By Brandon Wikman
The month of June brings a shimmering shine of summer heat and a foreboding drum roll to the whitetail buck antler development. During this time, velvety antlers are jammed with a congestion of intersecting veins and capillaries that supply vital nutrients to the bursting bone. June is a critical month in the growth and development of whitetail deer.
Whitetail deer antlers are the fasted growing bone structure in the animal kingdom by far. Throughout the growing cycle, which primarily runs from March to August, deer beef-up on foods packed with rich minerals and vitamins. Minerals such as calcium and phosphorous make up most of the bone atop a buck’s head. Vitamin A and D also play an essential role in the production of serious antler growing mechanics. Supplying deer with alternative food options like mineral sites helps their health tremendously.
These woodland roaming animals are truly robotic machines. A deer’s stomach not only hints to what resources of foods it needs, but also controls the animals’ livelihood. Deer are fascinating creatures for many reasons. For instance, they are able to store calcium and phosphorous deposits in their skeletal system throughout the entire year. When the spring and summer months arrive, the stored deposits transfer into their headgear. Their skeletal system will deplete and evolve into a totally different physical state. Deer’s bones will become weak and brittle. That is why providing deer with bags of mineral increases the total health and wellness of the herd.
Moultrie offers a variety of different minerals including, Spring and Summer Mineral Deer Attractant and Molasses Flavored Liquid Mineral Deer Attractant along with several more.
You may sprinkle mineral on the ground, atop a stump or add it to your existing feed in your feeder. What I often do is take a garden rake and claw into the forest floor. By removing leaves, grasses, and other barriers from the dirt, you will be able to pile the mineral onto the bare ground surface. I’ve been taught to create a 5’ x 5’ area composed of dirt and mineral. It is important to make the mineral site near a deer trail. The convenience is nice and deer will take notice of your new snack offering extremely fast.
Combining the mineral into the dirt will allow a lip-smacking good mixture that will leach into the ground. Sodium is a necessary attractant used in minerals. Deer seek out the salty snack and also chow down the nutritious mineral and vitamin infested dirt. If you’ve ever seen the hole of devastation a salt block leaves upon the forest floor, you will be in for a hole just as large. Deer will chew into bark, sink their teeth into dirt, and chomp through roots for their salt fixing. I always think about giving deer mineral the same as giving a dog a prescription pill. Dogs don’t beg for the taste of pills, but will do every trick in the book for a hotdog. Injecting the pill into the hotdog supplies the dog with food and the necessary nutrition it needs. Deer share the same food mindset as dogs, or even cats, for this matter. Feeding deer with mineral and vitamin snacks seldom work, but juicing the side-course with an extra pinch of flavor makes it much more appealing to their taste buds. That is why salt is such an important ingredient.
Be sure to try the Moultrie Game Nutrition System for your deer herd this spring. Your herd will become bigger, healthier, and stronger. It will make your opening season archery hunt even more rewarding. You will thank yourself later when you see a heavy set of antler walking your way. It’s the proper steps we take now that provides lasting healthy impacts on deer tomorrow.
