salt blocks

bait pile willie · Post by **bait pile willie** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 9:14 pm

time to get them out .deer need them now after a tough winter esp. pregnant does

mikej · Post by **mikej** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 9:15 pm

the snow is still to deep to get mine out

one shot scott · Post by **one shot scott** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 9:22 pm

how far up north are you mikej? snow has been gone here for a while now. I even took the canoe out today

Ive never had much luck with salt. It seems the coyotes and the raccoons like them though! But I have never put them out in the spring before. I was unaware that it benifited them but I will toss a couple out now that I know it helps.

mikej · Post by **mikej** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 9:29 pm

i wish the snow was gone and i could get the boat out

. i am 3 hours north of toronto. there is still 1-2 feet here and the lakes are completely frozen

XbowMisiu · Post by **XbowMisiu** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 10:03 pm

Tomorrow I and my daughter and her friend are going out to look for sheds and to put salt block out.

xbowkidd · Post by **xbowkidd** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:05 pm

i have had really great luck with water softener salt. i went though a ton of it last late summer/early fall.

Grizzly Adam · Post by **Grizzly Adam** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:12 pm

I've got two blocks I need to put out right now.

one shot scott · Post by **one shot scott** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:53 pm

xbowkidd wrote:i have had really great luck with water softener salt. i went though a ton of it last late summer/early fall.

Now this is something I have truckloads of. How did you put it out there xbowkidd? I can just picture the way it would look with a deer sucking on a peice of salt like a kid sucking on a candy.

BigBwanaD · Post by **BigBwanaD** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:59 pm

It's illegal to bait here in Michigan as well now but up until last year, I would carry a coffee can of softner salt with me and put it out on the trails for stopping points for bow hunting. Those deer would either smell it or see the stark white and would walk right over and pick up a nugget. Then stand there and chew it like rock candy. They loved it and I took more than a few mid munch!

Tenn. Equinox · Post by **Tenn. Equinox** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:28 am

I used loose free running salt too. Except I look for an old stump
that has rotted off till it just sticks out of the ground about 1 or 2 inches.
pour the salt over the stump and by mid summer the whole thing will
be dug up.The wood absorbs the salt when it rains and the wood is
shiney from all the chewing. I guess all animals use it . I've seen
bear sign at the stump as well as deer.

MPSNIPER · Post by **MPSNIPER** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:12 am

I put out the 40 lb blocks that either sit on a flat rock or I'll pound a steel pipe into the ground so the block is 3' of the ground. I usually put out 1/2 dozen or so, but the snow is still too deep for the atv to travel. I was out on Saturday and because it is melting, the snow won't carry the weight of the atv in the bush. I usually get them out end of March / begining of April. I'm told the pregnant does use them 1st this time of year.

Rich · Post by **Rich** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:39 am

Thanks for the tip Xbowkid, I was just gonna ask about softner salt. I have always heard that was an inexpensive alternative to the high priced blocks targeted at hunters.

Rich

kitty kat · Post by **kitty kat** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:27 pm

I have used a variety of different types of salt. I have used watersoftner salt [premium]. This salt has no rock junk in it at all. It is all uniform sized pieces about one inch long and about 1/2 inch diameter with rounded ends. Looks like a very large calciulm/vitamin tablet. I do buy, the flavoured blocks for the more active areas and also get the other blocks that are intended for calves,sheep and smaller domestic animals. They can be bought at any farm feed outlets. I like the reddish coloured ones which usually mean they are mineral blocks. I pour water on them if the weather is dry and try to keep the ground moist during the season. Good luck.

xbowkidd · Post by **xbowkidd** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 2:58 pm

i got the idea from someone else here. i just turned up an area about 4'x4' with the heel of my boot then i would dump a 20 kg bag spread it out and mix it up with the dirt a little. i would check it every five or six days and it would always be gone, there was always lots of tracks and small holes scraped up where they were lookin for more salt.

found it. thanks nine pointer!
http://www.excaliburcrossbow.com/phpBB2 ... light=salt

Kenton · Post by **Kenton** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:29 pm

Im not posting this to say that you shouldn't put salt blocks out, but they have quite little nutritional value to deer, can't argue with it as an attractant though.