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salt licks

hivoltghivoltg Member Posts: 928 ✭✭✭✭
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

Comments

  • shoff14shoff14 Member Posts: 11,994 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I bet it wouldn't hurt anything to mix them together.
  • KrisWKrisW Member Posts: 633 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    never used anything but mineral blocks and salt blocks from a feed store. Just throw them out and let them get wet.
  • bang250bang250 Member Posts: 8,021
    edited November -1
    I can't help they are illegal here.
  • buckeyboybuckeyboy Member Posts: 5,833
    edited November -1
    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)]
  • ladyhunterladyhunter Member Posts: 2,143 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    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
  • headzilla97headzilla97 Member Posts: 6,445
    edited November -1
    not a big fan of the DEC so I stay away from them
  • gagirlgagirl Member Posts: 5,408
    edited November -1
    Illegal to hunt over bait here. Not to mention that deer use salt mostly in spring and summer.
  • surekillsurekill Member Posts: 1,926 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by bang250
    I can't help they are illegal here.


    What he said
  • ladyhunterladyhunter Member Posts: 2,143 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    salt is legal here as long as its is plain salt but gagirl is right they want it during thespring and summer
  • dcso3009dcso3009 Member Posts: 2,350 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    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.
  • KrisWKrisW Member Posts: 633 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    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.
  • Slash0311Slash0311 Member Posts: 1,676 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    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 scoutplains scout Member Posts: 4,563
    edited November -1
    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.
  • shoff14shoff14 Member Posts: 11,994 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    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.
  • JimmyJackJimmyJack Member Posts: 5,385 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    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.
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