Ani-Logics Outdoors

I often am asked how you can improve your hunting property outside of deer season. Rather than giving vague thoughts, I’m going to break down the month of June by weekends and give you an exact road map of what to do and when. My product suggestions will be good for a 40-acre piece of land, so if you manage more than that simply multiply my suggestions across the number of 40s you have. This is the meme that inspired this blog:

Sunday, June 1

Bucks are growing new antlers and does are dropping fawns. These are very nutritionally demanding times for the white-tail herd, so helping them bridge the gaps they are missing in their diet is important. This is a great time to put out our Mineral Madness package, which is a combination of Mineral Dirt 180 granular, an Ani-Mineral Block, and a 1-gallon jug of liquid Mineral Dirt 180. Start by selecting an area with good heavy soil that will hold minerals. Look for areas in the shade and near water sources that deer frequent. If you only have poor soil such as sandy areas, then find an old rotten log to put the product on as deer do not like to ingest sand. If you are pouring on the ground, I suggest using a rake, hoe, or an ice scrapper to incorporate the loose mineral into the soil. Pour out half the bag and churn it into the top 3 inches of soil. Place the block on top then pour the rest of the bag out. Top the whole site with the 1-gallon jug.

Saturday, June 7^th/Sunday, June 8^th

This is a great opportunity to check on your food plots. If you have an unplanted area that you want to have a fall plot on, this a great time to plant the Pro Bean Blend. We have a combination of forage beans and pod-producing maturity groups and if you avoid an early fall frost, you can achieve a full stand of beans and can leave as-is. Planting later than farmers typically do will allow your plot to be lush green when other fields are dying off and losing palatability during the early part of bow season. If you only plant one acre there is a pretty good chance that deer browse will become too high and you will need to re-plant something in the fall for the deer. This is a blessing and a curse as you want to have deer, but too many can be detrimental to the natural habitat on the property. If you already have an established perennial plot, this is a great time to spray your field to eliminate competition from weeds. Here is a handy link to know what to spray on your plot depending on what you planted (scroll down below the seed selector chart): https://anilogics.com/seed-selector-chart/

Saturday, June 14^th/Sunday, June 15^th

Happy Father’s Day weekend! Now get out to your hunting property and check the mineral site. Make sure the batteries are charged in your trail cam. I use Moultrie Mobile so I know from the app when I need to swap, but in case you need to visit the camera now is a great time to make sure it’s all ready to rock. The bucks are reaching the peak of the growing season at this point, growing up to an inch a day. Look at the forecast and if you don’t see any rain for the next 3 days, pour out a bag of Ani-Supplement Gold in front of the camera. Don’t put it directly into your mineral site because if it does rain, we don’t want the grains to go bad in your mineral pit. If you do have rain in the forecast, put out a Crush brick and top the site with your favorite flavor of Crush liquids. Apple just happens to be my local herd’s favorite probably because we have a lot of apple orchards around us here. This is also a great time to set up stands and trim shooting lanes so that when deer season comes in all you need to do is climb up and hunt.

Saturday, June 21^st/Sunday, June 22^nd

You are on your way to growing some nice deer, but spring rain might be starting to dwindle. Now is the perfect time to supplement your herd using Deer Oasis water additives. These handy jugs are 32 oz of ultra concentrated water-soluble minerals that you pour into 100 gallons of water. I like to use these with stock tanks so I know the exact amount of product to use, but if all you have is a small natural pond, you will have to use some fuzzy math to guess how much water you actually have there. I have some spots where I use a 120 gallon fiberglass dug in pond which also makes it easy to know how much Oasis to use. I like to also put out a Crush brick next to these water holes as deer naturally seek water after licking the brick.

Saturday, June 28^th/Sunday, June 29^th

It’s been 4 weeks since you first put out the minerals, and with the number of deer hitting the site it’s time to give it a refill. Also, heavy rain can leach minerals further down into the soil and may become unreachable to the deer. To keep deer-use high in this area, it’s time to reload with another 10 lb bag of Mineral Dirt 180 and another gallon of liquid Mineral Dirt 180. The block we put out should be about ½ gone at this point so leave that as is. I like to bring a garden hoe or an ice chipper to loosen up any dirt that has become cemented by all the deer use. This is also a great time to get your soil tested and get your fall-planted seed ordered so you know you have it when it comes time to plant in a month. If I could only plant 1 fall blend the rest of my life it would have to be The Perfect 10, but a close 2^nd would be the Fixin’ Clover. As always, if you have any questions about what product to use when and where, feel free to reach out to us on our social media pages. Good luck with your June deer chores and enjoy Velvet Mania!