Feedr time?

[bobcattrapper]

Set it up the other day.Bucket timed feeder. 8am and 4pm. Nice bucks show up on my game can bout daylight. so 7 am or so.They are all gone after 8 AM I was watching one that my cam kept taking pics of tell 7:59 50sec then he was gone!! So feeder sound must spook em.One nice one came back about 8:25 AM.So will they get use to it? Or should I just set it to go off at 10AM or something?The evening they show up half hour before dark.Thanks!

[vixenmaster]

They will get used to the sound real quick, keep times as they are.

[Shotnbeer]

Yep they will get use to it. You'll find they'll be listening for the sound of the feeder going off before they will show up or stand there looking at it waiting for it to go off.

[wabi]

I've heard deer will come to the sound of the feeder going off, but I've never seen it happen. I have seen deer spooked by the feeder going off! Sometimes they come back, sometimes they don't.

The past two seasons I tried a feeder that dumps a tray of corn (about 2lbs) twice a day and it was not as effective as the gravity feeder I had used in the past. It was quieter than a "spin" feeder, but it still made noise. It was economical to fill & keep operating (a 50 lb bag of corn was good for almost 2 weeks), but it just didn't keep the deer coming back for more.

My solution was to go back to gravity feeder this season.

It is much more expensive to keep filled, but it's open all the time, and it has been a LOT more effective in attracting deer for me in past years, and it's looking like it's working this year. I've only had it filled for a little over a week now and I'm already getting some "regular customers" coming in. I've found if the does come to it often the bucks will follow.

BTW - The feeder is "home made" from a 30 gal metal drum. I used mortar to add weight and form a ramp on the bottom to direct the corn toward two holes. It holds about 100 lbs of shelled corn and so far the deer have only eaten about 25 lbs. I'm sure that will increase as more deer find it.

[JUDGE]

I put up a electronic feeder last year and the deer would not go near it all season, but went to my gravity feeder .
I feel I wasted my money on the electronic feeder.

[Jc1]

I would like to try a timed feeder. I quit the gravity feeders after watching a button buck wipe out all of my corn. The last few years, I have only used 2 or 3 bags of corn at most and it has lasted me from Sept. until the last of Feb. I have a couple of small coffee cans and I have added a carbiner hook to them and about Wed. night before a weekend hunt I"ll take a coffee can of corn to my stand I plan to hunt and instead of dumping it in a pile, I throw it all around my stand as far as I can throw it and in every direction. That way it is scattered and the deer have to look for it and eat it piece by piece rather than wiping out a big pile of corn. It lasts longer and they will keep coming in on a regular basis seeing if they can find more.
When I go hunting, I clip the coffee can of corn to my belt loop to carry it in and sometimes I'll scatter more around the area before I hunt or I'll scatter more before I leave the stand area. You can really make a bag of corn last by giving them only a little at a time.

[galamb]

I have used timed broadcast feeders off and on for a few years now.

The deer didn't seem to mind them one way or the other - if corn/seeds were on the ground they would stop by (at their convenience) but it certainly didn't entice them to be there when it went off.

On the other hand, the bluejays and black birds learned pretty early on that the "spinning noise" meant dinner time and the whole flock would stop in and gorge themselves. The Coon's also made a pitstop on a regular basis.

I have come more to the opinion that in "some areas" a feeder may be far more useful than others. This year we have a bumper crop of acorns - the ground is littered a couple inches deep in some places - so at least until that food supply is exhausted the deer are not interested in corn or even apples (at least where I'm set up).

So for now, I'm just starving the birds/coons. If my season ends up running late enough, because bambi is not co-operating, I may set up the feeder. But not until their "natural favourite food" is exhausted.

Would you go to McDonald's for a hamburger if you had a steak on the BBQ??

[Hester0305]

Electronic feeders work great but in my experience where I hang them the deer still have to get used to them. I've gotten thousands of pics under my hanging feeders but around my areas I hunt if you plan on putting up a new feeder it needs to be put up around January or February before the deer season starts in the fall for the deer to get used to them in time.

I've changed feeding times over the years to fine the best morning and afternoon times and I try and feed right at daylight and about an hour before dark this has worked the best for me

[Bullzeye]

I made a 30 gal. Drum feeder on legs but even after a year the deer took off running when it went off and did not come back. They are loud, but I guess mine was even louder cause the corn flung out and hit the metal legs .

Bears loved it and it took them no time to learn how to reach up and spin the spinner and empty the feeder.


I still want to try a Pennco feeder, it just drops a pound or two on the ground, no spinner. I cannot remember who, but someone here has one and said it works well.

I tried making a gravity feeder in another area but bears loved that one also..