will normal salt in the dirt work or are lick blocks from the produce store better?
normal salt should work also.
My brothers father in law makes a saturated saltwater and puts it on stumpd so that they will soak it up partially, cant get dragged away and is cheap. should work quite well in youre warm climate.
I tried lick blocks with donkeys, once. It didn't work; they weren't interested. The wallabies loved it, though.
I have used the blocks before and they last.Wear gloves when handling it or your hands will get dried out.Mix some household salt with a few jars of peanut butter from the dollar store and freeze it in some foil and throw that in the woods and they love it.
It will depend what is available naturally in your area. Where natural mineral licks are available salt/mineral blocks aren't as effective. I have use both mineral blocks and regular salt with good results. I have heard that in areas where roads are regularly salted(winter) mineral or salt licks are not as effective either, like in some of our northern states.
I have also found that salt or mineral licks are more effective in late spring and early summer because the moisture contents of plants are high at that time of year and the animals that eat these plants flush out the minerals from their systems and crave the salt/ minerals more.
i can't use salt or mineral blocks cause the hogs root them out and push them down thru the woods! i buy the granular salt in 25lb bags and pour it on a stump. When it rains, it dissolves the salt and it saturates the stump and the ground. The animals then lick the stump, roots, and the ground.
Ice cream salt works fairly well also.
in my area of s.c., mineral licks work great and, from what i've seen on my farm, really enhance antler growth. the only problem i've found is that mineral licks must be place in red clay. any other location and the deer will ignore them. my main mineral lick is hit worked really hard from april to august, then activity slows down.
Out west ranchers use salt alot and it is everywere. The elk and deer will come into traditional salt lick spots long after the salt is gone. In fact I see more deer and elk using the lick sites more after the blocks are gone. The cattle and sheep don't stay as long after the blocks gone. The game animals seem to like it more once the livestock leave,this is just my observations. In some cases I think it will be more productive once it soaks in the ground,at least at keeping the livestock off. Most out here pour liquid salt/mineral lick prouducts for the same effect. But so many people are doing it now I wonder how effective it really is. This year I know I counted at least 15 spots that had a trail cam with a trophy rock/mineral lick site while scouting. Thats not even counting all the salt blocks for livestock.
Anybody out west use a salt block. It rains like crazy during hunting season here.
This is something different but it works. Some game biologist use it to get deer to come to a certain area to study them. Buy a big can of peeanut butter and a can of peanut oil mix them together in a slurry mix and spread it on dead branches or what have you. Wildgame for some reason just loves peanut butter. Something to think about.