In early 2022 my wife and I bought some property in hill country, and have been improving it as time allows. Only one side gets cell reception, so we cleared a small section on that side and got a small unfinished cabin up, along with cell cameras. Immediately we were getting at least three different groups of hogs wandering through several times a night. Work schedules eased up in November and we were able to make it down quite a bit the last few months.

I decided to make a pig pipe and stake it down where they were wandering through, and set up a Harbor Freight solar light.





First night I parked the truck behind some cedar and proned out in the bed for hours. No pigs showed up. I called it around midnight and went to bed. The camera showed them getting at it around 4am. I figured the truck was obvious, so the next night I left the truck behind and parked my butt under the same cedars. I called it after six hours of no pigs. They were on camera again in the early hours while we were asleep. I refilled it the next morning and we headed home.

They were all over it during the week as soon as it got dark, coming back several times each night.

The very next weekend I got down there, refilled the pipe, and picked a spot further away to sit. Again, no shows, after six nights straight of them hitting it right after dark. I woke up the next morning to an empty pipe. The next night I went out later, and after an hour heard the chain rattling, the pipe banging on rocks... but the motion light never lit up. After a few minutes I used the weapon light, and it was gone before I could even get my safety off. They didn't show up the rest of the night.

So I decided to build a feeder.



Notice the green lights screwed onto it. Cheap, but it's been working fine for a month or so now.

Feeder was out there for two weeks, and on the next trip I decided I would just set the camera to instant, and take a walk when they showed up.

For whatever reason I brought my 300 BLK pistol with the red dot on it that weekend. About 2am my phone starts blowing up, and it's cold af out (yep, that weekend). Stuff my PJ's into my boots... and had a clean shot with literally any other rifle, but wanted to get closer since 8" 300 BLK - and tripped over a bush I couldn't see and scared them off.

This last weekend they didn't show up at all until after we left.

I'm really bad at this.

Dew point is when they move
Pig pipe is good to lure them off crops or other areas you want less damage.

I’d set the timer to go off around 9pm

After about 2 weeks they will be waiting at the feeder looking up at it.

That’s when you can blast em with a std AR15 in 5.56.

Things are s lot better with a PVS14 and a  thermal weaponsight.

Sounds like me, they are never there when I want them to be.
Be patient, they are very smart.
Beautiful part of Texas, we have friends that have a place outside of Fredericksburg.

ETA: No cologne (or perfume if your wife is with you)!

I would suggest using steel posts to secure your feeder. I’ve had big hogs knock them over and tear the motors off. Leave a jacket with your scent hanging near by so they get used to it. Plus set a cross tie soaked with diesel fuel for them to rub on. And bury some corn soaked in diesel fuel. Once they start eating the corn soaked in diesel fuel put the diesel fuel soaked corn in the pipe. The diesel fuel will work as a cover scent. But don’t expect to eat them their fat will absorb the smell.

Just got thermal over Thanksgiving and it’s totally changed hog hunting.

Some friends have been using it for a while and I’ve joined up hunting with them. Been out a few nights, even in the cold snap and didn’t see much. A few coyotes.
We cover a good bit of ground scanning.

Well last night, we got into three separate groups in a big pasture bordered by trees. Took 6 confirmed, several more hits. Had a blast.

Get thermal

I put too many holes in it, it empties way too fast. I'm going to plug some of them up and use it again in the future.

Feeder is for the deer. I have it set for 6a, 6p, and midnight.

I would not have the feeder go off at midnight, but someone may have a reason I am unaware of.  Create a routine during better hours.

Going to need a hammer drill out there, it's impossible to drive posts in. It's on the short list.

I went cheap on the feeder because I expect the cows to raid it when they find it. They've killed probably five of the neighbors feeders over the last year. This one is basically temporary.

Feeder is for the deer, who don't seem to give two shits whether I'm around or not. I did move it further from the cabin on Sunday before we left.

The deer swarm it overnight. I didn't put too much thought into the feed times, TBH. (I have no idea what I'm doing)

My rule with feeders is to have it go off after I get in the blind, morning and evening.

In TX we have them set on photocells that go off roughly 30 mins after sunrise and 30 mins before sunset. In MI I used to (baiting is illegal now in MI) set them by time by season. In August we'd ramp them up to get movement through deer season for instance.

By feeding at midnight you are training nocturnal patterns, which aren't great for hunting unless you are setting up with NV or Thermal. 90% of the pigs I've killed in TX have been in the last 20 mins of shooting light at night, hitting the feeder that just went off.

I know a lot of guys who have their feeders set to dump one big pile at 3 every day, but I can't tell you that works.

My only hunting experience is bow hunting in Indiana, so this is all new to me. Most of the deer I'm seeing aren't very old, lots of young ones coming up since the freeze. Before the feeder most of the pigs were rolling through between 6 and 7, midnight and 2, and just before morning around 5 or 6. That's probably why I set the timer the way I did now that I'm thinking about it.

Later in the year I'm building a proper blind, feeder, and water source, but on the other end of the property. No cell service, but that end is untouched and a half mile from the cabin, wife, dogs, and vehicles.

Texas deer are a different subspecies than Indiana. Much smaller and much harder to age in my opinion as they tend to grey out much younger.  In addition they are very lean which makes them appear younger than big fat midwestern deer.  It really takes seeing multiple bucks and does together in TX to start to differentiate age and sizing, but a 140" rack can also help.

Feel free to PM me with any questions, and make sure you watch for prevailing winds before you set your blind and feeder.

I've not seen a single hog on my cameras since the original post. Starting to wonder if they were hitting my feeder during deer season because I wasn't hunting the property early in season.

Lots of acorns out in the woods in our area, may explain their absence.

Saw the same out where I hunt. They just don't have the motivation to venture out to feeders as much.

I have green solar LED lights around the feeder, no need for NV that way.   My method is simply a 5 gallon bucket buried to the lip. I prefer  cheap strawberry soda and deer corn for bait, diesel just makes a big mess. It's a 240 yard shot from the cabin porch so no stalking required and they are quite used to human smells/activity.

I think it's best not to set a timed feeder, they'll show up at the assigned time and if something is off they will ignore that feeder for the rest of the night.  Also best to set up around their water source. Their routine will vary based on the food supply.  At the moment, most of the ones I shoot are early morning right after sunup. My guess is they spend most of the night at another food source and I catch them on the way to bed down.

If that's the case, they're visiting someone else to get them.
I added the green LED lights later, which work great, I just didn't get any hogs under them.

I'm adjusting the feed times when I refill it next for daytime feeding, like BravoBravo55 suggested. It's for the deer and axis, I don't want the hogs eating it.

A water source doesn't exist on the property at all right now. I'm wanting to get that addressed the first half of the year.

I kill a lot of hogs every year. I will set up hog toys and bait sites and build trails that are easy to quietly walk on. Then a few times in the night I will sneak up on the bait sites or hog toys from down wind. I usually walk the trails with no light or very dim cap lights and keep the light on the ground in front of me. I used to use a pistol grip spot light and get lined up on the hog roughly and hit the trigger on the spot light quickly putting the crosshairs on the kill spot and shooting. Now I use a scope mounted light. I have NEVER had pigs that waited on a feeder to go off. My favorite bait is corn in a five gallon bucket , a large package of strawberry jello and a jug of vegetable oil poured in with a bit of a mix. I would go out before dark and put it out where I could sneak up on it with the wind in my favor and some brush to use as cover until I can get into a good place to shoot from. As for a water source bury a big plastic tub to catch rain or that you fill from a drum.

If that feeder hasn’t already gotten knocked over and destroyed it probably will soon.

Yep.

It lasted longer than I thought it would. Starting end of April I'll be able to head down regularly over weekends again. I'll salvage what I can from this one, and see if I can't get a dinner date one night.

New feeder is up, the kids like it.

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Have a decent shooting lane cleared now.

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Have had a few visitors here and there, but as usual I missed them. This group showed up ten minutes before I got up to pee, phone was on silent from the night before so I didn't get the camera notifications.

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I was already home when they showed up later.

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Work has been sending me down this way a few Fridays a month to cover staffing shortages so at least the gas is paid for.  I'm still not good at this.

Looks like the stars just have not aligned yet.

Better stake it down. Hogs will destroy it.
I’ve had better luck spreading corn over a wide area. Wildlife do better not crowded.

A pig roller pipe keeps them occupied longer too.

Get a varmint guard or the coons will play wheel of fortune with the spinner plate on the feeder.

It's not you it's the location.   Even on a timer you're going to have problems getting the pigs in, they're is soooo much corn out during deer season.   Keep feeding/throwing year round.   They will show up around feb/March when the season is over.   They have numerous locations with reliable Coen currently.