Sitting in a blind waiting for hogs to show up at the feeder can be tiresome so I rely on motion sensors to tell me when the hogs are at the feeder while I sleep or surf the web. I have used several models and really have not find one to work reliably at 120 yards w/o trees (crow’s flight) so I would like to know what you have used and how you rate them. Here are the ones I used:

Driveway Patrol - $15 – Rated for 133 yards but it doesn’t work for me at 120 yards. Works great at 60 yards so if this the distance you hunt, it one is the best for the price.

Household Alert - $35 – Rated for 266 yards but it doesn’t work reliably for me at 120 yards

Guardline - $99 – Rated for 166 yards but it doesn’t work reliably for me at 120 yards

Miltronics Hunters Alert - $249 with 2 transmitters – most disappointing for the high price. Rated for 333 yards but it is not working reliably for me at 120 yards

Chamberlain CWA2000 - $60 – 880 yards – I have not used this one yet. Wonder how good it is.

What do you use and what would you recommend?

Thanks,

After your post on what you used, I went and looked them up and found this site.

http://www.gadgetshack.com/wireless-driveway-alarms/

What I focused on was the detection range of the detector itself. The range to the receiver seemed to be way longer than needed (for me 150yds).

Lowest seems to be 30ft via the Chamberlain (what I use) and a few others on here have used. The highest was 50ft. I never did find a spec for the Miltronics one you have.

I think what's telling is the detection field as stated is like 40' on one one of them. Depending on where you have it, that's not that big of space given the size of the average hog hunting arena. (30-50ft distance with a 40' view)

Per the other post, I think you're missing more than you know by relying on those so much, I know I was. You need something to scan with.

Click this --> Leupold scope

Charlie

I have used the 1/4 mile Guardline for over a year at 300 yards in a non-line of sight with no problems . I have taken a lot of hogs with it .The adjustable volume and different tones are a big help . I had Chamberlains but could not hear the alert sound and both corroded inside to be beyond use after a year , in dry west Tx.

CharlieCTx - Miltronics website is not easy to navigate to find stuff. Here is the link:

https://drivewayalert.com/system/hunters-alert%C2%AE-system

diablodog - where to you position your sensor? How high off the ground and how far from the expected animal standing?

Thanks

I went this route for a period of time. I found that most of the time the pigs didn't come that night as expected. Whether it was from checking my camera to pinpoint when to be in the stand or whatever. I have switched to cell cameras. Now I dont disturb the area. And if I get a txt I generally drive out and shoot them. Saved a lot of time sitting in a stand in the dark doing nothing, and gas wasted from not seeing anything. The time saving keeps the wife at bay and allots me to go hunting when I want. I actually think it lets me out of the house more. BC she gets tired "of the pigs txting me"...

I have used the Chamberlin for a couple of years now and it works great. Distance is 750 feet from the house.

http://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/6609261/Re:_First_Hunt_With_The_Therma#Post6609261

I use the harbor freight driveway alarm. Max distance is about 80 yards. The beeper is way to loud. But for $12 its hard to beat. I am going to try and hack a telescoping antenna to mine to see if the distance is improved. That is if radio shack has one. I need 120 yards reliable effective range. Looks like it will be easy.

Do you have any suggestions for both a make/model cell cam and your cell provider? I can use either Verizon or AT&T, but if there is a particular brand that doesn't play nice with CDMA or GSM I'd like to know that in advance. Thanks for your input.

Great idea. This is exactly what I need. I will give one a try, then move it to my driveway !!!!

I use a Covert Code Black AT&T for that same purpose, works great.

Tonight I added an antenna to my harbor freight DRIVEWAY PATROL prim transmitter. Before I made the change I tested it and was getting reliable triggers out to 120 yards. I added a switch to turn the unit on and off and added a cheap radio shack rf antenna. Afterward I again tested the unit and was able to get a reliable trigger out to 200 yards which was a far as I could get and still see the red led light up on the receiver.

I use a Chamberlain motion sensor and have been pretty happy with it. On 26 acres, it transmits from the feeder through thick trees and brush to my RV about 500' away with no problem. The only issue I have had is that the 2nd set of batteries corroded after a month or so. The sensor has led to several kills when the hogs show up during the day. Of course sometimes it's a deer.

HCO makes good cellular cameras also. Ive used them for 5 yrs with no problems.

After fooling with several different "cheap" attempts at motion detectors for pigs, I bought a pair of Dakota Alert MURS motion sensors and a compatible walkie talkie. WOW. It made me regret fooling with the cheaper rigs. I have one on a feeder near the river, which is almost a 1/2 mile, from my cabin, through the woods. The second is on a feeder about 165 years from the cabin. It has no problem covering the 1/2 mile between the two units. I get about 3 months on a set of 6 AA batteries. The each have a unique number, so you can tell which one is going off. Since they each have a programmable guard tone, I can set the walkie talkie to only respond to one, or both.

With a little tweaking, they can be adjusted so they are pretty much immune to raccoons, but reliably trigger on pigs. (If I could just get them to ignore deer )

That's what we used as well. They work extremely well. We had 2 feeders set up to 'hunt' from the house. One 250 yds across a draw and the other 150 yards in the opposite direction in thicker oaks. We had no problem get signal inside of the house from either unit.

What's the range of the detector itself?

Depends on the detector, I'd say around 30 feetfor mine, its a cheapie though.

If i get my barrel back tomorrow, I'm planning on going out Friday night and test my DYI detector. Was rained out the last time.

Guys, I'm new to hunting and I want to buy everything that I will need. I've already bought almost everything but I don't know if I should buy a walkie-talkie? My friend advises me to buy a walkie-talkie because in his opinion it is really a necessary thing during any hunt. He also advised me to learn codes for walkie-talkies https://www.walkie-talkie-guide.com/codes-for-walkie-talkies/. I do not want to spend extra money on things that I do not need, so I would appreciate it if you share your opinion and experience with my question.

Look at BigFoot Game Camera. They use AT&T and have a really reasonable data plan. I've got 6 and they work flawlessly for over 3 years now. Get the 4G.

Bizarre question. Radios are a thing of the past. Easier to simply text your hunting partners. Would only bring a set of radios if there was no cell service in an area. And there is zero need for "coded" talk.

this

Interesting…
I have some "walkie-talkies" (FRS/GMRS radios) although my hunting buddy and I seldom use them anymore. They have come in handy when we've needed to split up on occasions where we suspected hogs were in a brushy/wooded area and wanted to approach from two directions, or drive them in a certain direction. Being able to talk helps prevent us from shooting in each others' direction.

With thermal weapon sights, most of our hunting is now done at night and we typically don't separate.

The MURS Alert Transmitters are what I use as well. Started with the chamberlain driveway alarms, but the range on the chamberlain was always on the edge of being enough and I was always having to replace them due to not taking wet weather well. You get what you pay for. Then I went with the Murs and a handheld. From camp I can get alerts from stands that are at least a mile away in opposite directions. Note camp is on a high spot of the lease. The alert is a woman's voice. "Alert Zone One" or zone two and so on. My east texas hog hunting place I took my feeder lights down, have black out blinds on my windows, use night vision now, and rely solely on the murs sensors to alert or wake me. I made up hangers or screws in threes to hang the sensors on at each feeder so I don't leave the sensors out in the weather year round. I can bring them in if I am going to be away from the lease for very long. Or use them for monitor other things like on a carcass, trails, temporary hand baited areas, etc. while I am hunting. Note even adjusting the sensitivity and height, you can still get some false alerts from large coons. A couple weeks ago I shot a fox that was big enough to set off a sensor on a pig pipe. Same trip at my east texas hog hunting place, I had a large coon constantly climbing up on a stump in front of my murs sensor that was wearing me out setting off the alert and waking me up every time it got to the top of the stump.

I open the HF units up and drilled a hole to get the antenna outside the unit and still couldn't get them to be reliable at 110 yds. Even doing this, some couldn't reach 80 yds.
I don't know if there is more you can do. You end up with about 4" of antenna outside the unit. I used silicone on the inside to seal it.

I switched to Chamberlin and can get 110 reliability. Use lithium batteries!