#1. Salt regulates intake. Mike Clerkin heads to Buffalo County, Wisconsin to bowhunt whitetails. Mineral licks arent going to magically grow trophy racks on a bucks head, but they are a piece of the management puzzle. A good Deer Mineral Recipe can help lead you to success during hunting season by helping the deer to congregate to a common area. Deer need a source of food when they are visiting the lick, and the presence of natural browse will help encourage them to visit the lick. The third site on Farm C was discarded due to a camera failure. Top 5 Best Homemade Deer Attractants Reviewed 1. This past summer, I was developing a new deer mineral product and was constantly frustrated by the fact that I really didnt know what expected intake would be. Increased aggression by certain deer (usually adult does) that guard the site will decrease the number of deer utilizing that particular location. Whitetail Institute Winter-Greens Deer Food Buying Guide Easy to use Effectiveness Affordability Portability Frequently Asked Questions You want to have between 15-25% salt in any free choice mineral for maximum consumption. The author dispenses granular mineral into a covered trough. Although this winter has been warmer than average for much of the country, many, Deer warts are one of the most easily visible diseases of whitetails, and every year deer hunters ask us about this health problem. Besides calcium and phosphorus, little is known about the role of other minerals in antler growth. Notice the pond in the background. Do the math. They have a bit of a red pepper tint and some of the seeds are green. These folks should know more than anyone about proper nutrition for ruminants, a group that includes whitetails. Continue with Recommended Cookies, Home Recipes The #1 Best Deer Mineral Recipe. When formulating free choice minerals, or any feed product for that matter, the vital elements include the ingredients used along with the percentage of those ingredients and the resulting percentage of actual nutrients (i.e. WHITETAIL DEER HOMEMADE MINERAL MIX RECIPE Printable version Ingredients: Makes 200 lbs. Inside the trough, place a metal or plastic pan to hold the mineral. Use a mineral site. 2 parts Trace mineral salt, the red and loose kind without the medications. 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Those actually were wonderful days to do research, as my colleagues and I picked the low-hanging fruit of knowledge. Most professionals relied on information generated primarily for small ruminants, including sheep and goats. A solid habitat/nutrition plan should involve manipulating preferred plants to keep them within what we call the deer zone (within four feet of the ground), on a sustained basis. Back in the early 1970s, two men came to visit me at the Institute for White-tailed Deer Management & Research in Texas. I replicated the test on three different farms to help alleviate variables, at least to a certain degree. Deer are hoofed creatures, but that doesn't mean that any mineral that works for a cattle ranch or horses will do the same for whitetails. Research shows granular minerals facilitate increased consumption by animals as they're able to literally eat (vs. lick) the mixture. The sites attract deer and pose them for short periods in the right spot -- which happens to be right in front of the camera. This interferes with efficient sodium conversion in the body and increases the need for sodium. This is why knowing your intake is so important for your mineral program. One method for making your own mineral blocks is to mix them with soil. Once you've thoroughly mixed the minerals with the soil, you're done. Well provide the latest updates on CWD spread, research and policy from across North America. Place the mixture in a shallow container, such as a baking pan or pie plate, and place it in an area frequented by deer. Here's the finished mineral site with dicalcium phosphate and trace mineral salt thoroughly mixed together with the soil. There also is 5 flavors that are natural to deer. - The Best Explanation. Granular these minerals are added to the soil, and deer get them by consuming the minerals and/or soil/minerals mixture. Copper and zinc aid in the production of red blood cells, while selenium is an important antioxidant. If you dont have established mineral sites, then youll need to make some. The higher the numbers the more you are typically getting out of it. Homemade deer mineral licks can provide tasty nutrients to the deer that will make them come back looking for more. Pull up a seat and join us. If a buck consumes 8 pounds of total food per day, then in order to hit an 18 percent protein level in his diet, he would need to consume 1.44 pounds of protein. Its simple: they need the salt because the forage they are eating in summer is high in water and potassium, thus creating a salt deficiency. Just be sure to buy and use them in conjunction with an EPA-registered water filter. Deer. Researchers at Mississippi State University found a strong correlation between soil mineral content (primarily phosphorus) and body size, although no correlation with adult antler size was found. Email: info@deerassociation.com. And, honestly, the only difference I can tell is in the price. There are many other examples of popular beliefs being dramatically changed through scientific discovery. Have fun with it. Deer, during this time of year, are actively searching for it. Get tips from Steve Bartylla in this Hunt em Big. Yes, whitetails will eat dirt, but the vast majority of minerals they consume enter the system through the plants they eat. A good rule of thumb is about one site per 100 acres of property. 2023 National Deer Association, All Rights Reserved. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register. These products are used for raising livestock, but are exactly what you need for creating a quality mineral site. You can provide deer these minerals and supplemented nutrition a variety of ways. This should be followed by developing a food-plot or native-plant fertilization program to ameliorate any deficiencies. WATCH: 3 Things Youre Doing Wrong with Your Mineral Sites. All of these minerals are necessary for deer to maintain their health and help to keep their coats shiny and strong. What does all this mean to the average deer hunter and manager? 1 part Di-calcium phosphate, this is a dairy feed additive bought at feed stores. Weve put together one of the best deer mineral recipe articles for you to try at home. Gordon Whittington heads north to his personal Missouri farm for some crossbow action. Homemade Mineral Lick Go to your local feed store and buy (1) 50lb bag of granulized dicalcium phosphate, (2) 50lb bags of trace mineral salt, and (1) 50lb bag of rock salt. Monitor the lick and the deer activity around it regularly. Many hunters will find an old rotted stump near trails and use that for their man-made lick. In the above video, I share a simple recipe for making about 100 pounds of the mix for less than $40. Your Complete Wildlife Nutrition and Property Management, difference between coated and non coated seeds. This means you have the option to read your magazine on most popular phones and tablets. When creating sites, I try to find heavily used trails or trail crossings somewhere in cover (brush or timber) and create the site just off that trail or trail crossing. Research in Tennessee supports this. This would equate to an average ounce-per-head-per-day intake of .29 ounces. However, these herds were fed a nutritionally deficient diet below what most whitetails would have access to in the wild. But if you want to spice it up, you can add a dash of any general-purpose mineral. Using a mineral mixture that has less than 50 percent salt will not attract deer. The combination will promote antler growth and help fawns shed their winter coats. All North American Whitetail subscribers now have digital access to their magazine content. James Kroll and Haynes Shelton talk about being realistic when it comes to managing a smaller deer property in this edition of Dr. All soils are made up of minerals, and there are clear deficiencies in many areas. The best time to put out these mineral blocks is in February/March/April. A lot is made over the power of mineral sites to grow antlers and create a healthier deer population. As I was at the time formulating a 20-year research plan for our institute, I decided it was a natural fit to include mineral supplementation in the plan. The best place to put a deer lick is near your closest water holes, ponds or water sources and near your food plots. Salt alone doesnt contain all the minerals bucks need for antler growth, nor does it provide what's essential for does, fawn development and milk production. In this video I show you the results from my homemade deer minerals. If you plan to use a mineral mix for deer, you may need to increase the concentration of salt over time. Research shows granular minerals facilitate increased consumption by animals as theyre able to literally eat (vs. lick) the mixture. Pour in one of the bags of salt and one box of the A & H. Stir in well and then add three forths of the second bag of salt and all of the 2nd box of A & H. Mix in well and smooth over the top. Regardless of the intensity of mineral supplementation, a yearling buck will still be a yearling buck. in Food Plots, A different approach, Research is learning what is wrong about a forage. It may not display this or other websites correctly. Farm B had a total of eight adult deer using the deer mineral site, five of which used the site on a daily basis. February 24, 2023 |Timber 2 Table Wild Game Recipes, February 22, 2023 |Timber 2 Table Wild Game Recipes. Choose a location that is away from human activity, like your house or outbuildings. Along those same lines, deer will more readily utilize minerals that are ground applied than offered in a man-made feeder. I know of some deer managers in Ohio whose homemade mineral mixes gave the animals heavy metal poisoning! Simply use a bucket with nearby pond or creek water to do this. In areas where it is legal to use deer mineral, here is an economic option for you. Deer's antlers are made up of over 22% calcium and 11% phosphorous. Many hunters believe that it is simply because bucks need the minerals for antler growth and does for raising fawns during these months. As it turned out, the general area has long been known for a cattle disease called grass tetany, which is directly related to a lack of magnesium in the diet. Here's a new mineral lick being established with trace mineral salt and dicalcium phosphate. So why not just pour salt out for the deer if thats what they're after? This is especially true of dried molasses, which deer love. 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