A lot of factors (and opinions) when it comes to free choice/protein feeding. I have friends who use the gravity feeder tube from Academy with great success. Personally I prefer the Bossbuck Gravity Head tied to PVC and a 55 Gallon Barrel.
You will find people have had success with one brand in their area while others have better success with a different brand. A very common theme is that when you first start protein, you may have better success if you combine it with corn initially and over time lessen the corn percentage until they are on 100% protein.
Some factors to consider when deciding: (1) Will hogs or livestock have access to your protein feeder (2) What brands of protein do you have local access to and (3) How far is your drive to check and/or refill feeders. With unknown consumption, this will be a key factor.
Some common brands in no particular order are Lyssy & Eckel, Purina (Antler Max), Record Rack, Mumme's, and Red Chain. I'm sure others will follow up with additonal brands/suggestions I have missed but wanted to throw out some starting thoughts.
Thanks for all your help. I hunt on my buddies private land in Centerville where he lives. So he can always go out and check on the feeders for us to keep them full. Plus I will be moving up there by January so that will be great. He is also getting one of those big sheds with a floor dropped on his property this winter so we will be able to keep all the bags of feed in there and we plan on buying 20 bags at a time. Right now I am thinking about changing out my feeder to the Game Winner 600# feeder that’s easy to fill from the ground and then I can add a gravity feeder head to my 300# Foreverlast feeder and use that as one of the gravity feeders on the property after the season’s over. Once I move up there, we are going to do a lot of work on the property, We plan on planting some food plots, adding gravity feeders to the property and cutting down some of the dead trees and making some bedding areas for the deer to use.
We are also going to build a good size pond with a Firestone pond liner on the property. I was thinking about buying that Banks Outdoors Wildlife Watering System but it only holds 100 gallons and for the price of it, I could buy a good size Firestone Pond Liner. My buddy has access to all the machines to dig a pond out and a tractor with the tiller attachment to help make the food plot so that’s a plus lol. We have a lot of deer that bed down on the neighboring property and the owners do not hunt. They have been talking about selling the land so my buddy might buy it. They are really nice people and let me put my blind halfway on their property line. They also come through the area during the off season and trim any branches that might be in my path to my feeder.
I have to do something nice for them this Christmas as a thank you to them. My buddy always helps them and will take his sit down mower over to their place and cut their grass when they are not up at the house since they only come up during summer vacation. I found a good place in Willis that has a bunch of different brands of deer feed to choose from and their prices are good so I am planning on stopping by the guys shop Wednesday and getting a game plan going for the gravity feeders. Thanks again for all your help. Really appreciated!