Research has shown that after a site is used, it will often become a part of the feeding and movement pattern. Creating a lick is certainly fun, inexpensive, and watching deer respond to these licks is satisfying. Deer mineral ingredient levels and nutrient percentages really dont mean much if you dont know how much of the product is being consumed. But theyre bitter on their own, so you need to add more salt to the mix. Comes in 50lb Bags, you need one bag. Join other outdoor enthusiasts who already get great content delivered right to their inbox. You can do more or less depending on the amount of use you get at a site. WHITETAIL DEER HOMEMADE MINERAL MIX RECIPE. 2 parts Trace mineral salt, the red and loos kind without the medications. This is also why mineral licks make excellent trail camera spots in the summer. 2001 Mineral Lick You can use a 1:1 or 2:1 (two parts salt and one part dicalcium phosphate) ratio for your mineral site. It won't take long to sink a few hundred bucks into the ground. Over a four year period the researchers were unable to detect any differences between the two deer herds. Mike Clerkin heads to Buffalo County, Wisconsin to bowhunt whitetails. This will help you determine if the lick is being used, and if it needs to be moved or replenished. They know that deer typically begin using supplemental minerals around spring green-up and continue until early fall. Since deer tend to like salt, placing a mineral lick in a location where there is water is the best way to attract them. Deer prefer mineral sites that are in cover as opposed to out in the open. Pour your mineral contents all over the turned-up ground and mix it in with the shovel or pitchfork. Even taking all of this into consideration, I believe that, at the very least, the results strongly suggest that the intake of free choice minerals is substantially lower than 1 to 2 ounces per head per day. A 1:1 or 2:1 Ca:P ratio is optimum. So mineral supplementation wont show any antler effect for at least a year. Think of minerals more like a vitamin, filling the gap in any deficiencies that might exist in a deers diet. Simply use a bucket with nearby pond or creek water to do this. Using these products is not a guaranteed way to increase antler growth, but they do have several benefits that can make your deers life more enjoyable and successful. In areas where it is legal to use deer mineral, here is an economic option for you. The best place to put a deer lick is near your closest water holes, ponds or water sources and near your food plots. Anderson, SC, 2023 N1 Outdoors. Homemade deer mineral supplements work best near waterholes and food plots. Making deer mineral licks is not a hassle and you can do it on your own in a few simple steps. The most common intake claim by deer products on the market is 1 to 2 ounces per head per day or 1/16 to 1/8 of a pound. In this edition of "From The Stand," Pat Hogan explains the importance of being aware of proper clearance when using your bow or crossbow out in the field. Because of this, I normally recommend at least one site per 40 acres to minimize site competition, with more sites needed in areas with higher deer density. Choose an area that is open with plenty of sunlight exposure. Once they've found the location, it's the salt that keeps them coming back. Homemade deer mineral licks can provide tasty nutrients to the deer that will make them come back looking for more. Deer will consume anywhere between 1 to 5 percent of their body weight each day, depending on the time of year, with winter consumption being on the low end of the scale and summer consumption being on the higher end. If you stand in the middle of Highway 400 just west of Dodge City and look out at the horizon, you can get a good understanding of why people once thought the Earth was flat. In contrast, most studies on whitetails have focused on the impacts on body weight and antler development. This is especially true of dried molasses, which deer love. The water is so powerful and so easily drained in your hands that you should definitely be buying water from a natural resource like a stream to get a better picture of what the water is going to be like . Salt regulates intake. Also, the use of a foreign object, the plastic feeding pan, could have decreased usage even though I did not start the test until the deer were regularly using the site with the feeding pan in place. Originally came off the QDMA website, but I can't find it know. July 1, 2022 |Timber 2 Table Wild Game Recipes, February 27, 2023 |The Realblog with Stephanie Mallory, February 28, 2023 |Brow Tines and Backstrap. This makes deer actively seek out concentrated sources of sodium such as natural or manmade licks. I then placed cameras at each one of the sites to monitor usage. Deer arent cows; they dont like to lick blocks the way their bovine cousins do. Spread evenly the remainder of the bag of salt. Basically, the deer will tell you where they like to eat. Back in the early 1970s, two men came to visit me at the Institute for White-tailed Deer Management & Research in Texas. In todays video we are going to show you guys how to make your own deer mineral and save some money. There are commercial and homemade granular mixes available. Whether you need to know how to test the soil in your food plot, tighten the groups from your crossbow, or scope out the latest on that big buck you saw online, you've landed around the right campfire. 1 part Di-calcium phosphate, this is a dairy feed additive bought at feed stores. Rice bran is around $10 for a 40-pound bag. Here's a new mineral lick being established with trace mineral salt and dicalcium phosphate. Once youve thoroughly mixed the minerals with the soil, youre done. Do I believe that? Join us as we mix up the mineral and take it out and put. These make up about 60 percent of the total weight of the antler. Research in Tennessee supports this. Get tips from Steve Bartylla in this Hunt em Big. The best place to put a deer lick is near your closest water holes, ponds or water sources and near your food plots. By delivering mineral in this way, youre exposing deer to greater risk of parasites and diseases. Making your own deer mineral isn't hard, nor is it expensive. While there are a number of commercial products available to create mineral licks, a more affordable and perhaps better option is to drive down to your local feed and seed or farmers co-op and buy a 50-pound bag of dicalcium phosphate and one or two 50-pound bag of trace-mineral salt. Salt becomes less of an attractant, which means that in order to get continued mineral consumption, a different type of attractant must be used. I replicated the test on three different farms to help alleviate variables, at least to a certain degree. I began the project by placing black plastic feeding pans at my oldest and most frequented deer mineral sites. Copyright Jesse's Hunting & Outdoors L.L.C. Food additive these minerals are combined with a supplemental feed, and deer get them while consuming the feed. So here, during a time of year when mineral interest and use are high, Id like to recap which minerals deer need and how to address those needs. Dig a whole 2-3" deep by about 3 feet across. The best time to put out these mineral blocks is in February/March/April. Believe it or not, in those early days little of the whitetail information we now commonly take for granted was known. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. I have used the same product literally 100 yards apart from each other, and the deer heavily used one site but not the other. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Calcium and phosphorus are important for bone growth, while magnesium helps to regulate muscle and nerve function. Photo at mineral lick start in 2001 and end in 2003. You can purchase the ingredients in many stores and mix them together yourself. Farm A had an average number of 11 adult deer using the site on a daily basis. There is little question that increased mineral nutrition can improve your deer herd, and now that you know what to expect for intake, you can use this information to make sure your mineral product is performing as it should. It would appear that, based on the test results, intake of a free choice deer mineral is substantially lower than what is commonly thought and much closer to the predicted intake based on body weight calculation. The results of these studies suggest that mineral supplementation especially calcium, phosphorus, and sodium may provide some benefit, especially in situations where deer are nutritionally deprived or areas with minerally deficient soils. Dump no more than 25 lbs per deer lick per application, Lightly kick a little dirt on top of the mineral to make it apear as natural as possible. However, if you are using mineral supplements or considering using them to improve the nutritional plan of the deer herd on your property, I think having at least an idea of what expected intake is is important. For example, in much of South Texas (which is broadly deficient in P), low rainfall makes trying to grow traditional food plots a fools errand. Instead, we apply 50 pounds per acre of triple-superphosphate (0-45-0) fertilizer to native brush. Typically, this attractant comes in the form of straight salt. Micro-nutrients include: iron (Fe), copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), cobalt (Co), iodine (I) and selenium (Se). Yes, whitetails will eat dirt, but the vast majority of minerals they consume enter the system through the plants they eat. JavaScript is disabled. For one, as long as you have an idea of how many deer are on your property, knowing expected intake can help you figure out how much mineral you can expect to use each year. Nutrient levels mean virtually nothing if you do not at least have an approximate idea of how much of a product the deer are consuming. Look at the post in Whitetail deer hunting. Sign up for NDAs free e-newsletter now! A homemade deer mineral lick should include minerals that are essential for deer health, such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, copper, zinc, and selenium. These products are used for raising livestock, but are exactly what you need for creating a quality mineral site. Simply use a bucket with nearby pond or creek water to do this. This is why knowing your intake is so important for your mineral program. Not enough salt and it won't be as weather proof nor will it be as palatable. Homemade Fortified Deer Block Bootleg Outdoors 146K views 5 years ago Mineral licks for deer Kosmo's Blackdog Outdoors 36K views 6 years ago You're signed out of YouTube Sign in to like. Its best to get started as soon as spring green-up starts taking place, but keeping minerals out year-round is better. Once you have your supplies its time to start making mineral sites. The first step is have the soils analyzed for the critical macro- and micro-nutrients. Phone: 1-800-209-DEER (3337) This sheds light on why quality forage high in protein is needed during the spring and summer for deer to reach their antler potential. A much better approach is to use a covered trough with a roof high enough for a buck to easily get his head inside (and be able to see all around as he does so). Increased aggression by certain deer (usually adult does) that guard the site will decrease the number of deer utilizing that particular location. An easy and beneficial mineral recipe for whitetail deer and an aid in antler. Clearly minerals are important in antler development. You can provide deer these minerals and supplemented nutrition a variety of ways. This would equate to an average ounce-per-head-per-day intake of .29 ounces. 2023 Grand View Outdoors All Rights Reserved The diacalcium phosphate costs about $25 to $30 and the trace-mineral salt is about $12 to $15 per bag. However, a University of Georgia study detected 11 different minerals in the whitetails antlers. Along those same lines, deer will more readily utilize minerals that are ground applied than offered in a man-made feeder. Could the use of salt/mineral mixes simply be due to an increased need for salt? I group these factors into two categories non-nutritional and nutritional factors. Attraction to salt is caused by the balance of potassium and sodium in the deers body. More Info At www.huntingnet.com Visit site In formulating a plan of attack regarding mineral nutrition, I went to the same folks wed consulted about planting forages: dairymen. Do I believe that? Important macro-nutrients include: calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na) and sulfur (S). However, when antlers are in the velvet stage and growing, they contain about 80 percent protein and 20 percent phosphorous and calcium. Pull up a seat and join us. The National Deer Association is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Sodium helps to regulate blood pressure and fluid balance in the body. I've done more research on this that I care to disclose, but from . Almost all soils more than 2550 miles from a seacoast are low in sodium. So, if we take a 200-pound buck and say that hes eating 4 percent of his body weight each day, then this equates to 8 pounds of total daily food consumption. Heavy deer rub activity along this interior path All Rights Reserved. Have you ever wondered why deer hammer mineral licks in the warm-weather months more than any other time of year? For example, for many years, it was commonly accepted that adult bucks did all or most of the breeding. Rain will dissolve the mixture. What Minerals Should Be Included in a Homemade Deer Mineral Lick? B.Y.O Deer Base also contains, magnesium, sulfur, potassium as well as all the essential trace minerals and vitamins needed by deer. "I take a 5-gallon bucket and use 1/4 Di-calcium phosphate and divide the rest 50/50. The Trace Mineral salt has all the different minerals which deer need after a long winter. At least eight were using the site each day, including three yearling does, two adult does, two yearling bucks and one 3-year-old buck. Minerals attract deer, and they seek them out when they enter these areas. ! Type of mineral formulation affected total deer use of baited sites, with a high salt formulation receiving over four times the number of daily visits from deer as other formulations. In a large bowl, mix together the plain salt, white sugar, trace mineral salt, ground limestone, dolomite lime, and Epsom salt. Free choice minerals are probably one of the most difficult products where you can get a good sense of intake. However, several studies have shown that while deer readily use mineral licks high in salt, they rarely, if ever, use pure mineral supplements. Strongly consider buying a bag of rice bran or other attractant like apple extract that may entice deer to eat the minerals. If the mineral soil is buried in the ground, you may need to add more salt to it. If youre trying to lure deer, place slow-releasing mineral blocks near bedding areas and water sources in the summer. They have a bit of a red pepper tint and some of the seeds are green. However, soil limitations often dictate using supplements to fill in the blanks created by scarcity of critical minerals in the native environment. Deer, during this time of year, are actively searching for it. As I was at the time formulating a 20-year research plan for our institute, I decided it was a natural fit to include mineral supplementation in the plan. Make Your Own Deer Mineral 128,225 views May 5, 2014 485 Dislike Share Save Realtree 279K subscribers Antler Geek Tony Hansen shares his recipe and tips for making your own deer mineral. This particularly is true for sandy soils, as well as highly acidic (low pH) or basic (high pH) soils. Could the use of salt/mineral mixes simply be due to an increased need for salt? This should be followed by developing a food-plot or native-plant fertilization program to ameliorate any deficiencies. Although deer obviously arent cows, we realized there were three things we needed to learn in regard to mineral supplementation: (1) Which minerals deer need; (2) How do deer obtain these minerals in the wild; and (3) Whats the best way to provide such supplements? Regardless of the intensity of mineral supplementation, a yearling buck will still be a yearling buck. The minerals are not as attractive to deer, but they are a necessity for their body. Deer mineral licks are a great way to attract more deer. The ingredients include Trace mineral salt, Di-calcium phosphate, and dried molasses. Salt alone doesnt contain all the minerals bucks need for antler growth, nor does it provide what's essential for does, fawn development and milk production. 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