Deer Hunters: Time to Start Thinking Salt

Now, right about turkey season, is a good time to start thinking about putting out your salt if you haven't started putting one in already. I have action at mine, hitting the leftovers from last year.

I don't use salt blocks. I use bags of rock salt and use one bag per lick. Dig up a 4X6 hole about 12 inches deep. Pour in a little salt, a little dirt, a little salt and fill everything back in. I leave a little rock salt on top just to let the deer know where to look. Maximum hits on the salt are actually in June and July. By the time most seasons start up, deer are actually not all that interested in the licks any more. If you have a mind to help out antler growth, toss in a little dicalcium phosphate. You can get both the salt and the di-cal at the feed store. Both are used for cattle. Stay away from the magnesium-rich supplements they use for diary cows.

Here's link from the KYDFWR that give some more particulars.

http://fw.ky.gov/mineral.asp

One thing I've noticed is that the taste of the di-cal can sort of put off my deer. I ease it in slowly as I refresh the lick over the course of the season.

The reason I stay away from the blocks is that I have heard (probably from an article in D&DH) that this is too much salt for the deer all at once, and then they tend to gorge on the salt which causes them to then fill up on water and they then don't want to graze as they should. By mixing the salt with the dirt, you get two things: 1) it dilutes the salt. 2) The dirt provides trace minerals.

A lot of hunters used to hunt over blocks in the dark past, before the advent of modern seasons. Teddy Roosevelt even comment on this practice calling it one of the lowest forms of the sport imaginable. The stigma remains. The part that is generally left out was that this was practice done in the Summer-- 4th of July or thereabouts. At that point, deer at a lick were like turkeys at a corn pile.

I'm not a big proponent of using licks to hunt over. I think it is a fool's errand. Frankly my deer have lost interest in them by Fall. Besides giving me a chance to supplement their diet a little, having a deer lick or two on the place affords me the chance to draw deer and especially doe onto the property. Once they're habituated to the property, it's easier to hold them there the rest of the year. I have seen deer visit a lick during hunting season only a handful of times, even though I have a couple of stands near my licks. What I do see is a lot of activity at the lick in June and July, and the deer will adjust their travel patterns and bedding as a result. This is also a terrific place to put up a trail cam and catch some eye candy. However, don't be surprised when the seasons turn and the deer disappear.