Mineral Licks Work!

[DouglasSpear]

I recently purchased an 8.5 acre wooded lot surrounded by other wooded lots, fields, and small country home plots. There's not enough room to put an efficient food plot plus there are already fields available for deer to feed in. A small food plot on my land would be like putting a gumball machine in a candy store, it just wouldn't make any sense. Bigger and more diverse food plots are often the top priority for many deer hunters and although I would agree that it's important to make sure deer have enough food and a variety of food to provide ample nutrition, a simple mineral lick is often overlooked, and I overlooked. After last years hunt I decided I wanted to take advantage of my first purchase of hunting land so I opted to try a mineral lick to help produce a quality herd with healthier does and bigger bucks. So far, the pictures on my trail camera have proven to me that deer WILL find and consume the minerals/supplements they need if their general diet and nutrition is lacking. I have 2 cameras on my hunting property, one aimed at an automatic corn feeder and one aimed at the newly created mineral lick. The corn feeder camera had a whoping 3 pictures (one of which was a dog) and the mineral lick camera had a full memory card by the end of the second day. Before I show you pictures, here's what I did to create the mineral lick...

Equipment Used:

1. (1) 40 lbs bag of name brand mineral lick from my local farming/feed mill store

I may use Doc Holliday's recipe to make my own in the future (found in the sticky thread in this forum)

2. Shovel

3. Hard Rake

Directions and Application:

1. Find a location

Look for a path or area hidden away where deer feel safe and where they frequent and clear away debris from the surrounding ground

2. Dig a hole

Dig about 3 feet in diameter and about 1 foot deep, saving the dark loose dirt

3. Create mineral pit

Pour some of the mineral powder/granulation into the hole and around the edges of the hole

4. Layer the mineral pit

Cover the first layer of mineral powder/granulation with the loose dirt you saved, layering back and forth between mineral and dirt using more mineral powder/granulation filling in the hole back up. Mix the dirt and mineral together leaving a higher ratio of mineral as the hole is filled (the top layer should have more mineral than the bottom layer).

5. Finish mineral pit

Finish by making sure the mineral lick is level with the rest of the ground, cover the top layer of mineral with about a half inch to one inch of soil, then tamp slightly with the shovel and then sprinkle some mineral on top

The mineral pit will not be activated until you either pour some water over the mineral pit (a gallon or two will work just fine) or a good rain disolves the minerals into the soil. Once activated, if the local deer herd is lacking the minerals they need to produce quality milk for the fawns, quality racks, and healthier breeding habits, the deer will come and use your new mineral lick. Here are a few pictures I got in just 2 days (remember, it's early April so deer haven't fattened up yet nor have the bucks started showing much sign of antler growth but this is proof that the deer do need minerals and will consume it as soon as they find it).

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[DocHolladay]

When you gonna put the pool in?? They are working on a good hole.

[MZS]

This is thread is a good reminder to get going on these! It is that time of year.

[DouglasSpear]

I freshened it up and man they are hitting this hard. With all the rain we've had it's working into a nice mineral pit, the deer are at it regularly every morning and evening now. Now I just hope I can start seeing some velvet knobs and some fat pregnant does about to pop and then in a few months some growing racks and some fawns.