new hog pen around feeder

My wife and I just bought a new piece of property in east Texas. We have always hunted out west and had a few hogs but nothing like what we have now. Our feeders have not arrived yet and so I just poured out some corn on the ground to see what would show up. We had a couple of nice deer that first night but then the hogs started showing up in numbers that made me have to take off my shoes to count. They ran the deer off and have even been sleeping on the corn to keep everything else away. We spent last weekend building this pen and will set our feeder in the middle. We have never done this before and built a round pen. It took 10 hog panels that are 16 feet long and 34 inches high alone with 20 T-posts. So, we will see what happens. I think I will spend more time this first year killing hogs than hunting deer.

Smart move and it looks good I also have 10 panels in a circle, bought 4 more panels to make it a little cozier for next year.

You will still have pigs coming around the feeder and trying to root under it for a while. I suggest getting out there and shooting a couple, they will get the message and go elsewhere.

Good luck and congratulations on your new property

Sooo, you're a hog farmer now Thankfully I have yet to deal with them, but have seen how destructive they can be on friends property. Hopefully you can still run with food plots as well, if you can get the pork thinned out

That should work out just fine. Enjoy...

I guess so...but I'm going to do my best to get out of the hog farming business. I prefer to grow food plots.

I hate to critique your hard work, but, if you have a pig problem and the feeder pen isn't built big enough to contain all the corn thrown the pigs will keep coming back & sooner or later route under.
Keep all the corn inside the pen they'll be a lot less frequent visitors or go somewhere else.

Overlap each panel 1 square tie together, 1 T post where the panels over lap & 1 in the middle of the panel, cut 1 panel in half to make 7' gate.

There is no such thing as too big of a feeder pen, I helped my cousin build one on his place in E Tx many years ago, it started with 14 panels, he has added on several times, now it is an oval using 42 panels.

Agree with Rustler. You should go back and add a T post and center of each panel. Those big boars will stand up and lay over those panels if not additional posts. Also, in E TX Cass Co they will climb those panels and route under them. We finally trenched ours down a couple rows under ground and went with the full 50" and large enough circle so that no corn is thrown outside. And yes highly recommended making one panel a gate (I use quick clips on one end to pull open) that you can back truck/utv/track in to fill feeder. Good luck. There are some good deer in that area but you sir will have hogs no matter what so just keep them out of the feeder pen.

Are you going to have as much land for FP as you did at the old place? A little damage may not hurt you as bad if so. I know thf'er "stubs" has hogs and from what I saw, they tended to do more damage at and around the feeder pen, may have just been how it was at that time, iirc his plot is close to 4-5 acres and he had a great stand at the time

This ^^^^

I'm open for all suggestions. You will not hurt my feelings as this is my first attempt. Please feel free to say anything that you feel may be helpful. The photo does not show it well but I tried to put a T-post every 8 feet, but some are 6 and some are 10. I'l go back and put some more to at strength to the panels. It is 50 feet across, so I think all of the corn will stay inside the pen, but it is in sandy soil so I'm worried about them digging under.
Thanks,

On the corn staying in the pen, once the feeder is setup turn down the speed on the motor so it is not throwing outside the pen. Most timers have an option for motor speed which changes how far it is slinging the corn.

If they are trying to root under the pen I have seen the panels cut in half then tied along the bottom of the pen fencing with most on the outside of the pen on the ground help stop that

If they start to root under the best thing I've found is to put one strand of 4 point barbwire around the outside about 4" to 6" above ground, of course that means putting in posts strong enough to support tight barbwire.
Like 2 3/8 steel pipe or wood posts deep in the ground.

If you have a pig problem I'd suggest 14 panels as a minimum & like said there is no such thing as too big. All the folks that hunt with my cousin in ETx use at least 18, some have 2 strands of 4 point around the outside. Space the points so that 1 is between the others.

I have one cheap 6v feeder on low speed and the spinner set to control throw area it still throws some out of a 10 panel pen, and the pigs come by a couple times a week to clean it up.
After season it comes down, I'll start over making it 16 panels.

You are fine, just add some more posts. When you build the next one, build it like instructed above. One post where your panels overlap and one in between. I would rather use a stand and fill than cut a door in because that's the weak spot for the hogs to get in. You can drive to wood posts and get a metal gate from tractor supply for a nice gate that they can't get through.

Mr.T yall did a good job on your pen add a few more t.post and they might stay out. Next comes the hog traps then the night vision.

Both of my pens in Fairfield are only 8 panels with both having a full length panel as a gate with no center post. So far, no pigs have gotten in. One of my feeders doesn't sling outside the pen, where the other slings it WAY outside the pen. Pigs will occasionally clean it up, but fortunately not many venture to that side of the ranch. I've yet to have one dig under the pen and we have soft sand. I did find a dead coyote in one of the pens a couple of years ago. No clue how he got in and he never once was on camera circling the inside of the pen.

Welcome to East Texas and our ever growing hog population!

Hogs on our place basically avoid two of the three feeders for some reason and there are no fences around them.

For the past several months they seem to be concentrating on the hay meadow/pasture and the roads in particular. No idea what they are finding that is making them focus their efforts more on the middle of the fields when in the past they just rooted on the edges- and not that deep.

Now, they seem to be rooting larger and deeper holes than ever before.

I swear they are digging Koi ponds...

You know you can sell live wild pigs, right? If you have that many, maybe you should put a pig gate on it and then back up the cattle trailer in the morning and load em up. A friend's FIL is mad because he shot so many for years and could have been selling them the whole time. He's made some pretty good money trapping them and selling them now.

Looks good I need to do same thing !

definitely this

Poured 50lbs of corn in center of pen on the ground. Been three nights and no hogs in pen yet. One small 8 pt on camera in the pen. Have not seen this buck before. No does in the pen yet. Maybe it's too new and they are getting use to it being there. Putting more t-post around pen this weekend.