Well, springtime has come, and your thoughts may be turning away from deer and towards fishing, turkey hunting, crawfishing, or any number of other activities. But, those deer are still out there, and what you do now could help you when your thoughts return again to deer as fall approaches. There are a number of things that are best done in the spring for managing deer. Two of these which come to mind are establishing mineral sites and fertilizing natural vegetation such as mast trees and browse. Both of these are great ways to get started in a year round plan for your management program.

At a mineral site, deer will actually eat the dirt, and it won't take long for a depression to form.

Mineral sites should be established at one per hundred acres for large tracts (>200 acres) or at one per 40 acres for smaller tracts. There are numerous mineral mixes on the market today, but I mix my own, both to know exactly what I am giving the deer as well as to cut down on the costs. A recipe that I have been using for the past several years that has worked well is to mix 1 part Di-calcium phosphate, 2 parts trace mineral salt (red), and 1 part regular stock salt. These ingredients can usually be found at your local feed store or co-op. What I have done is to mix using a small container into a clean five gallon bucket for easy transport. Use one and a half to two buckets per site. Dig a depression in the ground and mix the mineral with the soil. Select a site that is close to the center of either your 40 acre or 100 acre block. It is best if the site is easily accessible, but not near an area of constant human activity like ATV trails. The edges of food plots, water sources, and other areas deer frequent all make good sites. You will need to replenish the sites after the first six months, and then on a yearly basis. These sites are my best spots to “inventory” bucks. By placing a camera on these sites during the summer months, you can watch the antler progression, as well as identify individual bucks. The verdict is still out as to whether or not supplementing minerals to a wild deer herd has any benefit, but it is an excellent place to gather pictures of the bucks using your property.

Spreading fertilizer along a tree's drip-line (red) maximizes absorption into the root system.

Another spring time chore that will help you in the fall as well as give deer optimum nutrition from natural sources is to fertilize mast producing trees (oaks, persimmons, crabapples, etc.) and natural browse (honeysuckle, blackberries, greenbrier, beautyberries, etc.). Deer spend more time browsing natural vegetation than they do food plots. While food plots have their place in a management plan, we can work on those later. These natural foods can be fertilized with special fertilizer spikes found in home and garden centers, but it is more economical to use loose fertilizer. Both trees and browse can be fertilized with the common 13-13-13 at a rate of 400 lbs/acre and followed up with ammonium nitrate about a month and a half later at a rate of 100 lbs/acre. Remember, an acre is about the size of a football field, so it doesn’t take much to fertilize several spots. It’s better to err on the side of too little versus too much and damage the trees or vegetation. While you are there, you should go ahead and clear shooting lanes, and prepare your stand sites. It will be a lot cooler than late summer, and you will have a jump start on next season. You will definitely want to hunt these sweet spots at different times during the hunting season.

Just because deer season is over does not mean that we cannot do things to better our chances the following season. Both of these spring chores have helped me in locating a buck I wanted to hunt as well as putting me in range of deer during the season. This is an easy way to start a deer management plan that you can continue for years to come.