I need some suggestions on our protein feeder we put up on our place in February. We hunt near Kleberg county, mostly sand with little grazing from the drought we've had down there. We have 6 other timed feeders, but the hogs live under them and they are expensive to keep up year long. I would love to sit near them with a 12 pack and pop off the hundreds of hogs, turkey, coons, or whatever comes along. There are just too many hogs and coons and my Father-in-law isn't a big fan of killing everything. So my solution was a protein feeder with a fence around it. Here is my setup:



It's just a 55 gal barrel with Moultrie legs and a feeder tube. It sits about 36" off the ground although it may be lower now after settling in the sand. I feed half corn and half 20% protein. Also put some mineral blocks to see if they would take it. Since putting it up all I have had are coons, not one deer or track. I've had to fill it twice.





I think my leg contraptions are working and the coons are just reaching and climbing on the tube. So my question is without making the tube higher than the deer could get to it, if they ever get there, what could I use to keep them off of it. Was thinking about the spikes you put up to keep birds away. Also what else do ya'll suggest on getting the deer to the feeder.

First attempt at pics so hopefully it works.

With a free choice feeder like yours, the only way to REDUCE the amount of feed lost to varmints is to trap or poison them.

Spikes barely slow them down, same with carpet tacks or any other gimmick with oil or pepper. The only thing we have down that really works, baiting with poison near the feeders.

Vaseline on feeder legs works well for me.

I think the PVC on the legs is working, they are just reaching for the drop tube. I may try the Vaseline on the tube, read they don't like it on their feet.

I am no expert, but I would say that your PVC is not working at all unless you are using it to help the coons

1. Grease the PVC
2. DON'T POISON - it does not discriminate
3. When you make your "oval" fence, place it to where SOME of the feed will scatter outside the fence (feeder to one side - not the middle). That will attract hogs, yet keep them from the vast majority of the feed.

Your pen looks too small. If you normally had deer going to a feeder in that area then I would say that is what is keeping them out. We build all ours a minimum of 40'x40' and deer don't give jumping in a second thought. As far as coons we will go ape s*** trapping them a couple of times a year. Put several traps inside or just outside the pen with bait in them then dispatch the coons. Just make sure that you are going to be there to collect the coons the morning after you trap them. Do those couple of things and it will work.

Ditch the fence and legs. Go find a sturdy rope and hoist the feeder up around a solid limb with a pickup or atv. Set it at your desired height for the deer. No more coons or hogs. Take at most 5 min and is basically free.

They will slide down the rope from the tree, just like they do on the hanging feeders.

Coons are:

Intelligent
Persistent
Creative
Eating machines

Vaseline and grease wear off on the legs, and a big enough coon will be able to grab the bottom plate and pull itself up.

I have been battling this for 14 years and the only think that makes any sort of impact is poisoning. Limit your exposure to other animals by baiting in areas only a coon can get or is likely to ingest. I am not a huge fan of poisoning things, but if you really want to continue with a free choice feeder, IMO that is the only option to reduce the amount of feed lost.

In regards to deer not feeding at your feeder, it could be an issue with pen size. We noticed a large increase in traffic when we doubled the size of most of our pens to 48' x 48' or larger.

What protein are you feeding? What % protein is it? I have notice that the deer don't care for the 16% purina all that much regardless of the time of year.

Take one of the chains off at the top of the pvc, that way the pvc can spin or at least shake and not give the coons a stable leg to crawl up.

Tie a hound to one of the feeder legs. Leave him a bowl of creep feed and some water. No more coons

At first I tried some apple flavored 20% protein from the co-op in Ricardo. Don't think the deer have ever tasted an apple before but it was the cheapest. I recently put in Purina 20%, at near $14 a bag, but it was all they had at the time. Making the pen bigger seems like it would help, so I'll extend it next time. I won't be using any poison though.

Coons are like politicians... Get rid of one, another takes his place. Coons aren't as wasteful though.

Take a look at www.offsetfeederlegs.com They are made out of 14 gauge 1 1/4 inch powder coated tubing and work great on a 55 gallon barrel with a barrel band

Our pens are 60" X 60' and give them plenty of room. Some deer are intimidated by a small area. On the grease on the legs, it makes for good traction when the sand sticks to it.