your deer feeder idea's

[bigredopie]

Here is what we use. Holds plenty of corn and we have not had any racoon or turkey issues so far. Deer seem to enjoy it. Our total cost was under $100.

[bigredopie]

Any suggestions on what height the feeder should be? Too low and it will become a turkey/racoon feeder.

[Bullzeye]

I think I will put mine at around 4 feet, hanging on a branch away from the trunk of the tree. Am going to combine Pappa bears idea with the bucket idea, and connect the pipe feeder to a bucket so it can hold more corn. Now I just need to come up with a way to keep critters from climbing down the rope(or cable) on to the pail, and then sliding down the pipe to get at the corn. I'm thinking some kind of baffle half way down the rope will do the trick.

If its slow at work tomorrow I am going to try and put together the parts I have gotten together, and will take some pic's.

[vixenmaster]

If you don't want to feed the coons don't get this type of feeder. They can & will climb anything they can get a claw hold in & on. This feeder i have pics of them opening the lid, i had to drill holes n use scews to keep it on.

[vixenmaster]

Only feeders i knowed that a coon can't get to the corn is those that have slick metal legs & only throws corn by timer with a cage around the throw ports!

[Bullzeye]

Well, I figured if my branch cannot hold the weight of my feeder I would run a cable from one tree to another like you did Vixen Master with that board, but I will have a much longer distance between my two trees. I sure your set up would work if the pail was not so close to the trunks of the trees and if you used a cable instead of a board which makes it easy for the coons to walk across.

[bigbuck]

I have screwed crazy carpets to the trees so the coons cant climb the trunk to get to my hanging feeder. Works really well.
I will try to take some pictures on the weekend if I remember.

[vixenmaster]

I have seen tripod feeders with 1 1/2 pipe legs & they climb them to the barrel & one paw grabs the feed port raking out the corn

[tharris811]

Here is what we use. Holds plenty of corn and we have not had any racoon or turkey issues so far. Deer seem to enjoy it. Our total cost was under $100.

what is on the bottom of the barrel? looks good

[bigredopie]

Its a 4" pipe about 18" long and then three 4" square tubes on the bottom for feed ports. Inside the 4" round pipe is a smaller pipe that controls how much corn comes out at a time. On the top of the feed head is a flat plate which bolted onto the barrel. It is painted to keep it from rusting. I have access to steel tubing and a welder so that was my first try. You could also use a pvc pipe and collar on the top (to bolt to the barrel) and go with a 'T' on the bottom with a short piece of pvc out each side. You need to come out about 4" off each side of the T so the feed does not fall out too easy. If you want to control the amount of feed that comes out you can place a slightly smaller pipe inside the 4" tube and then drill a small hole to work as a set screw. A 1/4x20 bolt would probably do the trick.

I was trying to come close to the type of feeder used by game farms as they don't require and power and hold a good supply of feed. I was pretty sceptical at first but it seems to work better than the 5 gal broadcast feeders that lways seem to be either empty or have dead batteries. It took a bit longer to put together but it has paid for itself in less than 6 mo if I consider the cost of the batteries alone.

[Bullzeye]

Nice build, I like that feeder.

As for batteries dying all the time in your electric one, if your still have it just buy a small solar panel. I had one made by Moultrie and my battery was always at 90% from spring to fall.

[Ont_Excal]

If you don't want to feed the coons don't get this type of feeder. They can & will climb anything they can get a claw hold in & on. This feeder i have pics of them opening the lid, i had to drill holes n use scews to keep it on.

In the above photo, instead of a wood crossbar, use pipe instead. On each side of the feeder slide a piece of larger pipe over the cross piece and leave loose.
They can't walk on a spinning sleeve.
That's the way I keep squirrels off my bird feeders. Makes for cheap entertainment too.

[Bullzeye]

That's a good idea, I will have to try that instead of my baffle idea. I am going to keep my eye out for some small diameter scrap tubing, I think your pipe idea will work great on my cable(cloths line).

[Sopchoppy]

Coons and squirrels are experts at getting to food. I put a bird feeder in the middle of a 1/8" steel cable mid-way between 2 trees 20 feet apart. Looked out one day and a squirrel was "walking" upside down on the cable to get to the feeder. My pellet gun took care of him.

I have a Moultrie E-Z fill that I can see from my spam window with binoculars. One morning, there was a squirrel hanging upside down from the spinner, would bend upward like Rocky doing sit-ups, get some corn out of the spinner, straighten out and eat the corn, repeat the process. I got some chicken-wire with openings small enough that a squirrel couldn't get through and wrapped it around the 3 legs, attached to the middle seam of the feeder, and made a bottom out of the chicken wire. The corn can still sling through the wire. I have a camera on this feeder, and had several coons at the feeder. One was on his way up the leg, another hanging from the chicken wire with his arm through the wire, and several on the ground. I couldn't believe one picture, a coon was INSIDE the chicken wire cage having a picnic. When I checked the wire, the coon had pulled the wire apart where it was around the leg just enough to get inside. Went and got a trap that day and have taken care of the coon problem. The squirrels have gnawed holes in the top edge of the feeder trying to get inside but it is double thick where the lid goes over the top of the feeder. I fashioned a rim out of aluminum flashing and put around the top. So far, they have not tried to gnaw through that. At $10 a bag, I can't afford to feed varmits.

[Deaf jeff]

[/quote]Or shoot some coons!!! [/quote]




this worked well for my coon problem.i start fixing the problem during spring/early summer before the feeder goes out