By Matt Harper
I would guess that most of you reading this magazine have been to a hunting, fishing or outdoors trade show at least once. Many of you have probably been to several, and why not? These shows are filled with cool things that hunters get giddy over. I was a frequent patron of hunting shows, spending at least a day of my weekend wandering the vast aisles, visiting with people selling everything from squirrel skinners to African safaris. But most of my trade-show days were spent as a booth jockey rather than a consumer.
The drill went like this: Arrive one or two days before the show started,
set up the booth, and then spend three to nine days standing on concrete for 12
or more hours. After the show, we would break down the booth and pack up only
to do it again the next weekend. As glamourous as that might sound, living the
trade-show roadie lifestyle can be tiring. The most enjoyable part of working
those events was the chance to talk with folks who shared my passion for deer
hunting. I was there, of course, to sell product, but most of my time was spent
answering questions, many of which were intelligent and well-thought-out. But there
were also questions that… well, they say there are no dumb questions, but I’m
not sure I would agree with that. For example: “I put 50 pounds of fertilizer
on my 10-by-10-foot test plot, so why is it not growing?” Or, “I sowed some of
that 30-06 Mineral Supplement, why is nothing growing yet?” But my favorite,
and one that I got nearly every show, was, “Does that stuff really work?” I
remember I was asked that at the end of a long and exhausting show. All
I could muster for a reply was, “No, not really, but I’m starving to death, and
concession food is expensive, so I would appreciate it if you bought some
anyway.” Nuking your soil with 50 pounds of fertilizer on 100 square feet and
then questioning why nothing is growing or wondering if mineral will grow out
of the ground are nearly unanswerable questions, but I get why people ask,
“Does that stuff really work?” First, we live in an age of hyper-marketing,
with products making seemingly impossible claims, and often, those claims are
hugely exaggerated. Consumers naturally take the expected stance of
buyer-beware. The validity of mineral supplements is regularly questioned. With
outrageous claims such as, “Bring big bucks in for miles,” or, “Grow massive
antlers,” marketers would lead you to believe that you should fear for your
life from the stampede of Booner-sized bucks descending upon a new mineral
site. But when you don’t see bucks coming from miles away, and the first buck
you see at your mineral site is a spiker, you begin to question whether the
product works. But it’s not just marketing that has created a sense of
skepticism. Rather, there are several contributing issues. First, most people
do not understand what nutritional role mineral plays in overall deer health.
Additionally, people question why deer cannot meet their need for mineral
naturally. There is also confusion about the difference between an attractant and
a true mineral supplement. Finally, conducting empirical mineral requirement
research on wild free-ranging deer is expensive and complicated — if not close
to impossible.
Minerals
Defined Sensibly, you must have at least a general knowledge
of what minerals do nutritionally before tackling anything related to mineral
supplementation efficacy. Minerals are defined as naturally occurring inorganic
substances in the soil, derived primarily from subterranean rock layers.
Essentially, minerals are rock or part of a rock composition, and the amount of
naturally occurring mineral found in the soil of a property is influenced by
the naturally occurring rock in that area. Wind and water erosion, depletion
rates based on vegetation usage, and the presence or lack of decaying
vegetation can also affect a soil’s mineral profile. There are several mineral
elements (such as pure copper or zinc) and many more mineral compositions
(multiple mineral elements combinations), but for a discussion on deer mineral
supplements, we will focus on a few that are the most commonly used.
Nutritionally, minerals are generally divided into two main categories: macro
minerals and trace minerals. Macro minerals tend to be of higher concentration in
the soil and also have a higher nutritional requirement for deer. Examples of
these include calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and sodium. Trace
minerals are needed in smaller quantities but are still nutritionally vital.
They include zinc, iron, copper, manganese, cobalt, selenium and iodine. All
minerals, macro and trace, perform specific nutritional functions. The one most
commonly discussed with deer is the role mineral plays in antler growth, and
for good reason. A hardened antler is comprised of about 55 percent mineral (22
percent calcium, 11 percent phosphorus, 3 percent magnesium, with remainder a
combination of other minerals). Growing antlers are comprised largely of a
collagen, a protein that forms the framework of the antler. When antlers begin to
harden, minerals are extracted from the buck’s skeletal system and deposited on
the protein matrix to become the mortar, so to speak, of the hardened antler. But
minerals play many more roles other than just in antler development. Many of
the minerals involved in antler growth are also involved in lactation and in
turn can affect fawn health and survivability. Minerals such as copper, zinc,
manganese and magnesium are intricately involved in metabolism affecting body
weight and overall health. In fact, increased body weights are probably one of
first affects that can be seen when mineral nutrition is improved in a deer’s diet.
Iron is involved in hemoglobin production, which is particularly important
during antler growth because of the large amount of blood flow to a growing
antler. Magnesium, phosphorus and calcium are critical factors in bone growth,
and cobalt is essential for Vitamin B12 production in the rumen. Several trace
minerals — such as iodine, copper, zinc and selenium (because of its
involvement with vitamin E) — are involved in immune response and thus play a
role in overall health. And although we are talking primarily about minerals,
it’s important to mention that most true deer mineral supplements also contain
the fat-soluble vitamins A, D and E. Fat soluble vitamins cannot be produced in
a deer’s rumen, unlike B vitamins, and therefore can be beneficial through
supplementation. These vitamins have too many functions to list, but a few
include vision, reproduction, bone formation, immune support and epithelial
tissue.
Attractants
Versus Mineral Supplements I often hear people say their mineral
is working great because the deer are “tearing the ground up” or “digging a big
hole.” But does that mean the product is working nutritionally? All you really
know is that deer are eating it, not that it’s improving the quality of the
herd. I break products into two general categories: an attractant or a mineral supplement.
The difference is that an attractant’s main focus is to have deer eat it — to
dig that big hole in the ground. Whether it supplies actual nutrition is
irrelevant. On the other hand, a mineral supplement’s first priority is
providing high-quality nutrition. Of course, deer have to eat it, but the
attraction portion of the mineral is considered after the nutritional portion
is built. As you might expect, there are some products that fall everywhere between
attractants and true deer minerals. The issue is that many products that are
basically attractants also claim to provide nutritional benefits. A term that
is often used in the feed/supplement world is “tag dressing.” What this means
is you can put a pinch of nutritionally important minerals in a product and are
then allowed to list them on the tag as ingredients. It’s not enough to really
do anything, but it can be promoted as being a “nutritional product” when it’s
really just an over-glamorized attractant. That leads to confusion in the
market and makes people question the validity of all mineral supplementation.
Natural
Versus Supplemented Mineral nutrition obviously plays a major
role in the overall condition and health of a deer herd. But many argue that
deer have been doing fine for thousands of years without us getting involved
and supplementing mineral in their diet. No one can argue that the “been
getting along just fine” statement is true. But as deer hunters and managers,
we want deer on our properties to not just “get along” but rather have
everything they need to maximize health and growth. Why do people take mineral
supplements? Because their diet might not provide all the minerals at the right
levels for you to be as nutritionally healthy as possible. Does that mean
you’ll shrivel up and die if you don’t take a mineral supplement? No, but you
might be much healthier if you take a supplement. Mineral in the diet of deer
is largely derived from the plant material they consume, and the mineral
content of that plant depends on the soil in which it grows. The higher the
mineral content in the soil, the more mineral will be available in the deer’s
diet. And if you question soil mineral contents effect on deer quality, just
overlay a map of Boone and Crocket or Pope and Young entries atop a U.S. Soil Survey
map. The areas of the country with higher mineral content will also have higher
numbers of trophy entries. But regardless how mineral-rich a soil might be, it
likely still lacks at least one or more minerals in terms of quantity. This is
especially true in soils used to intensively grow crops. But even in areas with
just natural vegetation growth, plants will pull minerals from the soil to use
for growth. If not replenished, naturally or via fertilization, the mineral
content in the soil will decrease. Therefore, it’s safe to say any property
would have some deficiency in soil mineral content. Would that deficiency lead
to deer sickness or mortality? Probably not, but would it lead to lower body
weights, smaller antler growth and a poorer herd quality? It would likely
affect those considerations, but without anything to compare to, most people
wouldn’t see it. In other words, deer might appear “normal,” but how much
better could they be if their mineral needs were met? You might have a quality
deer herd, but introducing a mineral-supplement program would likely improve quality.
Empirical
Research Versus Real-World Studies Empirical research is
conducted via the use of strictly controlled methodology to collect data that
leads to conclusions that are significantly viable and repeatable. To do this,
you must remove all variables or have a data set that is so large it diminishes
the effect of any variables to the point of insignificance. That’s the way most
university research is conducted, and therefore, any studies that do not follow
these strict methodologies are considered anecdotal. Little empirical research has
been conducted on the mineral requirements of deer and the benefit of
supplementation. The reason is that when doing research on wild deer, it’s
impossible to remove all variables and be able to repeat the research with the
same inputs. Variables include weather, soil variances from property to
property, natural and agricultural food availability, and dozens if not
hundreds more. So, the scientific world is hard-pressed to say whether mineral
supplementation is beneficial. This is understandable, but I also think you
must approach the subject with a little common sense. First, there are rooms
full of research showing the benefit of mineral supplementation to large and
small domestic ruminants. These animals, although domestic and fenced in
pastures, have access to relatively the same vegetation that deer have access
to within the same geography. You might argue cattle, being large ruminants and
grazers instead of browsers, would not be comparable, but goats and sheep would
be comparable, and there’s ample research showing the benefits of mineral supplementation
to those species. The other consideration is the years of results that have
been seen in every whitetail region across the country with hunters and
managers using Whitetail Institute mineral products. Because the Whitetail Institute
was the first to offer a deer mineral supplement, Imperial 30-06, it has the
largest set of field studies on one product. Thousands of Imperial 30-06 users
have collected hard data showing increased body weights of harvested deer and
increased antler mass, density and overall size. Although there’s not much data
on fawn survivability and overall herd health, Imperial 30-06 users routinely
see improved numbers in all of these areas. Although that’s not empirical data
in its purest form, you can argue that the large size of the data set can overcome
many of the variability questions. Similar results are also being seen with
Imperial 30-06 Plus Protein and the Cutting Edge family of nutritional
supplements.
Conclusion
Caution
is a good attribute if you are a consumer. Although some industries have
products that must legally live up to their marketing claims, in the world of
deer minerals, there is little oversight, so customers must do their research
into a product’s validity. I believe a good mineral supplement can be extremely
beneficial to the quality of a deer herd. I would not, however, claim that body
size or antler growth will instantly increase X percentage, because each deer
herd and property have differing factors. But if you consider the role minerals
play physiologically with deer, the fact that soils are depleted in at least some
degree of minerals, domestic small ruminant research and the years of positive
testimony of true mineral supplements users such as Imperial 30-06, the
likeliness of not seeing some kind of positive result is remote. And in many
cases, the likeliness of seeing tremendous results is far better than the odds
you would ever get at Las Vegas.
