Here in CT we can bait in two of our hunting zones. I have a few small areas to hunt & wanted to set up some feeders but don't want  to break the bank on them & find them missing when I go to hunt.

Anybody make their own feeders & how did they work, how long between refilling, ETC?

I saw one somewhere about making one out of PVC pipe. Maybe google it?

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jeffreym/55GallonFeeder/55_gallon_deer_feeder.htm

http://www.huntingblades.com/hodefe.html

You need a 10 ft joint of 4" PVC, a 90 degree bend, a 45 degree bend, and a 4" PVC pipe cap.
You'll need the cleaning fluid and the bonding fluid for PVC as well.
Glue the 90 onto the 10 ft joint, then the 45. They will eat out of the 45 opening. Drill some holes in the bottom of the 45 with a small drill bit so the rain will drain out.
Cut the other end as long as you want it, keeping in mind the longer it is, the harder it is to get up and/or fill up.
You put the corn in the that end and put the pipe cap on to keep it sealed and the varmints out of it.
I put  a wire harness through the top end to haul it up a tree, then strapped it against the tree with rope or bungee cords, whatever was handy.
Or you can stand it up against the tree and strap it. But that lets the little varmints get into it big time. If you put it up at least two feet off the ground, it will keep the coons and squirrels from getting so much of it.
Fill it at the tree you put it on. The corn you spill will bring the deer to it faster.
The bad thing about these are they won't hold a full bag of corn, only about 25 to 30 lbs. And they need to be filled at least once a week, maybe more if the pressure is heavy.
You might want to camo them with some grey and black flat paint too. Break up the white.
Good Luck!

ETA - The first time we did this, I put a tripod up about 35 yards from the feeder in the trees. My son killed two deer off that set up the first year, one muzzle loader, one with a rifle.
I eventually set up an auto feeder and it worked even better.
Put a salt lick by your feeder too. Not too close, but not to far. 30 yds or so is good for us.
We've killed so many deer over a salt lick and corn feeder close together it would be hard for a lot of people to believe.

Get a 5 gallon bucket with lid, a dowel or broom stick about 3 ft long and a nail. Cut a hole in the bottom of the bucket about 1/4 in to 1/2 in larger than the dowel or broom stick. Drive a nail through one end of the stick and center the nail  so it extends equal distance out both sides of stick.  Drop stick through bucket from inside, hang bucket from tree so deer can reach the stick, fill with corn. Deer will learn to bump the stick with their nose to make corn fall out.

Made one out of 6" PVC (much more expensive than 4") Filled it with 1 1/2 bags (approx 70#)

Kicked up a deer behind the house going to set up. If anything they will eat well. Once we get some snow the area will be hot, too many acorns on the ground for them to need to visit the bait now!

This is what I have done.



Matter of fact, I just finished another one of these this afternoon.



I use 5 ft of 4 " "straight pipe" then a 90 degree, then 2 ft of 4" (as a trough) with end cap.

The trough part I cut in half. (with holes drilled in the bottom to let water out).



Top (where fill it from) is a screw cap.



I drilled holes and and put 2 "I hooks" at the top.

These are secured with chain to the tree by rilling a Lag Bolt into the tree on the back of the tree.





Used Flat Black,Tan, Brown to camo it.



Will hold around 40-50 pounds of corn





You can get fancy and instead of just using the 1 - 90 degree, get the 3 way splitter, and then have 3 troughs

I built two of those like I described and used them for two years. I quit using them about eight or nine years ago.
I still have them laying on a pile of fencing material on my place.
The auto feeders sure ruined me.

Yeah,

The autos are nice, but after 2 of them disappeared off our property (7-7 1/2 hours away), I decided this is the best option.

(we lost 3 ladder stand, 2 hang ons, 2 feeders, Weber BBQ Grill, mower, and some other misc over the years)



I have a cousin that will go dump some corn in them every now and then.





Agree their are better options, but because of thieves, they work for us.

Also like the OP stated CHEAP.

Or you can flip the 3-way over, and have 3 "storage" tubes, dumping to one feeder trough.  You won't have to fill this up as much, but you may want to put some cinder blocks under it to help hold it up.

I have built many pvc feeders and the best way I have found is:
Purchase a 10' length of 4" pvc
Cut in half for two feeders
Purchase two 4" Y's
Purchase two 4" screw on caps and female thread to glue on couplings
Glue on Y to one end
Glue on female adaptor on the other
Screw on cap and drill a hole through the threaded coupling, where you can still screw on the cap without removing the rope through the hole (used to hang feeder
Hang feeder from a tree or heavy branch where it swing about 3 feet off the ground-this will keep turkeys and coons out of it.
The deer will eat out of the Y and actually eat the pvc pipe as well.
It usually takes about three days for them to find it and about 3-4 days to empty it. Each pipe will hold a 50 lb bag.
I painted mine camo in in the summer so the smell goes away. It also makes it harder to see. Also, hang it from the back side of a tree, where it is not noticeable when someone is walking down a deer trail.