Deer feeder history

[Lynn21]

We started out with the old photocell timers . the sun controlled when they came on and when they threw. Good times.

[RifleBowPistol]

Back in the 70s and 80s, I was the feeder. I would sit on the tail gate of a pick up and pour corn on the roads. On either side of the deer blinds. If I did not dump enough I got chewed out, if I dumped too much, I got chewed out.

The first feeder I ever saw, that did not sit on a tailgate, was on a place we hunted outside of Falfurrias, also in the late 80s. On that place, they had 55 gallon drums, that had a steel rod going through the top of the drum. Then the rod went into a hole in the top of two posts. There would be two posts for each barrel, one on either side of the barrel. So the barrel would swing back and forth. Then the barrel had holes in the sides, around the bottom. Basically the deer were supposed to bump it to get the feeder to dump corn. But the hogs were the ones who were best at working the feeders. That was the only place we ever hunted on years ago that had any type of stationary feeder. Once we left that ranch, we went back to dumping corn from the tailgate. Did that till sometime in the late 90s.

The first time I ever used a electric feeder was about 2003 or so. I used 5 gallon buckets with a electric feeder on the bottom of them.

[RifleBowPistol]

What I remember about the photocell feeders was when there was a lightening storm your feeder would get drained [emoji23][emoji23]


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I used to use those, back in the early 2000s, I could see that happening.

[Charlie]

Started out using wooden coke boxes, set them on the ground with rebar to hold them down and fill them up. Idea was that the small squares would let the deer eat but cows couldn't get the corn out.

I remember my dad using these when I was a kid in the late 70’s.

[coach2]

I have a feeder on my stand thet was built in 1987

[chrigging]

Does anyone remember Hunter's Pride in Pasadena? The ol'man had a good product but would talk your ear smooth off.

[Hoggslayer]

My neighbor had a 12v blower motor on a car battery with about 150' of extension cord ran through the trees to the stand. He just touched the wires together and threw a little corn out. That was in the 70's

[sotx]

my neighbor had a 12v blower motor on a car battery with about 150' of extension cord ran through the trees to the stand. He just touched the wires together and threw a little corn out. That was in the 70's

ha not a bad idea.

[DaveC]

Does anyone remember Hunter's Pride in Pasadena? The ol'man had a good product but would talk your ear smooth off.

I do. I remember him telling me to place the feeder through the woods where you could only see it from an elevated blind, yet not from the road or trail.
Had a couple of reason for doing so (lack of road hunting/ animals feel safer)

I spent a few buck in that place through the years.



Our first feeders were the hole in the bucket and a stick as well.
Filling 2 liter bottles was also a tactic, but a pia due to the corn vs hole size of the opening.

[Bayouboy]

When Texasbowhunter first came on line I sold many a gravity feeder made from artillery shell canisters. Definitely a lifetime feeder.

Feed stores and bow shops in East Tx were carrying them. Once Desert Storm started I could not get the canisters any longer.

[Hoss163]

Pvc pipe wired to a tree first feeder I remember using.

[SaltwaterSlick]

Started out using wooden coke boxes, set them on the ground with rebar to hold them down and fill them up. Idea was that the small squares would let the deer eat but cows couldn't get the corn out.

My dad and uncles did something similar in East Texas in the Big Thicket back in the early '60's, maybe before that except they nailed a 2 X 4 to a tree high enough off the ground where the hogs couldn't get to the coke boxes. Set the box on the 2 X 4, then nailed another one to the front of the box for a leg to keep it square and level... They worked pretty good. I remember shooting coons n squirrels off of 'em too. First mechanical feeder I had was a Texas Hunter with the 4 D-Cells and photo eye that would go off at dawn, then 9 hours later. Then I upgraded to the same model, but it had an adjustable second feed time so you could make it go off from 1 hour to 12 hours later than the daylight feed. Those to this day are still my favorite fedder mechanisms... I used some of them up into the early 2000's! Wish I'd kept one or 2 for nostalgia's sake...

[wellingtontx]

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS "UNOFFICIAL" DEER FEEDERS

I remember in the early 1980's there was a group of engineers at Texas Instruments in Dallas who were "engineering" timers using car batteries and a metal trash can. My Dad came home with a couple that we put on a lease in Rising Star. As a teenager I thought they were the cat's meow !

So for years I called them the TI feeders....the most expensive over engineered feeders around.

I would be curious if anyone else ever saw one or had a family member who had a Texas Instruments Deer Feeder.

[chase15]

I remember the old photocell feeders well. The stand i liked to hunt most as a kid was on a cross fence and you had to drive right under the feeder, which was hanging from a live oak, to get to the stand. I always had to remind my grandpa to turn his brights off when taking me in. Never failed though by the time he dropped me and turned around he would turn them back on and the feeder would spin off the lights from his headlights. Which then resulted to me hearing and seeing silhouettes eating corn for the next hour before it was good shooting light.

[gfulton]

We used to plant and old wooden coke box in the ground and fill it with corn.