Anyone Use Lucky Buck Mineral?

[Olympus]

I've been trying to do some research and it seems hard to find "honest" opinions on a lot of the dedicated hunting forums. You never really know people's real motivations and I know there are a lot of sponsored hunters, sponsored outfitters, and industry people that post on those forums that push one product over another and have a hidden agenda. I was just trying to get some feedback from THR members who I'm pretty sure would be honest. Has anyone tried Lucky Buck? If so, what were the results?

 

[Patocazador]

We did a lot of research on what mineral would be best for aiding antler growth on our lease. After looking at the prices and ingredients of the available "deer" minerals, we put out special cow mineral, available at the local farm store for $17/50 lbs. It actually had more magnesium and calcium than several of the high dollar "deer" minerals.

 

[Ohen Cepel]

What is your desired goal with the supplement? Antlers, bulk, health improvement, etc. ?

I have found most things aimed at the hunting crowd to be relabeled, hyped things which (like Patocazador above points out) are cheaper in a more mainstream product.

I have found std lifestock mineral licks do what I hope to achieve.

 

[SoonerMedic]

What is your desired goal with the supplement? Antlers, bulk, health improvement, etc. ?

I have found most things aimed at the hunting crowd to be relabeled, hyped things which (like Patocazador above points out) are cheaper in a more mainstream product.

I have found std lifestock mineral licks do what I hope to achieve.

What is it that you try to achieve? I'm curious about this as well. I need to place new minerals out in the next couple days as well as spread more corn.

 

[Olympus]

Just trying to supplement their normal diet. I'd like to see some larger antlers. My property is located in a county that is hilly and rocky. There's not a lot of soil that's good enough to grow food plots, so the deer are primarily eating mast from the forest for their whole diet. I've got a lot of deer, but they never seem to get very big, just kind of "scraggly" or what some people call "scrub bucks". I've been supplementing with corn and protein pellets in three different feeders and they seem to love that, but from what I've read, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus are the major minerals found in antlers, so it makes sense to me that if a deer isn't getting enough of these minerals in their diet, they likely aren't growing antlers to their full potential. Or at least bigger than what they are currently growing.

I'm not looking for a "magic bullet" or anything of the sort. I'm just looking for the best bang for your buck in terms of supplements that I can start providing. I can't really do anything about food plots and I'm already feeding corn and protein pellets through three different feeders, two gravity-fed free feeders and one timer feeder.

 

[Ohen Cepel]

Sounds like you're doing about all you may be able to do. I would suggest game cameras on the feeders so you can see if the deer are getting all the feed or if other critters are.
Check the nutrients on a std salt/mineral block compared to the deer specific stuff, that may help your decision. For me, the cost didn't make the deer stuff worth it.

If you can get radishes and turnips to grow the deer like those and they may work in your soil. $1 worth of seed is at least worth a try, plus, I have had some places where they keep coming back from seeding themselves so it's paid off well (plus I can eat them if I like). They may also help your soil some. Little to lose if they don't take.

Water on your place? Rain barrel for the seeds/deer may also help.

Your state/county extension agency may also be able to give you some ideas. Some states will even kick in part of the feed lot costs if you go that way. They will know your area better than we do and may just have some solutions which are known to work there. Again, worth an email at least.

Good luck! I know I tried a lot before I settled on just a few things and none of them are marketed as "deer" stuff after I spent a lot of $$$$ trying them. Mine all come from Southern States now and work for me here.

 

[ridgerunner1965]

your place sounds a lot like mine. I have a food plot or two with turnips.they don't really hit them until later in the year after antler growth is done.

what I started doing maybe 10 or 15 years ago is harvesting more selectively. shot all the does that was legal to do. that brings about a better doe to buck ratio.that means more bucks chasing does more competitively.which means more action during daylight hrs.

ok second thing was any scraggy bucks with obvious bad genetics were shot as quick as possible. as many as were legal.. spikes, forkhorns whatever. a yearling buck with a perfect 6pt rack walked. a 2 yr old buck with small but perfect 8pt rack walked.a 3yr old deer with nice but obviousl good genetics walked free.

don't get me wrong I'm not just a trophy hunter I lived on deer meat at this time. it was my main source of protein..i like to see lots of deer and I do, but wanted some bigger deer also.

this experiment was done on about 500 acres. there were about 3 guys hunting this land and we adhered to these rules.

about 6 or 7 years in we started seeing much bigger bucks. I shot nice 10 pt about 140" about 6 years in,my son shot a huge 9 pt,wide and tall about 145" and then 2 years ago I shot a giant 11 pnt about 150 to 160".. all huge deer for my area. the 11 pnt prob weighed 250lbs on the hoof..unheard of for my area.

this managment along with more row crops in my area now has bigger and better bucks walking around.



its very hard to manage such a small property since outsiders on the edges just shoot whatever they see but it can help.. shoot does and scraggy bucks for a few years and see what happens.

I never put out mineral becuz it was very obvious the deer were eating ther fill from the cow feeders.. but it obviously cant hurt. I would not pay big bucks for deer specific mineral,just go with the cow stuff.

 

[SoonerMedic]

I think the route I'm going to take is with a feeder. Something I haven't been too excited about, but I think it will help get the growth I'm looking for. I'll probably do a 1:1 of corn and 20% protein pellet with calcium, phosphorus, and trace minerals as well as providing a small salt lick. Hopefully that'll give them a bit of everything and I'll let them graze and pick what they want to munch on.

 

[alsaqr]

Know some folks who raise fallow deer by the hundreds. They use cattle feed and cattle supplements with the trace minerals. Stuff puts big antlers on the fallow deer bucks really fast.

As a rule salt licks and mineral licks don't work well in cattle country.

 

[buck460XVR]

Just trying to supplement their normal diet. I'd like to see some larger antlers. My property is located in a county that is hilly and rocky. There's not a lot of soil that's good enough to grow food plots, so the deer are primarily eating mast from the forest for their whole diet. I've got a lot of deer, but they never seem to get very big, just kind of "scraggly" or what some people call "scrub bucks".

Mineral needs are really dependent on how much mineral is naturally occuring in the soil. In hilly areas where limestone is prevalent in the soil and water, you will see very little if any gain in antler growth from supplementing mineral. In areas of swampland and high acidic soils where minerals like calcium are leached quickly, you may see more gains. Antler growth in whitetail deer, for the main part, is highly dependent on age and overall nutrition. Scrub bucks are generally young deer under two and a half years of age. Add a minimal diet and their antlers will suffer even more. Deer from Ag areas average bigger horn than those from big woods swamp because of higher protein foods available year round. In non Ag areas of big woods, antler growth the year following a above average acorn crop generally increases, while following a poor mast crop year, and deer come out of winter in poor shape, you will find more "pencil Horns". Many times in areas of high access and medium to heavy hunting pressure the majority of bucks will be under three years of age....thus most of the bucks you see will be "scrubs". Want the deer in your area to grow big horn, let them get 4-6 years old and make sure they have a good nutrition.

 

[sage5907]

I think the biggest problem with feeding deer is that most hunters want to feed them in the weeks leading up to hunting season to get them to stay in the hunting area. What I want is healthy deer that stay in the area all year long so I do supplemental feeding all year long. I have 6 gravity feeders going now and once a month I put 100 pounds of corn in each feeder. I want my corn to be fresh and not the junk that is sold at chain stores so I buy it at a true farm supply that cleans and sacks their own corn. In the spring I also place 50 pounds of Purina AntlerMax in each feeder once a month up through August. I have tried AntlerExtreme and the smell makes you want to eat it yourself because it has a lot of molasses in the mix but the dang stuff has long pellets and doesn't want to flow through the feeders. If I feel generous I also buy mineral block that have a good salt content. I want to see large slick happy deer and supplemental feeding all year solves the problem. It makes me happy to see large clumps of deer manure around the feeders. When I first installed the feeders some of the deer were coming from the surrounding properties. Now they stay on my place all year long and only leave to go to the neighboring wheat, alfalfa and milo fields in the area. They know where home is and most of the visits to the neighbors are at night. The big bucks are back over the fence before daylight. I would have a hard time dumping that Lucky Buck mineral out on the ground, I would at least put it in a farm container so I could tell if the deer were eating it.

 

[Olympus]

I think the biggest problem with feeding deer is that most hunters want to feed them in the weeks leading up to hunting season to get them to stay in the hunting area. What I want is healthy deer that stay in the area all year long so I do supplemental feeding all year long. I have 6 gravity feeders going now and once a month I put 100 pounds of corn in each feeder. I want my corn to be fresh and not the junk that is sold at chain stores so I buy it at a true farm supply that cleans and sacks their own corn. In the spring I also place 50 pounds of Purina AntlerMax in each feeder once a month up through August. I have tried AntlerExtreme and the smell makes you want to eat it yourself because it has a lot of molasses in the mix but the dang stuff has long pellets and doesn't want to flow through the feeders. If I feel generous I also buy mineral block that have a good salt content. I want to see large slick happy deer and supplemental feeding all year solves the problem. It makes me happy to see large clumps of deer manure around the feeders. When I first installed the feeders some of the deer were coming from the surrounding properties. Now they stay on my place all year long and only leave to go to the neighboring wheat, alfalfa and milo fields in the area. They know where home is and most of the visits to the neighbors are at night. The big bucks are back over the fence before daylight. I would have a hard time dumping that Lucky Buck mineral out on the ground, I would at least put it in a farm container so I could tell if the deer were eating it.

I'm feeding year round. My timed feeder will hold 150 lbs and I'm throwing 3lbs/day from that feeder. My other two gravity feeders will hold 40lbs each and those get refilled every 2 weeks and they are always bone dry by then. I started out feeding just corn (which I also get from the local MFA and not a chain store), but now I'm doing a 50/50 mix of corn and a 18% protein pellet.

 

[sage5907]

Olympus, I thing you're doing something good and you should start seeing some results. Another thing I try to do is to use camera's to see which feeder the bigger bucks like and then I go heavy with the AntlerMax in those feeders. I had two really big bucks last year that made it ok through the deer season and I'm hoping to see them again this year. Look at the size of the neck on this buck. He's standing several feet on the other side of the feeder which makes the feeder look larger than it is. He's way over 200 pounds and I'm waiting to see what the AntlerMax does to him. This picture was taken in November 2016, the date on the camera was wrong. The coons keep climbing the corner post and messing with the camera.