From: stephen@cs.utexas.edu (Stephen Craig Mautner)
Subject: Opening weekend // Building deer feeders
Organization: U Texas Dept of Computer Sciences, Austin TX
Date: 17 Nov 92 06:45:56 CST
Originator: hunting@osnome.che.wisc.edu

Well, Nov 7 was the opening of rifle season for deer in Texas.  Due to
the disappointment of the last two seasons on public land, my hunting
partners and I decided to get a lease out in the pine forests of east
Texas.

In the middle of October, we had gone up there and set up 4 permenant
stands on our 300 acre lease, as well as four feeders we had put
together using 50 gallon plastic drums with motorized corn throwers
attached to the bottom.  Most of our stands were 200 to 300 yards in
>from the closest roads, and we had situated ourselves in firecuts,
hoping that this would allow maximum visiblity of traveling deer.
Likewise our feeders were also set up just off the side of the
firecuts.

I took work off and skipped school on Friday the 6th, so that we could
get up to the lease and get camp set up.  Everything was going well,
in fact TOO well.  We had decided not to go back to the stands on
Friday in order not to disturb anything the night before.  Well,
curiosity got the best of me, and I just had to take a look at my
stand and see how well the feeder had been attracting the deer.  I was
quite upset to see that my feeder was not hanging up where I had left
it, but instead lying on the ground.  Well, it wasn't doing any good
there, so I went and picked it up and dumped out all of the corn left
in it and carried it back to camp.  The mechanism casing had been
smashed, but it still appeared that it would work if bent back into
shape.  Upon further examination I noticed that rope it was hung on
did NOT break, but instead there was a clean cut going through the
piece still attached to the barrel.  Well, my partners decided to
check their stands as well, and found two of the remaining three
barrels had been stolen.  Man, was I REALLY pissed off.

It appears that some of the local ya-hoo's had come through on four
wheelers and decided we had done such a nice job, that they would keep
our feeders for themselves.  Part of the problem was that they were
very visible for anyone who drove down the fire cut.  Another part is
that we live at least three hours away (I actually live 6 hrs away),
and it is impossible to police our land for ourselves.  Well, since we
are outsiders, there was really not much we could do.  We decided the
local police wouldn't really give a damn, and the chances of proving
who stole them were pretty much zero.

Well, the rest of the weekend pretty much followed suit from Friday.
On Saturday morning we had all decided not to shoot any doe, for fear
of scaring off any buck`s in the area.  So of course, two doe came
wandering along by my stand, and the only thing I shot were pictures.
That was the last time I saw any deer.  My partners had seen a few,
but nothing that presented them with a shot. I am going to go back up
Thanksgiving Break and try again.

Well, my real question for those of you out on the net, is how can I 
construct a feeder that does not require a $50 mechanism to go with it.
The barrel's that were stolen only cost about $5 each, and they can be 
replaced easily.  However, I am not stupid enough to spend another $50
for a feeding mechanism, just to have it stolen. 

I have heard that there are feeders which dump corn when the wind blows,
etc, but I have no clue as far as how to build one.  Any advice is welcomed.


thanks

Stephen C. Mautner




Newsgroups: rec.hunting