I've had a large barrel feeder at this little wallow next to a water tank. For a few years, this baby was money in the bank:
Glory dayz...
But, it had not been paying off over the last few months.
The legs weakened by cattle, unreliable motor, difficulty in restocking, and continual issues with coons were too much, so I replaced it with a suspended pipe.
The coons were smart enough to quickly learn to work the pipe...
but the occasional solo boar wasn't.
When hot and dry on the property, it's a high traffic area. But it's been wet and relatively cool, so there's no need for hogs to even go to the tank.
Yesterday, I somehow arrived at the property before dark, so I spent a few minutes scouting for a new bait area.
About 300 yards away, I found another wallow. No overhead cover, but it holds decent water for a few days after a good rain. It had a nice existing thermal shooting lane and easy access for a vehicle, so I hopped out and grabbed my faithful small Bosch reciprocating saw and drill combo.
Buzzed out a place in a nearby tree for a spiked Covert remote camera (programmed only for night time, so I wasn't concerned with sunrise/sunset issues).
Cleared out a shrub to avoid false triggers, shot a test photo, threw down some corn and moved on.
(Actually, this last action was the most difficult, as I tend to overthink my set ups, investing a lot of time and effort with varying results).
Total time was less than fifteen minutes.
I was guarding a wet marsh on the other side of the property when the pings came a few hours later.
Three minute drive and four minute
stalk.
Good and bad news: He dropped where he stood.
Couldn't leave him there, but it made no sense to get my snake boots gooey, so I stepped into a coupla plastic bags, tucked them in the tops of the boots, threw on a chain and hauled him off to Boot Hill.
Before I left the property this morning, I scattered about 20 pounds of corn into the mud.
And it looks promising:
Gawd nose, I've put in a lot more squeeze for a lot less juice.
Glory dayz...
But, it had not been paying off over the last few months.
The legs weakened by cattle, unreliable motor, difficulty in restocking, and continual issues with coons were too much, so I replaced it with a suspended pipe.
The coons were smart enough to quickly learn to work the pipe...
but the occasional solo boar wasn't.
When hot and dry on the property, it's a high traffic area. But it's been wet and relatively cool, so there's no need for hogs to even go to the tank.
Yesterday, I somehow arrived at the property before dark, so I spent a few minutes scouting for a new bait area.
About 300 yards away, I found another wallow. No overhead cover, but it holds decent water for a few days after a good rain. It had a nice existing thermal shooting lane and easy access for a vehicle, so I hopped out and grabbed my faithful small Bosch reciprocating saw and drill combo.
Buzzed out a place in a nearby tree for a spiked Covert remote camera (programmed only for night time, so I wasn't concerned with sunrise/sunset issues).
Cleared out a shrub to avoid false triggers, shot a test photo, threw down some corn and moved on.
(Actually, this last action was the most difficult, as I tend to overthink my set ups, investing a lot of time and effort with varying results).
Total time was less than fifteen minutes.
I was guarding a wet marsh on the other side of the property when the pings came a few hours later.
Three minute drive and four minute
stalk.
Good and bad news: He dropped where he stood.
Couldn't leave him there, but it made no sense to get my snake boots gooey, so I stepped into a coupla plastic bags, tucked them in the tops of the boots, threw on a chain and hauled him off to Boot Hill.
Before I left the property this morning, I scattered about 20 pounds of corn into the mud.
And it looks promising:
Gawd nose, I've put in a lot more squeeze for a lot less juice.
Attachments
Last edited: