Bear Problem with deer feeder
 

I have a small cabin on 40 acres in north arkansas I recently purchased. I have had a feeder out since december and feeding about 9 deer. I have fed corn in it. I recently visited it and found that a bear has invaded my area and damaged the feeder. My feeder is a 600lb capacity tripod ontime feeder. This really made it handy as i didn' t have to make monthly trips to fill it up. How can I make or use a feeder in bear country? Does anyone have any plans or ideas. I have thought about stretching a cable between two trees and hanging it in the air but can' t figure out how to raise 600lbs up and down safely. Thanks for any input.

RE: Bear Problem with deer feeder
 

Get one of the heavy hand winches. Using a small cable you shouldn' t have any problem with 600#, especially if you use a tickle to double the lift.

RE: Bear Problem with deer feeder
 

Cabels and a pulley system tend to work fairly well. Although a bear will climb the tree and swing the cable if possible to get your bucket to swing back and forth to drop corn. Sometimes they can get it out sometimes they can' t. Also, any type of rope will not work as they simple chew through the rope. Good Luck. Or better yet maybe you could start bear hunting if over bait is legal in your state.

RE: Bear Problem with deer feeder
 

Just curious, where would I look for a heavy hand winch and what is a tickle? any suggestions on how to get the big barrel in the tree? thanks for the replies.

RE: Bear Problem with deer feeder
 

Go to your local hardware store or feed store and ask for a heavy hand winch. If they don' t have one they should be able to point you in the right direction to find one. Tell the salesman what you are trying to do and he should have a pulley and cable and be able to draw a simple diagram about how to hook one up.

RE: Bear Problem with deer feeder
 

I used an old boat winch like goes on the front of the trailer to pull the boat up on to it for mine. A 5/16 cable and pulley. I used a piece of 3" angle iron to mount the winch to and then lag bolted it to the tree. You can even drill a ole through the handle so it can be pad locked. Make sure you get a pulley made for a steel cable and not a rope. I' ve already made that mistake and believe me, it doesn' t work. The cable cut through the pulley after about 4 times of raising and lowering the feeder. They make a couple different gear ratios on the winch. Make sure you get the lower ratio which will make it much easier to winch up into the tree.

RE: Bear Problem with deer feeder
 

thanks for the input. hey ballistictip, do you have a diagram of yours. how did you hang it from the tree. string a cable between trees or over a branch. do you think i could get a 600lb feeder up. on the boat winch, can you safely lower it. my boat winch free spools when unlocked. i can see the cranking up would be okay but what about letting down a half full feeder.

RE: Bear Problem with deer feeder
 

My buddy has a feeder out in an area that the bears frequent. They tore up his first one. When he got the new one, he hung it on a steel cable between two trees (about 12' apart). This seems to work fairly well, as they can' t get to it. Originally he had it on a cable hanging from a branch...didn' t work. They' d just climb out on the branch, and slide down on top of it. He doesn' t even have it there anymore, because the area has quite a few bears, and it kept the bears around. The deer seemed to vacate the area completely. It was on his deer hunting property, no bear season...so he took it down all together. Something you might want to keep in mind, if you start getting alot of bears hanging around. Also, he had it in an area that was easy to get to so he just lugged bags of corn up there, and used a ladder to fill it.