Post-season Deer Management

The thing about hunting (that honestly astounded me when I first discovered it) is that there is A LOT of work that goes into managing your herd and the land. For most hunters it's not just heading out on a Saturday morning, shooting your deer, and calling it a season. The preparation for where to hang your stand can be pretty intense. Throughout PA and MD, the deer season ends within the next few weeks. The deer will drop their antlers and spend the next few months trying to find proper food and nutrients. Here is where you, the hunter comes in. You can provide food and minerals to your deer via a feeder and mineral lick. That is good for the deer, but also good for you, the hunter, because, with these very generous gestures, you can also gain knowledge about your heard and even train them to change their patterns so that you have a better place to set up in the fall when the hunting season begins. In this article, we are going to talk specifically about Mineral Licks and Feeders. I will not be talking about salt licks, because those are discouraged now due to the presence of Chronic Wasting Disease.

Mineral Licks Mineral licks help grow a healthy deer population by providing minerals and vitamins needed by all of the deer on your property - from those who will be growing antlers to those that will be pregnant and giving birth to fawns. Honestly, though, the primary advantage of a mineral lick to a hunter is to be able to place a trail camera and see your herd. If you search up studies on the advantage of mineral licks to grow bigger deer or bigger antlers, you won't find any. There have been studies, but none showed any significant correlation between providing mineral licks and increased size of your deer or their antlers. However, there have been some articles that have discussed the quality of the meat on deer who were provided supplemental feeding. In the end, if done properly, it doesn't hurt to provide a mineral lick to your deer, it's not overly costly, it might help them, and it will certainly help you see what deer you have on your property, so why not? A mineral lick is just a bunch of minerals and salt that you mix in with a dirt pile. There are some great premixes out there and making your own is easy as well. You will find some articles that swear the only way to go is via a premix, even going so far as to imply that you might kill your deer if you do it yourself. You'll also find articles that swear by making your own and they state that their mix is better than most bought mixes. In the end, the key is to make sure you provide something that is worthwhile to the deer and certainly not harmful. I will discuss exactly what you need to mix your own and what you should look for in a premade mix below.

The ideal time to build a lick is late winter or early spring because the highest usage of a mineral lick is late winter through the end of summer. You want to look for a location that is near an existing deer trail. Remember, for mineral licks, we are not trying to change their patterns, just observe. A location near a food plot, on the edge of a field, or near water are all good locations, just make sure you are not providing a new hunting ground for predators of deer. You can plan on 1 mineral lick per 100 acres on your property. The ideal spot is off the current deer trail a bit, to a flat area that is about 6-8 feet in diameter. In addition, make sure you have a direct line of sight from a tree about 10-12 feet away to the spot in order to pace your trail cameras. Clear off all of the leaves and debris from the area until you get down to the bare earth. The deer are going to be digging into the soil so make it easy for them. Lay down a layer of mineral (about 10-15lbs) and mix it in with the dirt with either a rake or your boot. When creating your lick, be cautious of having the minerals spread out so the deer do not have to come in close and touch noses (when is how they spread CWD).

You should plan to refresh your licks about every 2-4 weeks. If you have cameras with SD cards, that's a good time to replace your cards as well and see what kind of deer are stopping by your licks.

Disclaimer. In PA, baiting is not allowed during hunting season and a mineral lick cannot be refreshed within 30 days of the hunting season. In Maryland, deer baiting is legal except in state-owned lands, CDW lands, and in Liberty, Loch Raven, and Pretty Boy reservoirs. Please do not take this as 100%, as laws change. Review the laws in your hunting areas for when and how you can bait. In my research, I've read a great deal on both sides of the fence on why you should purchase a premade mineral blend for your lick and why you should create your own. I've read that the premade mixes are safer and contain a better combination, but I've also read that mixing your own is perfectly safe and can contain a better combination of minerals. Making your own is definitely much cheaper. Personally, if the decision is between do nothing and make your own, I think to make your own is perfectly safe, assuming you pay close attention to your ingredients. If you are on the border between purchasing a mix and making your own, you'll have to consider quality, cost, and time in your equation. If you are not interested or willing to look for trace minerals that have the appropriate minerals, then I suggest purchasing a premix.

I also have to add into this part some information about a little discussion my husband and I had at lunch the other day on this topic. He was explaining to me that you were required to cover up your mineral lick with a piece of plywood or some other method to no longer allow the deer access to that lick. I disagreed and said that you were not required to do any such thing. By the letter of the law, you just could not replenish the lick within 30 days of the start of the hunting season. While I am right, his point is valid and worth bringing up here. If a Game Warden comes on your property and sees, what he thinks is an active mineral lick, then it'll be a lot of back and forth and possibly a fine for something that may be a completely legal situation. Remember also, that Game Wardens can come on private property without cause because their job is to protect the rights of the animal and animals are public property. Depending on where you are and what type of relationship you have with the local Game Wardens, it might be better to go the extra step and cover up a mineral lick. How to make your own mineral lick mix I'm going to guess that pretty much every site you look at has a different recipe for creating a mineral lick. I looked at many, and every mix was slightly different. Everyone was the best one too, by the way! Creating your own mix is pretty simple, especially once you find the trace mineral mix that fits your needs. The basic mix is minerals, salt, and some sort of aromatic to help the deer find your lick. Most hunters suggest that the aromatic is something already found in the area that deer like. In PA, that could be corn or apples, even. For the minerals, purchasing a bag of trace minerals and a bag of dicalcium phosphate should be sufficient. Your mix should be 30% or less salt, and approximately 12% each of phosphate and calcium, Other very important minerals are copper, zinc, and selenium. Bonus minerals that I would recommend your mineral mix have are magnesium, sulfur, iron, cobalt, and iodine. The best place to shop for the items to make your own mineral lick is Tractor Supply Company. They have everything you need - just order it online and pick it up at the store closest to you.

Purchasing a mineral lick mix Not all mixes are created equal. Just like when you make your own, you'll want to look for the right concentration of ingredients when you purchase a premade mix. Mixtures like this from Kinsey's Outdoors are a good option. There are also a huge variety of options from Wildlife Game Innovations.

Feeders Feeders are the ultimate bating tool. With a feeder, you can make sure the deer are going to travel where you want them to go. Are you scouting your property and realize the deer trails are not the best for where you need to hang a stand? This is the time to start altering their plans to set you up perfectly for your next hunting season. Did you know that you could actually kill off your deer by providing incorrect supplemental feeding? In most areas of the country, corn can cause a major issue. If your deer are not already accustomed to eating corn as their primary diet, then you'll have to make sure to introduce corn slowly or use a supplement that is more of what they are used to eating. Ideally, your feed should contain 10-20% protein, 8% fat, and 7% fiber. This is an ideal mix to promote the healthy growth of your herd, assuming you are providing this feed along with a mineral lick. You should introduce your new feed slowly, 10lbs for a few days, and then replenish for 1-3 weeks before increasing the quantity. This is especially important if you are switching up their diet to something new (i.e. corn). Disclaimer (again). In PA, baiting is not allowed during hunting season and you cannot feed within 30 days of the hunting season. In Maryland, deer baiting is legal except in state-owned lands, CDW lands, and in Liberty, Loch Raven, and Pretty Boy reservoirs. Please do not take this as 100%, as laws change. Always review the laws in your hunting areas for when and how you can bait.

So, to continue on the discussion I had with my husband at lunch about covering up a mineral lick, it actually started regarding feeders. We were discussing that, even though it's nice to feed the deer, the main reason you put out a feeder is to train a deer to go where you want them to go, and that the best time to throw the food is during the day if you have nocturnal moving deer. I said, so all you really need to do to bring in deer then, is to turn on your feeder without food in it. You've pretty much created a pavlovian deer. He said no because you were required to remove the feeder. Again, I was right because you are not required to remove the feeder, and you could totally turn it on to bring the deer running, but, again, if a Game Warden comes on the property and sees your feeder, especially if he sees the feeder running, you might have some explaining to do and a fine for baiting deer during the season. It might be better to just remove the feeder as well. So now, let's talk about feeders. If you are going to feed your deer, it is important to do it correctly, especially where we live because there is a concern for Chronic Waste Disease. By just dumping a pile of corn on the ground, you could inadvertently help spread CWD. You'll want something that spreads the food out, so deer aren't nose-to-nose eating. You could build something, but, honestly, for the money you'd put into what you would build, you might as well just buy one. Your feeder should be waterproof, have a locking lid, be durable, have a dispenser, and I HIGHLY recommend a timer of some sort. Casey recommended Wildlife Game Innovation products. They seem to have pretty good reviews and hit all of the requirements I have read are necessary and have written about above. The three basic types of feeders are the gravity-fed feeder, the tree hanging timer feeder, and the stand-alone timer feeder. I will not say much about the gravity fed feeder because I ABSOLUTELY do NOT recommend these for PA and MD. With the possibility of CWD, there is no reason you should ever have a pile of feed and risk spreading such a disease. In other areas, this would be a great simple, inexpensive alternative, but for our area, no way. Tree hanging Timer feeders. Models like the Quick Set 50, at about $60 is a relatively inexpensive and simple way to spread feed. Setup is simple - hang it from a sturdy limb. The advantage of a hanging feeder is that you can keep bear from destroying your feeder. Apparently, that can be a problem in PA. You can hang this system as high as you like. This particular model holds corn or pellets. You can feed up to twice a day and set the dispensing time from 1-20 seconds. It weighs 8lbs, holds up to 50lbs of food, and can spread the food up to 30 feet. The advantages of a feeder like this are it's price and simplicity. It does the job you need, but there are no bells and whistles. The downside are that it only holds 50lbs of feed, so you will need to refill more often.

Finally, the stand-alone timer feeders. Gamelife Innovations has 3 different versions of this that range in price from $89 to $139. The differences in price relate to the features. At the low end, the system can hold 225lbs of feed, schedule for 4 feeds a day and throw 30 feet. At the high end, the system can hold 270lbs of feed, scheduled for 6 times a day, and throw 50 feet. These are basically a large barrel on top of a tripod. There is a control panel where you can choose your settings. You can use pellets or corn with any of these models.

In our area, the deer are very much used to eating corn, and feed corn contains about 8% protein and 9% fiber, so to supplement your corn with something that contains fat and a little protein would be perfect. Managing your deer heard is an important part of hunting, especially if you have private land where you plan to hunt year after year. Not only is this a smart thing to do as a hunter, but it's a great way to practice conservation so we can continue to hunt for many decades to come.