Mineral lick recipe

[Bill Carlsen]

A while ago  there was a thread on home made mineral licks. One of the ingredients was Di-calcium phosphate. I can't seem to fine it anywhere. Anyone know where to get it in New England...prefrrably in NH.

[Curtiss Cardinal]

It's also known as calcium monohydrogen phosphate
and you should be able to find it in a feed store. I know they feed it to chickens for stronger egg shells. We eat it in out own breakfast cereals and enriched flour breads. It helps us maintain bone density. So you obviously want it in your mineral lick so the bucks can grow that impressive bone we call antlers.  

[heydeerman]

I know a guy who buys calf minersls and rock salt. Digs a hole and uses half a bag of each and covers it up.

[Dave2old]

I assume you're not interested in baiting, but merely enhancing your local deer's diets. All feed stores have trace-mineral salt blocks, the brown ones, 50 pounds for about $8. Really hard to beat that in quality or price with anything homemade. Of course, being salt, as it leaches into the ground it kills vegetation, and out here where we have elk, after a few years you wind up with a huge crater in the ground and a big muddy mess. I assume whitetails are more dainty. Dave

[Bill Carlsen]

Thanks for the replies. I found a feed store about 1/2 hour away that has just ordered some for me. I didn't know about the Monohydrogen Phosphate but will check that out. The reason for the mineral lick is to attract deer to a new 23 acre parcel we purchased last year. it is a  river bottom land environment and I know that the store bought stuff works well in the Spring/Summer.
We want to set up our game cameras and see how things develop. We  had at least 10 antlered bucks on our cameras from the Fall and we want to keep track of them as they grow throughout the summer months. Thanks again.