Salt Licks

[coueschaser]

Last Archery season in September I sat a water hole, where the year before it was phenominal for deer. Then i put 2 salt licks around it and after that, it seemed to be covored with bear tracks and the deer dissapeared. And I could tell the bear was using the salt licks. From then on I rarley saw any coues but kept on seeing this bear. Can puting a salt lick down actually hurt you when it comes to attracting whitetail?

[CouesWhitetail]

I really doubt putting out salt can hurt when it comes to attracting deer. It may be that the deer don't need that water source as much as they did the year you first sat it, so they are just not in the area as much. It's hard to say exactly what is going on without knowing more about the area.

 

Anyone else have any experience like that with salt?

 

Also, anyone have any advice on what kind of mineral blocks are most liked by Coues deer? I have heard from some people that they put out mineral blocks and they don't get used. But that is the exception.

 

Amanda

[Guest Mike]

Obviously the bear scent spooked those deer enough to not show up again. I know that many have mentioned that salt stand need to be established for a length of time b4 producing good results. I have seen the opposite. The salt stands seem to be hit the hardest about 2 weeks after intiatiating them. I always use the pellets which work very well. I have noticed that after many months, the salt is not frequented quite as much as the first few weeks after.

[Guest Guest]

The best way I have found to use salt is to take five pound blocks, dig a hole a foot or two deep, put them in and crush them. then burry them loosly and place a few small rocks in it, so other animals have a harder time getting to it IE: cattle. then break a little off of the other one and crush it to powder and put it on top. then burry the other one the same way a couple of feet away. Give it a couple of weeks and they will start hitting it hard.

 

The reason I crush it, I saw a cow elk dig up a salt block and carry it away. It was a full 5lb block!

 

 

If it rains they might find it faster, also it will soak into the ground. Ive seen deer hit salt that was just in the dirt, they dig on it and lick up the loose dirt.

 

you can also get deer to come to the salt by sitting in trees, or blind by salt, then find a good hard stick and rake the ground for a few seconds then sit and listen. If you dont hear or see anything for a few minutes try again. This makes the deer think there is another deer at the salt and it thinks it is safe to go.

I turned 3 deer around doing this in august, they saw me, bolted, so I scraped and they came walking back. I never lost sight of them, they just turned around. Then I watched them for about 10 minutes untill some cattle pushed them off the salt.

[catclaw]

I have had elk hit salt pretty regular. Deer seem to be less cooperative in my experience. The last time I tried, I pack 4 50# bags of salt pellets into a place in the blue- about 11 miles in. I made a hole on two likely places and poured the salt in. I did this first week of October. The deer or anything else never bothered with it at least through the end of the November hunt.

 

I came back the next year and couldn't find any trace of the salt- I don't know if it soaked in or got eaten after stuff finally found it. In any case, I think it would be more of an advantage to position something for a shot from a blind when they were passing through a good area rather than attracting them in per se.

 

By and large, I only hunt coues deer where the last thing I want to do is pack anything heavy in!

 

What about deer cocaine? anyone tried it?

[TREESTANDMAN]

The deer preffer the cocaine over the salt pellets I have noted. They don't go crazy over it like the container says.