I hunt on my buddies property and we want to put out some gravity feeders after the season to help with antler growth and keep the population healthy. I moved down to Texas 5 years ago from up north where it was illegal to use feeders so I am new to using them. My wife is from Texas so we decided to move down here to be closer to her family. I had to get back surgery so I just started getting back to hunting 3 years ago. I have a 300# feeder and sometimes put up the 100# tree hugger feeder for hog hunting. I hunt out of a 4'x8' blind on a 5' tower and have the Sniper Hog Light Exterminator II Feeder Light on the side of my blind. I also have The Remote feeder remote hooked up to my 300# feeder. I love hunting in Texas and kinda went all out with the hunting set up lol. Right now I am feeding them apple scented corn and corn with roasted soybean mix from the Waller Rice Drier company. Then I threw down some Wildgame Innovations Acorn Rage and their Sugar Beet Crush. They seem to really like the Sugar Beet Crush and we have been seeing a lot more bucks on the cameras I have set up. We are probably going to build the protein feeders using the Game Winner Gravity Feeder Tube they sell at Academy Sports or making them from pvc tubes and strapping them to a tree. So I was hoping someone here could steer me in the right direction on a good protein pellet that would not cost me a lot of money to keep 3 gravity feeders filled through the off season. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everybody and have a great season!!!!

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.

Start your protein feeding in December. We use boss buck protein feeders. Rule of thumb is to have protein in the feeders that will be consumed within a month. We feed antler max with climate guard during the hot months and antler max with water shield in the spring. We use a protein for recovery starting in December. Keep the protein tubes about 40” off the ground or you’ll feed swine.

Good luck.

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!

Thanks for all the great info. I will bring up those brands when I stop by the guys feed shop in Willis this Wednesday. He actually told me that he sells a lot of the Antler Max and suggested that too. He told me to come in and we could get a game plan going on what to use and what others use up in the area I hunt. I definitely don’t want to feed the hogs and we finally got them to move along and leave the property. We have a neighbor who runs dogs on them every year and he really helped get the problem under control for now lol. We have a huge field that butts up against the back of the property and the other side of the field goes down to the trinity river so I am sure the hogs will be back this winter lol. I am going to put hog panels all the way around the small pond and the food plots so they don’t eat everything and find a new watering hole to hang out at. Thanks again for telling me what to use. Definitely helps me out!