Mineral Licks! It’s almost that time.

[Orion]

Pistol:  I don't want to hijack this thread, but I did scan the abstracts of the first six studies you listed.  They looked at just about everything related to mineral supplementation but antler growth.  On the other hand, the LSU study sure seems to indicate that mineral supplementation doesn't affect the deer at all, antlers or anything else. 

Thus, one could conclude that those folks who are supplementing are going through a lot of effort for virtually no benefit to them or the deer.  Bet you'll have a hard time convincing them though, regardless of what the science says.   

[PistolPete]

Hey, like I said earlier, I don’t tell folks not to do it - I just want to help set realistic expectations! The same things could be said for food plots as well.

[KentuckyTJ]

I can find a lot of scientists with studies that are convinced about global warming also. I wouldn’t try mineral licks if I were you. 

[pavan]

'You are what you eat' I eat lots of high grade whole food supplements, but tonight, i added some venison cutlets and organic spinach and arugula to me.  That logic holds for animals as well, if their diet is lacking specific nutrients.  Global warming and global cooling is a fluctuation caused by a variable star with an 11 year cycle that we call the Sun.  According to the area specialists here, much of our soil is biotically dead and needs nutrients added every year to produce food with adequate nutrients.  We are what we eat.   

[PistolPete]

I know what I think about their work, but I’m not a climate scientist so I can’t speak as in depth to their research. I am a deer biologist though, and can speak to what has been definitively and repeatedly demonstrated on deer and what hasn’t. What you do with that information is certainly up to you. You might want to publish some research that shows your 20” antler gain - you’d become an instant millionaire! Heck, I’d even buy your product then.

Good luck this season.

[TIM B]

Interesting thread I've followed from the start.  A few thoughts I guess....illegal in mo here now but heck I've had a few mineral licks going for 10+ years and they are like craters so I know the deer will continue to use them and hope we don't have the dreaded CWD any closer than it already is.

On antler growth....I know it's genetics as well but how are these deer farmers growing 200-300" deer.....maybe they are getting more than some mineral suppliments. 

My favorite thing about the mineral licks was getting the late summer trail cam pics so I know who is around.
Tim B

[mec lineman]

Tom Jenkins annually post pics of big bucks he has taken with his trad bows. This year was no exception. He does not have to put out thesis or anything for me to prove his findings.I have seen his living room wall. Mr. Pete you seem very passionate about your knowledge about deer biology. Tom shows how passionate he is about harvesting nice bucks and has the pictures to prove it. The only thing Tom does illegally is hunting those helpless bucks with those fast Zipper bows!

[gregg dudley]

Pete,

Are you prepared to make the same or similar observations concerning mineral supplements and domestic livestock?   

[KentuckyTJ]

Global warming and global cooling is a fluctuation caused by a variable star with an 11 year cycle that we call the Sun.

Pavan, my point exactly. Law makers propagated scientific studies to push their agendas.

[PistolPete]

Pete,

Are you prepared to make the same or similar observations concerning mineral supplements and domestic livestock?

Nope! This some kind of trap I assume? I don’t know livestock, I haven’t researched livestock, and further, I’m not making any observations at all. Just reading the scientific research on DEER. There are lots of questions still unanswered in the deer world, but this is simply not one of them.

Like I said, if somebody could demonstrate significant additional antler growth from mineral supplementation (something the deer feed companies have not been able to do), he would become an overnight multimillionaire. Don’t you think these Trophy Rock companies have been trying to demonstrate this for decades?

[KentuckyTJ]

I am sure we will not sway one another to the other side on this. I have seen the more than positive results on three separate farms from the addition of minerals. Our soil is very poor and maybe that has something to do with it.

[gregg dudley]

I am sure we will not sway one another to the other side on this. I have seen the more than positive results on three separate farms from the addition of minerals. Our soil is very poor and maybe that has something to do with it.

And there, you may have hit on the most important factor.  The vast majority of studies that Pete and others have cited were done on captive herds with controlled diets that already had a basically sound nutritional core.  Adding supplements to that base is going to have less of an obvious advantage than doing the same thing on a population that exists in areas with poor soil and poorer nutritional value.

[gregg dudley]

Pete,

Are you prepared to make the same or similar observations concerning mineral supplements and domestic livestock?

Nope! This some kind of trap I assume? I don’t know livestock, I haven’t researched livestock, and further, I’m not making any observations at all. Just reading the scientific research on DEER. There are lots of questions still unanswered in the deer world, but this is simply not one of them.

Like I said, if somebody could demonstrate significant additional antler growth from mineral supplementation (something the deer feed companies have not been able to do), he would become an overnight multimillionaire. Don’t you think these Trophy Rock companies have been trying to demonstrate this for decades?

Depends on your definition of trap!    

It was a sincere question.  I'm not an expert, but I know that ranchers have been adding mineral blocks and mineral supplements to the diets of livestock for years and years.  Go to Rural King. Tractor Supply, or your local coop and you will find row after row of feed supplements.  In an industry that promotes a profit margin, I'd say there was an incentive to avoid the additional costs of minerals if they weren't proven to work.  The science behind them seems to promote the same results as those purported for deer.   

[Don Stokes]

PistolPete, you should know better than to try to fight opinion with facts on the internet. 

[23feetupandhappy]

I can find a lot of scientists with studies that are convinced about global warming also. I wouldn’t try mineral licks if I were you. 

Right on!

[PistolPete]

Hey, I’m not trying to discourage TJ or anyone from using minerals where legal. What I don’t like however is the commercialization of the deer hunting industry that sends the message that a hunter HAS TO spend his hard earned money on products that don’t actually do as much as they might claim. Buy those products as much as you want! I just want other hunters to see the reality rather than unwittingly falling into the industry’s traps.

[23feetupandhappy]

Lots of factors come into play when your talking about one particular  species that inhabits many different ecosystems.
Iowa is known for big bucks but their not behind every tree AND iv never seen the size that I currently have wondering our farm.... is it due to minerals?

All I know is it lets me get eyes on the deer around the area and the big boys love it!








I’ll be freshening mine up real soon


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[Sam McMichael]

I have had friends who use bait, mineral licks, etc. say that predators, such as coyotes and bobcats, also quickly learn about these setups and start regularly ambushing animals that come to it. Has anybody here seen this take place?

[arrow30]

who, really knows that there local deer heard is deficient in minerals..id say unless your running a deer farm and doing blood tests. nobody really knows. but im sure it doesn't hurt to have one out. doesn't really cost that much, and you can put up a camera and see every buck and doe in the area. so therefor I keep a small one out year round. if it helps them great! is it nessasary NO! genetics make antlers. letting them get older is what makes big antlers.

      my 02. cents 

[pavan]

I have shot some big bucks and a lot of smaller bucks, In the end what i remember is the situation and the shot.  Being a ground/still hunter with no pop-up blinds blinds, every situation is completely different, every shot is different.  I am more proud of some of the smaller bucks that i had to work for or made super shots getting, but big does later in the season get more respect from me.  The thing with big does is that I don't have try to figure out how to cook the antlers.  Somehow in my mind, too much manipulation to the hunt or too much manipulation to target, to grow and to kill a specific deer, robs me of the wild adventure.  The way some of the TV outdoors shows do things in Iowa is more like livestock farming, anything goes for bragging rights and strutting I guess.