after the season ended I continued to put out corn and even threw out some trophy rocks after all the talk about em on here. Well they have pretty much for the most part disappeared melted with all the rain or something licking them up. I have noticed though that I have basically no deer pics since putting the damn things out, is this coincidence, is it due to not continuously putting more corn out?? Anyways just wondering what others do in the off season because I hear of folks still getting tons of pictures through summer to fall but wondered if you keep putting corn out or something else. kinda disappointed I had lots of pics and buck activity the week after season going out but haven't captured anything on camera since 2/10ish. Last two trips have been worthless

Where I hunt once Jan gets here the deer pretty much disappear as well as go almost entirely nocturnal. Feb thru May the deer start showing up in daylight hours but very few. The deer sightings/number of deer don't start picking up until about June. I Start putting corn and mineral licks out around March/April but I started early this year hoping that I might get a pic of a 5.5 yr old buck that we have out there.

There have been several weeks where I don't get pics of anything, which of course gets me worried that something has happened; but usually within a week or two they begin to trickle back in.

It should take several months for a 20 pound Trophy Rock to melt away due to rainfall only. A 12 pound rock would take less time, but still a couple months at least. There is an obvious visual difference between them melting away vs. them being licked away.

Rain only - jagged surface with clumps of clay separating out

primarily deer usage - smooth upper surface, almost a "polished" look

I would doubt they are getting much usage from deer this early in the year. Were the rocks sitting on top of another rock or an old rotten log?

I usually put out a Trophy Rock and put some corn around it to help deer find it. Around March or April would be the time to do this. Deer will keep using it until the rock is gone and then they'll dig up the dirt/stump. Trophy Rock isn't going to scare your deer away. They'll stop visiting the rock around October though.

Joe4majors - the best part of the video is about the 11:05 mark.

Thanks. I've got a better one around here somewhere...let me see if I can dig it up.

Deer won't really start to use minerals until the weather warms up. The hotter it is, the more they will use. If you stopped putting corn in front of your cameras, that is why you are not getting very many pics. Minerals provide very little draw this time of year.

I'm putting corn out and getting 7-800 pics a week mostly deer.

I put out 3 rocks first week of feb I think and they are basically softball size or a tad bigger, NOTHING compared to what they were. Kinda strange I guess. I just put them on the ground in a little hole so they wouldn't be rolled off if possible and put corn all over them and around them. maybe something is whizzing on them. I don't know. just strange that these seem to be dwindling to nothing and yet no pictures of anything. makes me wonder

I wouldn't put them on the ground or in a hole. I'd set it up so the deer could get the minerals as easily as possible (licking it is easier than them having to dig up the ground to get them). Set it on a rock or a log. It's probably "melted" away because the rock is staying wet and dissolving quickly when directly on the ground.

You'll start getting pictures in a the next few weeks.

They have been putting the feed in the troughs this last week and the bucks are all over the place. Hell of a crop coming on and plenty of big ones.

We've got pics of deer hitting the trophy rocks already and digging around them. We just started seeing a small decline of deer coming to our corn this past week. We will feed as much as we can afford, and hope to get some summer plots going.

Tag - out in June is the bomb . If you know your herd you can identify all the deer even without their head gear. The one guy is right minerals are almost forgotten in the fall. But pure salt and corn will keep them smiling for the camera

The deer on my property in Colbert County are not using minerals at all. They are hammering the corn I was putting out and I had as many pictures in the daylight as I did at dark. Only trouble is I am not getting any mature bucks on camera. I am going to restock the Trophy Rocks when turkey season opens.

Pour about 1/3 a bag of Rice Bran out over your corn pile and then just mix it in with your foot. If there are deer in the area, they will come, I promise you this. They absolutely love Peanut Butter flavored Rice bran but just the original stuff works fine too.

Where can you get rice bran, seen a lot of post about it

any feed store or co-op ought to have it..about $12/50# bag

If you want to run feeders or any type of feed, I think you need to run it year round just so the deer are used to it. Just balance it out for the nourishment of the deer.

Learn what deer need and at what time of year they need it. I have learned this just by noticing what they decide to eat/use on their own free will throughout the year.

They hit my mineral blocks hard when they are fixing to grow antlers and throughout most of the antler growing time. They will quit as soon or right before antler growth is finished.

Corn they pretty much eat year round. I mix and throw in some protein pellets in the summer to help them have a balanced diet.

But the key is that I do it year round so that it's not something new to them! They will use it as they need it!

I place my mineral blocks on stumps or logs. They will hit it with their hoof and eat the wood soaked wood chips they knock off! I run spinner feeders year round. I will mix protein pellets in there in the summer and add a gravity feeder in the summer with the protein pellets as well.

And I also plant a summer plot!!!! It's all part of the game to grow them and make them healthy so that I can eat them and get the most meat on them bones. And having a big rack is a bonus.

dont fool with rice bran if its humid, it will mold.

It wont last long enough to mold if he has any type of deer population.