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]

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.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

I hunted Texas for years down in the brush country until my Dad lost his lease. I would bet it was a good sized coon that tore it up. Cattle will get under a tripod and tear a spinner up or worse too if you don't have it up high enough or a secure guard around it. We had one big old cow down there that could reach up just enough with her tongue and spin one of our feeders to get the corn out about like the motor was running, LOL!!!

 

[Glock357x2]

Never had any damaged by animals but have had several stolen by some of the undesirables living in the neighborhood of our lease in East Tx.

 

[kc]

dont for get the bandet, Raccoons, if a Bear had destroid it why was the battery carried from the sight a Bear would drop it and go fro the corn he would have turned it upside down. and destroid it to get the corn.

 

[eyeball 2]

if the timer/motor cover hangs down from less than 6 ft or so deer stand on their hind legs and flail hooves to shake out corn. this is routine and we had to put critter cages around 25 feeders on one ranch. whitetails. i've seen mulies and wtail use antlers visciously against low standing feeders. now the unreal= turkeys fly up 4-5 feet underthe feeder ,turn up and strike the feeder with their feet to the same effect. you can have a couple of 11/2 x 1/2 in slots at the bottom of a 5 gal. plastic bucket of corn 4ft high and listen to th bucks bust it with antlers to shake the corn out. start by dumping corn under a hanfging bucket abt 3 ft high and when they jerk heads up they learn it pays. you can nap on the hill till you hear them horning the bucket in the draw below. dr rc