Anyone ever experience this?

[txnub]

So I work out of town, work for 10 days and home for 4. I got home late last night and checked my deer feeder this morning. As I drove up on my 4-wheeler I noticed something on the ground that was not there before. It was the battery out of my timer. Upon further investigation, i saw that everything inside the feeder timer box was on the ground. Timer, battery, wires....everything. I also noticed the solar panel wire was broke. My first thought was that someone did this (neighboring hunters). After taking a look at the box that holds the above mentioned contents and the feeder motor, I noticed it was scratched on every side. The only thing that makes sense is a buck decided to destroy it. Anyone ever seen anything like this?

[royinidaho]

Hmmmm, maybe the buck wasn't thinking straight or.....maybe he was.

Kind of like cuttin' yur throat to save your butt.

[HighKnob]

Never had a deer destroy one, but have had several destroyed by bear.

[J E Custom]

Originally Posted by txnub

So I work out of town, work for 10 days and home for 4. I got home late last night and checked my deer feeder this morning. As I drove up on my 4-wheeler I noticed something on the ground that was not there before. It was the battery out of my timer. Upon further investigation, i saw that everything inside the feeder timer box was on the ground. Timer, battery, wires....everything. I also noticed the solar panel wire was broke. My first thought was that someone did this (neighboring hunters). After taking a look at the box that holds the above mentioned contents and the feeder motor, I noticed it was scratched on every side. The only thing that makes sense is a buck decided to destroy it. Anyone ever seen anything like this?

Sounds like Raccoons to me.

In Texas they are a real problem.

They are clever and very resourceful . We had the same problem and after placing a game cam
on some of the feeders instead of down low we caught the culprits and solved the problem with
some carpet tack strips placed around the drum.(The blood was the first sign that they were
working).

If the feeder motor is below about 6 feet deer and cattle will hook them with there horns to
make more feed hit the ground.

J E CUSTOM

[txnub]

I'm here in Texas as well. I agree with you on how clever and resourceful they can be. I think the latch that held the cover on was probably a little too much for them to be able to open. It is a possibility though. The feeder is low enough for a deer to reach. I'll come up with something better before next year. I got it working again, except for the solar panel, which I will fix next time I'm home.

[MHO]

Had a lot of them tore up by bears. good luck.

[NCBoy]

I am in NC and there are no bears in my part of the country. I agree with the TX boys. We have some BC sized coons in our woods who really get angry when the corn is empty or if they are hungry because of the cold weather. They will destroy a feeder just like you described. Sorry for your loss. Good luck.