Henry Rifle Forums

So it has been a while since I checked on my deer feeder down at my range area and found this mess today!
Squirrels or coons or?? ate up half the battery door, battery wires and were working on the top lid..big WOW!

Interesting. My first guess would be Bear, but then a bear might have made quicker work of it.....

Someone doesnt like running out of food.

Deer you think too? Now there is a bear that has been on my trail there but I would think it would have knocked the feeder over.
My trail camera in that area around the feeder broke down a while back and need to get another.

fortyshooter wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 19, 2019 10:40 pm

Deer you think too? Now there is a bear that has been on my trail there but I would think it would have knocked the feeder over.
My trail camera in that area around the feeder broke down a while back and need to get another.

Must say, I have actually watched a bear, during the day, chewing the top of my gravity feeder even though there is the open tray at the bottom. Guess he wanted ALL or none!

markiver54 wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 19, 2019 10:48 pm

fortyshooter wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 19, 2019 10:40 pm

Deer you think too? Now there is a bear that has been on my trail there but I would think it would have knocked the feeder over.
My trail camera in that area around the feeder broke down a while back and need to get another.

Must say, I have actually watched a bear, during the day, chewing the top of my gravity feeder even though there is the open tray at the bottom. Guess he wanted ALL or none!

Did the damage look like this?

Very similar Forty. Would not rule out coons though. I don't think squirrels could hang on well enough to work that hard.
Too bad the SD card, if still intact didn't catch anything. Time for a new camera?

I would lean toward bear also. Trash pandas like to get into stuff, but I don't think they'd chew on it like that...not likely a tree chicken did it either.

The top looks like the holes were chewed. This looks like rodent type chewing to me. Squirrels would be top of my list.

.
Same here. Looks exactly like the damage I see on our plastic irrigation lines.

clovishound wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 20, 2019 11:16 am

The top looks like the holes were chewed. This looks like rodent type chewing to me. Squirrels would be top of my list.

I have red squirrel damage that looks like that. They chewed through a rubbermaid container that had dog food in it and through a plastic trash can that was full of sunflower seeds. Did not take them long.

The long chisel like marks. Rodent incisor marks.

Must be coons then. Don't see how squirrels could hang on to that slick plastic.
Then again, there are some variables. Dont know how far it is from the ground...etc.

Raccoons are Mustelidae,(skunks, badgers, weasels} not rodents. Rodents all have the long forever growing incisors that compel them to gnaw.

markiver54 wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 20, 2019 6:49 pm

Must be coons then. Don't see how squirrels could hang on to that slick plastic.
Then again, there are some variables. Dont know how far it is from the ground...etc.

.
Had that happen to us too. One of these took care of that problem. Now they just pee all over the top.
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools ... _200680492

Ernie wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 20, 2019 5:04 pm

... chewed through a rubbermaid container that had dog food in it and through a plastic trash can that was full of sunflower seeds. Did not take them long.

They can do a great deal of damage in a short time. I had some get into the attic of the rental I lived in before I moved here and they chewed a 10 inch hole through the drywall ceiling into the living room. They cats kept them at bay until I nailed some plywood over the hole. Bought this house shortly thereafter. My new neighbor, after seeing one carrying a baby bird away, started to shoot all of the red squirrels he saw, 48 the first year. He has since passed and I have taken a few when they seem to be too numerous just to keep the population down.