Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Squirrels chewing up my deer feeders

This is a constant problem around here, especially in the months when there are no acorns. We try to run feeders for most of the year but lose a lot of plastic lids and barrels on our tripod feeders. The squirrels gnaw holes right through them to get to the corn. I found one last weekend that had a hole the size of a softball in the side of the barrel. Aside from going to steel drums and lids, what will help keep my feeders from getting chewed up? Maybe owl decoys or rubber snakes? We already went to 11' steel legs with anchors to defeat the hogs and this took them up high enough where bears can't easily reach the spinner/timer units on the underside, but the squirrels remain a problem. Buying new barrels is almost as expensive as buying an entire new feeder assembly and trying to keep 10-12 up and running is becoming a constant battle with the tree-rats.......

Squirrel hunting.

Metal feeders with throwers have electric fence like guards on them work for me

JPro, I have had this same problem in the past. Unfortunately, metal drums and lids are the best way to go. However, we did have some success with "baffles" placed on each feeder leg. You can also buy spike strips for the legs, but I have no experience with those. Check out the link. Hope this helps some.

http://www.bossbuck.com/products/parts/sharkteeth.html

Metal is not always a safe bet. Squirrels around here gnaw on the tool box on my truck. Don't see how in the hell they can chew through aluminum, but they do.

Well, they are tree rats. Rats can chew through your plumbing.

Shoot the bastards.

Hell, that's nothing. I've got birds [bleep] and stealing from my squirrel feeders. damn feathered bastards. Ought to kill every last one of those ef'in dinosaurs. We don't even what to get into what the damn deer are doing. Kill all of them too

Gonna try the owl/snake deal before I broadcast mass death....

Pellet gun. Squirrel stew.

I've been using metal garbage can gravity feeders for yrs. I tried to be cheap few yrs ago and buy Rubbermaid, but quickly found out I was needing rolls of duck-tape to patch holes made by Squirrels. I'll stick with metal, here is one I painted this week.

How does the corn come out 888?

I cut a rectangle hole approx 5" wide and 3" tall at the bottom of can. If you look at the pic you'll see the piece laying on the ground I removed with a metal cutting disc.

20 gallon can at Ace Hardware is $24.00 and will hold 100lbs of corn. If you don't have trail cameras you"ll know a buck has been feeding outta the can cause it will leave scratches in the Krylon paint from his antlers. I'd also suggest putting a bungee across the top of lid. When it get close to empty the Racoons will knock it over and take the lid off.

Place it on flat ground, add corn, and the deer will come.

PSE, My hunting area is near you in Morgan county. Did you Turkey hunt this year?

Carpet tack strips work well enough to keep coons from climbing up legs. I do know that.

Steel barrels aren't expensive. Here's one place I found clicking around.... http://www.texasbarrelsupply.com/steelbarrel.shtml

I'd bet you could find something like that quite readily where you live.

#6 shot.

so each feeder feeds about 25 coons and a bunch of squirrels every day?

they can bite through anything i guess.

that trash can would be gone in one night at my house . the bears would just roll it away. i made a corn feeder out of a old air compressor tank . its the only feeder i have that they haven't been able to destroy yet.i fed squirrels at my house when i first move in. then i stopped feeding them they got mad and ate all the screens on that side of my house.

Hang 40" pieces of pvc pipe on chains from the top on the feeder legs. Google and you will see some examples.
Tens of thousands of photos and I haven't seen a squirrel or coon get up to the mechanism yet. Had 13 coons in one photo underneath!

Slip over metal lids are heavy enough to stay in place and loose enough to allow air flow to the corn to keep it from ever souring.

stumpy

I'll explore the pvc idea. Thanks!