Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Mineral Licks

Ok, so last year we tried summer plots unsuccessfully. With the small size of our plots and hog population, they got destroyed before they got up and going good. This year we are gonna focus more on mineral sites. I put one out in what I thought was a good spot but apparently not. Didn’t get utilized much.

Just looking for insight of where to place them. Close to water, close to thick cover, off sides of heavily used trails, etc

Close to water, for sure.

Make sure the soil isn't too sandy.

Also fertilize natural forage like honeysuckle, greenbriar, etc.

Interested in trying this over the spring and summer on my place too. Planted corn last year and it dried up before it ever put many ears on, the deer still hit it pretty hard for what little was there, but I would like to add a couple of mineral sites this year. How many sites would you do per 100 acres, and what do you all use to make your sites.

Red clay landings will hold the minerals for years with no woody material. Any areas where the soil is sandy or gray make sure you dump it on a rotting stump so it doesn't all wash away. Those are about the only two rules I live by with mineral licks.

find a spot that holds moisture for a few days after it rains dig it up and add 1bag dical phosphate 2 bags trace mineral and 1 bag stock salt. we usually cut it in half to make 2 spots. might want to use the whole 200lbs if its a new site100lbs will freshen up an already established site.

In the last 12 years on one large property we made at least 30 mineral sites. What we learned is what we thought were some good spots were not according to the deers usage. Most of them we cleaned a spot and put some clay down. They all will get some attention but out of the 30 we have about a dozen that get worked on really well. So we now just concentrate on the heavier used ones.







if it was mine id make 4 sites and see which 2 they utilized the most. We always started ours with one white and one brown mineral block. When you find out which the 2 best ones are put a white, a brown and a trophy rock in to refresh them.
Pool salt works well also and you can catch it on sale at wal mart at the end of summer for $2 - 2.50 clearance for a 50# bag.

I read about a guy with hog problems that took an 8' length of rebar, drove it into the ground half way, put a hose clamp about ten inches from the top as a stopper, drilled a 5/8" hole through a Trophy Rock and slid it onto the rebar. Was high enough off the ground for pigs not to mess with it.

So maybe a dump question, but do you just rake down to the dirt and pour the pool salt on the ground?

I use a shovel and turn the soil over myself.

The deer don’t like some types of minerals on our place also. Make sure you add salt to any mineral product. We have been using Whitetail Institute 30-06 minerals and they won’t touch it if that’s all we put out. When we add trophy rock or a cattle salt block they dig giant holes.

I've used a ton of different minerals over several decades and the one that gets the most attention is a three part mix of cattle spring hi-mag mineral, red salt and white salt. They ignore trophy rock right next to it. Trophy rock is second but it's very close in chemical makeup to red salt. You can find trophy rock bagged sometimes for less money but it's still expensive compared to the best mix.

They prefer loose mineral to any kind of rock/block.

I have just dumped it on the ground, I've dug a hole and dumped it in and I've mixed the dirt in with it. There is no difference I can see in the deer reaction to these so I just dump it on the ground now.

Lots of ideas on what makes a good mineral site but I have never had any luck determining this. Place three or four times as many as you need (at least one per 100 acres) and the deer will let you know which ones to keep.

I've never mixed the stuff into the soil either. Dump it all out right now before the spring rains and it'll be good and mixed in by may when they really get on it. Already enough work hauling a few hundred pounds of salt and minerals into the woods, no need to shovel it around.

I put a brown 50# mineral block by all my feeders when I filled them in Oct. All are about gone now. What started out as a pine stump with a 50# block on it 15 years ago is now a hole about 8 feet across and about a foot deep. I put 2 of the 50# blocks in every spring. Over the years the deer have eaten about a yard of dirt out of this hole.

X2. Just fresh it up at the end of the season every year

They won't touch a brown cattle block at my place until the Trophy Rock is completely gone. Sometimes, I can see tooth marks in the Trophy Rock.