I know everyone sets their feeder for different times in respect to when it gets light out. I typically throw mine about 15 minutes before shooting time. Just a personal preference.

But my question is, do you think its smart to change your feed time before the time changes or to wait until the night before the time changes and sync it to where you are still throwing (in this case) 15 minutes before daylight.

I hope that makes sense.

I always try to change mine a few days before. If for some reason I cant get it done, I will just leave it as is and then change it on the way out after Sundays hunt.

Sean98 said:

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Your feeder doesn't know that a law has arbitrarily changed the time. If it is set to go off 15 minutes before daylight the day before DST kicks in it'll still go off 15 minutes before daylight the day after.

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no its set to 6:45

But unless you have a satellite synced timer (like your phone) then its not going to change the clock overnight. So your timer AND your clock will be off 1 hour. As long as they are BOTH off them your feeder will still go off at the appropriate point of the day.

I.e, maybe it's 5:45am in reality but your clock in the feeder will still be an hour ahead (6:45, same as your feed time) so it'll still go off when you want it to.

I never change the times except to adjust maybe + or - 10 minutes depending on light. DLST really doesn't matter.

6:50 regular time, never change it.

phdag said:

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I never change the times except to adjust maybe + or - 10 minutes depending on light. DLST really doesn't matter.

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This. I keep my feeder out year round, so I only adjust due to changing light. The time setting is relative to actual sunrise, so DST doesn't matter.

Don't ever set it to daylight savings time. Leave it set based on standard time.

BlackGoldAg2011 said:

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Just a quick poll. Last year when i was hunting I had the idea to build a feeder timer, that would allow you to input lat/long into it and once you set the time/date, and told it when relative to the sun you would like it to go off, would auto adjust daily to keep the set time at the same time relative to shooting light, adjusting a little each day to account for the change in sunrise/set time. If such a thing was commercial and in the $20-$40 range how many of y'all would be interested in such an item? or does this already exist and i just haven't found it?

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I'll take 5

BlackGold do you need an investor. Lets get this thing going.

While you're at it, market a feeder solar panel that mounts to the barrel via magnets. Magnets strong enough that coons can't pull it off but where I'm able to get my grubby fingers around it and pull it off if necessary.

My buddy says he has several just like this he bought at the Texas Trophy Hunters extravaganza a few years back. I'll get the brand name so you can compare if it's apples to apples.

I want a timer that:

Is app friendly, changes times run times remotely (via wifi or within a couple hundred yards)
Has a remote built in to the app
Has built in capability to adapt to time changes

This is a stretch:

The capability to input amount of feed and then remember amount of feed thrown to give you the amount thrown in lbs or lbs per second. (All of which can be done by hand now... just we be nice to easily set up my timer and go "great! I'll be throwing 50lbs per week!").

ttha_aggie_09 said:

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The capability to input amount of feed and then remember amount of feed thrown to give you the amount thrown in lbs or lbs per second. (All of which can be done by hand now... just we be nice to easily set up my timer and go "great! I'll be throwing 50lbs per week!").

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My current feeder actually does this (if I understand your post correctly). When I fill the feeder I can set how many pounds of corn I added and then based on the run times it will display how many days the corn will last. There is also a chart on the side of the timer that shows how much corn it throws for each run time (seconds), if I wanted to calculate it myself.

Who makes it?

It's just a small 40-lb feeder I put up at my house. Pretty sure it's this one. I'm not sure what the actual model of the timer is, but I assume you could buy it separately if needed.


Upon further review, I think this is probably it.

Thanks! If they make a 12v I would be more interested.

Do you prefer 12V for battery life, or is that just what you already have?

I will say, I've had this feeder out for over a year and have changed the batteries once in that time (4 Cs or Ds, can't remember). I had planned on getting an rechargeable 6V, but didn't really have the need.

Battery life. My lease is 4hrs away and a 12v lasts about 5 years. Prefer the extra battery as insurance.

Gotcha. Carry on.

AgEng06 said:

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ttha_aggie_09 said:

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The capability to input amount of feed and then remember amount of feed thrown to give you the amount thrown in lbs or lbs per second. (All of which can be done by hand now... just we be nice to easily set up my timer and go "great! I'll be throwing 50lbs per week!").

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My current feeder actually does this (if I understand your post correctly). When I fill the feeder I can set how many pounds of corn I added and then based on the run times it will display how many days the corn will last. There is also a chart on the side of the timer that shows how much corn it throws for each run time (seconds), if I wanted to calculate it myself.

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My Moultrie feeder does that and has the chart inside the water tight battery/timer box.

It's been a great timer for five seasons, and I just had to replace the battery this month for the first time ever (using a cheap solar charger).

Hogs had knocked the whole feeder down and the battery/timer box was submerged in water for more than a week. I pulled it out and nothing came on. Thought it was dead. Turned out it was just the battery. Inside the box was bone dry, but the solar panel had fallen in the mud, so it wasn't charging. Put a new battery in it and it ran great.


I do like the idea of a timer that auto adjusts to always throw at a fixed time relative to sunrise. I might have to pull out an arduino and get to playing with it.

This thread concerns me....... Sean nailed it.

I believe y'all are over thinking this stuff!
Just set it at what ever time you want it to go off during the season and leave it.

ttha_aggie_09 said:

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dr_boogs said:

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This thread concerns me....... Sean nailed it.

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What if your feeder is in Arizona? Do the deer know that they don't have daylight savings? If they travel to New Mexico, will they be confused?

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Even worse, I do some of my hunting in Western Kansas right on the Central/Mountain time line... will the birds KNOW which time zone they are in and effectively thwart my efforts to hunt them!!??

fcag said:

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I do like the idea of a timer that auto adjusts to always throw at a fixed time relative to sunrise. I might have to pull out an arduino and get to playing with it.

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exactly the route I was taking. but didn't want to waste too much time if it already existed.

Quote:

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I believe y'all are over thinking this stuff!

Just set it at what ever time you want it to go off during the season and leave it.

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but there is an hour to and hour and a half difference between sunrise at the start of the season and at the end of the season depending on where you hunt.

What if your watch battery goes dead after you set the timer and you don't correct the time? How will your feeder know when you will be on the stand?

While the piling on can be fun, there is something interesting in the idea of having a program that synchronizes feeder throw time to the solar cycle. If you feed year round, there is a two hour swing in sunrise and a two hour swing in sunset (for central Texas), and they are out of phase. So the length of time between sunrise and sunset varies by almost four hours over the course of a year.

The big question that would determine if it's something to even play with is do deer feeding patterns track actual sunrise and sunset. If they do, you might be able to consistently get them to the feeder at the same solar time throughout the year.

Sean98 said:

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ttha_aggie_09 said:

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dr_boogs said:

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This thread concerns me....... Sean nailed it.

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What if your feeder is in Arizona? Do the deer know that they don't have daylight savings? If they travel to New Mexico, will they be confused?

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Even worse, I do some of my hunting in Western Kansas right on the Central/Mountain time line... will the birds KNOW which time zone they are in and effectively thwart my efforts to hunt them!!??

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Its funny you bring that up. I'm pretty sure I've seen animal groups studying the legal shooting hours of state-issued pamphlets and some arguing over this exact topic. Laugh all you want; it's all fun and games until a fight breaks out. I'm pretty sure thats how this happens

what time is it?

and it gets worse when the human shows up and starts talking crap about time change

My point is, after you've had a feeder in place for awhile the deer respond to the sound of it going off as much as what time it is.

I'm going to have respectfully disagree. My deer have very strict itineraries that don't allow for gaps in their schedules because I don't understand how daylight SAVINGS works.

I'm mean, what will they have to give up for the inconvenience? If they don't have corn at a specific time, riots may ensue.

It's just too much stress my deer herd doesn't need.