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CatfishKev

Starting new mineral licks

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I'm about to start a few mineral licks. How do you guys choose your spots for a lick? And do you add anything to help get it noticed quicker?  I know your not allowed to bait, but adding food months before a season is even open I dont think would be considered baiting would it? What about scents?

The spots I have in mind will be bedding areas, or places where they can travel in cover from a bedding areas and retreat in relative safety.  

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food at any time of the year is baiting and most scents have been outlawed as well to “protect our herds against cwd”.    If you are in an area that doesn’t already have thousands of mineral licks and deer are in the area they will find it.   

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I have never put one on public land, but we do put some up on our private land so the kids can see what is around. We have had good success in saddles and close to trails. We dig our salt in and water it so they have to dig at it. Cows don't seem to bother it that way either.

 

 

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Agree with digging it in and mixing it with the dirt. I put the last one in a spot where rain water pools but drains easily. It can take a year or so to start being noticed or it can take a week. Just depends on what other livestock supplements are in the area if any.

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You cannot bait for big game animals in AZ...but if you are baiting for feral hogs you are good.

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36 minutes ago, AZLance said:

You cannot bait for big game animals in AZ...but if you are baiting for feral hogs you are good.

I figured I would just go and feed those dam blue jays.  

 

 

Seriously though, if ever there was a bird I would love to swipe off the face of the earth.  

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I’ve been in the mineral lick game for at least 15 years now and have learned a thing or two. In the unit I primarily hunt, i do my “scouting” when there is snow on the ground and i can really see trails good. If you don’t have that luxury, just looks for “couesy” spots. If you want to hunt over the salt licks, find a good area and spend a lot of tome looking at your setup. As long as the salt is in a reasonable distance from a well traveled area, the animals will find it. I make sure i have a good camera location 20’ or so from the salt and preferably facing north, with south being option 2. I also find a ground blind location that is either exactly 20 or exactly 30 yards from the salt to take any guess work out of a potential shot opportunity. Some times mineral licks take a year or two to really take off and they always get better over time. I use loose mineral salt. The deer seem to like it better when it is dissolved into the dirt. Cattle seem to like it less when it is fully dissolved as well. Send me a PM if you really want me to get into depth on what i have learned based on feeding vs bedding areas, wind, approach, etc. anyone can throw salt on the ground and get photos of deer but it takes a lot more than that to “make” a hunting spot. 

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32 minutes ago, GreyGhost85 said:

I’ve been in the mineral lick game for at least 15 years now and have learned a thing or two. In the unit I primarily hunt, i do my “scouting” when there is snow on the ground and i can really see trails good. If you don’t have that luxury, just looks for “couesy” spots. If you want to hunt over the salt licks, find a good area and spend a lot of tome looking at your setup. As long as the salt is in a reasonable distance from a well traveled area, the animals will find it. I make sure i have a good camera location 20’ or so from the salt and preferably facing north, with south being option 2. I also find a ground blind location that is either exactly 20 or exactly 30 yards from the salt to take any guess work out of a potential shot opportunity. Some times mineral licks take a year or two to really take off and they always get better over time. I use loose mineral salt. The deer seem to like it better when it is dissolved into the dirt. Cattle seem to like it less when it is fully dissolved as well. Send me a PM if you really want me to get into depth on what i have learned based on feeding vs bedding areas, wind, approach, etc. anyone can throw salt on the ground and get photos of deer but it takes a lot more than that to “make” a hunting spot. 

This is what im looking for. The few spots I started I also used the loose salt and dug it into a hole. The scouting with snow is a great idea. I'm curious what your camera direction reasoning is? Please explain.

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