredible jumps in mass and even extra points. This year I decided to give it a try in place of the concoctions and I was shocked at how much more the bucks used the sites than in years past. Before I would have a good buck show up and not return until a week or two later. This year we had the same bucks time after time visiting the mineral sites days in a row. The proof was in the pudding that they liked what was in the Monster RAXX and by the end of antler growing we had several big bucks we considered as shooters for the Fall deer season. Our method is to find a big stump that you can clean away the debris and pour the mineral up against and on. It just seems the stump helps absorb some of the mineral to keep deer coming back in between your re-freshening. If you have a good spot but no stump then I would get a big log to put in place. Some will take a chainsaw and dish out or add cuts to the log too to help allow the mineral to get into the stump. Once you get the ground cleared then turn up the ground with a shovel to get it loosened up. Then simply pour the mineral in place. For a new site or one that you are updating the end of winter for the first time I recommend pouring some shelled corn over top of it. For me it just helps get them there faster and soon they realize there is more to that spot once they get a taste of the minerals there too. You can also add some other attractants, apples, etc. as it all helps accomplish the goal you are after and that's to get the deer to start using the minerals. Depending on how much land you have I would never have just one mineral site. Often in years past we would have doe groups claim sites for themselves and we would see them running bucks off. Establishing more than one site allows the bucks to at least have a good chance at finding the minerals. For us we have 3 sites on around 180 acres in Ohio. This year I plan to add a 4th. and I guarantee all 4 will have Monster RAXX in them.
What he said.. I hunt on 80 acres and have only had one mineral site but plan on adding one or two more. Monster Raxx is the bees knees when it comes to minerals and have used it for two years. I never noticed less activity due to ag fields either. Also, the Big & J attractant feed works well if you're just trying to get pictures of deer. It does one hell of a job of attracting everything in the area.
I know of a good bedding area in a 5 acre chunk of woods that always borders our corn/bean fields. There is a nice open low area on the edge where water collects and 3 trails intersect. I plan to put it just outside of that. I think I will try the trophy rock and monster raxxx combined this year. I only hunt 40 acres but I could put another site on the north end of our property that is primary bedding/swamp with no food sources. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
