School me on mineral lick placement

Ok. So have a new lease this year. Been tough figuring out deer movement, but we may be getting a little closer. We have all pines and gas wells. The terrain is ridges and some DEEP draws. We have been feeding legally throughout the season to try to attract deer to use our property more(no areas for good greenfields). Planning on continuing feeding after season at least until green up then may back off a little. Also want to put in some salt/mineral lick stations. Going to mix my own. Just wondering where we should place them. Probably have two, maybe three stations(only 160 acres). Just wonder If it would be better to put the stations on top of the ridges or down in the bottoms? Or does it matter? Will they eventually find them and use them wherever they are?

Thanks in advance

Put your licks close to a good fresh water source. They will utilize the lick more if near water.

Make sure you put them in an area with a high clay content if using granular, it will leach out of sandy soil real bad. I agree with squeaky about the water.

Near water

Near water and not directly on trails. I put mine 10 or more yards from any trails.

So sounds like we will have to go to the bottoms. I have 1 "creek" that probably dries up in the summer

I have a friend who tried something weird out that worked. He decided to put his on the edge of his food plots, so he just blew up a few kiddie pools and left them a few feet from the minerals to fill up from rain water. The bucks and the fawns loved it and it was a sight to see on camera.

A friend did the same with some big tubs. Dug them down a few feet. Make sure you put a stick in the water so critters can get out.

While I have had some good mineral licks in the bottoms, some of my best ones have not been close to any real water. I don't know why that is, but I let the deer tell me.

My approach as been to put them just off to the side of a main trail. I'll put out several and see which ones the deer use. Some areas, they just won't use or only use sporadically and others they wear it out.

Just an idea, but you might experiment with putting some trophy rocks out in various locations and use that method to find the best places. When some areas produce more than others, then establish the permanent licks.