I've got a couple of the plastic barreled feeders that you can buy at Academy or Wal-Mart for $100-$150. Anyways, I put varmit cages on both of them because they squirrels are so bad. Well they are crawling over the cage and eating the funnel (which I know i can replate with a metal funnel) and they actually started eating a hole in the side of the barrel on one feeder.

What can I do to keep the squirrels off of it? Is there anything that can be put on the legs so they can't even climb up there?

High temp grease on the legs but youll have to reapply every few weeks.. They are tough to keep off a feeder... i started putting mineral tubs over the top of mine since they were chewing through the lid... metal feeders is the only way to go

Don't know what size cage you have but I have seen coons get to the spinner on a lot of the 12X12 cages. You might try to find a larger one that fit closer to the outside of the barrel, built out of 1 X 2" welded wire. I used to make my own and they worked a lot better. When it comes to the barrel Steel is always better, I would suggest upgrading as you can afford it. While I build winch feeders coons are something everyone struggles with we just learn over the years how to deal with them and squirrels. Here is how I do my solar panels, no exposed wires.

That is a good idea on the solar panel.

I plan on getting a good feeder for this upcoming season. But i'll probably still keep one of these plastic ones out too.

I've heard they make a feeder that has a spring loaded tray and pops out when its ready to spin and then will suck back up when its done. Thay way there isn't any corn showing.

There are two brands and I have heard good things about them. Just upgrade as you can the reason we hunt is not only the meat, it's for the memories.

There's a spinner called "The Vault" made by Primos works on the same principle. I just bought one a few months ago, had a little problem, called Primos, they've stopped making them.

Charlie

One is called the eliminator plate, here is a link: http://the-eliminator.com/see-it-work.html