I was out last weekend pestering the turkeys and I came upon a herd of 5 deer camped out under one of my stands, worrying my salt lick. It reminded me that now– I MEAN NOW!!! — is the time to start making or rejuvenating salt licks. There was enough salt in mine, leftover from last year, to hold their interest. However, you need to have your licks established early. By Summer, they’re not going to be nearly as useful.

Contrary to popular belief, new salt licks are well-near useless during hunting season. You cannot just put out salt the week before The Opener, and expect deer to come flocking. Licks are useful only because the tend to habituate deer to coming around the area of the lick. Deer are creatures of habit. They like to travel the same paths. You can mold those paths to run past your stand with a lick Deer have lost interest around mine by September. The hot time is May through mid-July. However, I see deer wandering by, not using the lick all year long. They start using them in March. So now would be a good time to get one started, or refreshed.

Here is a link to a good article by a wildlife biologist I know.

http://fw.ky.gov/mineral.asp

One other tip: Don’t expect a lick to work just anywhere. It helps to establish one close to where deer frequent. Find the beds, find the food, draw a line between the two and find the easiest way along that path. Situate your lick where it can help bend that path a little to bring them close to a treestand or blind. However, don’t expect it to work miracles. A lick will not manufacture deer out of thin air or take them to a place they would never go.

You also have to think about your neighbors’ licks and the number of licks in your area. You want your lick to work like a magnet. Too many licks in an area will dilute the effect.

I have 200 acres. I have 3 lick locations that work, and I have tried probably 10 more over the years that were hardly ever visited.

This post has already been read 473 times!

Views: 3

Related posts:

Deer Hunters: Time to Start Thinking Salt Mineral Licks Mineral Licks– now’s the time!!! Mineral Licks– It’s almost too late Passing Thoughts on Mineral Licks Mineral Licks — it’s almost too late Mineral Lick Update Salting the Deer