Protein pellets. Whole cottonseed or hulls? Whole cottonseed I think weighs around 25 or so lbs per cubic foot. Hulls would be even lighter.

I gonna slap that damn bug that keeps crawling around - lol

We tried protein but the coons kept eating more than the deer. Anyone else have these issues? Val Verde county

Dukes dogproof traps are your friend. Or a foxpro on coon fight/distress and a hi-cap mag.

Yep. The labor is my exercise (I'm 62 and stay in pretty good shape by manhandling bags/alfalfa and other ranch chores).

I would never even consider covering my feeders. I try to provoke rain by leaving my feed as rain bait. Hasn't been working lately. You are probably flooded out now?

I was going to go with trough style feeders here but decided against it since I feed year round. I leave for 1-3 weeks to go on hunts some years and did not want feeders empty.
I think I am closing in on 9" or maybe a little more rainfall here now. Wished I could get just 2" in Live Oak county but does not look like it will happen unless things change with this system today. Areas to my south between Goliad and Refugio have had 15"+ as this morning. It is wet for a change and I am loving it.
From Jan 1 till June 15th I was at 6.76" at my house and 7.22" on my north fence line gauge. So I more than doubled my year to date rainfall total in last 3 day with almost 9" so far..

Down south we have had 5 inches in the past two days and its still getting it as I type.

www.coonhood.com

A half dozen Dukes foot traps and coon cage on your feeder.

Maybe try a different protein. I use to feed a peanut based protein pellet and coons wore me out. Switched to a cotton seed based protein pellet and the coons won't touch it.

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/hwi/vol7/iss1/10/

^^^ this. Stop with the bandaids and kill as many as you can. Don’t let up on the trapping either.

That’s one way but cant cage over protein, and Not fun going out to reset everyday.. especially if you don’t live where you hunt..

The little time I have to hunt I want to spend hunting not cleaning out, setting, and baiting traps

I use a home built 55gallon barrel feeder tripod with a toilet flange on the bottom, 4” pipe coming down about 18” and attached to that is a boss buck three way feed head.

I used to have a game winner downspout but it clogged every single rain.

No sense in feeding protein when they can’t eat it.

With Boss buck feed head it hasn’t clogged ever.

All Seasons 1000 lb protein feeder. Very little issue with rain/moisture. Been feeding out of it for 10 years, 6-8 months each year. Coons haven’t found a way to access the spouts. We are considering re-painting the exterior of the feeder before filling it in 2019 but the inside of the feeder is just fine. Don’t use a ladder to fill it either. Back up the truck with tailgate down at just the right angle to get between feeder legs and fill from standing in the bed of the truck.

https://www.allseasonsfeeders.com/products/1-000lb-pro-evo

^ is the model we have but our spouts are shaped differently from 10 years ago.

Cottonseed will make your bucks sterile. They should return to normal once off the seed

they have to be penned up and eating almost nothing but cottonseed to have that effect. wild deer being supplemented by cottonseed isn't going to end up with sterile deer.

No concerns about cotton seed here.5 0K lbs cotton seed and 50K lbs protein so far this year. Combined it has made a huge difference in the horns (and yes I know that technically they are antlers - I just like the sound of horns better)