Feeder Question

[Hockley]

What time does everyone set your feed times for? This is the first year that we have used an electric feeder and I'm sure there is some strategy that comes into play. The evening is a no brainer, at least I think, I have it set for like 4pm now. The morning is my real question. I know most places probably don't worry about it going off and scaring deer, but being that our deer are probably not used to the noise left I'd hate to have it feed right at shooting light when a mature buck is making his way to us or have it too early to where there are deer still on our food plot pre dawn and scare them off.

Just curious what everyone else does. I don't think it will be a big deal once the deer get used to it, but I'm a little concerned for the time being. Also I feel that a lot of our deer move into our place later in the year. It seems like every year we see a BIG influx of deer once the rut is over and it gets cold. We plant about 5 acres for a winter plot and the deer flock to us when it starts getting colder. The feeder has been up since late July.

[bobo]

Someone has a nice PDF to share. I have it downloaded but I'll let him get the credit. If he doesn;t post here shortly I'll post it up.

[Smart]

Hockley....you know you can shoot ducks 30 minutes before sunrise so I try to keep mine at about 15 minutes before sunrise. You'll have to do some adjusting as the days grow shorter but as a general rule that is what I do.....right now 7:30 with a sunrise of 7:45

Right now mine is set at 5:30 in the evening and sunset is at 7:20ish.


Do realize I am in west texas so your times will vary.

[jerp]

I go to this website; http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php
to get sunrise/sunset data for my area. I set the morning feed for the "begin civil twilight" time, and reset it about once a month throughout the season. I don't like the feeder going of when it is still dark.

[b.latiolais]

We set ours for 7:00 a.m. & 4:30 p.m. It will play a number on your mind when it comes to daylight savings time though. My dad and I have scratched our heads over that one. Especially since daylight savings has been around opening weekend.

[bobo]

7:25am for west texas for opening rifle weekend. 5:30pm for the evening.

I keep my hunting wath on CST time year round and it never changes from CST. My watch gives me the sunrise and sunset times. I usually have it go off 30 minutes before sunrise as sunrise is way later than shooting light.

My feeder time gets changed year round based on when I next think I'm going to the ranch.

Here you go this is the PDF.
FeederTimes.pdf

[LeifBarnes]

6:59 and 4:59

[Mike Murphey]

Make it so when it goes off you have enough light to shoot....the farther West you go the later it is....I have mine set at 7:15a and 4:30p for the first feeding and 7:45a and 5:30p for the second.....but in another month is will be another 15 minutes later in the mornings.....

[Winman]

What ever time you start feeding,Don't change it!!!! the animals don't wear a watch so they could care less what time the feeder is set for...They establish a routine baised on the noise of the feeder and the availability of the feed on the ground.

We set ours for 7:00 a.m. & 4:30 p.m. It will play a number on your mind when it comes to daylight savings time though. My dad and I have scratched our heads over that one. Especially since daylight savings has been around opening weekend.

[Smart]

nm

[jerp]

....the farther West you go the later it is.......

And in a state as big - east to west - as Texas is, there's a significant difference. For example sunrise in Abilene is 20 minutes later than in Longview. I want the deer to get used to the feeder going off at first light which means changing morning the throw time fairly often.

[bobo]

jerp, that's my thinking, they know daylight and dawn. I change my feed times to meet those requirements.

[Extremebowman]

I currently set mine for 6:45 am and 5:30 pm.

[Keith]

What ever time you start feeding,Don't change it!!!! the animals don't wear a watch so they could care less what time the feeder is set for...They establish a routine baised on the noise of the feeder and the availability of the feed on the ground.

Deer don't wear a wrist watch, but they do know when sunrise and sunset are, so I adjust my feeding time throughout the year as the length of the days change.

When hunting where there are a lot of deer, such as the hill counrty, I always keep the first feeding time 30 minutes before sunrise, which will be at legal shooting time. I feed again 30-45 minutes later. For the evening feeding, I like my last feeding time to be at sunset and the next-to-last feeding to be about 1.5 hours before sunset. That is because if I am going to sit in the stand for about 3 hours in the evening, I want some corn to hit the ground so I at least have a chance to see something I could shoot. I want the feeder to feed 30 minutes to an hour after I disturb the area walking in.

[Hockley]

Make it so when it goes off you have enough light to shoot....the farther West you go the later it is....I have mine set at 7:15a and 4:30p for the first feeding and 7:45a and 5:30p for the second.....but in another month is will be another 15 minutes later in the mornings.....

So you have your feeder feed two short feedings in the AM and PM in lieu of one big dose? I'm assuming you have a high population?

I also assume that the ideal way is to feed the exact amount to where it's all eaten in the AM and to where it's mostly gone by dark? I know I have mine set now to where there is corn out pretty dang late still. It doesn't really bother me a whole lot becuase in years past I always just dumed corn on the ground. I would try to put enough out to where they would have some for the entire week. I know I wasted a lot, and that is one reason why I wanted a feeder.