Its amazing….

How much stronger the attraction a deer has to white salt than mineralized salt. Ran a sample at licks and its has to be 10 to 1. We did a similar test in graduate school using event timers on cattle foing to white salt stations versus mineralized salt and it had similar results. Apparently most minerals taste bad. Deer are junk food junkies as well i guess.

Just curious, as I've never used the white, is it as good for the deer as the mineral salt? I know growing up we only used the mineral salt for our cows.

I reckon I'm no different. I'll suck on rock salt like it's hard candy, especially if im working outside. But no way I could do the same with a vitamin pill.

Mine is the total opposite. I started all of my licks years ago with white salt, mainly the 50 lb blocks at the time. Some years back I think RK was out of the white salt so I bought the red trace mineral in 50 lb sacks. They seem to have liked it more. I did have to buy white salt bags this year because they were out of the red mineral but either way they hit them both just fine. But for me it seemed like the deer on my places like the red mineral more.

I always had better luck with white salt. I tried the mineral one year and they wouldn't touch it.

Don't want to sound like a commercial, but I tried a lot of things, and nothing drew deer like Trophy Rock. If I was still using salt licks, I would be using that.

BSK said:

Don't want to sound like a commercial, but I tried a lot of things, and nothing drew deer like Trophy Rock. If I was still using salt licks, I would be using that.

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Have you ever noticed a delayed interest in the trophy rock? I put one out a couple of year ago and they never messed with it until about 6-8 months later after it had dissolved, and they absolutely tore the ground up.

Be interesting to see how this experiment is in OCT and Nov. personal data experiences says they will hit the minerals more in the winter. Idk?

OakHillHunter said:

Have you ever noticed a delayed interest in the trophy rock? I put one out a couple of year ago and they never messed with it until about 6-8 months later after it had dissolved, and they absolutely tore the ground up.

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Yes. I found some licks required a couple of months before deer starting using them heavy. I think it took that long for the salt to start melting into the ground. Deer would lick the rock itself, but most often preferred eating the dirt the salt had leached into.

ImThere said:

Be interesting to see how this experiment is in OCT and Nov. personal data experiences says they will hit the minerals more in the winter. Idk?

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We see virtually no salt lick usage in winter. The vast majority is late summer as bucks are mineralizing their antlers. August was peak usage in my experience. But they may be due to the type of salt we are using (Trophy Rock which is naturally mined from the Great Salt Lake deposits).

BSK said:

most often preferred eating the dirt the salt had leached into.

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We quit using it 3-4 years ago due to CWD concerns. However, usage has quadrupled at 5 or 6 of the licks since we quit. The ones with the huge increase of use are clay so imo it also has something to do with the dirt itself

BSK said:

We see virtually no salt lick usage in winter. The vast majority is late summer as bucks are mineralizing their antlers. August was peak usage in my experience. But they may be due to the type of salt we are using (Trophy Rock which is naturally mined from the Great Salt Lake deposits).

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I still see them come by in the winter. They absolutely slow down. I would agree Aug would be the prime month. They seemed to prefer mineral over white salt as the year went on. The white salt lick seemed to go to near zero sightings after Sept. I didn't run cams after bow season opener so this was strictly a "sightings" report.

I found a salt spot here locally on the wma. It looks to have been here for years. The ground is dug out. I imagine you just see the deer arse sticking up now! Lol. Interested to see if anyone still hunts this old spot once season come. Found a decent dead head that looks to have sat there for many years.

ImThere said:

I still see them come by in the winter. They absolutely slow down. I would agree Aug would be the prime month. They seemed to prefer mineral over white salt as the year went on. The white salt lick seemed to go to near zero sightings after Sept. I didn't run cams after bow season opener so this was strictly a "sightings" report.

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VERY interesting.

tellico4x4 said:

We quit using it 3-4 years ago due to CWD concerns. However, usage has quadrupled at 5 or 6 of the licks since we quit. The ones with the huge increase of use are clay so imo it also has something to do with the dirt itself

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I quit placing new Trophy Rocksout about 10 years ago. Deer still lick a little at the old sites.

And you are correct about the soil. I found the best licks were created where there was red clay. I think the iron in the soil reacted with the salts and held the salt better. I always looked for a turned up root-wad, exposing the red clay underneath.

I too will stick with Trophy Rock
5 rocks on 5 farms and they seem to love them.
The older I get the more I like the lighter 12 lb rocks. All my farms in June have standing crops and the only way to distribute the rocks is usually a 4 to 5 hundred yard hike.
Anyone else notice the really big bucks in August stay no longer than a minute or less.
Good luck to all this year!

ImThere said:

I found a salt spot here locally on the wma. It looks to have been here for years. The ground is dug out. I imagine you just see the deer arse sticking up now!

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You mean like this? The crazy thing is, that lick started as a big mound of red clay with the rock on top. Turned into quite the pit over the years. And BTW, I ended up killing that buck!

BSK said:

Don't want to sound like a commercial, but I tried a lot of things, and nothing drew deer like Trophy Rock. If I was still using salt licks, I would be using that.

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Trophy rocks were always the best draw here as well.

Where deer have more mineral rich food, I guess they don't need the minerals as much. That probably has everything to do with their attraction to salt with or without minerals.

I'm another trophy rock guy. It's all I use anymore. Deer like it and it's convenient and easy.

Before all the CWD stuff we always used Deer Cane and had great results with it.