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mineral question

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There's a reason many states that have CWD have banned mineral and feed sites. The same reason our DNR would have banned them a couple years ago if they were in control instead of the legislature. The CWD prions live in the soil for an undetermined amount of time. It only stands to reason that mineral sites more than likely greatly increase the risk of transmission. The same can probably be said for small food plots if the article linked previously is correct.

The Midwest is blessed with mineral rich soils already. All a deer needs here it gets from its diet. There were plenty of large antlered deer here before horn porn took over and we started buying trophy rocks and all that stuff. If you're being honest with yourself the only benefit of mineral here in Iowa is for getting pictures for ourselves. My son and I will be bringing a couple shovels with us this turkey season and doing our best to remove what's left of our mineral site. Not worth it in my opinion.

As far as the legalizing baiting bill I have not heard back from one legislature who supports it. Several have expressed concerns about CWD. Now if they would address the game farm issue. A much bigger risk to our herd IMO.
 
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I don't think most hunters know how serious the CWD situation is here in Iowa. The DNR biologist at the IBA banquet yesterday had some information that makes me extremely nervous about the long term deer population/health in Iowa.

Clearly a mineral site where no disease is present isn't going to spontaneously create a disease but deer travel a long ways and we have no clue where the disease isn't in the state. Testing generally is in a few specific areas but deer can travel miles and miles and once the disease becomes more prevalent, it will travel quickly.

I think minerals can't hurt a deer but concentrating deer in a small area is not smart. Yes, it helps with getting trail camera pictures and an inventory of the deer in the area but the risks far outweigh the positives in my opinion. Too many people get caught up in the right here right now. If people looked at the big picture and got some information from the state biologist I think your opinions might change - or keep up the ignorance and not worry about the health of the deer population for your kids/grandkids.
 
sureshot said:
Thank you for giving me your opinion. I will give you a different opinion, but at the end of the day, it's just one of many and I realize that. I fully believe that mineral benefits herd health. You disagree, great. I don't think you are right.

Now that we are on the topic, please tell me why you think mineral piles will 'eventually' lead to a detriment to overall herd health? I would really be interested in hearing your expert opinion on this. I believe that you already understand that deer are very social animals. Let's take for instance, the breeding season (breeding, scraping, rubbing, fighting), does giving birth, bachelor bucks who are with each other all summer, etc.

You have the flu.....I spend all weekend with you, in the same house. I don't eat out of the same bowl as you, or off of the same fork. Would it be a fair assessment to state that I'm either going to get the flu or I'm not (that I have came into contact with the flu bug)? I think so. End of story. Show me proof of your above claims and I will tell you I'm wrong, otherwise, you are doing nothing but typing ignorant statements. Just my opinion.
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Chris,
I've always been impressed with your knowledge of deer/hunting/whitetail management and have looked up to you for a while because of that. However, I side with Bonker on this one. In the long term, concentrating whitetails is going to end up ruining what we all love. That's perfectly fine if you don't want to listen to Bonker or I but you should really talk to an Iowa DNR biologist and I think you might change your views on the topic. There were two at the IBA banquet yesterday and it really opened my eyes to what we might be facing here in the next 20/40/60 years.
 
I've hunted a CWD endemic area in WY for years. There are still lots of deer there, as well as elk. It kills a few but it's not like the "plague" or even EHD. I certainly would rather not have it in Iowa, but really don't think the sky will fall now that it is here. Last night Winke relayed some comments he heard at a QDMA summit that healthwise, CWD might not be as much a long term threat as potential new strains of EHD. Might be lots more to be concerned with than mineral sites. Even if they are outlawed the cow/calf folks will still have mineral blocks out in many (most) of the best deer areas anyway. If you don't offer it on your land, the deer will get it somewhere else. In fact, theoretically the fewer the sites, the more concentrated the deer might be... :rolleyes:
 
They say few deer and elk actually die of CWD because they are either killed by hunters, predators or cars before the disease can manifest itself but they have been spreading the disease even if symptom free. In fact even in the areas in Wisconsin where CWD is endemic few deer, I think it was 13 in one county last year, died from CWD itself.

One comment on QDMA and CWD, do they have any sponsors who are "buck on a bag" companies? I say that as a Life Member of QDMA.

A few years ago when Iowa tried to ban wildlife feeding (mineral piles included) an Iowa based company that manufactured "buck on a bag" stuff got the legislation squashed.
 
mplane72 said:
The Midwest is blessed with mineral rich soils already. All a deer needs here it gets from its diet. There were plenty of large angered deer here before horn porn took over and we started buying trophy rocks and all that stuff. If you're being honest with yourself the only benefit of mineral here in Iowa is for getting pictures for ourselves.
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Yes! The whole point is, deer don't need mineral supplements in Iowa and the ONLY reason for mineral/salt licks is to get deer pictures. Not at all worth the increased risk of spreading disease.
 
Fishbonker said:
With or without minerals? Wildlife and minerals, no. Wildlife and food plots yes.

It is my opinion that a mineral pile will not make a difference in overall deer herd health. It is my opinion that mineral piles will eventually be a detriment to overall herd health. It is my opinion that food plots in a hard winter scenario will help more deer survive, particularly the bucks that are run down from the rut. It is my opinion in a year such as we are having now, food plots will not make an over all difference in herd health. There is plenty of food available, in my area, winter kill will be almost nonexistent this year and fawn recruitment (live births) will not be effected. BUT we plant food plots in the summer to insure herd health gambling on a worst case scenario winter.
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You can say this is your opinion as much as you like but the majority of this statement is fact.
 
m_kat said:
Yes! The whole point is, deer don't need mineral supplements in Iowa and the ONLY reason for mineral/salt licks is to get deer pictures. Not at all worth the increased risk of spreading disease.
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If it keeps the deer on my land and off the neighbors I'll keep doing it. Deer contact each other a ton everyday. Mineral pile or no
 
Here is another scenario on wild life disease. I used to hunt up in N-MI. They had a BIG TB scare up there back in the 1990s. Experts warned the deer herd would suffer big time. Livestock raising would disappear. Even threats to humans. Liberal doe a day tags were handed out. At that point there was a slaughter. All feeding and mineral sites were banned. If you even had an apple tree, you were supposed to pick up all the apples that fell on the ground or you would be fined! Deer numbers dropped way down from over hunting. Then hunter numbers dropped for lack of deer. Now years later,, the TB has not wiped out the wildlife. My friends that still hunt up there, say hunting is better than ever! Last season they took more bucks and saw more action than I had here in Iowa,,so,,Don't always believe "Experts".
 
loneranger said:
Liberal doe a day tags were handed out. At that point there was a slaughter.
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Hmm...sounds like the late doe/shed season only a few years back. That was a disease itself created by the same DNR that are trying to save us from our mineral sites today... I'm still voluntarily taking mine out.:D
 
Thinkin Rut said:
Hmm...sounds like the late doe/shed season only a few years back. That was a disease itself created by the same DNR that are trying to save us from our mineral sites today... I'm still voluntarily taking mine out.:D
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Great point!!!

"Those who can do those who can't manage" seems fit when talking about our rules and regulations set forth by those "experts". Deer hunting has gray area's and BS but you really wanna see bogus regulations and season dates, etc look at those who manage and run Iowas waterfowl regulations. That's a huge mess as well.
 
Just a reminder about the Iowa doe seasons, when the herd met levels set by all the stakeholders the DNR tried to back off the number of tags but they were kept high by politics and our willingness, at that time, to go along. We are no longer willing to go along but politics still rules. And by "we" I mean deer hunters in general.

I'm not a duck hunter so I don't know anything about the seasons but I know at the ICN remote DNR meetings (coming up next week) they get discussed a lot. I hope the seasons get straightened out.
 
Come season even the ones that are not near our hunting sites we cover them with plywood. Deer aren't really going to them at that time so we have never had any issues. We only have a couple of sites to cover once the winter is over we just slide the plywood off to the side and they start hitting them again no issues
 
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