Editor’s Note: Avid deer hunters recognize the importance of scouting for deer in the summertime – perhaps in places you’ve never considered.  

“In the 2021- 2022 deer season in Alabama, we put out five Mossy Oak BioLogic BioRocks,”  

(https://www.plantbiologic.com/products/biologic-biorock) outdoor writer John E. Phillips explains. “We placed them in different sections of our hunting club and set-up trail cameras to learn what deer were coming in to the BioRocks before the season. These solid mineral blocks contained 84-trace minerals to promote health and antler growth. We knew BioRocks would dissolve slowly into the soil and release calcium, potassium and sulfur close to our food plots. Then the deer feeding in the food plots wouldn’t have far to go to get to available minerals. On the 250-acre family hunting place that seven of us hunt, we photographed 18 branch-antlered bucks, three of which were 3-1/2-year-old bucks.  

“We noticed as the weather cooled-down somewhat in September, and the rains started coming, the BioRocks vanished as the rain washed them into the soil. The deer then dug holes from 6 inches wide x 2-1/2-feet long and about 6-8 inches deep to get the rest of the minerals out of the soil that had washed off the rocks. Even when the BioRocks completely had decomposed, we noticed that many of the same bucks came by the BioRock sites before and after going into the green fields. So, we were able to decide which bucks were shooters, and which bucks weren’t for the upcoming bow season. 

“Our club had a rule that only bucks with 4 points on one side could be harvested. During bow season, we saw at least 12 bucks that we could have taken, but we didn’t. We were after the three, older-age-class bucks that we had trail camera photos of and continued to get photos of throughout bow season and rifle season.  

“If you want to start your early-season scouting in the summer this year before deer season arrives and begin checking your trail cameras are on your property, I strongly suggest you use a mineral lick like BioRock to identify what bucks you want to take for the upcoming bow season, as well as gun season, realizing that hunting pressure, the weather and the rut often will cause the bucks you’ve seen that you want to take to not be where you think they may be during both seasons. But every now and then, one of those bucks will make a mistake, and you can take him.  

“The three, 3-1/2-year-old bucks we had targeted didn’t make any mistakes last season. But this year in the 2022-2023 bow and gun deer seasons, we’re planning to use different tactics than we did last year. Hopefully we can catch one of these 4-1/2-year-olds making a mistake when he ‘s within bow or gun range. If we take one of those deer, we’ll post pictures of him on my website, John in the Wild. If the buck doesn’t make a mistake, perhaps we’ll get lucky. (grin)”  [Text Wrapping Break] 

To learn more about hunting deer, check out John E. Phillips’ book, available in Kindle, print and Audible versions, “How to Hunt Deer Up Close: With Bows, Rifles, Muzzleloaders and Crossbows” at (http://amzn.to/11dJRu8). You may have to copy and paste this link into your browser. (When you click on this book, notice on the left where Amazon says you can read 10% of the book for free, and you can listen to 10% for free). On the right side of the page and below the offer for a free Audible trial, you can click on Buy the Audible book. To see more of John’s deer-hunting books, visit https://www.amazon.com/John-E.-Phillips/e/B001HP7K6O, click on all formats and look at the bottom of the page to see books.