2015 Mineral Sites

[Markus]

My hunting partner and I headed up to the camp for a post winter inspection and to get our mineral sites activated and cam'd up.

First stop was the camp and it was just as we left it...I wish we could have stayed for a few days, but we were just in for lunch and the mineral set ups. After a big feed of moose ossobuko, (moose shank/bone in stewe in a reduced veggie mixture) we headed out.



We had one site already activated from a few weeks ago, but we stopped by to check the cam and dust it again with mineral. We set up 4 other sites...1 that was 4 years old and 3 new ones at locatios we scouted out the year before. We like to select locations that a good damp rotting log. We give it a good coat of mineral and then just wait for a rain to soak it all in. As you can see...the deer eat the log. We lose about 3 feet a year off this log.



We'll let them go for a few weeks and head back to check the cams later. We have a couple deer we're looking forward to seeing if they made the winter.

[Markus]

Here's a few pics from one of the new mineral sites we had set up. This site is near the camp and we were hoping to get a quick hit from the deer. Looks like 2 different deer are making random visits...a yearling and an older doe.

[banjo]

Nice.

[Markus]

Got into the camp last weekend to run 4 of the 5 mineral sites. 3 of the 4 were active and we even had a few small bucks starting to throw up a bit of bone. Nothing impressive on the cams, but it was great to see some early action.



We're having a good couple days of rain, so that should really get the mineral worked in and the sites working better.

[banjo]

That's awesome. Hopefully some will have some good antler growth.
I am not a property owner, so I am jealous that you can put so much time in and see results. I was hoping to put some work into the land I have permission to hunt, but after going in this spring and seeing alot of other peoples activities in the there I decided not to waste my time. I do hope to purchase a couple trail cams, cheap ones, as I have a feeling they won't last long in the bush, and if they do, I will know what kinda beer and smokes everyone takes in the woods... oh wait, I already do since they leave all that stuff in there... maybe I should just pour Rack Stacker into beer cases at the local beer store.

[Markus]

Our new sites we tried this year arent producing great results. We tried one new spot that became over grown with ferns and it just seemed to choke out access to the area. The other spot was a ground mineral site and it just baked in the sun. I think the lack of moisture made it unattractive to deer. Lots of "drive by" pics, but no interest in the mineral.

Our traditional spots are doing well. We dont have loads of resident deer and dont see a lot of numbers until the fall rut when they start moving in and out of the area. We do have 1 decent resident deer we're following. He comes to the mineral site regularly and he's been coming since he was a button fawn. He's 3 years old now and is putting up a decent crown for this year.