Salt block?
Whitetail Deer
Anybody ever use just a plain old 50lb salt block as an attractant? I bought one from the tractor supply store for $6 and put it out yesterday. They last forever and they're cheap so I thought I would try it. I'm really just trying to keep deer in that area until I put bait down in the fall.
Will deer use a 50lb white salt block like they would use one of those little blocks that are made for deer that are $6 for 5lbs?
They will, we have found that we like to use the granulated salt and mineral salt in 50 lb bags a little better though and make a salt lick. You can pour it over a stump and or onto the ground and we go ahead and mix it with water to get it disolved faster. The deer seem to use this better and longer and really tear up the ground plus once it is in the ground and not visible on the surface it is legal in our state.
I use a 40 lb. bag of softener salt in front of my trail cams, but to answer your question yes they will hit the big salt block too.
FYI
Be very careful if using water softner salt!!!!!!
A lot of this salt is often been produced with added detergents and can do some serious harm to the deer's digestive sysytem.
Aren't the softner salt bags clearly marked if they have detergents? Yellow bags with just salt and Blue bags with the anti-iron detergent?
Either way Tractor Supply has 50lbs. bags of live stock salt for like $5.
I guess I am not sure my water softner broke about 8 months after I bought my home and I have never bothered with it again??????
I hunt on 1029 acres and we have 6 mineral licks I personally do the following
1-50lbs bag of di-calcium phospahate 1-50 bag of trace minerals 1- brown mineral bloack on top 1-small bag of deer cain one time for an attractant.
I dig a small hole pour in the di-cal and trace minerals with 1/2 bag of deer cain. stir well with the dirt I dug out and the pour deer cain on top then I place the block on top of the filled in hole.
deer antler is 2/3 calcium and the next big mineral is phosphate. Deer hit these all year long even in freezing temps.
Just bury the block and they will come. I have seen this done and they will make a hole licking at the soil. Salt is salt block or granular... I do the granular myself and mix in mineral salt and dical...
Last fall my farmer host's son dropped a bag going thru the gate to one of the pastures and broke it.. I was just there, and there is a hole the size of a 5 gal bucket. Others have said the blocks for dairy cattle work better????
Have tried salt blocks, trace mineral salt, and trophy rocks all at the same time on 400 acres. The Trophy Rock and trace mineral salt licks get hammered way more than the salt block.
I use 50lb brown mineral blocks. The deer/wildhogs tear them up I already had to replace blocks I put out first of the year. There are 2x2 ft holes in the ground where I put the blocks back in Jan 08.
Illegal to do in Illinois.
I usse the trace mineral blocks from Tractor Supply and the deer really get into it. My Moultrie trail cam keeps taking pics of the same deer becasue they get in it and just hang around and keep licking it! And they are a lot cheaper than those smaller flavored blocks. I don't think the deer really care either. It might be an added 'feature' but they don't seem to shy away from the trace block. I'll save the flavored small blocks just as a treat for them in the fall!
use granular dicalcium posphate and TM salt 50/50 mix. and dig up a 4ft spot and mix in the dirt, put a half inch on top. now yer diggen where the potatoes are brother.
Whump sez; deer will go right past a brown or white salt block to get to the trophy mineral rock. I would not have believed it until I put one out and they stopped using the brown block completely. You cannot hunt over them in my state, but you can use them to help antler growth during the summer months. Hunt safe.
Whump - you can hunt over them in Ohio. Baiting is legal in this state. There are no exclusions for mineral licks it all fairgame.
Whump Sez; Thanks Kelley--but I was making reference to baiting laws in Al. Just in case someone from here read the post. Thanks for your reply though. Hunt safe.
