are hogs scaring away my deer

are hogs scaring away my deer? after the hogs found my feeder and made it a regular pattern to come by it the deer activity seems to have slowed down

If its a large group or a big boar they will scare the deer off. Plus if there is no corn left there is no reason for the deer to come anyway. Best course of action, since the pigs are coming in a "regular pattern" set up on the feeder a couple nights and pop em. If you pressure them off the feeder in my experience the deer will come right back. Then when the hogs come back you just go and shoot them again. If you don't live close enough that you can put pressure on the hogs then you might be looking at having to build a feeder pen. Get some hog panels and make a big pen around your feeder, the bigger the better as it will make the deer more comfortable.

Funny story, had camera pics of a larger boar frequenting one of my feeders, actually had pics of him eating at one feeder while deer were at another in the same set (approx. 25 yards apart). Go out to pop the pig Monday night, and of course he showed right on time. Problem was there were 5 deer at the feeder and they heard him coming in, so they were on alert. When the hog finally made its way out of the trees, the doe jumped which freaked out the hog and he took off with reckless abandon through the woods. No shot opportunity for me and all I heard were his roars through the woods. He wasn't happy.

Its only been two nights since, but he hasn't been back to that feeder. I do expect him to make an appearance at some point again, but the deer scared that hog away.


I do know hogs will spook deer though. If I get them showing regularly at a feed site, I will try to eradicate them as much as possible. It is entirely possible the hogs are spooking your deer. It can take a bit before deer become "normal" around a feeder if they know hogs are potential to show as well. They will be very edgy and spook easily.

I have shot countless boars for scaring away deer under the feeder. Sometimes they will eat in peace but some boars are far more aggressive than others and will "charge" at anything within a certain radius of themselves or the feeder. Could be different for other folks but that is what I have noticed.

Hog panels...

X 10

Hogs will do it. If you have acorns hitting the ground that could be a cause also. Rain greening up dry pastures can be a cause. Neighbors starting to feed corn feeders again can be an issue.

I scatter corn on a pipeline clear cut, and scatter is the key word.
If you pile it the hogs act like a vacuum cleaner, so the more you get broadcasted the better.
Usually the deer will give the hogs room, but will eventually move in pretty close to them unless they get aggressive.

This happens to me all the time. I have found that if hogs show up while I'm deer hunting, talking to them is the best way to scare them off without scaring off deer that may be in the area. They don't like human voices. See video of this at 5:50 on this YouTube video from last season when hogs walked right beside my popup blind on their way to the feeder during bow season.

low fence to keep out hogs- deer jump over.

Sir, today is your lucky day, I got a system I have invented that so far has worked for me. Though it may sound crazy it has worked and I think a few others have tried this idea out too. A little back ground my spot all summer is crazy with pigs only pigs, I can smell the pigs on my feeders well before I get to them, just hog pee and poo it stinks and game cam shows they are there day and night don’t even care about how hot it is.

1st, this is a must right before the season go and sit a morning hunt or 2 and shoot them off. Even just doing this will help but as your hog problem gets worse it doesn’t always seem to be as effective. Doing this hopefully will push them to hit other feeders then season opens everyone is shooting them they go nocturnal and it seems to force the deer to come out during the day.

2nd, I know what you’re thinking what about how the whole area stinks of pigs, once you shoot them off start putting deer scent around the feeder, not right on it but circle the area. Like I said my feeders and the area around it stunk like pigs from a distance you could smell it. I like EverCalm deer herd stick and ill put in on bushes and trees all around the area. I am also looking into some of these deer breeders who also collect their deer pee I think ill try that this year.

3rd, get used to corning a trail you can see or somewhere besides the feeder. Even doing both of the above I still will have a hog problem but I know deer are in the area, I will hand spread corn or get a thrower for your 4-wheeler and just always corn a trail you can see from your stand that isn’t near your feeder. I have had deer avoid my feeders even when the pigs where not there but they always stop and hit the trails I corn, yes hogs hit it too but for some reason the deer don’t mind that as much.

Yes hog panels will work best but when I have tried hog panels the deer didn’t jump into them, I do want to try hog panels again but I want to put them up in February and run the feeders year around to get them used to it not try and do it right before the season.

Let us know if you try anything

Timber cutting has picked up in the booming economy, that has pushed more hogs to my feeders, and less to eat for the deer.

I have pigs hitting all 4 of my feeders. I have 4 stands, two box blinds and two bow stands. The 2 gravity feeders at my bow stands are attracting more pigs than I can count on a trail cam pic, maybe 15-20 pigs at a time all at night for the most part. I have pics at one of my gravity of pigs sleeping under it while others eat. We have no cows, so no feeder pens. My spin/timer feeders only have 2 to 4 pigs at a time and some during daylight.

I have so many pigs no deer are going to come to my feeders for the most part. I’m going to get a tailgate feeder and spread the stands I have on rightaways. My bow stands may just end up being pig stands. Once it cools off I’m going to put some pig meat in the freezer.

Dang pigs emptied a 225 pound boss buck gravity feeder in 2 weeks or so. Maybe less.

On top of that the dang crows are chasing my turkeys off.

I wasn’t counting on shooting a big deer at a feeder, never seen a big deer at a feeder, but was hopi g for a chill buck during bow season. I have one cull buck on one of my trail cams so far.

With all these dang pigs I have to rethink things

if you need help with your hog problem, have gun, will travel

I have feeders set up in pens with hog panels and other feeders open to let hogs roughly two hundred yards a part. I like shooting hogs and deer, so this setup works well for me.

Any deer hunt where hogs shows up turns into a hog hunt

Just shoot them if you don't want hog panels set up. Our deer could care less about pens we put up a few years ago at 1/2 our feeders and see a lot more. 7 to 11 panels does wonders. And 2 of the bigger boars I shot were outside the penned feeders just walking by but no herds sleeping there at noon anymore.

Just open the pen up after deer season if you want more piggies.

I've also seen fence/panels in the shape of the number 6. Never tried it but the hogs can't figure how to get back out- they're trapped- can thin them out. Lots of sausage.

Yep, can just over lap one panel and works fine. My buddy keeps his wired open and would close it sometimes when he is there. They broke the wire so it shut. Lots of bones in that pen after not being there for two weeks! We had a huge boar open a door and die in ours. He could have just climbed out as it was 4 hog panels in a square but was stupid I guess.

Most of the time the deer leave when the pigs come out

One thing that helps is change your feeder times....I feed longer in the morning, after daylight around 7:00. In the evenings I feed at least an hour before dark, maybe even 1.5 hours. This gives the deer a chance to eat before the hogs get to the corn...most of my hog activity is right at dusk and within 2-3 hours after dark.

Dr. Deer recommends a 34 in tall hog panel and to cut out a fawn access panel. I made a rather large pen on my ranch in July - literally 7 hours after installing it there was a young buck that jumped in to investigate (on the game cam). I was shocked he entered the pen especially since I had stunk up the area (installed it in 100F+ weather - no fun!).

Within a week, I had many deer hitting the feeder on a daily basis. Within two weeks, I saw a fawn on the game cam. I got the hog panels at Tractor Supply. The ones at Home Depot are 36 in which might be too tall.

Also, I highly recommend buying the Clip Bender. Made the pen setup go much quicker. You can find them at Tractor Supply or on Amazon.

Pork ribs, some chops, sausage meat, ham steaks; good with eggs. Little ones and fat sow's are freezer bound. Big boars are relocated to the deep for the predators and scavengers so the deer and others are left alone a bit.