OT: feral hogs and spent grain

[hou_me]

Any of you hog hunters try spent grains in your traps? I've done it a couple times with mixed results. Specifically I've let spent grains sour a bit and mixed in kool-aid or jello. I've caught a few this way but not as many as I had expected. Anyone tried it? Anyone have a spent grain hog bait recipe that works?

-ben

 

[Clonefan94]

Spent grains are an odd entity to me. I have a compost pile in the back yard that I put all my grain in. It's open air and I usually just dump it on top. There is a nature preserve behind my yard, woods, swampy, full of wild life, coyotes, skunk, raccoons and a ton of squirrels are all over. Even during the harsh winter we had this year, I never noticed anything eating the grains that were sitting on top, They look exactly the same as the day I dumped them. No footprints to be found anywhere. IF nothing else, I figured the birds and mice would at least get to them.

I wonder if we are pulling enough of the sugars out of them, that the critters look at them more like wood pulp than really a food source. I know one time I accidentally spilled some unused grain walking it from my car. That was a torrent of activity for about a day, until it was all gone.

 

[ChemistBrewer]

Never used spent grain. However I have made a thick mash out of scratch feed, expired malt extract, and cheap soda fermented for 7 days with bread yeast. Take it to the woods and use post hole diggers to dig a 3-5 foot deep hole put mash in hole then spread some shell corn around. Unfortunately the hogs I was hunting had moved on so I didnt get one like this however if they are in the area im sure they would love it. I put it in a hole so they cant eat it all at once and I could come back after a few days to a week and theyd still be working on it.

 

[todayshighlights]

I dump my spent grains in the woods. I have trail cams out and split the grains in front of the cameras. I usually have 1 or 2 deer come by twice a week, but every time I put out the grains the whole herd is coming through the same night.

 

[myelo]

My uncle raises hogs in middle Tennessee and feeds spent corn mash from the Jack Daniels distillery.

 

[Ramitt]

Spent grains are an odd entity to me. I have a compost pile in the back yard that I put all my grain in. It's open air and I usually just dump it on top. There is a nature preserve behind my yard, woods, swampy, full of wild life, coyotes, skunk, raccoons and a ton of squirrels are all over. Even during the harsh winter we had this year, I never noticed anything eating the grains that were sitting on top, They look exactly the same as the day I dumped them. No footprints to be found anywhere. IF nothing else, I figured the birds and mice would at least get to them.

I wonder if we are pulling enough of the sugars out of them, that the critters look at them more like wood pulp than really a food source. I know one time I accidentally spilled some unused grain walking it from my car. That was a torrent of activity for about a day, until it was all gone.

I have never had wild critters eat my spent grain either, my now decreased dog on the other hand loved them and whined on brew day until he got a bowl full.