Salt - - Friend and Foe for Whitetail

By WHITETAIL INSTITUTE STAFF

Humans use salt everyday and often times over use it.   We put salt in our food when we cook and then put even more on our food before we eat it.  We have all heard of the dangers of high levels of salt in our diet and know that it can be bad for our systems. The very same is true for deer.  Deer have requirement for salt but do not need salt in the heavy quantities we usually put out for them.  Let’s explore the positive and negative uses of salt.

First of all, exactly what is salt?  Salt is a natural chemical compound comprised of the elements sodium (Na) and chloride (Cl).  The chemical name for salt is Sodium chloride (NaCl).  Sodium chloride can be found in minerals, rock and the ocean.  Sodium and chloride are both important elements of life.

It has long been known that deer are attracted to salt.  This is especially true during the spring and summer.  Deer crave salt to supply bodily needs.  More accurately, deer crave the sodium found in salt.  This craving of salt stems from the need of sodium to maintain cellular osmotic balance.  On a cellular level in the body, sodium and potassium balance with each other, potassium intra-cellular and sodium extra-cellular.   If sodium is at low levels in the diet and potassium is at high levels, deer are attracted to sodium in order to maintain the potassium/sodium balance.  Lush, green forage is often high in potassium and nearly void of sodium.  This is why deer are attracted to salt (sodium) primarily in the spring and summer months.     

Maintaining osmotic pressure is a vital function in deer physiology.  Among other reasons this is why salt is important in a deer’s diet.  Lack of salt can cause low body temperature, diarrhea, dehydration and poor coat quality. Too much will cause hypertension in the cells of the body.

In most cases, however, deer are offered and therefore consume much more salt (sodium) than they require.  Over consumption of salt is not only unhealthy to the animal, it also does little for antler growth.   As a matter of fact, salt can negatively affect antler growth when used improperly.  Antlers are comprised of 55% mineral.  Therefore minerals are vital for proper antler growth to occur.  Sodium, however, only comprises about 0.3 percent of a hardened antler.  Though needed, it is only needed in a small portion.

Salt in the right ratio can be used to attract deer to mineral licks.  The deer will lick for the salt and consume the minerals needed for antler development and lactation.  Mineral by itself is very bitter and unattractive to deer, so using a low amount of salt makes it a little tastier.  The same thing is true for human food; just add a little salt and it tastes better.

There are a lot of attractant salt licks on the market but most do little to help with antler development and doe lactation.  If a mineral supplement contains more than 40 percent salt, it should be considered primarily as an attractant.  

The goal of the Whitetail Institute is to develop products that increase antler growth, promote doe lactation, and improve the overall health of the deer herd.  Therefore extensive research has been done to produce mineral/vitamin supplements that have the low levels of salt yet are readily attractive to deer.  Through the development of potent scent and flavor attractants, the Whitetail Institute has been able to produce mineral/vitamin supplements that are as low as 17% salt down to an amazing 1.5% salt.  At the same time these products, such as Imperial 30-06 Plus Protein, Cutting Edge Initiate, Cutting Edge Optimize and Cutting Edge Sustain are some of the most highly attractive products available on the market and will literally pull deer in from long distances.