Feel like I've heard that tubes should be at least 40" off ground to keep other animals(mainly coons) from getting to the tubes. I measured mine and tubes are at 33"-34". The feeders I am using are Crossfire 2000# and they are in pens so hogs can't access the feeder.

So my questions are

1. Is the 40" something that others have heard of and believe in?

2. What have you found to be a good way to raise your protein feeder? Pavers?, Wood?

Do you actually want to deer to be able to eat freely and quickly? I preferred 32"-34" height on my tube style feeders so adult deer that are able to jump into the pen can eat, not matter what age they are. I liked the ports at nose height for a deer standing and that height is dependent upon the how large of bodied the deer are in your area. I wanted deer to eat as much as they can in as short of a time period as they can due to the fact that I did not want them spending to much time in the pen. Dominant deer keep other deer from eating. IME Coons will be a problem no matter what height the feed ports are at. Trap the coons if they are problem and not try slow them down with higher feed port. That height will eliminate most of the younger deer from eating IME.
Here are feeder ports that are 32"-33" off of the ground.




This style feeder is my favorite and the plate is 24"-26" off the ground and can be adjust down to 18" during fawning season if you do not have pens. Higher consumption rates are with this style feeder vs tube/port style feeders.

Thanks.

https://www.drdeer.com/about/dr-james-c-kroll/

He did a Whitetail study and said optimal tube height (I think it was like 40") comments on feeder pen size and so on.

Charlie

That study was done to support and promote one style feeder. I am sure he got a kick back from them on each feeder sold. There have been other studies done also. Most studies done were for slowing done coon feed consumption. Not for allowing deer to eat as much as they can in a short period of time. I had a friend that bought and tested 4 or 5 different style feeders to see which one they ate the best from. He ended up taking a little from a couple of the higher consumption feeders to make his own so that deer of all ages could easily eat....including young fawns. He also traps coons year round.

I have 3 crossfire 2,000lb feeders, we’ve trapped between 50-75 coons each of the last several years. It wasn’t until this year I raised the feeders by putting 12x12 pavers under each corner to get the spouts 40” off the ground that I’ve not gotten any pics of the coons climbing up on the ports. Still have some coming in eating off the ground but none on camera up on the feeder.

Not advocating on his behalf, just put the reference out there. I'll assume that feeder was Boss Buck?

Charlie

Had two Boss Buck protein feeders my only knock on them was they weren't big enough.

I bought two crossfire(2000#) feeders last year. I like them and they are very easy to fill with the large lid but mine only hold 1700#. I don't know if I didn't fill them at once last year but this year I purchased two tons of protein and had 6 bags left over at each feeder.

Can pellet size really make that much of a difference?

Has more to do with density of corn vs protein is what I've always heard. The feeder will hold 2000lbs of corn because it is more dense than protein. I usually get 1700-1750lbs of protein in my Crossfire the same is true for the All Seasons and Atascosa feeders I have that are all marketed as 2,000lb feeders.