salt licks

hivoltg

How do you guys set yours up? Is it ok to mix salts? I have some 50lb bags of mineral salt, one bag of Deer Cane, and two jugs of liquid Stump Likker. Should I spread them out and make several licks, or should I mix some together?

Thanks for the advice
Cody

shoff14

I bet it wouldn't hurt anything to mix them together.

KrisW

never used anything but mineral blocks and salt blocks from a feed store. Just throw them out and let them get wet.

bang250

I can't help they are illegal here.

buckeyboy

Set one up here and your going for a ride in a green blazer with a big whippy antena.[:0] and he aint talking ya out for icecream.[B)]

ladyhunter

i buy the 50 lbs salt licks to put out the deer will start eating the dirt when the lick is gone haven't treid the the deer cane the cmere deer hasn't seem like it was working to great going to try one more yr to me seems like salt works the best down south

headzilla97

not a big fan of the DEC so I stay away from them

gagirl

Illegal to hunt over bait here. Not to mention that deer use salt mostly in spring and summer.

surekill

quote:Originally posted by bang250
I can't help they are illegal here.


What he said

ladyhunter

salt is legal here as long as its is plain salt but gagirl is right they want it during thespring and summer

dcso3009

Salt, mineral, and feed all illeagal here. However, I have firends that put them out anyway. They use bags of water softener salt. Just dump them over a stump in the spring and leave it alone. Come fall the stump is gone and there is a big hole in it's place.

KrisW

Yes they need them during the spring and summer but they will still come to them during the winter. At least that is the case here.

Slash0311

It's illeagl to hunt over them here too but we make sure that we put them out in places that are not close to our stands. I think the law says like 100 yards is safe. We put them out and they get hit all year. We checked a few over the weekend and one was dug down about 6 inches and had four or five runs beat to nothing coming to it! We use livestock salts and blocks. A few of the other guys have tried the cocains and alike but salt is fine for us!

plains scout

I did a lot or reading on this subject last winter. You really don't want to hunt over them. So if not used as bait, i would not think they would be illegal, but check with a local warden.

The idea behind a salt lick is to 1) provide nutrients for healthier deer and to help grow antlers, 2) to provide a predicticable travel lane for deer.

The healthier deer is the main reason we put them out. More resistant to disease and several articles I have read claim that the spikes, 2 x2's and smaller racks are the result of poor nutrition and not young deer.

Many places suggest using "their special" mix, and I am sure it is good - but expensive! I found a reciepe that calls for 2/3 mineral (cattle or sheep mineral will probably work) and 1/3 salt. Mix together. Dig a pit about 4 feet x 4 feet and about six to 12 inches deep. Mix the lick with the dirt and shovel back in. Prefered location is out of sight and along but not on a "deer highway". Get your mineral and salt from a livestock feed supply store.

I am just spitting back what I read. However, last week I saw two nice 4x4's busting out of a food plot about 300 yards from one of our licks so who knows. The books may just be right.

shoff14

quote:Originally posted by plains scout

Many places suggest using "their special" mix, and I am sure it is good - but expensive! I found a reciepe that calls for 2/3 mineral (cattle or sheep mineral will probably work) and 1/3 salt. Mix together. Dig a pit about 4 feet x 4 feet and about six to 12 inches deep. Mix the lick with the dirt and shovel back in. Prefered location is out of sight and along but not on a "deer highway". Get your mineral and salt from a livestock feed supply store.





That is similar to what we have done. We have used a mix of minerals, salt, and molassas. Dug in the same way you have said. We get bags of this stuff with our feed for steers. It doesn't take much to make a good sized lick. Not only will it be good for the spring, but it will last a few years and get deaper and deaper. We have one lick in our small woods of about 10-15 acres that I made up when I was a senior or junior in high school, it was still there last summer, 4 or 5 years later. The key is to keep it in a damper place, so it doesn't dry out like a rock.

JimmyJack

Believe it or not, but we have a lick up by our hunting shack that has been used for 40 years. It would actually take several truckloads of earth to fill the hole that they have created. The ground is heavily packed and water stands and mixes during wet weather. It is used most from late Spring to late summer, rarely to never in winter. The trails leading to it are like a wagon wheel and it looks like cowpaths for spokes.