For you guys that feed protein

What’s the best bang for your buck protein feeder? Any pros and cons of certain brands and kinds as well.

I made one from a 55g metal drum and pvc, i just set it up Saturday so, I'm not sure how it's gonna hold up yet. I just couldn't see spending $200 bucks when i have a welder and materials to make it myself. I bought the funnel and lid for it.

My preference is Boss Buck protein feeders.
Easily converted to corn slinger, one feeder inside your pen can sling corn during season, free choice protein all other times.

When you go cheap on a protein feeder you get what you pay for. clogged drops & spouts, sweating inside, wasted moldy feed.

These really are some of the best feeders out there. Especially if it rains. Won't clog. When I was feeding I ran into almost every feeder know to man (at the time) and they all would clog in rain or leak or clump up inside from condensation. Not these. You can also change the feed head in the fall and can convert to spin. I am not associated with Bossbuck since 2011.

https://www.bossbuck.com/products/feeders/onepcleg_protein.html

Best advice I can give you if you’re serious about feeding, is to buy as big as you can afford including feed. I started with a 350 lbs feeder, then to a 600 lbs, now have a couple 2k lbs feeders. I go about every 3-4 weeks to refill and want to ensure I never run empty in between. We’ve been rebuilding for several years now and the number of mouths have increased drastically, so a 350lbs feeder won’t last more than a week on a 150-200 acre section of our lease. Use to be a 350 would last me nearly 3 weeks, so factor in your headcount to the best of your knowledge when buying a feeder.

I have two of these 1000 lb feeders on my place. One is penned this one is not. The spouts are high enough the deer can get to them but so far I have yet to see a hog reach it. I love the fact I can put a lot of protein in it and not worry about it for a long time. Once the deer start using them a 55gal drum is not gonna stay full very long.

If you are serious about starting protein then as the saying goes "Go Big or Go Home". I recommend if you are purchasing a feeder then go ahead and cry once and buy big capacity, BUT do not fill it up to start with. Start with just a couple hundred pounds until they find it and get on it, then you can increase your fill. I have a 1500 lb that spins corn and 1,000 lb protein. Size does matter as I don't get out to place as much as I'd like so the larger capacity helps with keeping trips down. I'd also recommend since you are just starting to keep records (fill weight, consumption rate, etc) as this will help you in long run.j

Southtexasranchman has some really good info in his post responses on this subject.

Good luck and enjoy.

IMO your feed ports look a bit to high in the second post..what height are they? With them turned up a younger deer will have a difficult time eating out of the feeder. Over time they will wear a depression after rains on the ground under each port. That will make it even a bit more difficult. Do you have a drain in the bottom of each port to let rainfall drain out? How much clearance do you have between the port and the legs of the feeders? Like posted above I would never fill a feed completely full to start. If the deer have never been fed protein I would put a 50 lb bag of corn in the feeder the first time till I got deer eating out of it. Then mix in a bag of corn and protein. When they eat that then put in a couple of bags of protein. All Seasons sells a funnel with 4" opening for making your own protein feeders. They also sell a protein head with spouts to make your own feeder. Boss Buck sells the funnel with downspout/ports to make your own feeder also. I have started with one 300# feeder with they idea that over time as the consumption goes up to add another feeder(s) to same location. I never want more than 10 deer eating per feeder if I can help. I want the deer eating as much as they want when they want it. So far I have not had to add any extra feeders. When I bought my feeders I put dug each leg down so the feed ports were only 32"-33" of the ground, not 37"-38". Deer range in body size a lot around the state. I bought J&N Feeders at a local feed store since they were well made and all galvanized. They were priced very competitive at the time. IIRC I paid $230/feeder for a 300# capacity(corn weight). They are 5.5 yrs old now and still look in really good shape.

Last couple we have bought have been allseasons stand and fill 500 lb capacity feeders, they have been good and the deer seem to use them well.

Boss Buck works well for me, but I would follow the advice the folks above gave you. Go big. I’m using the 300 or 350 lb model and they are cleaning it out quickly. I was there filling it this weekend thinking about how I wish I got a bigger one!

Dang. You guys are rocking. Ours are 55 gallon barrels. Low deer density though. It sure makes a difference in consumption rates. Ours hit protein well. I don't think we feed enough to make a lot of difference though. Alfalfa field is bringing them in strong. I've been pouring the water to it every 2-3 days. Not sure how long I can keep that up.

Our little experiment last year...worked really well and only cost about $150 in materials to make. It will hold about 1800lbs though I've never put more than 1000 in it. Would like to install some kind of barrier or membrane to help keep the protein and corn/soy mix separated. Also considering making another for each pen so we can have 1 for protein and 1 for corn/soy. Had to convert from a 4 port drop tube to just using slits as they were eating about 350lbs per week. The tube with slits slowed them down a bit....now I only have to make that 4 hour drive every 6 weeks instead of every month. Really like the Boss Bucks too....especially the ability to easily convert....but I think i like making my own crap more....

Best bang for your buck if your deer will eat it. Feeder cost $50. 1,440lbs of cottonseed was $120. $160-$220 per ton depending on mill and time of year.

I been Doing research about this. How much can you get in the bed of a long bed truck? Will it blow out? Or will it ride like dirt. How did you transport yours

That was a long bed truck worth in that photo. I’d say 1,500lbs in a long bed about 1,200 in a regular bed. I’ve hauled 4,000 on a 16ft trailer before. I cover it with a cheap tarp. Some of the guys on my lease don’t cover it and loose maybe 50lbs getting it to the lease. Most cotton gins sale it from December through May then run out.

Awesome. I’m definitely gonna try this next year. How do you find the gins? Just google em?

Yes just Google to find them or list of them for your area of the state. Don't expect deer to just readily take cottonseed at first unless you are lucky and someone has fed close by or in the past. If not it may take a very long time or a drought. Might be easier to find a dealer that carries WCS in 50# bags and by a few to start then get a larger quantity after that.

My feed ports are 3 foot 6 of the ground, that's about what the commercial feeders are, i was trying to keep it high enough to keep hogs and young deer out. I put a 50# bag of corn in the bottom and mixed a bag of corn with a bag of protein and put that on top of the corn.

I use the bunk feeders. But I’m here every day and hand bag it. I only feed my house pasture of my home ranch. Leasers feed other ranches. Currently feeding 350# of antlermax and 2 bales of alfalfa each day. If it doesn’t rain I’ll be feeding more soon.

Hand feeding each day gets me out in the field with them and gets them used to seeing me. It also helps me know exactly how much they’re eating.

If you want all deer to eat then I would drop that height down to a height they can easily eat from the feeder. Hogs around a feeder are going to keep the deer that are eating away from the feeder. IMO it defeats the purpose of feeding if all the deer can not eat easily and hogs are keeping the deer away. Hogs will learn to rub against the feeder over time to shake feed out onto the ground. Also IMO the angle of the feed port is making it even more difficult for deer to try to eat from them.

I build them, pm me for more info if interested

In the above post, how many lbs. would you estimate are in this comtainer ? We can buy it locally in 50 lb. bags?? Curious how much space 50 lb. would take up.

Bunk feeder is the best feeder for allowing deer to eat with out any restriction around them. It is also much more labor intensive over the long run. Many still use them in South Texas when they have a daily or weekly presence on their land but they put a shed roof over them to keep the feed from getting rained on...if it ever rains.

Cubic foot of corn weighs 44.8 lbs. Protein would weigh about 10% less per cubic foot.

STX, protein or cottonseed hulls?

Protein pellets. Whole cottonseed or hulls? Whole cottonseed I think weighs around 25 or so lbs per cubic foot. Hulls would be even lighter.

I gonna slap that damn bug that keeps crawling around - lol

We tried protein but the coons kept eating more than the deer. Anyone else have these issues? Val Verde county

Dukes dogproof traps are your friend. Or a foxpro on coon fight/distress and a hi-cap mag.

Yep. The labor is my exercise (I'm 62 and stay in pretty good shape by manhandling bags/alfalfa and other ranch chores).

I would never even consider covering my feeders. I try to provoke rain by leaving my feed as rain bait. Hasn't been working lately. You are probably flooded out now?

I was going to go with trough style feeders here but decided against it since I feed year round. I leave for 1-3 weeks to go on hunts some years and did not want feeders empty.
I think I am closing in on 9" or maybe a little more rainfall here now. Wished I could get just 2" in Live Oak county but does not look like it will happen unless things change with this system today. Areas to my south between Goliad and Refugio have had 15"+ as this morning. It is wet for a change and I am loving it.
From Jan 1 till June 15th I was at 6.76" at my house and 7.22" on my north fence line gauge. So I more than doubled my year to date rainfall total in last 3 day with almost 9" so far..

Down south we have had 5 inches in the past two days and its still getting it as I type.

www.coonhood.com

A half dozen Dukes foot traps and coon cage on your feeder.

Maybe try a different protein. I use to feed a peanut based protein pellet and coons wore me out. Switched to a cotton seed based protein pellet and the coons won't touch it.

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/hwi/vol7/iss1/10/

^^^ this. Stop with the bandaids and kill as many as you can. Don’t let up on the trapping either.

That’s one way but cant cage over protein, and Not fun going out to reset everyday.. especially if you don’t live where you hunt..

The little time I have to hunt I want to spend hunting not cleaning out, setting, and baiting traps

I use a home built 55gallon barrel feeder tripod with a toilet flange on the bottom, 4” pipe coming down about 18” and attached to that is a boss buck three way feed head.

I used to have a game winner downspout but it clogged every single rain.

No sense in feeding protein when they can’t eat it.

With Boss buck feed head it hasn’t clogged ever.

All Seasons 1000 lb protein feeder. Very little issue with rain/moisture. Been feeding out of it for 10 years, 6-8 months each year. Coons haven’t found a way to access the spouts. We are considering re-painting the exterior of the feeder before filling it in 2019 but the inside of the feeder is just fine. Don’t use a ladder to fill it either. Back up the truck with tailgate down at just the right angle to get between feeder legs and fill from standing in the bed of the truck.

https://www.allseasonsfeeders.com/products/1-000lb-pro-evo

^ is the model we have but our spouts are shaped differently from 10 years ago.

Cottonseed will make your bucks sterile. They should return to normal once off the seed

they have to be penned up and eating almost nothing but cottonseed to have that effect. wild deer being supplemented by cottonseed isn't going to end up with sterile deer.

No concerns about cotton seed here.5 0K lbs cotton seed and 50K lbs protein so far this year. Combined it has made a huge difference in the horns (and yes I know that technically they are antlers - I just like the sound of horns better)