Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Salt as an attractant?

Anybody use salt pellets, the kind used for water softening, as an attractant for deer? Would it work the same as a lick? The advantages I see, one can spread them out and cover a larger area. Any other opinions/ideas out there?

I'd have to re-read the regs, but in GA it is illegal to hunt over salt,corn,pile of apples, etc...amything that was placed as bait. You can use all of the above, but they must be gone by the time to hunt. <P>Mike

I would suppose that the attraction of salt would depend to a great degree on the mineralization of the ground in your area.<BR>In all my years of watching wildlife I have never seen a deer at my salt troughs. I keep out trace mineral or hi phos salt blocks year round for my cattle. I have seen deer close but never licking the blocks.<BR>They may but if they do I don't know when it is.<BR>BCR

It would probably work, but you'd be better off just to find a feed store and buy a bag of salt/trace minerals. It's cheaper.

In the high country of Colorado I have found seeps and salt patches where the animals have ate down into the ground with a zillon tracks all over it. Don't know about the game departments views on the subject. I know animals like the salt in some areas. -- no<P>Think I would try ice cream salt but not where the run off would be a hazard.<BR>I have bought apples from the orchard and cut them in sections, scatter them around camp. [img]images/icons/laugh.gif" border="0[/img] [img]images/icons/laugh.gif" border="0[/img] You know I like the aroma. Have had deer walk all around the camp, day and night.<P>PS other critters also,(mostly at night)!

Like Boggy mentioned, ranchers put out salt for their cattle. If you are near a ranch and near their salt, you probably won't see a deer. You will need to offer something else. I'm not sure what constitutes baiting in your state, so no advice here.

Whitetails in our area will frequent either salt blocks or salt in/on the ground. Deer typically will scoop up dirt with salt mixed in with it. PA also requires any "bait" to be removed 30 days prior to the season, including traces of salt. <BR>Plain old white salt blocks attract more deer than any of the trace mineral blocks set out for cattle.

I've put out salt blocks for deer and never had one hit. Later I was told that deer won't touch free standing salt but will dig it out of the ground if it's mixed with the dirt. Later I noticed that the deer had been pawing at the spots where I had put the salt blocks (they'd melted into the ground from the rain) and I started pouring 50 lb bags of salt on the ground in the spring. By the fall they'll dissolve into the dirt and the deer will start pawing them. I've got one spot where I put out salt four years ago where the hole is about three feet deep. This is with whitetails, I don't know what those weird deer in Oregon will do.

Spike...your thinking regarding the "spreading it out easier" is right-on.<BR>Smaller quantities of "pellet trails" spread on deer trails, and in bare spots in shooting lanes works much better than a salt block in a single area. I also agree that white salt works better than the "brown salt mineral" blocks commonly used. I have both in my back yard (by an 1100lb. cornfeeder)...the brown block NEVER gets touched. The water softner salt pellets is what I use now. Sparkman

I have one spot on my hunting property along the NY border, where a salt block has been placed for years. It's always removed well before archery season in the fall and not replaced until about May or early June.<BR>My cousin can see this field corner from his farm, a half mile across the valley, until the trees leave out in the spring. There are always deer at the lick, once the ground thaws and they can scoop the loose soil.

Salt Block Deployment 101**<P>In the springtime<P>Buy one salt/mineral block, recruit one friend, take possession of one short handled spade, have friend carry salt/mineral block while you carry spade deep into hunting area, dig hole until top of salt/mineral block is even with the ground that has been cleared of leaves and debris, take spade and strike top of salt/mineral block in order to crumble the top a little and get it softened up, cover with the debris that was initially raked back, don't worry the animals deer and squirrels will find it buy smell! After the the block is gone they will paw out a hole and eat the dirt! I recommend Spring time placement to help does growing/feeding fawns and Bucks growing antlers.<P>Hope this helps!<BR>Mike

I am still going to say that where you are has a lot to do with whether or not salt works as an attractant. Try it and see as you are only going to be out a few dollars. Salt is cheap. There are naturally occuring salt licks, some type of salts I've never had it analized, that happen in wet years here in my country. I have seen cattle licking at it but never seen deer do any thing but walk around them. I've thrown salt blocks on the ground in certain pastures, yellow blocks, white blocks, pink blocks, brown blocks and while cattle will lick them deer won't at least I've never seen it. Nor have I ever seen them paw up the ground after the blocks melted and the cattle were removed.

From my experiences with trying to make a salt lick, deer seemed to use them much more in summer than during hunting season.<P>Anyone else notice this?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Arkhunter:<BR><STRONG>From my experiences with trying to make a salt lick, deer seemed to use them much more in summer than during hunting season.<P>Anyone else notice this?</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>That has been my exact experience with Salt blocks. They seem to use them in the spring and summer and then avoid them the rest of the year.

They probably crave it when growing antlers and fawns...Isn't Mother Nature great!!<P>Mike