How many mineral licks per acre

According to QDMA, one every acres. They had a good article about mineral licks in this month's QDMA issue. The article talked about a study done on a piece of land in I think West Va. In other words, only a quarter of the total herd paid it any attention. I also liked the fact that QDMA said they had no data that minerals actually helped in antler growth, fawn rates, milk production in does, etc.. I am putting one out this weekend, but this time with better knowledge. I use to think every deer on our property knew where my salt site was and came to it all the time.

You must log in or register to reply here. Where should you be placing your deer mineral supplements? The most obvious and beneficial spots include food plots, bedding areas, and near water holes. When deer enter food plots ready to feed, they will usually seek salt and minerals as well, so placing a mineral site just off a trail entering the food plot will create a natural stopping point for them.

Similarly, providing a slow-releasing mineral block near or within a summer bedding area will make it easy for deer to get ample minerals during the day without you having to constantly replace it throughout the summer. Finally, combining water holes and mineral sites can be a dynamite option. After consuming salt and minerals, deer will crave water and vice versa. Whether you typically use a salt block or mineral block for deer, there is no denying that these sites are great at attracting deer in front of trail cameras.

Because they are best used in the spring and summer, it also coincides perfectly with monitoring velvet bucks with trail cameras on your property before the fall hunting season.

Minerals in bedding areas are difficult to check discreetly, so focus your trail cameras on food plot mineral sites. As far as the best trail camera settings for these sites, video modes work great since deer tend to stick around for a while.

You will no doubt have thousands to choose from. As mentioned at the beginning, some states do not allow you to hunt over mineral licks, especially those also containing some kind of food products e. If you chose to locate them in your food plots anyway, just stop using them within the allotted timeframe of your state, and you can rely on the food plot to attract deer instead. If you can hunt over them, try hanging a stand on a mineral site located just off a trail in a staging area.

Similar to deer minerals, many hunters assume that if they provide the best supplemental deer feed, there will suddenly be big bucks running around everywhere. Again, not true. If your property is lacking quality food e. Deer require different types of foods throughout the year, and it changes with the seasons. For spring and summer nutrition , they primarily focus their diets on lush green forbs that are high in protein to build up their bodies and antlers.

As fall approaches, they switch to hard mast, soft mast, and even agricultural crops that are high in carbohydrates to put on fat for the winter. During the winter, their digestive tracts excel at breaking down woody browse to survive the harsh conditions, and so the best winter food for deer is often tree tops and shrubs. As long as there is enough of it, deer will usually pull through winter just fine.

Many people worry about not feeding deer in winter, assuming they are starving. While that could be true in areas with not enough browse, feeding deer corn in winter one of the easiest options for the average person to go buy could actually be deadly.

Dehydration follows and they cannot digest high fiber foods as well anymore, which usually leads to death. Again, if deer are slowly introduced to eating corn or it naturally exists i. Not if you do it the right way. The best time to feed deer so that it will help produce healthier animals is undoubtedly the spring and summer. Typically, high protein deer feed or deer protein pellets are best fed to deer during this timeframe. After coming out of a harsh winter, they need a lot of protein to rebuild their lost body weight and muscle mass.

This is especially true for bucks that entered the winter already rut-weary. Importantly, all the nutrition goes to rebuilding their bodies first. In addition, lactating does are feeding growing fawns, and both does and fawns will need food to grow. In the fall, you should supplement with carbohydrate-rich sources, which will help deer put on some fat before the winter.

Note that sometimes it might take deer a few days to find your lick, and it might take them a few visits before they decide they need to visit every day. This mineral site reactivator from Black-Magic is made to reactivate an old mineral site or create a brand new one. Many companies make products solely for this purpose that not only help activate the lick sight but also add extra minerals or flavor to the mix.

Activator liquids can be used on old sites that need to be sweetened up a little, or poured over powders or granules when making a new site. As with most such products, they come in a wide variety of mixtures and flavors.

The makers of Deer Cane liquid attractant say it is a habit-forming mineral attractant that, because of its liquid nature, quickly releases fragrant vapors for instant attraction. Many minerals and attractants also come in easy-to-use liquid form.

These can be poured straight onto the ground and massaged in to form a lick, or can be used in conjunction with powders and granules to do the same.

A combination of liquid attractant and granules or powder actually provides the easiest and quickest method for making a good deer lick. Scatter the powder on the ground, work it in a little with a stick or your foot, then pour the liquid over the top. Note that liquid attractants can be somewhat heavy to carry around in the woods when compared to granules and powders. This gel mineral concoction from Buck Jam can be used to quickly form a mineral lick with a strong apple flavor and fragrance to attract deer from a great distance.

Mineral and attractant gels work a lot like liquid but can be even more versatile. Hunters can pour them on the ground and work them into the soil, or pour them over powdered or granule-type mineral attractants.

The versatility comes because you can also pour them on downed logs or old tree stumps, turning those areas into instant deer attractors. Pouring them on a number of objects around your stand site makes the area even more attractive.

Many gels have a very strong aroma, so deer passing nearby can smell them and come over to investigate. Their extra strong flavor does the rest, convincing deer that they need to check out the site any time they are in the area. This Sugar Beet Crushed Juiced attractant from Wildgame Innovations combines minerals with an attractive beet taste to draw deer to your hunting area. Some crushed and juiced attractants are as much food as mineral, so might fall under the category of baiting in some jurisdictions.

So as mentioned earlier, check your local regulations. That said, they can be extremely effective for late-season deer that have made it through the rut and want nothing more than to fill their bellies in preparation for winter.