I posted this idea years ago and y’all gave me crap. Here’s an update. Our plots are doing great despite the lack of October rain. We planted into good soil moisture, then weeks with no rain. We fertilized with typical triple 13 once it did rain. All standard stuff. But…I have been curious about using crushed up trophy rock and spreading it into the plots to add other elements aside from N-P-K. I did this for portions of 3 plots, very lightly. Nothing was killed. Deer are browsing the plots a lot. No notable differences between areas where this was applied vs where it wasn’t. Didn’t really cost me anything since I only crushed up what was left of a preexisting TR. Dr. Grant Woods was doing this years ago, but perhaps no longer. I suppose the jury is still out, but it certainly didn’t hurt anything.

first step, see what your soil needs and start from there vs guessing and wasting money or. or adding enough. waypoint analytical, can get their soil report form online. make sure you mark sm3 (full for micros) and put down the crop ( i use wheat /alfalfa or soybean

they sale micronutrient liquid fertilizers, easier and faster than a granular product. plus u skip the soil possibly lessening the plants ability to get the nutrient

granular for macros, liquid for micros or have it added to your fertilizer and do it all in one step. southern states used to blend my fall fertilizer and add a peanut micronutrient package with it.

I'd think you would need to crush up about 20 trophy rocks on a half acre plot before spreading for it to make a noticeable change. Think about how much fertilizer it takes per acre. Why would any other minerals be different ?

I support your right to ignore the aldeer experts and grind up rocks whenever you want.

I’m a geologist, it’s what I do

They are trace minerals for a reason. They aren’t in high concentrations in nature generally speaking and aren’t needed in high amounts. Not looking to supply the micronutrients for an entire herd, but maybe deer will seek it out a little more than other food sources. Might not make a difference at all, but at least it didn’t kill anything.

Our buck’s hit the salt until they shed the velvet (early October) then just sporadically until the spring. I don’t look at it as a food source, but the salt licks (the bulk which have been trophy rock) are on food plots. I’ve had the original land for 12 years. I don’t think you sporadically putting it out would draw in any deer that were not there already.

I put trophy rock at the edge of my plot and i got a few sites where i use the au deer mineral. They hit the au mineral in the woods harder and longer than they ever hav this year. Then one of our experts on here mentioned putting a sweetener on sites like molasses. That actually is a pretty good idea porbably - but i has several old big deer hitting that site that probably do not like change or suprises. The molassis shut them down 🤣🤣
Never would hav thought to crush a rock

And what Hunter said x2

Will they sell in a small enough quantity for just a couple acres though?

Cool idea. I never considered it.

Trophy rocks are like 95% SALT. Curious why you think crushing some up and spreading it is beneficial?

If I was allowed to use minerals on my lease, I would use Whitetail 30-06.

I hate you wasted a perfectly good trophy rock