Mineral blocks...

[IronKnees]

I am going to take a couple of 50 pound mineral blocks out to my deer hunting haunt tomorrow... Do any of you guys have any experience using them to "habituate" deer into frequenting a certain area over a period of time... And also, once the rut is under way, do the deer still tend to visit the blocks at least to some degree? Thanks... Dave

[Slug-Gunner]

You might want to check your state regs on setting out mineral blocks or creating a "mineral lick" site.  There is usually NO PROBLEM in setting them up.... the problem comes in HUNTING NEAR THEM during open deer  season.  Here in GA you have to remove any traces of the "visible" block or minerals at least 10 days before the opening of the season. If anything is left "visible", you CAN'T HUNT WITHIN 200 YARDS OF IT. It is treated with basically the same classification here as HUNTING OVER BAIT, which is ILLEGAL.

You may want to go the the following web site and check out their talk forum.  They have a separate topic devoted to food plots and mineral deposit sites.
www.woodystaxidermy.com
:-D    :wink:

[TheBowhunter]

They come in dureing the rut but mainly after the doe's had plenty over the past three years but the big one holds back till after it gets dark.
I do not know where I got this recipt Ironknees  but it work real good me almost like cane, I like, I have used in my hunt area for three years nows  I have a hole about 6 feet in diameter and 2 feet deep .
( MINERAL LICKS )
Here is a real simple recipe for mineral mix: 30% salt, 35% beef mineral mix (without salt), 35% Dairy mineral Mix (without salt) Any co-op can mix this for you in any weight you want! Deer need mineral all year long, this mix will help doe, fawn and buck. The process of growing antlers begins the day after they drop, and always remember that 98% of the mineral ingested by deer will be used for bones and teeth etc. A deer will eat about 1 ounce of mineral per day as long as the salt is not above 30%, salt works for deer just like it does for you. A little enhances the mineral, too much will cause them to stop eating the mineral before they have enough to do their bodies good. Always place the mineral on clay or harder soil, or the salt will wash out into the dirt and deer will eat the dirt for the salt and avoid the mineral. If it rains alot, freshen your mineral mix with plain salt. Do this because mineral is bitter, and salt makes it tast better.......Always wear rubber boots when mixing your mineral site or freshing it......if legal place mineral to the side of your stand that you do not approach from, it may draw you some deer.
also here is a link for makeing minerl Blocks  http://www.agric.nsw.gov.au/reader/611#blocks

This held back in 2001 but eventually got him on the trail  The Bear recurve and snuffer Broadhead done its job.

[IronKnees]

Yes... I'm fully familiar with Indiana regulations. Here, an area is considered baited for a full 10 days AFTER the bait, salt or mineral block has been removed... Now, lets get back to my question.

Do any of you guys have any experience using them to "habituate" deer into frequenting a certain area over a period of time... Dave

[jhm]

Dave:  Here its legal to use them year long and yes I do keep them out year long I use the red mineral salt blocks out for the deer as thats the ones I use for the cattle and I purchase in bulk, like the others have already said the deer need the minerals year round, if you place them in the area you are going to hunt in now by hunting season it should VISIBLY be gone by hunting season maybe have to put out 2 in that same spot depending on usage and amount of rain, but like feeding of the deer it is only ethical if you start feeding please continue dont just quit do it gradually allow the animal to get used to not having it there.   JIM

[Slug-Gunner]

IronKnees wrote:
Do any of you guys have any experience using them to "habituate" deer into frequenting a certain area over a period of time... Dave

As I pointed out in my first message, the Woody's Outdoor Talk Forum Web Site has an ongoing topic on creating and establishing your deer "mineral sites".  If you check all the archived files on this topic area, you'll find a lot of people who have created very successful sites and that "Dawn2Dusk" has even put up a subject that goes into detail in how to create such a site using the bulk purchased minerals found at most feed or farm supply stores instead of the high-priced Deer Cain and other such products that sell for 3-5 times the cost of bulk mix-it-yourself purchased minerals. Allow yourself plenty of time to check out the archived files as they go back almost 2 years with a history of the success of certain established sites. Here's a hyperlink directly to one of the main subjects:  
http://www.woodystaxidermy.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7595

Me and Foxfire have attempted to establish about 5 sites so far on/near heavily used deer trails during the last 3 weeks, but only one of them has shown any real signs of having been "discovered" yet. We've even tried to "bait" them using a mix of SweetFeed and Corn with molasses poured over the site too to try to attract them. But I guess the deer around here don't really know what that stuff is yet.

I've been told that another way to get them started on the mineral blocks is to spread peanut butter on them and they will find them and use them faster. Here's a hyperlink with a picture of the results of such a practice.
http://www.woodystaxidermy.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=68730

Good Luck.
 :-D    :wink:

[IronKnees]

Now we are getting some good answers going... Thanks guys! Slug Gunner, I did check the site you mentioned... albeit a cursory glance. I'm going to read it in detail tomorrow. The area where I am taking the blocks tomorrow is a natural funnel where the woods narrows between a creek and a corn/bean field.  I've hunted that area, usually from the same tree for nearly a quarter century. There is ALWAYS a good trail going through, and usually a good scrape line develops on or parallel to it. So, it's only a matter of the deer noticing the blocks. The lady who owns the land keeps one on her wood pile below the house, and has for years. This year, she had some health problems and was unable to replace it. (I took one out there this morning for her) Even though it has been a year since one has been placed on the lower end of the big wood pile, the deer have pawed down the pile, and have been digging into the ground and licking or chewing on the smaller logs getting the residual mineral and salt... Given the information you guys have shared, the information from the website you suggest, and in keeping with the law later in the year, maybe this will help me get the deer into the position I need for a better shot. Oh... I'm also placing one where my game cam can watch it... Thanks for all the help. Dave

[IronKnees]

Oh Oh! Wait a minuit... Shhhhhh. Look, there it is! I see a mineral block Gnome heading right down the main deer trail in the woods I hunt... I'll be dogged! Now I know how those blocks got there!!!  :lol:  Hope he tells his mineral block "Removal Gnome" buddy to remove them ten days before opening morning next fall... :-D    :-D

[Slug-Gunner]

Oh Oh! Wait a minuit... Shhhhhh. Look, there it is! I see a mineral block Gnome heading right down the main deer trail in the woods I hunt... I'll be dogged! Now I know how those blocks got there!!!  :lol:  Hope he tells his mineral block "Removal Gnome" buddy to remove them ten days before opening morning next fall... :-D    :-D

The only problem with that is that I've found most Game Wardens don't believe in either fairy tails (no not San Francisco fairys) or much folk lore. Except when the jokes on someone else, they don't have much sense of humor either when it comes to any game law violations. Unfortunately, as I found out once, you don't even need to have knowledge of either the "baited" area or mineral lick to have them charge you with a violation of "Hunting Within 200 yards of a Baited Area". The only thing that saved me was the fact that I am a Hunter Education Instructor and he knows my feelings on "baiting" since I work with him regularly at our classes in our county.
 :roll:  :eek:  :shock:  :-D  :wink:

[IronKnees]

Well, don't take that too seriously... Obviously I was just kidding around. One thing I will make absolutely clear is the fact that I am VERY particular about hunting regulations. Indiana does not put any "distance" rules in place, but they do specify that any "bate" (they include a short list of things considered bait) be removed a full ten days before the area is hunted... The deer in my area, although on the increase in numbers, do seem to be somewhat short on antler size etc. Remember that I have hunted this woods, from the same tree near this natural funnel for a quarter century now. I can not plant a crop to supplement their nutrition because I do not own the land. But, since the lady who does own it has ALWAYS kept a block on the wood pile in the clearing overlooked by their deck (about 500 yards from my treestand) and because she is ill and asked me to bring one out and put it there for her, I can see no reason why now, a full nine months prior to firearms season, I can not legally put a couple out. One for my game cam so I can get some good pictures of ALL the wildlife in the area, (about 200 yards from my stand) and another back in the area of the main trail in the crotch of an old blowdown... Easily removed when I put my stand up eight weeks before opening morning... Again, don't take me too seriously here... I was just getting a bit of a chuckle... and anyone who knows me can tell you that I am a stickler for regulations... Dave

[jhm]

Dave:  Remember that when you go to buy your salt blocks specify mineral blocks not just the salt blocks as the minerals is what gives the animals their growth and their antlers, you can always SALT your meat at the table.   JIM

[IronKnees]

That's exactly what I bought. Mineral blocks. I got three, one for the lady who owns the land, and the two that I just got home from placing out there. One is positioned near the house where my game cam is, and the other one is in a secret location... Naw... it's out along the main deer trail in the crotch of an old blow down, where I can remove it when I set my ladder stand out. I always put my stands up two months before opening morning, so if there is anything left, I can remove it, according to the Indiana regulations... Now, I don't want this post to be a "novel" but here is what I am trying to do. The area I hunt has a creek going through it, and I hunt a narrow place in the woods. A natural funnel. There is a huge crop field behind me, and another directly in front of me (my stand) across the creek. If there is corn planted BEHIND me, the deer will always be on my side of the creek, and using that natural funnel to travel through. However, if there are beans planted behind me, and the corn is across the creek, the deer will tend to be on the other side, even during the rut... So, my intention is to try to habituate them to using this trail, no matter where the crops are rotated to... I've hunted this same little spot for a quarter century, and can easily tell you where the deer are going to be the most by looking at the crops... and of course the wind and weather have an effect too, but by and large, it depends on the crop rotation...

[huntsman]

Iron Knees:

I have been using both protein/molasses blocks (for cattle) and mineral salt blocks in my deer feeder pens in two counties separated by 300 miles for several years. I have had widely variable results. At times the deer will mow through the molasses blocks in a matter of several days. At other times, they will not touch them and they mold and crumble away. The mineral salt blocks do not get a lot of attention, but the deer will start using them some if you will pour molasses or cane syrup into the round depression on the top side of the block (set it up so the depression is on the top).

We have no baiting laws here in Texas, so I keep these out pretty much year round. The deer will get used to them after a while (it takes longer in some locations than in others) and come to visit fairly regularly. If your location is in thick cover with several wooded escape routes, they will visit anytime. If the location is too open or does not provide enough escape routes to make the deer feel comfortable, then they will visit more at night than during daylight hours.

Even though it is legal to do so, I don't hunt very close to these feeder pens. A stand requires human activity, coming and going, leaving scent, making noise, etc. I try to keep the locations as secure for the deer as possible, and that means as little human activity as possible. I try to set up on downwind approaches or in areas where the deer "mill around" waiting for cover of darkness to venture into less secure areas (I call these "deer eddies"; if you think of deer movement as like a stream of water, that's exactly what they are). The locations for my feeder pens are carefully placed to draw deer through the property I hunt rather than to the specific stand I am hunting. In other words, placement should be strategic rather than tactical. By the way, I use feeder pens constructed of sturdy hog wire to keep livestock and wild hogs out of the area so that it is used exclusively by deer.

I do think the feeder pens have a significant impact on the numbers of deer I see. They don't always necessarily go to the pens, but they get used to travelling through the corridor or area where the pens are, so they do so more often even when the pens have no particular attractive value. I would definitely try the mineral use and see what happens.

[jhm]

Dave:  How are the salt/mineral block feeding areas coming along havent heard much as of late weather you got them going?  But I will tell you the best tasting deer I ever killed was living in a ONION field and when you cooked him you could smell that deer a block away and it sure was GOOD   JIM

[IronKnees]

Jim, I put the blocks out a couple of weeks ago... and with the exception of seeing them from a distance, have not (and probably won't) see them much till the fall when I go out to set up my stands... Far as I could see, they had not been touched yet, but again, they had just been put out... I had my grandson out there last weekend with some plaster and a gallon of water finding deer, and coon tracks and making plaster casts of them, and teaching him how to find trails and other sign... Dave

[Sgt Mike]

Dave,
Been putting them out for a number of years. Forget the bucks and this years deer. The does need them in the spring, you will see an improvement in racks starting 2 years from this spring. Be sure to use the mineral brick, place it on a stump and watch the dirt aroung it disappear.
Mii :? ke R

[Graybeard]

Kinda late jumping into this fray but all I'm gonna do is rain on your parade anyway.

I've been maintaining a salt/mineral lick on a piece of property now for I guess close to 12 years. When I first started it I too used the blocks and tried different locations. Nothing. Nada. Never bothered them at all. I then went to straight salt mixed with a bag of mineral and put them out near deer trails in about a dozen locations. Finally got action at ONE of them. Yes one of them only. Of maybe 15-18 places I've tried I've gotten hits only at one.

This one lick has been in continuous use every year for at least 10 years I think. I can see it from one of my favorite hunting spots and in all of those years and in all the hundreds of hours of hunting time from there not once. Repeat NOT ONE SINGLE TIME have I ever seen  a deer approach it during legal hunting hours. This area was a very active deer travel route prior to the lick and has remained so over the years not because of or in spite of the lick but just because of its location. When they use it I haven't a clue. Not during hunting season that I've been able to determine. During spring and summer I'm pretty sure. Each fall it shows lots of activity over the year but after I refill it in the fall I have yet to see any action at it until the following year. It is now a rather large hole in the ground. I doubt the dirt they've eaten from it would fit in a 55 gallon drum.

It may have helped the deer to be more healthy which is my goal but I've not really seen any obvious signs of it. For sure it is NOT a means of holding deer in the area to shoot. Anyone doing it for that is kidding themselves based on my experience and observations over the years. Finding a place they will even use it is not so easy either or at least not in my area.

GB

[IronKnees]

That's interesting and informative, GB... I think the one thing in my favor is the fact that the deer in my woods have been used to these blocks for literally decades... So, they may start in on the new ones I put out near the heavy trails a bit more easily... Sure hope so anyway... :grin: