Managing/encouraging healthy game animals

[Wapiti]

For those of you here that get out and do a bit of game hunting for meat as a resource, you'll know how hit and miss (pun intended) finding the animals can be.
The reality is of course, animals spend most of their day trying to get enough of the right food to eat, and will hang around where a safe place is found where they can get it.
Carcases of vermin animals or dead stock will attract carnivores, we've all set up bait stations and had much success with this. In fact I had so much success with culled kangaroos going to feed wild pigs that they would follow my ute coming down to my pig trap when I came past to fill it and stand around and wait for me to leave. So my landcruiser ute became known as "the pie truck".

But with deer this easy free option doesn't work, so here are a few ideas to both attract, and actually grow better animals, with a real easy way to encourage them.
Yes we've all seen the grain/corn feeder the Americans use, they are way ahead of most of us in enthusiasm and will take the time off season to try and get a bit of meat for home. They spend a bit of money and time, to get better odds.
These contraptions can be expensive though, and the risk is always others could steal or vandalise your stuff.

The only issue I can see for casual hunters is that most of you don't have exclusive access, or your own places where you can truly manage game animals, so you just have to be a bit smart about where you put these attractants so you don't advantage other people who would take what you are trying to hunt.
Put these things away from tracks, roads through to crops, you'll work it out based on your knowledge of your area.
From what I see, the average hunter is more likely to be driving around on a quad or a buggy or any vehicle, and pretty soon most animals will regard these sounds as danger. So put your baits where people have to take the time to walk in to, maybe along a game trail coming down from thick bush to some pasture for example.

Molasses based lick blocks have the benefit that they are very palatable, and can be purchased cheaply and last for ages. You can select blocks that are mineral based so over a season for example, you can even get better antler growth, better meat quality, and better fertility rates so fawns are born stronger, mothers milk is as nutritious as possible and you will have game in the future.
You should not buy blocks that contain UREA, as this is toxic to many animals. It is the molasses content and smell of it that will attract the animals. Blocks are available with up to 40% molasses, but a balance is required, high content blocks are eaten very fast because they are softer the more of it is in them.
I'm not talking about culling animals or "how many d'ja get mate" stuff.
I'm talking about a facet of game management.

An example of a very good block for both nutrition, palatability and long life.

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Some examples of ingredients. This one clearly says "no urea".

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An idea on how to keep them getting mixed up in the dirt. This is the block above in an old plastic water jerrycan repurposed. Make sure you drill plenty of holes in the tub so the water from rain can immediately drain. If filled with water, the dissolved mixture will be too concentrated for the animal to consume in one sitting.
The ingredients are mixed with minerals to be quite hard, so by the time the animal is tired from licking and scraping the block and moves off to drink, they will have had a safe dose of the minerals for one sitting.

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Have fun. A little bit of trouble makes for a better result.

[Blr243]

I have heard that a lick block can be licked into a dish shape and hold a bit of water from rain . And then stock can visit and get a highly concentrated dangerous dose from the pool .. Is this true ?

[Wapiti]

Yes it can, but this is when the block has Urea in it, which is why you should always buy a block that doesn't contain it.
Urea is used for cattle, the small dose they get each time from licking the block (because they like the molasses and salt so much) helps them digest and absorb the nutrients in really dry feed, such as frost-browned grasses in winter.

The urea will be highly concentrated in the water, and the animal will get way more than the daily or safe dose in the sweet molasses-water Animals that find urea toxic are goats, it will kill them. Including horses, donkeys used for killing wild dogs etc..
Animals like deer can benefit from urea, but in much smaller amounts than cattle.

I have seen blocks with bowl-shapes licked into them, but usually the animals chew and break off the corners first and work their way to the middle.

Blocks with molasses and salt, that encourage the animals to lick them to get to the essential minerals, are really palatable to deer. Pigs too! With the deer, it will discourage some worms, add nutrients and make for a better animal.
That's if it's your thing, or if you want to bring animals in with something that will last for up to a month.

Just avoid a block that contains Urea, so it's safe to all animals.

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[bigrich]

good topic wapati . if only i could win the lotto , i'd set myself up in the border regions with a property and implement a deer management/breeding program . i'd be VERY selective of hunting on said "dream" property. paid hunting on rural properties is fraught with headaches . i've heard some horrible stories of self entitled "wannabe" hunters from property owners, and some who manage paid hunting businesses , of which i won't repeat on here . it's really hard for honest fellas to get access for hunting these days. i was up the road from your place two weeks ago, and using learnt skills, came across 30 pigs in two days without trying . hunters with no idea ,who'd been out there a week before saw nothing and wanted a refund. i nailed a few pigs, but was concentrating more on trying to nail deer . a massive boar was shot on a bait goat carcass a month before i went out .saw pics from the young fella who shot it , was as big or bigger than anything i saw in NT ! i should've thought to post a few baits myself , but choose to concentrate on goat and deer for the freezer these days . got a nicely mounted 14 1/2 point red stag on my wall , and a good set of buff horns, that's enough . although chasing big boars for a massive set of "hooks" is still on my list

i did a guided hunt years ago with peter edser of "high country safari's" up north of toowoomba . great bloke , well catered trip with skinning/caping the game for mounting as well as butchering for meat . he had a breeding program for several species of deer , and i saw his "stud" red stag that was over 22 points . including guided hunting in the territory, he has a very lucrative business doing what he loves . being me , i asked a lot of questions of him and one of his guides who works as a timber cutter in the off seasons and learned a lot about game and bush craft. i mention all this as i'm thinking with your game management you may be thinking of paid hunts as a side business wapati , thought some of this info might be useful .

[Wapiti]

I have heard that a lick block can be licked into a dish shape and hold a bit of water from rain . And then stock can visit and get a highly concentrated dangerous dose from the pool .. Is this true ?

So to add to the above, if you drill 12mm holes in your tray you use to put the block in, there will be no water pooling so there is no chance the animal gets anything close to a concentrated dose of the block, and dries out so it's not soft and quickly chewed up instead of licked.

[Finniss]

Thanks for reminding me I need to try blocks to slow the buffalo down as they cross our property. Could be the trick on pigs too, so far those buggers have shown no interest in carcasses or food scraps.

I tried blocks for a few months without success on deer years ago. My guess was they were getting enough nutrients from the natural feed and a foreign item had them wary.

I'll check when I purchase, but in general do these contains any seeds that will grow? Got enough weeds to spray.

[MG5150]

Great topic! We have a family block that backs onto state forest in the Vic High country. Plenty of Sambar and wild dogs, no fallow or reds though.

I'm definitely going to get one of those blocks (I found a salt lamp earlier in the year on the side of the road hard rubbish pile and took it to the farm as a salt lick).

I'd been looking into getting some crops planted on our block to try and attract deer. Using ChatGPT I'd made a list of crops that are cost-effective and easy to grow and had been recommended to plant:

Oats
Ryegrass
Clover
Turnips
Raddishes

It also recommended corn but I won't be there frequently enough to water it.

We're also letting the blackberries grow at certain spots as the sambar love them and they tend to appear no matter what you do.

[Wapiti]

So, animals get used to what they eat and their routines, so to make them stop and have a look is the way to speed things up. That's why it can be a non-event sometimes when putting blocks out. Getting their attention and make them stop and sample the block.
Once rthey've done that, you're laughing.

I've often heard the story (I'll call it one of those old wive's tales but who knows, people repeat everything unless they really know the truth) that if an animal is sufficient in nutrition, it won't stop and feed on whatever you put out for it. Not so.
You might be a great fit bugger, have your caveman diet down-pat and be healthy and all your blood tests prove it, but you walk past the pub in the main street and get a whiff of that char-grilling rump on the menu. You'll salivate and no matter how full you are, you get a freebie of that offered to you and I bet you'll stop and have that too.
Now pretend you are a wild animal, and you have to eat when you actually find some suitable food or tomorrow you'll go hungry - well, you'll stop and get into it.

Salt blocks can be very much like that, some mixes don't smell good or at all, or hide in the grass and nothing sees it.
Try putting a very sweet smelling, aromatic high-content-molasses based block out under a shady tree where there is a game trail, and see how that pulls them up.

For buffalo, I assume that they feed like cattle, and the only problem with molasses blocks around cattle, wild or domestic, is that when they find a block, they will all smash it and it will be gone super fast. Even those big 50kg molasses blocks can be gone overnight from a mob of cattle.
Deer are like cattle too, with the exception that they are also browsers.
Make it obvious, wherever you place it as well, in your tub that is obviously standing out from the grass and trees and shorten the time it takes for animals to find it. Because when they do, they will not miss returning over and over.

As I find every time with cull-meat baits for pigs, if you regularly put them out once they've found them, particularly if you are smart and put them say, 50-100m from clean water and also shade and cool bedding areas, they will start to live there and wait for a top-up.

[Wapiti]

Oh, and tell whoever's following you around when you're doing it not to stop and take a p1ss against a tree right next to your bait. Prey animals, and that goes for deer etc too, relate the smell of man as bad and may give the area a wide birth.
Sound obvious, well you'd be surprised.
That's just what I reckon, so I keep the scent to a minimum - not to the extent you have to do when setting/burying dog traps for very cunning feral dogs, but it just pays to not spread danger smells everywhere.
Get in and out and just have a few spots where, depending on the wind, you can sneak up and watch without detection, or re-contaminating the spot.

[Wapiti]

If you have a pig trap, like this one, you can either chuck in cull animals, or put up a corn feeder.
This pig trap I made is of bent-pipe panels, with 6mm weldmesh welded in. It's a hexagon and you can unbolt it and move it wherever is the best spot at the time.
No bait in it right now.

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So here's a corn feeder, costs zilch.
It fits a 20kg bag of corn, which is available at stockfeed joints for about $20 a bag from memory.
Get a 20lt plastic drum, and drill holes all over it smaller than the corn kernels. This allows no moisture to build up inside and make mould.
Keep the lid, you'll very much need it.
The red funnel stashed in the tree is to fill it. Or you'll waste corn on the ground.

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A view of underneath. For the corn to come out, the holes have to be at least twice the size of the corn. If not, the weight of the corn above, once it's filled, will pack the corn in like bricks in a wall and nothing will get it out.
I found the best size holes are 16-18mm in diameter. Buy a large drill bit with a 1/2" shank to fit a home drill.

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You have to hang the feeder off a chain. A rope will be ripped off, believe me. Attach the chain with a shackle so you can lower it to the ground.
Fill it sitting on the ground, and the corn will not fall out when you hoist it up off the ground, unless an animal belts it. And they will.
I will try and find the game camera picks, I have photos of boars throwing this thing up in the air to make the corn kernels fall out, so they can hoover them up.
If you don't screw the lid on, when the drum is tossed around, all the corn will pour out the top when the thing is upside-down in mid air.
Pigs will crowd around this thing until it is empty, takes maybe 2-3 nights.
Make sure you put a game camera up on it, you will have pics your mates will NOT believe.

[Wapiti]

Or you can put out trails of cottonseed or corn. The animals will come. Taken this arvo.

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[Finniss]

If buff are like cattle that will work for me. Thanks for posting that info Wapiti. i'll have a 4g camera on the block so if they wanna lick away for a while that will be enough time for me to get to em.

Freezer needs filling.

[Wapiti]

good topic wapati . if only i could win the lotto , i'd set myself up in the border regions with a property and implement a deer management/breeding program . i'd be VERY selective of hunting on said "dream" property. paid hunting on rural properties is fraught with headaches . i've heard some horrible stories of self entitled "wannabe" hunters from property owners, and some who manage paid hunting businesses , of which i won't repeat on here . it's really hard for honest fellas to get access for hunting these days. i was up the road from your place two weeks ago, and using learnt skills, came across 30 pigs in two days without trying . hunters with no idea ,who'd been out there a week before saw nothing and wanted a refund. i nailed a few pigs, but was concentrating more on trying to nail deer . a massive boar was shot on a bait goat carcass a month before i went out .saw pics from the young fella who shot it , was as big or bigger than anything i saw in NT ! i should've thought to post a few baits myself , but choose to concentrate on goat and deer for the freezer these days . got a nicely mounted 14 1/2 point red stag on my wall , and a good set of buff horns, that's enough . although chasing big boars for a massive set of "hooks" is still on my list

i did a guided hunt years ago with peter edser of "high country safari's" up north of toowoomba . great bloke , well catered trip with skinning/caping the game for mounting as well as butchering for meat . he had a breeding program for several species of deer , and i saw his "stud" red stag that was over 22 points . including guided hunting in the territory, he has a very lucrative business doing what he loves . being me , i asked a lot of questions of him and one of his guides who works as a timber cutter in the off seasons and learned a lot about game and bush craft. i mention all this as i'm thinking with your game management you may be thinking of paid hunts as a side business wapati , thought some of this info might be useful .

Rich, I reckon that's a complete other discussion, might make a good other thread because I'd be keen to get the opinion of others like you have taken the trouble to bring up. Because there is so much opportunity for the average bloke here. I reckon it's only because people are told what direction they should take in life, instead of be themselves and do anything other than what the machine tells them to do.

It's getting out of reach, but it certainly isn't yet. It's just that in Aus, people are told what they should be doing to be like the crowd, not do something different.
I'm doing my own thing for me, not anyone else and it's nothing others couldn't do but if I can get the point across that anyone can set up a future doing what they like, it's right there. Just don't listen to the people who say you can't because that's definitely not so.

[Wapiti]

If buff are like cattle that will work for me. Thanks for posting that info Wapiti. i'll have a 4g camera on the block so if they wanna lick away for a while that will be enough time for me to get to em.

Freezer needs filling.

Oh I forgot mate, there are no seeds/flora or anything that you could introduce to another area in a mineral or lick block.
In hay, lucerne etc of course that's grown, cut and baled, but not blocks.

[bigrich]

good topic wapati . if only i could win the lotto , i'd set myself up in the border regions with a property and implement a deer management/breeding program . i'd be VERY selective of hunting on said "dream" property. paid hunting on rural properties is fraught with headaches . i've heard some horrible stories of self entitled "wannabe" hunters from property owners, and some who manage paid hunting businesses , of which i won't repeat on here . it's really hard for honest fellas to get access for hunting these days. i was up the road from your place two weeks ago, and using learnt skills, came across 30 pigs in two days without trying . hunters with no idea ,who'd been out there a week before saw nothing and wanted a refund. i nailed a few pigs, but was concentrating more on trying to nail deer . a massive boar was shot on a bait goat carcass a month before i went out .saw pics from the young fella who shot it , was as big or bigger than anything i saw in NT ! i should've thought to post a few baits myself , but choose to concentrate on goat and deer for the freezer these days . got a nicely mounted 14 1/2 point red stag on my wall , and a good set of buff horns, that's enough . although chasing big boars for a massive set of "hooks" is still on my list

i did a guided hunt years ago with peter edser of "high country safari's" up north of toowoomba . great bloke , well catered trip with skinning/caping the game for mounting as well as butchering for meat . he had a breeding program for several species of deer , and i saw his "stud" red stag that was over 22 points . including guided hunting in the territory, he has a very lucrative business doing what he loves . being me , i asked a lot of questions of him and one of his guides who works as a timber cutter in the off seasons and learned a lot about game and bush craft. i mention all this as i'm thinking with your game management you may be thinking of paid hunts as a side business wapati , thought some of this info might be useful .

Rich, I reckon that's a complete other discussion, might make a good other thread because I'd be keen to get the opinion of others like you have taken the trouble to bring up. Because there is so much opportunity for the average bloke here. I reckon it's only because people are told what direction they should take in life, instead of be themselves and do anything other than what the machine tells them to do.

It's getting out of reach, but it certainly isn't yet. It's just that in Aus, people are told what they should be doing to be like the crowd, not do something different.
I'm doing my own thing for me, not anyone else and it's nothing others couldn't do but if I can get the point across that anyone can set up a future doing what they like, it's right there. Just don't listen to the people who say you can't because that's definitely not so.

Yeah mate, I diverged off topic a bit, but I thought some of what I posted might have been relevant to possible future plans you might have. Maybe I shouldn’t make assumptions. This topic is definitely a step up from bird feeders in suburban gardens. lol
Baits for pigs is something I should’ve remembered recently. I was offered chick peas to use for baiting, should’ve set some up where I’ve regularly seen deer. Next time. Your full of tips and good ideas wapati

[Wapiti]

I have heard that a lick block can be licked into a dish shape and hold a bit of water from rain . And then stock can visit and get a highly concentrated dangerous dose from the pool .. Is this true ?

Hey Blr, I saw this block under our old mulberry tree in the yard this arvo when watering the fruit trees, the deer have definately licked a bowl shape in the top. Probably because these blocks are in this old hay cage and they have to come down from above to lick them. So your source is on the money here.

So yes, real proof not to get a block with urea in it, unless it's only for cattle and you are sure nothing else will get at it. If these blocks contained urea, the water pooling here would be toxic from bleeding into the water and the animal would get too much in one sitting. Unless an animal was already conditioned to it, and if it was a goat or horse or donkey for example, they could die a very nasty death.
No risk, only benefit with a non-urea molasses-mineral block.

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[Wapiti]

Took a few extra pics yesterday, might give those of you who might find useful another idea.

I decided one day to cut a trough in this big old hollow fallen tree, it makes a great permanent trough you can use. It won't dissapear like a plastic tub.
It can be used for a block, some corn, or as in this case, cotton seed.

As you can see from this pic, as soon as I show up, the animals come, like this young buck growing his new antlers. You can see a well-used mineral block still lying in the trough I chain sawed out.

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I've poured in some cottonseed here, and as you can see the animals start showing up.
Cottonseed isn't really practical for the hunter, because we buy it by the semi-tipper load, usually 15-17 tons at a time. But you could buy any cheap bagged feed from the produce-supply, like corn, seed, anything that's cheap yet suitable. Even scatter a bale of lucerne or oaten hay, but that might be a bit messy in the back of your vehicle, if that worries you. Bagged grain etc is not messy.

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[Fester]

Good lick block learnings.

I have never known anything much about it and just hunt public land with very high hunting pressure.

After those lockdown years and followed by 3 super wet years, I was lucky enough to get 2 rut hunts in and I suspect the weather put most hunters off, decreasing the hunting pressure.

One week over 2 days, I heard a good red roar, and shot a young meaty doe.
Next week, I entered closer to the red roar to get a stalk chance and a good buck was croaking.
Got the stalk of my life and my trophy in the garage.
I am sure it was just the lower hunting pressure in my productive deer spot that turned it on for me in that rut.

The last few years with more hunters doing the state forest thing, I have not had any luck and did my first pay hunt.
Not a well-known place but a productive small farm of 800 acres in a valley between mountains.
Seen Fallow bucks, heard goats, found stubble quail that would have been shootable without even having a dog, big roos everywhere.

Not being used to so much game, I just took 1 meaty yearling buck and shot a few roos.

All the farmer had to do was plant a small field of something just over the hill from the house and he reckoned when it flowers, the ferals smell it and come from many miles.

Even with deer bones all around the field edges, it was easy as and really, they should have busted me as I didn't see the 2 mobs of deer at first light and fog.
I should have hunted the next morning, as the owner walked up the hill for curiosity and about 7 Fallow were on the field and a pig broke out running.

He was working on higher fencing for that close field that didn't grow as he expected so if I went back, I would actually have to hunt, or at least sneak up to a further field.

A productive area, but a funny mini environment of its own, the coldest place I have hunted and where I normally hunt is considered cold and if snow is anywhere, it will be there.
It is either straw dry or flooding with rain, not much in between.
I guess the hills are just full of critters and that valley between is where the feed is.
He also had a small creek-like river running through, which would get the game in.
Grow a field, and they will come lol.

[Wapiti]

If you own the land, you can do anything really.
But then, if you are growing crops, it doesn't stay hunting, it becomes shooting to save your livelihood.

This more meant for the hunting lovers that have reasonably exclusive access to a place to hunt - it's not a great feeling to take the trouble to try and manage good animals for future hunting, then have the next mob of "shooters" on bombing everything up.
I am firmly of the belief that there is a balance here, we need future opportunities or there will be no future. Someone with land that feels the need to kill everything that isn't a stock animal to save the last but of feed isn't managing anything right. So many other animals have a HUGE value that just isn't recognised much at all.

[wrenchman]

where I hunt there are many things I cant use becouse of a t.b. out brake many years ago I do own the land and do stuff that is allowed
I am not allowed to bait or use minerals and soil on my property is poor so I have to grow or make better I have some old apple trees and a field I spread clover in and cut for new growth.
I get a lot of snow and the deer eat young ceder in the winter so I have a couple spots were the trees were cut to make better winter cover and browse.
the really messed up part is t.b is spread from cattle and I cant put any feed out becouse they are worried it could spread to cattle it is already in the cattle and farmers now have to test for it but there is nothing about how the cattle are feed so the deer get into the feed for the cattle.
I do what I can and it does help I have been kicking the idea of planting grapes and a couple cherry trees for the grouse and deer

[Wapiti]

So you can't put out corn or anything like some mineral blocks due to laws there, mate?
When I look in hunting supply catalogs from big US chains there seems to be so much expensive gear available to attract animals for your hunting off-seasons to keep the animals around for when hunting is permitted.

I guess if you can't, growing certain crops or planting trees, grapes etc would work excellently, I only have to look at all the grape/wine growers here and how much trouble it is keeping deer off grapes and fruit trees. same goes for feral pigs. Problem is the very long time it takes to get the trees or vines to the point of producing fruit. Deer will eat the trees too and nip off the flowers that would produce future fruit, that can be counter-productive.
Then there's the seasons, when plants and trees don't grow in winter, there's no benefit then.
So the animals move on and might find a better spot to hang around where you can't access them.

For us here in Aus, no such laws. (Edit: on private property I mean) That's why I encourage the use of blocks, they are:
Cheap and easy to find in rural areas
Easy to carry in a vehicle to where you want them, won't spill or smell bad in storage
Don't go rotten in the rain
Last for ages in the field (depending how many animals cotton on to what their mates are doing and join in)
And you can have spares ready to keep the cycle of attracting animals going, regardless of seasons.

The sooner people start putting out long-lasting attractants for game animals, the sooner you can engineer the outcome you want. We all know that animals will hang around food and water and make that place their favoured spot.

[wrenchman]

the no feeding is just in the general area I am in but many of the locals do do it I just choose to stay in the law.
I killed a doe and she was full of corn there ain't a corn field for 5 miles of me so the feeding does happen where I am at the deer don't get much out of a corn based feed it just passes through I would use soya bean more protein and the deer in my area get more from it
they also get more from oats thats horse feed.
I have used the blocks in the past I am hoping the rule is a short thing but they just found a herd of cattle with t.b north of me I feel for the farmer they kill the hole herd when they find it any areas with c.w.d there is no deer feeding allowed ether and its making the rounds in many states right now.
on a side note I have read fallow and axis don't get cwd

[Border_Bloke]

I think this has already been mentioned but just in case it hasn’t- bear in mind that setting food, baits, or anything to attract animals to hunt is illegal on PUBLIC land in NSW & Victoria (private property is ok in NSW at least).

[Wapiti]

Good point. The law.
Why this is so is beyond me, another law from university or union bludger-only politicians.

Another reason why considering buying your own plot is so rewarding for so many reasons. Management and health of animals, for harvesting.
Not some clown bombing up a mob of animals, but hunting for harvesting.
Again, politicians are making laws aimed at the lowest common denominator, the shooter, not the hunter.
There's no law (yet) from politicians with no knowledge of growing anything but the grass in their yards, stopping farmers from managing the health of their stock animals, which after all, are going to be in foam or plastic covered display packs in the supermarket.
Which, if many politicians on the left have their way, that would be illegal too.

[Border_Bloke]

Yes I don’t understand why that particular clause is in there, unless they’re worried about native animals relying on bait for their food or something, who knows?
Of note, tree stands/ blinds / hides are illegal in NSW on public land but are NOT illegal in Victoria for some reason.
I grew up on a few acres in South Gippsland and wish I could afford to buy a few acres myself, as it is I’ll be past retirement age by the time I pay off my house in town…

[Finniss]

Possibly not allowed to reduce introduction of weeds if not done correctly. Guess 'fair chase' for deer species in Vic applies as well.