have a property that is surrounded by a fairly large tract of unhunted brush. Its 2-3 hr drive but i wanted to set up a constant food source. I have a large tank, but it seems if i set a 55 gal corn feeder the pigs eat all the kibble before the deer can .
How long would a protien feeder last with corn in it? I was hoping to make a trip and set up a large feeder and not go back until several months pass.
The area holds alot of deer but I want to keep them concentrated in our property. any suggestions?

Just an opinion here, but you might look at setting up the protein feeder and building a feed pen around it, round or square out of hog panels.

Once the deer figure out what is in the feeder and how to get to it, they will probably no waste enough corn on the ground to get the pigs into trying to get inside the feeder pen.

I believe this would especially work if there are turkeys in your area and they realize the food is there.

A big hog might be able to stand on its hind legs and reach in with its tongue and pull out some corn, but I think you could rig up something that would allow the deer to eat but exclude the hogs.

Again, that is just my opinion.

You don't want to feed corn out of a protein feeder, that "can" cause problems. If you are going to feed free choice do so with a feed specifically made for deer.

My protein feeders typically last a month during the high usage periods of the year. I use the 1,200# Boss Bucks...

Get a lamco trough feeder... and pen it in good. you can feed protien in the winter and spring and summer and corn in the fall. You can regulate it so your not giving to much away to the varmits

Crazyhorse is right about needing the pen. When we started feeding protein, we intentionally picked out a 4 port model (Monarch) instead of a trough feeder, hoping to keep it out of reach of the hogs. Yeah right. There were a few big enough to eat out of the ports and the smaller ones figured out how to knock feed onto the ground. We used Stay-Tite hog fencing to make a 30x30 pen and it has kept them out ever since.

+1 on not feeding corn to deer free choice.

+1 on the pen. I've built quite a number of pens over the years and they are worth every penny. Check our hog panels and cattle or stock panels. You can get both types in a 16 foot length and hog panels can be found in 20 foot lengths. Surprisingly enough, even though they are lower in height, 16 foot hog panels will cost you more than the 54 inch cattle panels. The reason is they have a heavier guage wire and smaller squares.

I too am a dealer for bossbuck feeders. See: www.bossbuck.com. and check out both the 350 and the 1,200 lb protein feeders. These are the best feeders on the market, in a working man's price range, for keeping moisture out of your protein.

A good square pen can be built out of 8 panels and 16 T-posts and will run you just a little over $200.00. About $20.00 per panel and about $3.00 for 6' T-posts. Those are prices for 16 foot cattle panels. I don't know what hog panels cost since I don't use them.



8 panels is the smallest I would recommend. On feed pens, bigger is better and size counts.

If you have hogs and use cattle panels you migh want some extra T-posts or rebar to reenforce the panels so the hogs can't push through. You can cut lower areas in the top of the panels, after the pen is up to make it easier for you and the deer to get in. My recommendation is cut down 2 squares for the deer and pick a spot and cut down 3 squares for you, unless you got real long legs.

Good luck

+1 to Deerfeeder's recommendations. I've had great success with Bossbuck free choice protein feeders. I have built pens around them, using 16' hog panels and t-posts. I used 10 panels on each, which made 50' diameter pens. In 2 years of use the pens have kept out the cows and hogs well; now my major enemy is a herd of coons, but that's another story

+2 to Deerfeeders comments. Built a 75 foot diameter pen south of Sonora and had 3 times as many deer coming in as the other hunters had. Cattle panels are an expensive initial investment but they can be reused and moved easily.