Growing Horns with Mineral Supplements.

     So another Deer Season has come and gone.   You may have pulled your cameras and you know who has and hasn't made it through the hunting season.   You may or may not have kept a little corn for them eat through the winter.   You may be head over heels involved in shed hunting and even thinking of upcoming turkeys.  The real all around deer manager may be even thinking of spring planting, but don't forget the minerals!
     This is a little mixture that I was taught  to use a long time ago and know several deer manager doing the same throughout the nation.     Locally, I find what I need at Southern States Cooperative.  I point them out directly because its one of the only places that I can find Moncalcium Dicalcium  Phosphate or Feed Phos.    For a feeding station.   I take one 50 pound bag of Feed Phos and one 50 pound bag of trace mineral salt.   (You may know the ratio as 1 to 2 but give me minute.).    I put this mixture out like you were placing Deer Cocaine out.   You take your trusty shovel and dig up the earth about a 3 foot by 3 foot area.  I mix the Fed Phos and the Salt together and then turn the dirt.   I come back in a month or so and place another bag of trace  mineral salt on  top of the station. 
     I was taught and have tried adding a bag of dried molasses to the combination, but found that I didn't attract anything with it but ants and bees.   I leave the molasses out as my deer seem to want the salt.   The bucks and does will go after the Salt and get the calcium as well as phosphorous in the process.
     You may ask-----Why in February or March?    I put it out in the winter to let it get into the ground in anticipation of the does having babies.    I will sometimes come back right before the horns start to grow and do it again.   But that is up to you and your budget.  You can make it once a year and see the calcium in the spots from year to year.
     I make my own supplement to keep the cost down.  There are however some commercial products on the market.  Trophy rock is a commercial supplement that is being sold and I have heard good things about it.  I do believe in Deer Cocaine.   Deer Cocaine is one of the few commercial deer attractants that I use and honestly I put it one these sites right before Deer season to get the Deer in.  (I however consider Deer Cocaine an attractant and not a supplement.)   A company out of South Carolina called Low Country Deer Minerals is making a mixture that is supported by some very reputable people as well.
     Last but not least.  I was taught to run one station per every 200 acres.  I will also say that the deer have to like the spot.  Sometimes they will not eat it in one spot but eat it 50 yards away.   I put the stations near trails but in areas of cover.  You are trying to grow deer at these locations and are not worried about killing them.   Out of economics you may want to try a site with Deer cocaine.  If they come to that, then put out the good stuff.
     Whatever you do or don't do.  This is just one of the ways that I stay out in nature and spend my time thinking about and working for my deer during the off season.   Enjoy the outdoors and grow a Big One!!!