I have 5 panels to make a pen with. Should I use 4 & make it square or use 5 & make it round? Since all I have is 5, is 5 better than nothing? I have a serious problem w/hogs keeping the deer away.

Round is much better in my opinion. Using the arc of the round pen will help make it more rigid. It will larger inside being round than square with the same footage of panels. Hogs tend to run around the round pen and not try to get into it quite as bada as a square one from what I have seen. Also try to keep the corn inside the pen if you can and do not let any get outside of the pen and that will help keep the hogs away some.

Round is better corners can make animals feel anxious

Will 5 be OK for now? I think that gives it a radius of just over 25'. I actually got 2 hog panels & 3 cattle panels. I did this so the deer would hopefully come to where the hog panels are (same side my blind is on) to jump in seeing as the hog panels are shorter. Good idea or no?

5 is not very many. That gives you a DIAMETER of 25 feet, not radius, assuming they are 16 ft panels. We used to have a square of 2 panels x 2 panels. However, we expanded to 2 panels by 4 panels, so we could fit 2-3 feeders in each. If you have 5 panels, its better than nothing, but one buck will dominate the whole pen.

I have also heard round is better, but I haven't been able to tell a difference. People say hogs will dig at corners, but we haven't had that issue. We also put a t-post every 8 feet.

Dominant deer will keep the pen clear of other deer until they start to fill up with feed. Bigger is always better. Training deer to jump into a smaller is always a little tougher with the first pen since deer have poor depth perception and they do not really like to jump a fence. They will jump it in time. With more than one feeder the larger the better. Do a cost comparison on panels 8 of the 34"x 16 ft hog 4 gauge vs. 4 of the 60" x 20' 4x4 ,6 gauge panels cut in half and sticking the cut half to the ground. See what is cheaper for you that way. The shorter panels will make them come to blind side most of the time.

x2 that 5 is not enough.

I meant diameter, not radius. Since y'all think 5 is not enough should I not even put the pen up?

Square is just easier, I am all about easy.

Round is simple also. Just lay the panels out end to end on the ground in a circle. Start your first T-post and wire the end of the first panel to it and stand it up in an arc. Get you some wire clips for concrete wire ties and the tool they use to put them on and it really fast. Then start the next panel on the end overlapping one space or staging and continue the circle till you get to the end of the last panel. Tie the end one in place to the Tpost and then adjust the pen for the roundness you like and drive in the rest of the Tposts and you are done. I used to could build on by myself start to finish in about 30 to 45 minutes once I had everything laid out and the ground was not to hard.

I think round is easier. I finish it in a circle where it is standing up. Then I drive a few T-posts on the inside to keep it from moving. No need to even wire the pen to the t-post.

I've never noticed square to be weak if staked well. Round pens unless staked well get pushed in.

Deer stress easily, even though the are herd animals, crowding is not their thing. Small pens do allow the dominant male or female to take control.

I had to build over a dozen octagon shaped pens for a customer because someone told him a deer can be cornered in a square pen. My experience has been that the dominant deer just has to lift its head or take a step in the direction of the lower level deer and it is outta the pen...at least for awhile. I have yet to see a serious fight, other than a doe lashing out with a foreleg in any pen.

If all you have is 5 build it round until you can afford more panels. Bigger is better on pens.

I need to find my game cam pictures. I have two little bucks in my pen. They are going at it for 10 minutes. Last picture, the bucks are gone, and my feeder (which was staked in) is on the ground, leg bent to hell. If it wasn't so funny, I'd have been pissed.

Didn't mean to imply it can't happen, but usually when the big boy is in there and little ones or does show up there won't be a fight. He'll do like I said and the little ones skedadle.

Pics would be interesting.

5 is plenty. I have one with 5 and it is round. Deer jump in and out w/o issue. If you are one of those guys putting two or three feeders in a pen then you will need more room. One feeder and you are fine.

Thanks. I only have 1 feeder. I know bigger is better but if I spend all my money on a pen I won't have fuel funds to get there to hunt!

Work with what ya got and make improvements when ya can. Beats losing all your corn to hogs and having them destroy the feeder.

X2

One of my pens is 32' x 32' square (8 panels). Have protein feeder, corn feeder, block feeder and 55 gallon barrel with washtub for water. Plenty of room and no fights. Just a lot of posturing.

Yep, and the velvet really doesn't make much difference, because if you are lucky you can see bucks in velvet going at it during spring and summer, while they are establishing dominance, the same way does do. They rear up on their hind legs and start kicking at each other.

I prefer at least 8 panels. I've tried smaller pens, and some that are much larger, and I am convinced that bigger is definitely better. Some deer may jump in to a smaller pen, but those same deer will jump into a larger pen, along with those that avoid the cramped enclosures.

As far as shape, go with round. Overlap the panels a foot, and for a really solid pen, use wire rope clips, and basically bolt the pen together. Better than wire tied, but costs a bit more than some baling wire. It will stand by itself really securely, and only needs one t-post in the middle of each panel to keep hogs from pushing the walls around. I've had my pens up for over 3 years an the only maintenance I've needed was when I added panels to make one larger and went to 12. Corners are your weak link in a pen. Overlapped round pens that are rope clipped together have no real weak point.

For rocky ground, a hammer drilled hole and a length of rebar tapped in will secure the pen in place.

I set it up today & 5 panels is pretty dang small. I'm gonna add some more panels as soon as I can.

I really don't think the deer have a preference. I have a 4 panel 16'X16' pen and have had as many as four deer at a time in it.

I had a pen that was about 50x50 once and had pictures of 14 deer in it at a time.

I think we over complicate this stuff sometimes. (I know... Big surprise right?). At the end of the day I want to protect my feeder so five is plenty.

Deer jump in and out. I rarely show up with more than a feeding on the ground.

Never had any issues and my stand location is getting absolutely hammered.

I think it's funny that we spend so much money on this stuff but at the end of the day they are just deer they don't seem to be bothered by all the things we spend time worrying about and money trying to fix. I'm not preaching. I'm a victim too... Just spent 120 on nockturnals, new arrows and some fancy broad heads. To think Indians did this wih sticks and stones.

IMO save your money.