Unfortunately putting down minerals is illegal in 90% of Wisconsin. Back in the day, we put out deer co- caine, theyd hit it hard on old stumps and water holes.

I planted 16 trees in our clear cuts yesterday they were 3 year old seedlings! A few white oaks and some white pine and cedars about every 50 yards

I’ve used minerals for several years now. I did see results over the years. First few years things gradually changed then things kind of took off. I did read an article on “genetic predisposition”. That after several repeated years of using minerals the fawns begin to be born able to use and take better advantage of available minerals. Not sure how real that it but it makes sense to a degree. Like you I don’t know if that makes antlers bigger over the years but I certainly had much larger bucks on the same farm after a few years.

Here in NJ we can legally use minerals to attract deer. I place cameras on my mineral sites to help keep an inventory of bucks on my small parcel. Great video!

I used salt and dical mixed 50-50 for years. Got lots of great pictures but I noticed that a lot of the bucks hitting the mineral moved off as fall arrived. Not sure if it added anything to the antler growth or not but if it did, I was only helping someone hunting a mile away. I do know from my ag nutrition background that minerals can help deer the same as they do livestock. There are years when food source is better than others and they should help out more in the lean years. Late fall food sources that stretch into the winter as far as possible are the key.

Turkey hunted at farm last weekend, seen lots of hens throughout the day. Seen couple Tom's from a distance,but I did see 3 pheasant, 2 quail, wood ducks and lots of deer. No sheds or mushrooms. Oh, and a coyote tried to steal my Jake decoy. It happened too fast for me to get my bow on him. Also I could see a massive lack of green where I sprayed simazine a month or so ago. Great time outdoors even if we came home empty handed! Thanks for doing what you do WHS!

Thank you ! I'll prob put light grain in with the clover ☘👍🏻

I’ve tried a lot of different blocks and the critters are for the most part just not very interested though they eventually get eaten. But I tell you what the Big & J block has an amazing attraction power. I’ve seen on trail cam pics bucks and does hang around for hours Truly a wild difference. And then consumed in a week or too. Oh and the pigs take their share too

about 75%of the same bucks I get in spring and summer I get year round , great video ! We also bought like 300$ worth of seed from u other day ! Can’t wait for it to come in

Took you along time to say it wasn't legal in our county, Jeff, you had me thinking that maybe the laws changed!!😂😂 Did you see the dead head giant found north of lake city, Mn. WOW

The deer and elk are always licking the mineral blocks and salt blocks I put out for my cows and goats. More so all winter long.

I agree that it doesn't do much for antler growth but it can contribute to their overall health. They wouldn't go out of their way to get in those few licks if it didn't. They live off of instinct and as a food plotter you know they will seek out the healthiest plants.

I really miss being able to put mineral out camera photos were so much easier in the summer

Used to use minerals, sometimes the dirt beneath would be eaten, turned into a big pothole.

I do enjoy your videos, I’ve been putting in deer plots and have learned a lot from your videos. Even tho I do not hunt (yet) I enjoy seeing all the deer and other critters on the cameras. Used to be able to count over a 100 turkeys at one time, now I’m lucky to get a count around 20. I’m also in S.E.Mn. Thank for sharing your knowledge.

I'm also planting late may clover... if the plot is in a low damp area, are oats still needed ?

love every one of your videos! thanks team WHS! -after spraying symizine pre emmergent 3 weeks or so ago, how long should I safely wait before digging into the contaminated/sprayed soil & transplanting a few immature pine trees? would like to do it before my round up spraying if possible. thanks for your time

I can't say I've seen a study either way. The way I understand a deer pulls the minerals essential for antler growth from its bones and that is replaced through diet. But I've also read about epigenetics. The way I understand, even the best antler genetics can be dialed back so to speak depending on the nutrition a doe finds during her pregnancy with a buck. Low nutrition is equal to adjusted genetics to make sure antler growth or huge body size doesn't mean a deer will be negatively affected healthwise. But I think it's mostly poor genetics leading to poor antler growth. PA grows 400 inch elk in areas where truly large bucks are rare. The nutrition has to be there if we are seeing 400" elk. Must be genetics.

I’m definitely going to be cutting some vines to make mock scrapes it all clicked for me when I heard you mention vines in your videos because the most active scrape I ever saw years ago was in Pennsylvania and it was under a vine naturally drooping down and for whatever reason never occurred to me to re-create it. On 100 acres how many would you put up? I was thinking 2. Thanks, and love all your content!

Thanks Jeff, never messed with it just another expense

Hi Jeff, my question would be are there any scientific studies or research that shows minerals do NOT help with antler growth or general health of the herd? Just from personal experience we have a large herd of goats that were plagued with parasite infestations even deworming regularly and rotating pastures. What we found was they were lacking minerals. Mineral supplementation was the “key” or at least played a key role to solving the problem

I understand that the minerals do not have a large impact on antler growth. My question is that does it help with the general health of the deer. Some of the mineral companies claim that their ingredients help with lyme disease or the females to produce more milk for fawns. They have also claimed that the minerals help deer to break down foliage that is harder to digest. Is there any scientific studies that prove or disprove these acquisitions?

the land and by extenchen all land around my hunting area is as devoid of minerals as can be and still have life. soil has almost no calcium or phos. and only time they get nutrition is fall realy and by then not much good. yes helps herd health but i think adding a mineral site may just help. it does seam that the deer that eat at the food plots are healthier as them areas have added minerals to soil for the plants like red clover and w rye.

also, the deer eat all the weeds down all winter long when the cows don't let them near the bales. I leave the weeds for winter feed to keep them alive. Hash winter sask

Thanks great info👍🏻

Ive used trophy rock mineral licks in the past for years and had mostly bucks on one of them and mostly does on the another. Deer were hiting them daily...Good way to get tabs on deer in the area. Question on wether it can spread diseases when you got multiple Deer depositing there saliva all over it...I think so...I think that is the reason why the DNR bans it...

Have you ever added anything like RacH2O to your water tanks over the years?

Thank you for all your videos. Would a mineral site waterhòle combo Be a really hotspot or is it not a good idea

Deer need minerals just as we humans do. I always give a the mineral block a few licks before i put it out. 😛

I had almost no activity on my rye this spring. Is it possibly because, it went from snow cover to spring green up in a week?

Is there any way to put out something the deer will eat that can treat deer tick infestation. It’s unbelievably prevalent and heavy in our area of Oklahoma. I’ve searched the internet for anything with no success

😎

Is there any minerals in glyphosate or 2-4D? Haha

First

Grrr

First lol

I’m from up in NB Canada and use a mix of stockman trace mineral start and deer cocaine and the moose and deer love it

There is not alot of info out there, but I did find this I thought I’d share: wildlife.tamu.edu/files/2010/05/Nutrition-Effects-on-Fawn-Doe-Buck-Deer.pdf