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Thread: School me on deer feeders

  1. #1
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    Default School me on deer feeders

    I’ve never owned a feeder in the past, honestly never cared that much about deer hunting. I would go 5 or 6 times a year, and shoot one or two a year. This past year my two nephews showed a lot of interest, and I imagine they will want to go any chance they get next year. Their dad is not a hunter, but they love it, and I enjoy the time with them.
    I bought my first feeder yesterday, to cut down on the trips back and forth to the property. Last season I would put out 100 pounds of corn on a Thursday, and it would be all but gone by Saturday afternoon. I’m hoping the feeder will slow this down some. I have read that it takes some time to get them used to it, so I’m not opposed to running it year round, other than removing it during turkey season.
    Is there a benefit other than the obvious to running year round? How long should I set it to run, and what times each day are you seeing to be most successful. Like I said before, this is my first feeder so any help is appreciated. It’s a Moultrie 30 gallon elite, if that matters. I typed all this on the phone, so spare me the typos. Thanks!

  2. #2
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    OK. I'll bite.....

    Dont put the ugly thing in the middle of a field. Put it in the damn woods. 30gal aint that big so dont run the thing for 20sec right at dusk. Why not just let it put out corn for you around noon every day until its empty. Then refill. Repeat. Depending on the type of feeder, you could have a bunch of options for settings. I think 5sec at noon, for now, should be fine. That way, you never have to worry about sunrise/sunset times changing.

    My opinion.
    Ugh. Stupid people piss me off.

  3. #3
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    5 seconds at noon will get wiped out by the flock of turkeys at 1230. Should be patterned good by March

  4. #4
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    Those moultries are great entry level feeders to get you used to the refilling routine and figuring out what the best feed time/duration is. They are also going to teach you real quick if you have hogs/bears that want that thing laying sideways on the ground.

    If you have deer that will feed under it, and you've found the right feed duration/time, move up to something like this:
    https://www.texashunterproducts.com/...r-with-8-legs/
    My buddy just bought three of these for his property, and I'm interested to see how they work out.

    They're expensive, but they will last much longer than those moultries. Plus, you can take the $100 you save with the winter sale and put it towards hog fencing for around the base.

  5. #5
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    Thanks! No hogs or bears on this property..... yet.

  6. #6
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    4 seconds in the morning and 8 in the evening
    "They are who we thought they were"

    You can dress a fat chick up, but you cant fix stupid

  7. #7
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    jwilliams is offline 2th Doc's Fishing understudy
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    Meh. I would go with a gravity feeder. Boss buck
    Quote Originally Posted by Glenn View Post
    Does Elton John know you have his shotgun?

  8. #8
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    I have always had good luck with 4 seconds 30 minutes before sun up ish and 4 seconds 30 minutes before sun down ish

  9. #9
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    We use feeders. Started off with the barrel on time feeder 30 gallons. When we started in a new place we would let them run for 10 seconds and check them after 2 weeks and see how is was being used. Tried to keep it from rotting and use the trail cameras. Then adjust accordingly and check again until we met the density of deer.

    Then moved to the 55 gallon drum, you can by all the pieces online. Legs get from a pipe company or scrap yard.

    Now we build our own 1k lb feeders. For ease of filling and times to fill them. Only fill them about 3x a year. They run 15 second in the morning and 15 seconds in the afternoon. After the season is over I back them down a little.

  10. #10
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    I run 4 sec 30 min prior to sunup / 4 sec 30 min prior to sundown. Once it cools down I will add a later PM time to attract hogs.

  11. #11
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    Well, they feed deer
    You've got one life. Blaze on!

  12. #12
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    Resurrecting this thread to ask the brain trust for some feeder advice...

    I've got no bears or hogs. I've got no problems with feeding times and durations.

    Now to what I do have. Just like almost all of us I've got muggy south carolina heat most of the year, sometimes cooler mornings/evenings which lends itself to moisture inside the barrel/drum. I've got very determined squirrels that will chew up/through standard varmint guards and they will chew through a plastic barrel like a hot knife through butter. See pic. I've got sideways blowing rain during thunderstorms which no matter how certain I am the top is leak proof, that sonofagun will leak.

    I've determined I want to use a spinner feeder that is heavy duty enough to keep out the squirrel vermin and well designed enough to keep out the elements.

    For the one or 2 of you that made it through this dear diary entry, do you have any feeder suggestions along those lines?
    IMG_1654.jpg

  13. #13
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    Metal drums and you can by the kit to get them up and standing.

    All season feeder makes a feeder that the plate closes on the opening when not in use. When the feeder goes off, it’s opens up and spins. You can actually by everything from all season if you want a one stop shop.

    https://www.allseasonsfeeders.com/pr...inator-spinner
    Last edited by TJ_11; 10-11-2019 at 08:58 AM.

  14. #14
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    Texas Hunter. They are on sale now. Either get the kit and install on a metal barrel or just buy their unit complete.

  15. #15
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    OK. I'll bite.....

    Dont put the ugly thing in the middle of the pretty woods. Put it in a damn field.

    My opinion.
    Ephesians 2 : 8-9



    Charles Barkley: Nobody doesn't like meat.

  16. #16
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    I bought a Game Winner feeder from Mars Bluff on here about a year ago.



    It holds 600 lbs so you don't have to fill it up too often. I had it up and running in a hog infested swamp until some time this summer. They never knocked it over, and as long as you keep the screen screwed down, the squirrels can't get it. I was happy with it. I remember when I picked it up, MB said that it was a huge pain in the ass to assemble. It can be a little squirrelly climbing up the ladder with 50 lb sacks of corn on your shoulder. The solar panel keeps the battery charged.

    It now serves as a chicken feeder in a run in my backyard.
    Last edited by wob; 10-11-2019 at 09:11 AM.

  17. #17
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    I bought a cheap $90 Moultrie and run it 30 min before sunrise for 5 seconds. I had it in afternoon too but they were all nocturnal. Now they burn it up when its light outside or they don't get any. I've only put 2 bags of corn in it since august. Before, 2 bags would last a few days
    "Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.
    I am haunted by waters" Norman Maclean.

  18. #18
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    I've moved to directional feeders that can be filled standing on the ground. They are actually sold as fish feeders. Sweeney makes the best and the ones to which all others are compared but Aquapro makes some that are pretty good.

    https://www.wildgameinnovations.com/...al-fish-feeder

    This says that they hold 75 lbs. of fish food but they will hold about 125 lbs of shelled corn.

  19. #19
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    On open spaces I use the broadcast. Back in the woods I use these. https://quietfeeder.com/index.html

    For directional I just build a deflector or use heavy screen around the spinner. Some drops straight down, most goes where I want it to.

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kirk View Post
    Texas Hunter. They are on sale now. Either get the kit and install on a metal barrel or just buy their unit complete.
    This
    Them that don't know him won't like him, and them that do sometimes won't know how to take him

    He ain't wrong, he's just different, and his pride won't let him do things to make you think he's right

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