Does anyone have experience or recommendations on the best loose mineral product to feed to your free range whitetail deer/axis herd? What's your experience with palatability and method of feeding it?

I know how important it is with ruminants like cattle, but never have seen much out there discussed about the wildlife.

Figured the Outdoor Board "knew stuff"!!

My whitetail deer like this:

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/purina-antlermax-deer-mineral-feed-25-lb-3002331-103-1000749

I put out Purina 12/12 and it goes away.

What is your goal? Are you asking about supplemental feeding for antler growth? Or are you asking about actual mineral additives for elements you feel the animals are lacking in their range and habitat? Distinct differences.

Edit to add: Axis have different teeth and stomachs that allow them to digest the highly fibrous tissue of grasses whereas whitetails cannot. This changes the supplemental mineral requirements needed between whitetails and axis.

I guess I would say both. We're new on a lease between Rock Springs and Sonora (low fence 4500 acres with native Whitetail and Axis). Just thinking to raise the overall mineral availability to offset imbalances of the native soil/forage and help with Antler growth…especially since with both Axis and Whitetail it seems like something is always in Velvet growth!

I usually dump one of these once a year and then keep a 12# of the same on top and replace as needed

I thought someone wanted to sell me some of their minerals.

So it you who keeps sending me all those letters.

Just supplement feed with a good quality 20% protein pellet. There are many good brands. I would personally use one that targets overall body conditioning rather than just supplements for trophy antler growth.
This will insure good animal health in challenging environments like extreme cold or heat and also help promote increases of body weight and fawn production and survivability.
Behrens Feeds in Luckenbach, Lyssy&Eckel Feeds, and Purina all make excellent wildlife feeds and their factory representatives can help you with the best products for your goals.
ETA: Don't feed corn in warm or hot months. Corn is at best 6% Protein but very high in Carbs. Carbs are good in helping animals build fat to prepare or survive cold months.
During cooler or cold months feed a 50/50 mix of a good 2O% Protein and Corn. During warm or hot months feed protein only!
Feeding corn in hot months can actually be detrimental to the overall health of whitetails.

The key to having good axis or whitetail is to have them have abundant food and allowing them to let them mature and get age on them.
Axis are a little more challenging to manage as they don't have a distinct breeding or "rut" period like whitetails. Axis breed and rut according to their birthdays…not by time of year. Thats why at any given time axis does can be in estrous and bucks can be at any stage of antler development…..you can have bucks that have no antlers, bucks with new growth, bucks in full velvet and bucks in hard antlers all in your herd at the same time.

In answer to the specific question of the loose minerals….
It is difficult to effectively distribute the loose granular types of minerals throughout your herd. You can use a trough or dig low spots in the ground and pour the loose minerals in that area then lightly covering it so you make your own natural "lick". The issues arrives as typically hogs will find these licks and can destroy them in a single night….negating all your work and money spent.
The same thing happens if placed in a trough.
The other issue is a decent rain will dissolve and dissipate the minerals if placed in a trough or will dissolve and wash away if just placed in ground depression.
Dispersing it equally throughout your herd is very difficult due to the factors above and that usually the licks are controlled by a dominant animal and not all animals get the benefit.
If you do decide to add granular minerals it is best to feed it during spring and summer months due to antler growth, reproduction and lactation benefits for whitetails.
It is much harder to have it make a real difference on Axis due to their varied reproductive times….you would need it available to Axis basically year around to benefit antler growth, reproductive and lactation.
For all the reasons above is why I have always recommended just doing a year around supplemental feeding program with protein pellets fed in feeders. You will get a lot more benefits from it.
If you want to do additional supplements I would recommend utilizing cotton seed over trying to use and disperse loose minerals.
If you do decide to use loose minerals, Purina, Antler King and Wildlife Institute makes good products imho.
Hope this has made some sense and answers your questions.

You can take protein to next level if you dare. We got a biologist out to do a survey of available food on the ranch. He then sent all samples to A&M for analysis, and from there got Lyssy & Echol to formulate us a custom pellet co cover that which we are deficient in and feed it. None of it tuned out to be terribly expensive, but free choice protein is an expense.