automatic deer feeder questions: please help!
 

I am interested in Cabelas thirty dollar bolt-on automatic deer feeder. I would like to hear from those who have used this product: What is the dependibility? duability? reliability? etc. of this gadget? How is it in bad wheather? What about battery life? Thanks in advance
DS

RE: automatic deer feeder questions: please help!
 

I' ve never used the Cabela' s feeder so I can' t give you any info on them. The timer I' ve used for 6 years now is a Game Country. It cost about $80 but can be programed to feed up to 10 times per day at any time you want it to go off. It uses a 6 volt lantern battery that lasts 2 months. Never had a single problem with it.

RE: automatic deer feeder questions: please help!
 

I assume you are asking about the green plastic economy feeder which you attach to your own container? If so, I got one for X-mas. I attached it to a plastic 15 gallon barrel (bummed off local mechanic), made it into a hanging feeder, and had a buddy who works at a metals shop make me a nice lid out of galvanized metal. The feeder seems to work pretty well, it throws corn in about a 30 foot circle. This is a photo-cell type feeder. I set it up in the back yard on Jan 2nd and it is still on the same battery, although I dont throw that much corn. Feeding times can be set up to 6 morning and night, I think, and can last from 1 sec to 30 seconds. This is handy because I discovered that birds like cardinals, jays, etc would have all the morning corn eaten by afternoon, so I just set the morning feeding to 1 sec. Now the birds have to scavenge what the deer leave behind from the night before. My only complaints are that the battery is a little hard to install, and unless you have a better memory than me, dont throw away the instructions on setting feeding times as they can be a little confusing. As for bad weather, the directions say it is only supposed to work down to about 32 degrees, but it has been below zero here several times and I have not noticed that it failed to work. As a side note, I think it is interesting that I have never seen a buck feeding there, not even late at night when I come home from work. If ya have any more questions, feel free to ask.

RE: automatic deer feeder questions: please help!
 

I have used the Moultrie econo. feeders for about 10 years,and they work pretty good. only had one go bad.
battries will last for about 5 to 6 mo' s.
I have 5,my buddies have 7 all together. so with that many,they must be pretty fair feeders.....bad weather has not effected them,of course we don' t get a lot of freezing weather.just a few days below freezing a year.

RE: automatic deer feeder questions: please help!
 

My buddy got one from basspro for 29.99, and it does a good job, in fact we talked aboutmit last evening and when my catalogue gets here I am going to order one.. He is sold on it and sold me on it...

RE: automatic deer feeder questions: please help!
 

I have one and tried it on a 7gal. plastic bucket. Everything worked great. I had to fill it quite often though. As you said, the battery is dead fast here since it may not get above freezing for a couple of months at a time, and below zero or in the single digits at night. A good friend in Texas suggested a solar charger to keep the battery up but they only work if the sun shines. It usually doesn' t here, in the winter. For 30 bucks I think with your climate it will work o.k.