Curious to see your experience/suggestions regarding mineral blocks at feeder locations. In your experience, is the mineral an attractant - do deer stay longer due to the mineral?

Not in my experience. I keep a trophy rock out, on top of dirt mixed with different minerals. They use it some, but I wouldn't say it's an attractant. About 15 years ago, I mixed a 1 gallon bottle of deer cocaine into the dirt, never seen a deer there, and more or less, forgot about it. About a year later, I walked by that spot and they had eaten a hole in the ground about 3 ft circle and a foot deep. But I never tried it again.

I put out the sulfur mineral blocks that are used for cattle. The deer show a little interest and seems to keep the ticks in check, similar with hogs in the areas I hunt.

as for the Trophy Rock ... a friend that owns a feed store told me to give it a try 15-20 (before I had any game cams) years ago when it first hit the central Texas area. I was somewhat skeptical but bought one of the chunks to give it a try. I took a hammer/chisel to it to break up into several pieces to try at various locations. I also collected the smaller pieces & dust from chopping it up and pitched out into an area close to a feeder. The next weekend, all of the chunks were licked smooth as a marble and the area where I put the dust was pawed to a large clean patch of dirt like it had been plowed. Fast forward to more current years, the deer out at our Ozona place don't pay it any attention, the ones around central Texas (Burnet/Lampasas counties) love it and frequent it often, and the place near Fairfield, deer don't pay it any attention.

with that said, I suspect certain areas are missing a natural mineral(s) that helps lead the deer to the Trophy Rock and other areas not so much.

I have a deer feed block in my yard just to watch the deer and they all come and eat even the big bucks. Yesterday I bought a small salt block ( from the Himalayan's) and stuck it in a container next to the feed block and when I got back from hog hunting this morning there were deer around it and a puddle of saliva in the bowl so someone was licking it.
I'll watch and see what happens.

I used Trophy Rock for several years. The deer loved them! I can't afford them anymore. I was going through 12 or more rocks a year. Now I use the 50 lbs. mineral blocks ($6.95 at TSC). The deer also love these. I have multiple gamecam pix with deer and even fawns licking the blocks. I put them out in January and have had to replace a couple already. The Trophy Rocks lasted about 3 months while the mineral blocks are lasting about 7 months. I can live with that.

I tried it one year and it, and maybe half a dozen other types of blocks without any luck. Corn is the only thing that has been reliable at bringing them in day after day.

I used them before I started feeding protein. The protein has all of the trace minerals included, so now the deer pretty much ignore the blocks.

Took water softening tank out my mothers house that had 3 blocks of salt in it. Carried them out back of the house with a deer cocaine brick I picked up off mark down aisle dated 2010 and poured a gallon of Buck Jam over it all. Have had a camera on it for almost 2 months and getting lots of pics. Plan on spicing it up with another gallon.

I have been watching my Salt Block for a couple weeks now and nothing will touch it...And, I have been buying a
Deer block by Sportsman Choice from Tractor Supply and they all tear it up, won't last a week. So, I bought a similar one on sale that was apple scented and not 1 deer will touch it.

During the droughts I put several sheep & goat blocks out. The same ingredients as a deer block but much cheaper. The deer tore them up!

I just put out two Record Rack blocks yesterday. I have a good friend that I trust that has been really successful with them. Going to give it a try this year.


https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...-rack-deer-block?solr=1&cm_vc=-10005

I use goat blocks from the feed store. The deer seem to like them.