Mineral Licks! It’s almost that time.

[Mike Bolin]

From a lot of the comments, several folks seem to assume that the main (only?) reason to have do food plots and/or minerals is to grow big antlered bucks. I am sure that is true for some, but most of the people I know, myself included, do plots, minerals and habitat work for the well being of not just deer, but critters in general. The minerals lick is mainly to give the pregnant/lactating does a little boost.

I don't hunt my plots, although legal and my mineral site is at least 200 yards from any stand site and there is no gun hunting on the portion of the property that I maintain. I spend more time on habitat work...brush piles for small game, removing invasive species, planting warm season grasses and doing prescribed burns to promote growth of natural forbs/forage than I do on plots. We hadn't seen a cottontail rabbit or quail here for 10 years until we planted clover and milo and built some brush piles. Got some bunnies now and even a few quail.

Deer population in my area of the county has dropped consistently for the last 8 years. Rabbits and game birds have lost most of their cover/habitat as a most of the fence rows and briar patches are gone (what was four 50 acre fields is now a 200 acre field). A large portion of the wooded ground in this area has been timbered with no thought to forest management...mast producing trees over harvested and Asian bush honeysuckle has taken over. My wife and I enjoy being in the woods trying to make it better for the critters. Please don't assume that everyone involved in food plotting and habitat management is trying to grow the next mega-buck that they can shoot from their enclosed shooting house. 

If you don't do any of the habitat stuff, that's cool and if you do, that's cool too! The main thing is to keep moving and enjoy your time outdoors!

[Friend]

I utilized 12 fifty pound bags of Antler Max Mineral last year....prefer to attempt to maintain a healthy and quality herd year around.

[TradBrewSC]

Dang... and I though the whole point of this thread was to show some cool pictures of deer in velvet during the growing months.. Isn't that what most of us use mineral licks for anyway??

TG seems to be turning into a pissing match site much like stick#@!.com.. I always liked the fact that you could come here for good and respectful threads that are in the end helpful or entertaining. Not a bunch of opinionated @$$holes trying to prove whose thing is bigger.

If you don't like to get trailcam pictures of deer during the growing months through a supplement that certainly isn't bad for them, take your negativity elsewhere. Geezz..

[Guss]

Amen..!! 

[GCook]

Self proclaimed expert anti's like PP and Don Stokes can quote whatever statistics they want but even without the cattle industries overwhelming success with use of supplements to improve weight and muscle mass on herds the fact that hundreds of thousands of deer hunters have improved local herds in harvesting larger body weight deer, higher fawn survival as well as bigger antler production shows the futility of the false arguements they so forcefully and negatively present.
We know CWD is being found more and more but most knowledgeable people know that is a product of more biologists looking for, testing for and as a result finding more affected animals not because it is becoming an epidemic.  It has been there all along but now it is the hot topic of those with an agenda just like global warming.
EHD is becoming epidemic and is devastating herds all over the midwest.  But the likes of Don and PP won't acknowledge that fact.  Won't allow that more money and effort shows be spent to combat that vs a condition that actually kills a significantly small number of deer.
CWD is not fake news but it is manipulated news. 

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[PistolPete]

Wow! And here I thought it would be neat for people to see just a tiny bit of the science behind deer management. I certainly won’t apologize for presenting facts, but I will understand a little better next time that there are a good many folks who would rather bury their heads in the sand than learn something new and unexpected. That’s fine, I’ll go back to my silly wildlife biologist world of making stuff up.

On a totally unrelated note, are you guys sure about this whole “the Earth is round” deal? I’m not convinced. I think it’s a science conspiracy...

[GCook]

Pete you are ignoring the facts that people get positive results every year using management practices that include supplemental feed that includes mineral supplements.   You can make insulting comments about people's "heads buried in the sand" to try to bully people into not discussing a proven practice but it won't change the fact that it works.   I've seen the results on three different tracts I'm involved with the management on.  Just like fertilizer on a field makes better nutrition in the plants they feed on. 

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[KentuckyTJ]

I think it’s pretty well accepted that on a piece of land that is low in nutrition year after year, most does only have one fawn each season. On places that are high in nutrition year after year they have multiple fawns. So I think it’s the same with antler growth. If a buck has an excess of minerals over and above what his body needs the excess can go into antler development.

[bigbadjon]

Maybe the science just sounds hollow when it's being pushed by characters who are just advancing their anti baiting opinion. Maybe the science is hard to to swallow when its been proven that antler size is mostly determines by year round nutrition than genetics. The absolute hardest thing to accept is when the science says it doesn't work but your deer herd has improved drastically in the years you've been planting plots and minerals. The most bitter pill of all is that every time somebody makes a thread on Trad Gang anymore it gets pounced and derailed by a bunch of people with nothing to add to the conversation at hand.

[Buckeye1977]

In my case I don't have a very big farm to hunt so I try to do everything I can to get the deer to use that area and keep them there all year round

[TradBrewSC]

Maybe the science just sounds hollow when it's being pushed by characters who are just advancing their anti baiting opinion. Maybe the science is hard to to swallow when its been proven that antler size is mostly determines by year round nutrition than genetics. The absolute hardest thing to accept is when the science says it doesn't work but your deer herd has improved drastically in the years you've been planting plots and minerals. The most bitter pill of all is that every time somebody makes a thread on Trad Gang anymore it gets pounced and derailed by a bunch of people with nothing to add to the conversation at hand.

Exactly!

[23feetupandhappy]

I’ll try and get this thread back on subject.

Iv been putting out Trophy Rock for about 10 years, I like due to its natural state.  It’s just a rock mined out of Idaho I believe.
Lots of trace minerals in it that the deer just love!

Snorkel anyone?!?!?




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[KentuckyTJ]

That’s a great pic!

[pavan]

Boy did sleep wrong, I could use a mineral lick today.  I wonder the dosage should be to help loosen up this stiff neck and cure cabin fever.  I also wonder if deer that get the supplements, like it so much that it would alter their normal lodging and dining routines.

[bigbadjon]

Pavan, you obviously don't like baiting. You have made that clear. This thread is about baiting. If it bothers you stop checking it. Your elitism doesn't dissuade the hunters here utilizing it.

[pavan]

This about baiting? Damn, you have not read what I said.  Many soils are nutrient deficient, I agree with supplementing nutritional needs.  It is illegal in Iowa and yet widely used, I was going fair warning to anyone had dreams of growing big antlers that could get ticketed.  Then you jump on my ass acknowledging in a joke that supplements work because of my stiff neck this morning, good god what a bunch of dumb asses. goodbye.

[PistolPete]

Yeah, this thread is not about baiting. And pavan wasn’t anti baiting. Or elitist.

[bigbadjon]

Mineral licks, feeders and food plots are all baiting. As another detractor of this thread it doesn'tshock me to see you defending his comments. How great was trad gang when you could post you methods without a bunch of flippant detracting remarks? This thread was about refreshing mineral licks and showing pictures of deer using them. Instead it has been a chiding lecturers whining about legality in their state, wasted effort, and repatterning natural deer movement. It's no wonder the general hunting community has such such a poor opinion of us when it seems all anybody does is criticize other hunters methods.

[Orion]

Was a time when most hunting threads dealt with real hunting methods.  Not so much anymore. Seems disagreement is the logical outcome, at least not unexpected. 

[GCook]

Real hunting is not for you to decide for everyone else.   Each person should be free to enjoy it in the legal manner they choose without demeaning comments from others.

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