If you notice no deer sign after a few weeks, then mix in more salt to the site. Gordon Whittington talks with 13-year-old Troy Metzger about the 2016 hunt that landed the young man a monster non-typical buck on this edition of Big Buck Profile. In its own way, western Kansas is quite beautiful, that is, of course, unless you like a lot of trees. This will help you determine if the lick is being used, and if it needs to be moved or replenished. Anderson, SC, 2023 N1 Outdoors. However, soil limitations often dictate using supplements to fill in the blanks created by scarcity of critical minerals in the native environment. If one mineral supplement has 5 percent calcium and another has 7 percent calcium, but the deer consumes twice the amount of the 5 percent product, then the deer is actually getting more calcium than it would be getting from the 7 percent product. Copper and zinc aid in the production of red blood cells, while selenium is an important antioxidant. Deer prefer mineral sites that are in cover as opposed to out in the open. For instance, did the cameras trigger each time a deer was using the site? I've mentioned this before, but here is the recipe I use with prices. In areas where it is legal to use deer mineral, here is an economic option for you. This being said, there are many variables at play and these results certainly do not provide a definite answer. for about $23.00. All Rights Reserved. Have you ever wondered why deer hammer mineral licks in the warm-weather months more than any other time of year? These folks should know more than anyone about proper nutrition for ruminants, a group that includes whitetails. Deer will be less likely to visit the lick if there is too much human presence. In this video I show you the results from my homemade deer minerals. Taking common ingredients found in most homes and mixing them into a viable, attractive combination that deer love is an easy process. Here is a recipe one of the MO conservation agents passed on to us hunters. Choose a location that is away from human activity, like your house or outbuildings. Using a mineral mixture that has less than 50 percent salt will not attract deer. Once youve thoroughly mixed the minerals with the soil, youre done. Over the years, Ive written on a number of occasions about mineral supplementation for whitetails. WHITETAIL DEER HOMEMADE MINERAL MIX RECIPE. for about $23.00 1 part Di-calcium phosphate, this is a dairy feed additive bought at feed stores. All North American Whitetail subscribers now have digital access to their magazine content. So a product that is very high in salt will likely have less total consumption than a product lower in salt. A balanced pelleted ration can deliver all the mineral nutrition needed by the herd. The 2 most important elements on a tag are the calcium levels and phosphorous levels. So why not just pour salt out for the deer if thats what they're after? No one can say for sure, but its probably because most minerals by themselves are bitter. Help us continue producing great, educational content by joining the National Deer Association or making a tax-deductible donation. When spring rolls around, hunters everywhere gear up to begin establishing or recharging the mineral sites on their hunting properties. As you can imagine, after a deer paws up and eats a bunch of salty dirt, its going to need a drink. Plain Stock Salt - #50 - $4.30. So why not just use straight salt? Without question deer need minerals, and they will readily use mineral licks. It won't take long to sink a few hundred bucks into the ground. In reviewing the scientific literature, I quickly discovered there was very little known about critical minerals for deer. It may not display this or other websites correctly. Although many people assume that any mineral will grow trophy bucks, most deer are not that fortunate. Realtree is committed to providing an inclusive and accessible experience to everyone, including those with disabilities.2023 Jordan Outdoor Enterprises, Ltd. All rights reserved. Surely, the knee-deep depressions in the soil caused by repeated years of mineral supplementation are evidence of deer need. So mineral supplementation wont show any antler effect for at least a year. Dicalcium Phosphate - #50 - $20.10. Making your own deer mineral isn't hard, nor is it expensive. To begin with the non-nutritional category, location is critical. Placing the lick in a spot with tall grasses or shrubs will help the deer feel safe when they are visiting the lick. WHITETAIL DEER HOMEMADE MINERAL MIX RECIPE Ingredients: Makes 200 lbs. In so doing, we get fantastic response from the deer herd. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. Next, choose a central location near cover and dig a shallow, 6-inch deep hole a few feet in diameter. 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. The first and most beneficial is to pour the GYT90 crude soybean oil and mineral mixture over supplemental feed. I have used the same product literally 100 yards apart from each other, and the deer heavily used one site but not the other. Studies have shown that calcium and phosphorus are by far the two most common minerals in deer antlers, comprising 3035 percent of the mature antler by weight. If you were looking for good descriptive words, vast and expansive would come to mind. Sodium helps to regulate blood pressure and fluid balance in the body. This mineral will be for sale in the next 2 weeks!! Wildgame Innovations, for example, has all manner of attractants that have a powerful aroma that should help deer find your mineral site more quickly and may add a flavor component that the deer love. These products can be mixed with water or placed in a tree stump. Research in Tennessee supports this. Get tips from Steve Bartylla in this Hunt em Big. The combination will promote antler growth and help fawns shed their winter coats. Trace mineral salt contains mostly salt, which is what the deer are actually looking for, and various other trace amounts of minerals such as zinc, manganese, iron all of which are found in hardened deer antler. Over a four year period the researchers were unable to detect any differences between the two deer herds. All of these minerals are necessary for deer to maintain their health and help to keep their coats shiny and strong. Also, fawns will learn mineral site areas from their mothers and will return to sites even after they are weaned. A classic study on the mineral needs of deer was conducted at Penn State University in the 1950s. Ohio Hunter Balances Hunting and Family to Bag 190-inch Typical, Dr. Comes in 50lb Bags at around $11.00 you need one bag. Despite the number of products now on the market and the amount of information published, many user questions continue. Research shows granular minerals facilitate increased consumption by animals as theyre able to literally eat (vs. lick) the mixture. All Rights Reserved. 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. You can provide deer these minerals and supplemented nutrition a variety of ways. Join us as we mix up the mineral and take it out and put. B.Y.O Deer Base. Yes, whitetails will eat dirt, but the vast majority of minerals they consume enter the system through the plants they eat. But if you want to spice it up, you can add a dash of any general-purpose mineral. 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. Rain will dissolve the mixture. By using 1-2.5 lb bag of B.Y.O Deer Base to create 25 lbs of deer mineral, you will have the most bio available deer mineral in the market place. Top 5 Best Homemade Deer Attractants Reviewed 1. Watering Note: If theres no rain in the forecast, consider watering the mineral site. Also, slightly burying the pan helped to ensure the mineral would not be spilled. 2 parts Trace mineral salt, the red and loos kind without the medications. After all, it sure looks that way. 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. Just be sure to buy and use them in conjunction with an EPA-registered water filter. There are several different ways to supplement a deers diet with vitamins, minerals, and chelated trace elements. But this does not guarantee that deer will use the site. Granular minerals seem to work better than blocks, as most of the usage of blocks occurs in the surrounding dirt as the minerals leach into the soil. Do I believe that? Mar 18, 2010. 12/12 Trace Mineral - #100 - $35.20. Because intake is typically relative to body weight, one would think that if a cow weighing 1,400 pounds was eating 2 to 4 ounces of mineral, then a deer weighing 200 pounds should eat only between 0.28 to 0.57 ounces, not 1 to 2 ounces. But why do they use these licks and why is their use restricted primarily to the spring and summer? Here are some deer mineral recipe tips and tactics to get your whitetails as healthy as they can be. If youre trying to lure deer, place slow-releasing mineral blocks near bedding areas and water sources in the summer. Larry Redmon and Richard Reed (the latter now deceased) were local cattlemen and avid deer hunters, and they had a question Id never heard. You can also add it to a basic free choice mineral. Now, back to the 18 percent protein. My best advice here is to use an attractant with an aroma or flavor that's natural to your area. A lot is made over the power of mineral sites to grow antlers and create a healthier deer population. Its a bountiful area that produces wheat, corn and beef cattle that feed thousands of people around the world. Salt becomes less of an attractant, which means that in order to get continued mineral consumption, a different type of attractant must be used. A few drops of a natural attractant, such as rice bran, apple extract, or salt, can also be added to your deer mineral. Weve learned that a multi-pronged approach to providing deer minerals is best. The rest must come directly from their diet while their antlers are actively growing. Comes in 50lb Bags at around $11.00 you need one bag. The best place to put a deer lick is near your closest water holes, ponds or water sources and near your food plots. Inside the trough, place a metal or plastic pan to hold the mineral. Do the math. Here are some best practices for placing a homemade mineral lick on your property: By following these best practices for placing a homemade deer mineral lick, you can ensure that your deer will have access to important minerals in a safe and comfortable area. In addition to calcium (19 percent) and phosphorus (10 percent), the next most common elements were magnesium (1 percent) and sodium (0.5 percent). The Importance of Knowing Intake A homemade deer mineral lick should include minerals that are essential for deer health, such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, copper, zinc, and selenium. However, there must be enough salt in the product for the deer to be attracted to it. 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. logging, flooding), a mineral site will receive increased usage with each progressive year. Build your own deer base is designed to make your own deer mineral using individual ingredients or you can add it to either your current mineral to make it more fortified. During the spring and summer, deer operate at a sodium deficiency due to the high potassium and water content of the forage. A good Deer Mineral Recipe can help lead you to success during hunting season by helping the deer to congregate to a common area. 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 sure you dont place too many deer mineral blocks at a time, but you should put out one lick for every 40 acres of land. Even though we used protein in this example, the same is true for nutrients in a mineral supplement. You must log in or register to reply here. A homemade deer mineral lick should include minerals that are essential for deer health, such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, copper, zinc, and selenium. Look at the post in Whitetail deer hunting. Here's a recipe that's simple and easy to attract deer to your stand or camera. Magnesium is perhaps the third most important mineral with sodium being not far behind. Factors Affecting Mineral Intake You can use a 1:1 or 2:1 (two parts salt and one part dicalcium phosphate) ratio for your mineral site. Research on domestic livestock has documented numerous benefits of mineral supplementation including increased forage intake, improved forage digestion, and increased reproductive success. While I could identify many of the deer that used the sight daily, some did not use the site each day, and some could not be definitely identified as a daily user. This means you have the option to read your magazine on most popular phones and tablets. Western Kansas is also flat, and when I say flat, I dont mean kind of flat. But generally, one per 100 acres will ensure that the majority of the deer will have easy access to a mineral site. Staying undetected by deer while hunting in a ground blind takes a few easy steps. The best place to put a deer lick is near your closest water holes, ponds or water sources and near your food plots. calcium, phosphorus, zinc, etc.). ! Stan Potts doubles down in Montana and Wyoming. But there is another important factor thats nearly always overlooked by both people using free choice minerals and those putting these products together. Mix the minerals and dirt well in the depression, and then add a little molasses for a sweetener. You can do more or less depending on the amount of use you get at a site. To make a homemade deer mineral lick, gather ingredients for the mix. Originally came off the QDMA website, but I can't find it know. Think of minerals more like a vitamin, filling the gap in any deficiencies that might exist in a deers diet. I began the project by placing black plastic feeding pans at my oldest and most frequented deer mineral sites. Researchers at Mississippi State University found a strong correlation between soil mineral content (primarily phosphorus) and body size, although no correlation with adult antler size was found. However, the formula I used for this mineral is a fairly standard formula used in many deer mineral products. Lucky Buck Apple Flavored Deer Attractant 4. Making your own deer mineral lick can be a simple and cost-effective way to help increase the odds that your hunt will be successful. It takes food, shelter, and time to reach the antler growth stage. You could also create your own homemade mineral licks for deer, by combining various bulk minerals (e.g., stock salt, trace minerals, dicalcium phosphate for deer) from your local coop. Stan Potts heads to Montana with his rifle in search of a Big Sky buck. "I take a 5-gallon bucket and use 1/4 Di-calcium phosphate and divide the rest 50/50. Nutritional consumption factors revolve around the attractant agent used in the product. Attraction to salt is caused by the balance of potassium and sodium in the deers body. Use a mineral site. Thats because its long been a topic of widespread interest not only on the part of landowners and other habitat managers, but hunters, as well. 23.00 1 part Di-calcium phosphate and divide the rest must come directly from their mothers and return. A simple and cost-effective way to help increase the odds that your Hunt will be.. Total consumption than a product lower in salt will likely have less total consumption than a product is! 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