Budget Feeder

Need to purchase a couple of feeders for new property I acquired. Is the Academy stuff any Good? Wasting my time with Wild game brand? Need something relatively easy to set as I may not be filling them all the time.

I'm interested as well, every time I check reviews on a feeder that looks good, the complaints are either with the plastic material of the hopper and lid, or they say the electronic spinner doesn't last long and quits working ? Makes it hard to decide on one !

I bought one from academy. The metal acorn looking one. Holds about 150 lbs. Works fine and metal was good since squirrels will eat the plastic (tops and especially around the funnel area). The problems I had were 1. the bottom was pretty flat and didn't allow the feed to flow out to the spinner easily (worked when full but not when somewhat low) and 2. as with all spinner types, if your feeding pellets it will pulverize them.
I converted 2 spinners to gravity feed using the feed tube you can get at academy. They work well as long as your on flat ground and have a lid to keep the rain from running down the sides. The acorn one is still up and I keep it filled. I did make the hole bigger as pellets would jam up and not flow down the tube.
I have a trough and it works well, easy to fill and deer eat well out of them. Troughs are the way to go for feeding pellets. IMO.
I have decided to just work on fields, clover and other plantings.
Tired of protein pellets gets expensive.

Trough feeders?

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Why not just build trough feeders from 55 gallon barrels?

Last forever and cost about $40-50 each....

This is about as “budget” as you are gonna get, IMHO.


Good luck!

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check out www.banksoutdoors.com and look at the 300 lb feeder. Had 2 of them for 3 years now. Also have 2 of the 300 lb barrel protein feeders from www.texashunter.com since 2011. Like em both.

I have had these for more than 15 years and only had to replace one analog motor after many years of working which are the only kind I will use. The 6 volt lantern batteries last about 3 years. The barrels have built in funnels to allow the corn to feed down smoothly.

gt40

I’ve got one moultrie and one wild game. Both seem to work fine.

The problem I've seen with the plastic barrel tripod ones in areas with hogs is that a big boar hog will sometimes knock it down, split the barrel open, and help himself.

NCHillbilly said:

The problem I've seen with the plastic barrel tripod ones in areas with hogs is that a big boar hog will sometimes knock it down, split the barrel open, and help himself.

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That's one of my concerns, as we've now got a sizeable population of hogs on our property.

We have a couple pigs running around also. A Tpost drove down beside each leg and a lil tie wire cuts down on turned over feeders

NCHillbilly said:

The problem I've seen with the plastic barrel tripod ones in areas with hogs is that a big boar hog will sometimes knock it down, split the barrel open, and help himself.

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^^^^
This. Been there done that. If you have pigs they will destroy a tripod spinner feeder, especially those that have legs that come in sections. Once they have it down they'll destroy the wiring inside the control box as well. Prolly no problem if you don't have pigs. We do. And they destroyed our only tripod spinner feeder. The Banks Outdoors 300 lb gravity feeder is one of the best and most economical when it comes to deterring pigs. It mounts on a 4x4 and with proper height adjustment, is out of the reach of pigs. They will thrash the feed ports and put a few nicks in them but they can't reach the feed and can't push over a 4x4 buried in the ground 3 ft deep.

Here's a Banks Outdoors feeder I've had up since 2014.

I have used all kinds of different feeders and they are all hit or miss. I have had them all fail. Squirrels chewed through two plastic ones so I only buy the steel ones now.
I bait for hogs and I drive a long piece of rebar at each leg and use a heavy piece of wire to secure it and have not had one torn down yet.
The Moultrie timers are the easiest to set.

Triple C ...if you had to buy again would you go with the Banks or the Texas barrel feeder ? I have narrowed it down to those two ...I like the metal gravity feeder... I know coons or squirrels wont chew through metal ... have hogs as well but hopefully they will be eradicated soon as we are making some good headway on em but until then I have to deal with them and I have wondered if the hogs would destroy the feed ports on the banks feeder with the feed ports at 42" high ? and can the feed ports be replaced .I have two trough feeders out now that I put out at the end of February and feeding buck muscle crumble but the deer have yet to eat any ..they will eat corn all around the base of the feeder but I think its still too new for them to stick their head in the trough . If I add corn to the buck muscle the coons just dig the corn out too fast , the coons don't seem to like Buck muscle but the birds sure do ..I added rice bran too but the deer just ain't ready to eat out of them. The Banks feeder seems to be much less intrusive looking and much more natural looking than a trough with a big honking metal roof

Thanks in advance for the much needed info

Problem with hogs. Get one that hangs from a tree.

gt40

GT-40 GUY said:

Problem with hogs. Get one that hangs from a tree.

gt40

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We got clear cuts.

grady white said:

Triple C ...if you had to buy again would you go with the Banks or the Texas barrel feeder ? I have narrowed it down to those two ...I like the metal gravity feeder... I know coons or squirrels wont chew through metal ... have hogs as well but hopefully they will be eradicated soon as we are making some good headway on em but until then I have to deal with them and I have wondered if the hogs would destroy the feed ports on the banks feeder with the feed ports at 42" high ? and can the feed ports be replaced .I have two trough feeders out now that I put out at the end of February and feeding buck muscle crumble but the deer have yet to eat any ..they will eat corn all around the base of the feeder but I think its still too new for them to stick their head in the trough . If I add corn to the buck muscle the coons just dig the corn out too fast , the coons don't seem to like Buck muscle but the birds sure do ..I added rice bran too but the deer just ain't ready to eat out of them. The Banks feeder seems to be much less intrusive looking and much more natural looking than a trough with a big honking metal roof

Thanks in advance for the much needed info

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I'd go with the Texas Hunter steel barrel gravity feeder. It is bomb proof since 2011. Single piece heavy steel legs that stake down with 12" steel stakes. Here's the only downside of the Texas Hunter - the insert that fits in bottom of feeder to funnel the feed into the steel ports is made of plastic. If you don't squirrel proof the legs, squirrels will climb the legs and chew on the plastic ports that funnel feed into the steel ports. Simply add carpet tack strips to the legs to prevent squirrels from climbing the legs or slide a large piece of pvc pipe over each leg. Prior to adding carpet strips, I've had to replace the plastic liners a few times from squirrels chewing on them. I like them best because they are more portable and easy to move. And pigs can't do any damage. A big boar can touch his snout to the port but since it's all steel, can't do any damage.


The Banks feeder is less portable - once you set the 4x4 then chances are you won't pull it to move the feeder. And, hogs will loosen the feed ports. The feed ports attach with wing nut type screws that you can't get tight enough to prevent hogs from loosening them if they can get their snouts up high enough to nudge the ports. We solved the problem by simply screwing 4" wood screws through the edge of the feed ports into the base of the feeder. Problem solved. And, you'll have to put a critter guard around the 4x4 or critters will find a way to climb the 4x4 and someway reach the feed ports. For reasons I don't understand, bucks eat readily from the Texas Hunter but don't use the Banks as often. Not sure why but we get lot more pics on TH feeders than Banks.

Triple C...Thanks so much for the help...that's the info I needed ! ordering the Texas Hunter now. That's a great pic of a big boar trying to steal some deer feed. That is one of many reasons why I hate hogs ! looks like you have found a way to minimize their food consumption. I may try and weld some spikes just under the lip of the Texas barrel where the hogs bottom jaw is on the pic and recessed a little so the deer would not be affected but a hogs bottom jaw would hit the spikes if he tries to bite at it like that hog is doing. I'm impressed that a hog that big didn't damage the feeder ...great info.
Thanks again ...much appreciated !

Banks 300 is the only way to go

the outrageous shipping cost is what stopped me from buying the texas hunter feeder outerwise I love it.

old florida gator said:

the outrageous shipping cost is what stopped me from buying the texas hunter feeder outerwise I love it.

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Check with your local feed and seed guy he may can save you some money on shipping.