Deer Feeder Helper Blog

For a great deer hunting experience using feeders, I encourage you follow these very simple suggestions. First get a metal or plastic barrel. You can buy barrels with timers attached or as separate components. Plastic barrels are becoming quite popular. I prefer the metal ones. Buy a quality digital 6 or 12 volt timer control unit in a metal housing from a reputable dealer. Always place a deer feeder helper between the barrel and the timer. Doing so will save you many hours of time and frustration later. Only use the high quality feeder legs as the lighter, thin walled legs will buckle due to the weight of the corn and force applied from livestock such as cows. If you make your own barrel, buy 4 leg brackets and make a ladder using two of the legs and angle iron for steps. It’s a good ideal to put feet or pads under the legs to keep them from sinking into the ground under the weight and make sure each leg is anchored to the ground. I use rebar and bailing wire for this. Get a quality lid, I tried using plastic lids, but squirrels ate holes in them immediately, leading to storm water spoiling the corn. I like the metal lids that are retained to the barrel by using springs. It will save you two trips up and down the ladder and will keep your lid from blowing off during windy conditions. Always use a varmint guard, raccoons will rob you blind and continually destroy your equipment. Lock or secure any latches you can to prevent bad things from happening. Locks, pins carabineers, and wire all work well. Get a solar charger for the battery; it’s a good investment to keep the battery from going dead which could ruin an eagerly anticipated deer hunting trip. You can fasten the solar panel vertically, directly to the housing using self-drilling screws. Fill it with recleaned corn if possible to prevent future clogs. If not, you can buy a corn screen that installs in the barrel, or take the screen from barrel to barrel if you have more than one deer feeder. The deer feeder helper helps you remove these pesky clogs instantly without you having to jeopardize your equipment in the process. I have seen clogs from rocks, corn bag material, range cubes, dirt duabber nests, corn stalks and cobs, and old clogged feed; remember it is agriculture and you certain to get some debris from time to time. Build a solid pen made from 30″ tall cattle panels to keep out the feral hogs and livestock. Using eight 16′ panels in a circle appears to be the minimum size to ensure that the deer feel unconfined and comfortable. I do have some feeders without pens for hog hunting. If so, make sure your feeder legs are anchored and secure a cattle panel below, flat on the ground to prevent a huge mud puddle from forming. These puddles to become a mess and making very nasty to work on your deer feeder. If you chose to feed protein during the spring and summer, you can remove your timer and place a PVC 3″ tube and PVC “T” onto the barrel. I like to leave the timer on, but place a 5 gallon bucket around the timer then attach the 3″ tube to the bucket. I suggest always perform a fall cleaning before deer season starts to the clean inside of the feeder barrel to remove any debris, even corn/feed dust can cause problems.

 

We hope these simple directions can help you have a great hunting adventure. Happy hunting!!!

Tags: deer, feeder, hunting, problems, raccoons, whitetail

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 at 6:21 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.