Do any of you guys make your own salt licks for deer?

[Ranger Roberts]

My Uncle used to make his own salt licks for deer. He is no longer with us, so asking him how he did it is out of the question. Do any of you guys make your own? If you do, would you mind sharing your recipe with the rest of us? I look forward to hearing your replies! Thanks!

 

[oneounceload]

See if these might help:

http://www.diy-hunting-and-outdoors.com/salt-lick.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_4782455_salt-lick-deer.html

http://www.outdoorhub.com/how-to/how-to-make-more-effective-deer-salt-licks/

 

[Ranger Roberts]

Thanks oneounceload!

 

[buck460XVR]

Know anybody that works in a restaurant or burger joint? Those 5 gallon pails of pickles have about 2 1/2 gallons of pickle brine in 'em and most places just dump it down the sink. Already mixed and ready for a good stump.

 

[PapaG]

Wire a mineral block (Farm and Fleet or other farm stores sell them as "deer blocks) to a fence post or tree. They are brick sized. They melt, leach into the soil and deer will lick it to a depth of a foot or more in a year or so. Add another block.
Check local laws and game codes first.

 

[TNboy]

I used to just throw a 50 pound block out on the ground. They are cheap and would last a couple of years.

 

[wyohome]

Check local laws and game codes first.

Not legal in any state that I have lived in.

 

[FuzzyBunny]

Putting salt licks out for your cattle is legal though.

 

[jrdolall]

We can hunt the white salt blocks but not the brown mineral blocks.

I like to make my own. If you can find a restaurant supply place then go buy an 80 pound bag of salt. You can use the boxes from the grocery store but that will cost a lot more. If you are putting it in heavy clay soil then just pour the salt on the ground and mix it into the clay. If you have sandy soil like we have then buy one of the disposable aluminum roasting pans. Dig a hole maybe a foot deep and put the pan in the hole. Fill the hole with a mixture of the removed dirt and the salt until it is back to level. It doesn't take too long before the deer will dig deep enough to remove the aluminum pan.

Total cost is about $10. I have used all the deer Cocaine and mineral lick stuff as well but haven't seen any difference in how much the licks are attacked. Remember that deer don't really get that aggressive on salt blocks while it's cold.

 

[buck460XVR]

I learned the pickle brine trick from my Godfather back in the 60s. I worked at a restaurant thru High School and he would take every 5 gallon pail of it I would give him. Cleanin' out the barn after his death, we must have found 200 empty pails. He preferred the brine over blocks we used for the cattle, because back then, hunting over a salt lick was not legal. Deer diggin' at a stump was less suspicious than a trail to a salt block in the woods. Seemed the deer preferred licking the brine off the ground or stump as opposed to a solid block also as I rarely saw deer tracks around the cattle blocks. Wasn't till he passed, I found that the deer around here did not actively go to the lick during our deer season, but used it often during the warm months of summer. My Godfather was a 'ell of a nice guy and would give the shirt off his back, but his hunting ethics were based on need and the love of venison. I have heard those 40# bags of salt crystals used in water softeners is a cheap alternative also. Never had a desire to hunt over a salt lick or bait myself, maybe it comes from the negative opinion other folks had of how my Godfather hunted.

 

[WayBeau]

Not legal in any state that I have lived in.

In VA, it's illegal to hunt over salt, minerals, or placed food (not food plots). During the season, it's illegal to put any of those items out. So, now that the season is finished, I could legally go and put minerals, salt, feeder, or all of the above smack in the middle of the property I hunt. VDGIF sets a "closed season" for feeding deer which coincides with the season, plus a month ahead of the archery opener. They also highly discourage the feeding of wild game for a laundry list of reasons.

 

[mingo]

What works best here is to first dig a whole in the ground near a used deer trail....dump a bag of feed salt in and on top of that sprinkle a box of arm and hammer washing soda....cover with dirt...prolly 6" or so.....water it or wait till a rain storm to activate the washing soda....it will be the best one in the area and you will have more action than neighbors too.

mingo

 

[me26245]

salt

I have an old stump that I just set a white salt block on. I've had a salt block on it for 20 years.
The deer don't dig up the ground anymore, they just walk up to the stump and lick the block. Now and again some will chew at the stump a bit, but the does teach the fawns to just lick the block.
I watch them from the house on a daily basis in the spring/summer/fall.
Here a salt block is not considered baiting as most deer won't come to a block on a daily basis, only when they need salt.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Often made "dear suckers" out of melted sugar, iodine free salt, and crushed peanuts. Melted the sugar which went caramel brown and added the salt and peanuts, then poured it into small, disposable, aluminum, loaf pans over a piece of cooking twine, and set them outside to cool then popped them out. We'd tie them to really low branches of trees for the deer. They seemed to like them, BUT...,

We found that right after deer season the commercial deer blocks go on sale and they cost very little then, so we stock up in January and February for the rest of the year.

LD