I’ve heard that nursing doe deer benefit from supplemental salt. Is this just a wives tale?

When is it best to put out salt? Will two or three blocks at the same location be good or bad? What minerals do deer need? Are other animals attracted to salt as well?

Do you put your in a hole or on a stump? Do you mix it with soil or not? Will bags of water softener salt work or does it contain a harmful additive?

Lots of questions. Thanks for your opinions.

Charles when you can present the block level with the ground(in a hole) they will approach it alot sooner

I don't know the anwser to all your questions but the deer absolutely jump into my cattle pasture to eat salt and mineral. Livestock salt is super cheap so I wouldn't bother with watersoftner salt. We feed loose salt and mineral, I feel the deer are likely able to eat that easier, we just have it in plastic tubs, I would assume a stump would be fine.

I use the plain old cheap trace mineral salt you can buy at a feed store. Probably not much nutritional value but the deer love it. I like putting them in red clay if possible. I add one 50 pound block or bag in the early spring every year to freshen them up and that's it. I started one about 12 years ago that is probably ten feet across and two feet deep now and I get thousands of pictures over it during the summer.

Now is the time.
I second loose trace mineral salt

I dump general mineral from TSC. Much cheaper than the glossy bags or blocks.

We always used loose trace mineral salt. The deer still use it, and the law changed, so I haven't freshened it up for a couple years. We found that if we used blocks, a bear would eventually steal it.

I mix one part stock salt (regular white granular salt), 1 part Dicalcium sulfate and 2 parts trace mineral salt. I can make 200 lbs (4 bags above at 50 lbs each) for around $60. From my experience, they’re only on it from Spring green up through early September. I’ve got a friend 25 mins away that keeps deer on his all year long. Not sure why there’s a difference other than his doe to buck ratio is way outta whack whereas we see a 2:1 ratio around me and we have a lot of ag in the area.

I just put out the red trace mineral block. It’s more than just a salt block, but no gimmick like other stuff on the market. There will be a hole there when it’s gone.

i pour mine on old stumps. i just put out 10lbs yesterday.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I once hunted a farm that had a small wooded building in a pasture. At some time it must have contained a lot of salt. Deer, or something, had chewed the threshold under the door to enjoy the salty flavor of the wood.

Probably porcupine. They love salt.

Got 2 farms with mineral stumps Iv you put the block or loose minerals on a stump if will soak it up and feed will chew on the stump. 7.99 trace mineral block from TSC will work. But for instant results get you some apple spice salt. Deer herd been hitting it hard since Christmas
lime green stress blocks from feed store when does are about to pop.

Deer are not as interested in salt here for some reason. Got small salt blocks at several locations with cameras and the blocks, aside from erosion to rain, etc have very few pics of deer licking them. I’ve ran lots of locations with all kinds of attractors and here is my non-scientific opinion. Salt blocks don’t work well, but salt soaked into the ground was better. Weird. Same with the quote “deer food blocks” those in block form were more interesting to coon and birds than any deer in the jillions of pics I’ve gone through over those. Once the blocks completely broke down and what was left melted into the dirt, THEN they got some deer licking pics but hardly ever as solid blocks stage. Mix your salt or blocks with water and pour it on the ground to soak in, if that is your goal. Seems to work better for me.
I quit buying the deer food blocks a couple years ago. Jillions of pics later told me they were gimmicks and a waste of my money.
I also did a lot of side by side comparisons over game cameras with straight whole field corn vs that quote “deer corn” that is often flavored with crap like apple or other scents and flavors. Straight field corn wins that hands down over time too. The pictures didn’t lie. And that was true of any animals visiting the food piles except coon which just eat anything I put out. If you want your food pile to last longer, put the “deer corn” out but there’s a reason it lasts longer.
Cattle feed blocks and mineral blocks I’ve tried a lot of those too. They got a few deer licks but those too were very attractive more to birds and raccoons than any of the pics with deer on them. Deer seem more paranoid of block shapes I believe. But if melted in or broken down and soaked in over time, they worked well.

In late winter, a couple bales of green alfalfa busted up were very attractive to deer while not to coon. That got me to thinking maybe the “rabbit” feed alfalfa pellets would be good for deer too? So I tried several hundred pounds of those bags of pelleted alfalfa over the years too with cameras over them and yes that is a winner for deer while avoiding coon. I did try other “hay” bales like brome, etc and no those weren’t attractive but alfalfa was a winner.
If you have access to apples, not apple scent or flavor but whole apples, that is always a winner too. Maybe consider planting a few apple trees if you want a natural attractor on site.

If I’m running straight grains here over my cameras, this is the preferences:
Whole straight corn was best (with no additives)
Then next was Milo or Wheat
And finally soy beans.
That order above is definitely the list and order id focus on.
Incidentally, when I’m trapping coon or beaver here in farmland Nebraska, that above is my same list. Standing crops first, then picked crops next, beans are always at the bottom.

I’d say with confidence if you are looking at avoiding baiting laws with specific grain or other attractors listed in the laws, consider alfalfa if it’s not in the list,

Anyway, when I want to attract deer for my cameras I know where to spend my money and where it is literally a waste of my time and $.

Some of this I believe is because we have so much corn planted here and after harvest all animals know where the groceries are. Corn is huge for all animals. I’ve got pics of coyotes eating corn off my likes too.

Jim

Good mineral mixes will be hit rapidly as bucks begin to build antlers after shedding. Mixes with good levels of phosphorus and calcium. Course, good green alfalfa likely would be as well before greenup starts. I believe most alfalfa has relatively good calcium levels.

Red trace mineral block. $7.99-8.99 at most feed stores.
Been using them for years and the deer love them.

Where we live it seems everyone has a salt block out in there yard. We do feed the deer 365 days a year and have been using the lucky buck mineral along with The Rock. They have made a fair sized hole where we put it. One starts noticing things watching the deer all the time. The bucks hit it pretty hard till they start rubbing there horns then only once in awhile. The fawns will just sniff it until they start losing there spots then they start using it. The big does will use it pretty much all year except during the dead of winter. One thing we tried this winter was once we got that big snow storm we started putting 2 or 3 leaves of good hay by the corn feeders. That totally gets cleaned up every day.

I don't use salt I am a sucker for the Trophy Rock. I go through 3 to 4 every year in my location. Plus I usually dump a 10 lb bag of deer minerals on the area also.

I had one farm a regular mineral block didn’t work to attract deer. Put a pail of that jarrasic rock apple spice salt on a stump and deer were in it that night. I put a 20 lb bag in it about every 2 months except during the rut. They don’t touch it. Might not matter but I put out a selleneum block in August to try to help lower chances of ehd