Well-Planned Supplemental Feeding Gets Results
By Michael Veine

Greg Covington took this wide-racked, Wisconsin buck while hunting an area that offered 30-06 Minerals.  Photo by Michael Veine

Hunters can reap big dividends by providing deer with an extra dose of vitamins, minerals and nutritional supplements.

Whitetails are adaptable creatures that manage to exist in some of the harshest habitats that North America has to offer. No part, however, of the whitetail’s range truly offers optimal nutrition where they can maximize their growth potential. Common sense dictates that well nourished deer are healthier and better able to survive severe climatic conditions. Deer in peak condition can also ward off predation, parasites, diseases and other maladies that affect their well-being. As stewards of the land, we hunters can and do optimize the habitat for the deer and other wildlife, but occasionally it’s just not enough. Sometimes supplements are necessary for deer to maximize their growth and fitness.

My hunting property is located in the big woods of northern Michigan. Shortly after buying the land, I installed several food plots and also did all sorts of habitat improvement projects. The deer had excellent forage available to them and average body weights and winter carry-over improved as a result. We even joined a local quality deer management (QDM) organization and realized the benefits of that management philosophy. Thanks to QDM, we had the right number of deer with a buck-to-doe ratio of approximately one to four – not ideal, but better than most places.

Our hunting improved dramatically, but I still felt that there was some additional potential that could be realized. We had plenty of bucks in the area, but antler growth seemed a little less than desirable. After doing some research, I discovered that there was a strong possibility that shortages of minerals and/or vitamins in the deers’ diets could be the culprit. As an experiment, I tried some mineral and vitamin supplements to see what effect it would have on the deer.

30-06 Vitamin/Mineral Supplements

Since I experienced great success with Imperial Whitetail Clover on my food plots, I invested in several bags of the Whitetail Institute’s 30-06 mineral/vitamin supplements. The product was placed out at many different sites, one site for every 20 acres. Areas of high deer activity that offered cover were selected for application, which in most cases were right in front of deer stands within bow range. I poured the granulized 30-06 directly onto the ground, and in most places, the product was placed around stumps.

When we hunted the next fall, buck sightings had doubled on my property and the size of their racks also seemed noticeably improved as well. The deer devoured the mineral sites with large holes left in the dirt where the deer had excavated the minerals from the ground. It also seemed that the supplemental mineral and vitamins on the property had attracted more bucks into the area. The buck-to-doe ratio had improved to 1:2. In fact the 30-06 drew the bucks right to our bow-stands for the ultimate ambush situations and we cashed in big-time.

The first evening on stand, my father-in-law, who is handicapped and hunts with a crossbow, had several bucks investigate a mineral lick in front of his ground-blind. One buck was a large one, but unfortunately the buck didn’t offer a decent shot opportunity. As luck would have it though, the very next night the same buck returned and my father-in-law managed to put a bolt through him. We followed an easy, short blood trail to the downed buck. He was butterball fat and carried an impressive rack for the area. That deer was the largest buck he had ever taken during 50 years of deer hunting.

Over the next week, I added two more dandy bucks to the buck pole, both from stands overlooking 30-06 mineral licks. The mineral sites seemed to be major social hubs for the area bucks. During early October, the bucks were still in small bachelor groups, so encounters with bunches of bucks were awfully exciting. Later in the season, during the rut, bucks still made their rounds past those sites just to check for doe activity.

Deer get most of their minerals and vitamins from the soil and the forage they consume. Unfortunately, most of the whitetail’s range lacks certain minerals and vitamins. The Whitetail Institute’s 30-06 mineral and vitamin supplement fills that gap. 30-06 contains trace minerals: manganese, iron, copper, zinc, selenium, iodine and cobalt. It also uses macro minerals: calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, sodium and
potassium. Vitamins A, D and E are also included in the formula, which are anti-oxidants that whitetails typically lack in nature. The 30-06-Plus Protein product adds an additional 10 percent boost of protein.

Harper did research on what vitamins and minerals whitetails are lacking. He explains, “We use those minerals and vitamins that deer need most in our 30-06. Mineral supplements must be formulated in a specific ratio for optimal benefit to the deer. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle. If it’s not put together right, it just won’t work. Also, the sources of minerals for our products are carefully considered. For instance, copper sulfate is readily
digestible, whereas copper-oxide is not. We use copper-sulfate as our source of copper.”

Proper Supplement Application Techniques

Matt Harper, Whitetail Institute deer nutrition specialist, recommends applying supplements in as many locations as possible on your property, which reduces concentrating the deer. Harper says, “One mineral or feed site per 10-40 acres typically works much better than piling the stuff in one location. Choose locations where deer naturally travel, like along a major trail or crossing of more than one trail. The application sites should be located within cover where deer feel secure. The best sites are in heavy cover between a bedding area and a feeding or watering zone.”  Harper concluded, “30-06 should be poured directly on the ground.”

Disease Prevention

There’s an ongoing debate raging on whether supplemental feeding helps deer ward off disease. Properly applied, supplemental nutrition has been proven to combat Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).

Current research suggests that nutritional problems, especially in the area of copper absorption, may be a catalyst for CWD infection. Veterinarian Dr. Jeff Fyffe says, “Copper is one of the most significant elements in a deer’s body function, being involved in at least 10 enzymes. These affect bone and connective tissue development and maintenance of nervous tissue, pigments, red and white cell development and overall growth. It is also implicated in reproductive performance.”  It should be noted that deer tested for minerals in CWD infected cases have consistently shown low levels of copper in their systems.

Researcher Dr. Michael McDonnell believes that it is possible that the original CWD rogue prions came about as mutations caused by exposure to pesticides. CWD was first found near Fort Collins, Colorado back in 1967. McDonnell says that there are low copper levels in the soils in northeastern Colorado near Fort Collins, where it is believed CWD got started. Pesticide use in that area was also high. In virtually every place where an outbreak of CWD has occurred, low soil copper levels are also present. Even in CWD areas where copper levels are adequate, deer numbers were high and they tended to over- browse certain species of plants that are normally rich in copper. Over-browsing typically results in a copper-deficient diet, regardless of the copper levels in soil.

USDA studies have proven that when supplemental copper was fed to farm raised elk injected with CWD, the disease was stopped almost completely. In the same study, when no copper was fed to elk in the control group, 33-55 percent eventually tested positive for CWD. This research suggests that game managers, in an effort to curb CWD, should consider ways to supplement the diets of deer and elk to provide them with plenty of copper.

It’s logical to give deer 30-06 or 30-06 Plus Protein  products with highly digestible copper.

Conclusion

I’ve kept up the mineral and vitamin supplements on my land and our hunting seems to get better and better every season. This past fall, I filled a tag during the first week of October on a big-bodied buck that came to a mineral lick with a group of other bucks. In fact, I’ve taken five trophy-class bucks since starting the mineral program just four years ago. Their racks grace my walls, and I can only smile when I consider that my investment in deer nutrition has had a direct impact on my success and the general well being of the deer herd. It doesn’t get any better than that.