Let’s talk deer minerals

[James]

How many add minerals to their feed pens? What do you add? Home made? Premixed and sold? How do your deer take to it compared to your other supplement feeds?

I hunt a ranch in Kinney County that has lots of the same browse, grass and Forbes as the magical golden triangle brushes. I know we do not share the exact same but we share a lot. The big difference is ours grows on nasty rock country instead of that rich dark red soil.

How much different is the protein and mineral content consumed in brush over nasty Kinney rock county then the same brush consumed over lasalle, maverick, dimmit pretty dark soil county?

We are feeding tons of supplement feeds, my deer are very spoiled with cotton seed, protein and corn year round along with the occasional alfalfa and rice bran. My question is could i add minerals to all my feed stations to try and balance out some of the nutrients they are lacking in rock country that they would get in the rich dark red soil country?

We have produced and harvested great deer for Kinney county but is there more we could do from a mineral aspect? Curious to hear your opinions and what y’all are doing with minerals.

Pretty good article posted here...

http://higginsoutdoors.com/do-deer-minerals-really-work/

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gingib]

I have tried so many minerals and NO luck....homemade to bagged to blocks to salt licks

[deerwatcher51]

I put out "Trophy Rock". They don't hammer it, but do apparently use it from time to time. Does it do any good? Who knows, but it does make me feel that I am doing all I can to help them along.

[Txhuntr2]

I think it depends on the area whether they need supplemental minerals.

We put out some trophy rocks out in Val Verde and the deer chewed them up. I'm definitely going to try them on my new place down south. I also watched a young buck chew on a piece of a shed antler all morning last October. He kept crunching on it and I walked over after the hunt and was really surprised to find that's what it was.

[Hoytbowhunter]

I use lucky buck here last year, dug two holes mix it in the soil and buried it, they dug it up and ate it all dirty and all. We use it up north all the time when I'm hunting up there. They'll find it within a day.

[deerdynasty]

buy cheap salt mineral licks at coop. thats all u need...

[brianlg31]

I put out a salt block and mineral block from either tractor supply or M&G Feed store about twice a year. There is always a deer licking on them.

[TXBRASS]

I put a bag of Record Rack Mineral mixed with mineralized salt under where my directional feeder throws corn. Forces the deer to get exposed to it as they eat the corn. I also use Trophy Rocks and they are shiny and slick and last about 6 months so I know the deer are getting the mineral.

[BolilloLoco]

Get a biologist involved. Start collecting fecal samples and have them analyzed to determine any mineral deficiencies. That way you’re not guessing and wasting your time/money.

[Deadeye Mex]

We did the fecal sample analization with Texas A & M a few years back on a South Texas ranch. We found out that all the samples analized were significantly difficient in Phosphorus, which does attribute to a percentage of horn growth. So we starting supplimenting with Phosphorus and improved.

[TXBRASS]

We did the fecal sample analization with Texas A & M a few years back on a South Texas ranch. We found out that all the samples analized were significantly difficient in Phosphorus, which does attribute to a percentage of horn growth. So we starting supplimenting with Phosphorus and improved.

Was this added into feed or placed in a mineral lick/hole?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mike Fangman]

I use the trace mineral blocks from TSC, I put a new, fresh one out every spring. Not sure how much it helps, but they do use it.

[James]

Good responses. I’ve never had lots of luck with mineral blocks, which is why I’ve considered directly mixing minerals into my cotton seed to balance the lack of phosphorus.

For those that did samples, was it mainly a lack of phosphorus? Can you overdue it? Very interesting to me

[Deadeye Mex]

For the Posphorus, we dug a 2-3' long trench about 6" deep under the corn feeders. We poured a granual Calcium/Phosphorus suppliment in the trench and they licked it up. Just topped it off every now and then. After a year of that it raised the analisys to normal range.

[EastTexasTiger]

get the 40 lb bag of trophy rock. poured it on a stump at my lease and they tore it up, dug around stump when it was gone