Corn works best

Over the last few months, I have played with a few different products to see what gets a deers attention and figured I would share my results. I did all of this in the same feeding area where I put out corn so results may be different if everything were in different locations. The goal was to get the bucks more protein and minerals to enhance horn growth. It did not work

I have had a trophy rock out for a few months and the bucks don't really care for it. I tried a bag of protein feed and it didn't get touched. Liquid deer cane got some attention but not much. The primos block which I can't remember the name of, didn't get much attention either. However, they eat 150lbs of corn in 3 days.

I have always seen mineral sights that look like the deer have dug holes but I have yet to get those results out of any of the above products.

A good buddy of mine always initially puts corn at his mineral sites. Deer come for the corn but repeat for the salt and minerals.

Mine like rice bran at the moment over corn

some friends of mine tried that stuff last year. they said the deer tore it up!

Where I hunted in Sumter County years ago....a lot the guys I hunted with there used sweet feed.... They couldn't buy it and put it out fast enough before it was gone....

Trophy rocks, only have minute traces of minerals, 4%, not enough to really do anything.

Try tag out or lucky buck, both have minerals that will actually help deer. But mineral sites take time to build.

Shhhhhhh deer hate rice bran

I've had the best luck building a mineral site with Black Magic, then add whatever mineral you want. My BinL made one with Black Magic once. It turned out about the size of a truck bed and 12" deep.

Deer are attracted to salt, not minerals, so you have to use salt as a base to attract them, and add minerals to the salt. Years ago i bought some 30-06 from WI, the deer wouldn't use it. I called them about it, they asked if anybody was putting out salt blocks nearby, and i said, hell yea, this is Alabama. He said, they wouldn't use it if salt blocks were nearby.

Corn seems to do well to help get deer coming to a location. I think if you get a deer used to something they will sometimes leave other food alone. We feed sweet potatoes and once they get started on them they seem to love them. It usually takes a while to get them started though, especially in the summer. We've quit trying to feed stuff like that in the summer though. There is so much natural food available many times they just don't get eaten and rot. I've had sweet feed and corn beside a sweet potato pile before and the corn set there so long it started growing and the sweet feed got hard and started molding. All the time the sweet potatoes were getting eat. As far as salt and minerals. I've found they do better if you get them in the ground well before the summer. I don't know if it helps that they have had time to get in the ground or what. Location seems to be really key also. We started 2 new sites this year and one is doing really well. The other hasn't had anything to it from what I can tell. I've had a camera over it the last 2 weeks and didn't have 1 picture. The one that hasn't had anything to it I thought would do the best. Its not far from a greenfield it has a a good natural spring close to it and in a thick place thats grown up in pines. We also dropped a site that we had started last year. Thought it would be a great spot especially for bucks. All summer with a camera over it and not one buck.

Never had a problem getting them to come to my trace mineral , di-cal mix.

Thats because its 75% salt. I have good success with this as well.

My daughter did a science project 2 or 3 years ago. We feed soy beans year round, so they were familiar with them.
Placed three boxes on the ground and setup the camera. Corn, Soybeans and green peas were placed in seperate boxes.
The corn was hit immediately and was the first thing finished.
Soybeans number 2 and they wanted nothing to do with the peas.
It was pretty cool experiment and we had fun doing it. We had to weigh what went in and what remained after 2 days.

Also, when putting out minerals, you need to do it where there is some clay. I've put it where the soil was sandy, and they didn't touch it. I think the salt and minerals just leach thru the soil.

I have plenty of that. We dug out a pond last year and the local brick company liked the clay so much that they hauled it for free.

I'm guessing this stuff comes bagged like salt? Are you mixing it 50/50?

According to how many deer are using the spot, 50 lbs of corn a day sounds like a lot.

Couple of things can result including founder and acidosis. High grain diet also changes the microflora of the rumen so that an animal doesn't digest roughage as efficiently. Can't say for a deer of course, but in cattle feeding a high grain, low fiber feed reduces the efficiency of digesting roughage. So you may be feeding them a high carb, low protein feed while at the same time reducing the efficiency of digesting the browse they are getting.

Does your rice bran had a calcium supplement? Rice bran alone has an inverted calcium to phosphorous ratio which is probably not what you want for growing antlers. There is a disease caused "bran disease". It isn't as common in ruminants as some other animals but it can happen.

Seen lucky buck mentioned above in a post.

2 parts red trace mineral to 1 part di-cal phosphate. Usually that means a 50 lb bag of the trace mineral and 1/2 a bag of di-cal per application. Both are loose and sold in bags. This mix will get the job done, no need to add kool aid or more plain salt, the trace mineral is 90% or higher in salt anyway.

I do this ^^^

Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a try

cotton seed

Thanks man..I couldnt remember the name of that stuff! Me too...was the best stuff I ever put out.

If I were willing I could share some trail cam pictures over a trophy rock that would make one very excited about the upcoming deer season. I get a ton and I mean a ton of trail camera pictures over trophy rocks every summer. I get nearly every buck that is living on the farm with mutiple camera loctaions over a TR. It has worked very well for me for many years and the deer on my leases love them. It's simple and cheap when compared to feeding corn every week.

Rice bran over corn any day. Try a bag of the crushed trophy rock instead of the big rock itself. I got a 30 lb bag at Bass Pro for $17. That's practically 3 rocks for the price of 1. I'm on my 2nd bag in the past month. The deer inhaled the crushed trophy rock and rice bran like there was no tomorrow. I've tried most of the stuff you listed above with very little to no success. Rice bran is a totally different story though. Try it and they WILL come to it. Just sayin.

How much is the rice bran y'all are buying?

good question

I picked up two bags of trace minerals and a bag of di-cal today. As much as the di-cal cost, I hope it works!

I have one of those brown mineral licks that you get at Tractor Supply for $5. We've got a camera on the feeder and the lick. The lick is getting. Not seeing any bucks right now, but getting a lot of does on the lick, 6 or 8 a day on average.

The only problem with trophy rocks is bears can carry them off lol

You can fix that real easy.

In this order
1.sweet feed (if dry)
2.yellow acorns
3.mineral licks

I'm putting out trace mineral and gypsum, it's supposed to have like 66% calcium where as di-cal only has 22% calcium.

I am testing 3 different mineral sights right now with three different brands. I found one bag that is black and smells like blackberries, another that looks like dirt, and the last is an apple flavored block that's the size of a cow lick.

Thought ab going and getting one of those co-op mineral buckets that weigh 50-75 lbs and just see how long it stayed. I will have pics on monday

I ran a 6 cams last year with corn, TR, and crushed $6 mineral bag of salt.

$6.00 is all I need now.

Put a TR beside the crushed salt and let you'll be surprised at which gets the most attention.

Has anyone tried that big and j attractant?

i get lots of summer pics over buck jam, its a scented salty gel that comes in a gallon jug, i kick the leaves back with my feet and pour it on the ground, i freshen it every 45 days and they keep coming.

corn always works. If you really want to get deer coming to an area go to the store and buy honey-nut-cherros, they will eat them up as fast as you put them out but don't let them get wet and it will get expensive feeding them.

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