Salt licks

[Azlongears]

Fine with me if they ban hunting over salt, Ill just sit the heavily used trails the deer travel on to GET to the salt.lol

[kwp]

I never have and don't plan to ever sit and hunt a salt lick. I would rather sit at a vantage point and glass where I could see the salt as well as other areas and then either spot and stalk with the bow or take the shot with the rifle. I mostly built my salt licks to possibly attract more deer to the area and I hope that those valuable trace minerals will help the deer be healthier and the bucks bigger

[Becker]

Same thing your just farther away.

[bowhuntinmaniac]

I talked to a Commissioner today, and we both read the agenda for the next meeting. There is nothing about banning bait or salt for big game, (except it is illegal to use any attractant for bear)..

Also, he said he has never heard anything about this coming before the Commission.

[bowhunter4life]

dont tell anyone...keep those sites to a minimum

[TREESTANDMAN]

It happened. Using salt is illegal now. Sorry fellows. The only areas that permit the use of attractant are the indian reservations now. The toho odam reservation only allows Bashas water softener salt, a minimum of 1 bag every 6mo within a 2 square mile radius.

[CouesWhitetail]

Treestandman,

 

Are you serious? Which commission meeting did that happen at? Where are you getting your info?

 

Amanda

[TREESTANDMAN]

I am just joking around. It is completely legal and probably will be for quite a while still.

On a more serious note I did hear from a friend who's friend said a G&F officer told him the G&F dept was contemplating the banishment of the use of bait for all game animals. I'm guessing there is no truth to this.

[25-06]

It happened.  Using salt is illegal now.  Sorry fellows.  The only areas that permit the use of attractant are the indian reservations now.  The toho odam reservation only allows Bashas water softener salt, a minimum of 1 bag every 6mo within a 2 square mile radius.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Now thats a good one

[BASS]

I am just joking around.  It is completely legal and probably will be for quite a while still. 

On a more serious note I did hear from a friend who's friend said a G&F officer told him the G&F dept was contemplating the banishment of the use of bait for all game animals.  I'm guessing there is no truth to this.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Jerk! I just got back with a couple small blocks that I just bought! I thought I would swing into this thread and see what was up. I just about fainted when I read that!

[bowhunter4life]

keep it going. they have never let salt to be used for deer except when trapping was legal in the 80's

[Rembrant]

All good points, yet muleys will lick the blocks and carve tongue grooves into them.

It's the whitetails that don't like the blocks, they eat the dirt below them.

Some guy at a feed store once told me that the mineral blocks are better in drought years and the white blocks are better in wet years. I have found this to be true. In a good percipitation year like this year, you can have a white block right next to a brown block and the deer (and elk) will prefer the white one. The opposite is true in a drought year. Bummer 'cause I don't like using the white ones - they stick out too much.

Good point about "permenant" licks. If you start noticing too many licks in an area, I would think that you need to go find another area.

I think the bag salt is best for whitetails. If you have the backbone, haul water and salt, dig a hole and mix water, dirt, and salt, then presto! You don't have to wait for rain to prime your lick.

Don't ever get in a hurry to through salt. Hike, search, study, and then research. Do this smartly, instead of the shotgun approach, and you can establish a great deer spot.

Another thought: Don't do this where the deer that will use your salt will get picked off by rifle hunters. Instead, do this where there is so much cover that the rifle/glassers wont even be looking for your deer. Wouldn't this be the place where the bucks are not getting harvested? Kinda exciting, ain't it?

Mike

[billrquimby]

How long does it take deer to find your salt?

 

I put a commercial deer block (molasses and corn and other good stuff) along with a brown milneral salt block about 30 feet from our bedroom window in Greer last month.

 

Neither has been touched although we have seen deer in our driveway and within 40-50 yards of our so-called attractants.

 

We've also had elk in the yard almost every night for the past couple weeks .... and all have rejected our offerings, too.

 

Am I doing something wrong? We don't do around the side of the house where we put out blocks, so scent shouldn't be an issue. Our cabin is back in a canyon with very little traffic, and the Apache National Forest is on two sides of us.

 

Bill Q

[coues7]

I don't know that your doing anything wrong....maybe it's to close to the house. Typically it will take a few weeks for the deer/elk to find the salt. Rain helps. I think they can smell it. Like it was mentioned white works better in wet years.

 

Up near Greer/Alpine your gonna have elk up the you know what. The deer in your area will find it after a while....if it's away from the house. Elk are kinda dingy. Deer aren't so much.

 

Good Luck

[billrquimby]

I don't know that your doing anything wrong....maybe it's to close to the house. ...  The deer in your area will find it after a while....if it's away from the house. Elk are kinda dingy.  Deer aren't so much. Good Luck

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Coues7:

 

Thanks for the response. We haven't had a major rain since I put the blocks out, so that may be the problem.

 

You're right about elk being dingy. We had a spike bull peek inside our kitchen window when my wife was washing dishes one evening a couple of years back. We've never seen elk in full daylight in our yard, though, except for an injured 6x6 bull a game warden had to shoot last month.

 

We do see mule deer at all times of day, and even have had them wander up to our back porch while we were barbecuing. I doubt if the problem is having the bait too close to the house, though. I have a photo of seven mule deer does and fawns standing exactly where I placed the blocks.

 

Oh well. I'm hoping they find it before bad weather forces us off the mountain this winter.

 

The blue jays and Abert squirrels are enjoying my offerings now.

 

Bill Q