Since getting one of Ramballs several years ago I'll never have anything that doesn't varmint proof similarly. Even the cage on an All Season deflects too much of the corn right at the feeder.

I had a great barrel feeder for a hog set up that was an OLD 6V and a varmint cage. The lid, legs/brackets, interior one piece funnel, the barrel itself all good and pricey to replace. I upgraded the control and found a source for varmint proof plates. Great design and all the necessary fasteners. The bottom plate has fins that direct corn up and out to about a 90' dia. I really like the does to spread out and stay awhile, dumping corn in a tight area doesn't get that done.

Where did you find this and how much? Google returns nothing. I planned on making a similar contraption to replace the cages on my feeders, but if this is reasonable, I'll just buy them.

I haven’t seen those in years but I use this…

https://www.ebay.com/itm/394341581004

Grease the legs;

I have one that I installed an old POS metal garbage can lid. Then greased the legs under it.

Get some small leg hold traps and tape them to the feeder legs.

Grandson built a small metal box that held some corn and a trap.

These work, just spray with dry lube every now and then.

Most of mine I just grease the legs with a gear grease that comes in 1 pound tubs from tractor supply. I only have to reapply it to the feeder legs once to twice a year. The one feeder I have a cage on for sure affects the throw radius compared to the others.

It amazes me how resourceful the coons are. I have a tall tripod winch up feeder that I thought I did not need anything for, but the coons soon figured out to climb the tripod to the top, drop to the top of the feeder, slide down the side to the solar panel, then use the conduit from the solar panel to get to the motor. I greased the legs and again they soon figured out they could climb a tree, drop from a tree limb above the feeder onto the top of it. A long drop of several yards too. Then do the slide down the side trick. The limb they were dropping from was too high to reach so I cut the tree down.

I still have to trap them. One of my feeders had 8 coons under it in some of the end of season pictures. I'm in the process of installing permanent ground anchor points near all my feeders to make it easier and faster to set my dog proof traps by just clipping them to the anchors when I want to run traps.

They'll find some tools and build a ladder.

Where did you find these? I can not find them on the interweb anywhere.

Facebook marketplace. Individual actually has a patent on this and sells them from home. If you buy, let me know. I learned a few things during install and assembly that will help, a lot.

You can get Eliminator plates from ASF. I have them on all my feeders and the only coons that show up on trail camera pictures now are on the ground eating corn off the ground.

I’ll have a look at those.

I use short lengths of chain attached to my traps and then attach to the feeder legs with clips (don’t know what their actually called). Makes for quick deployment.

You’re referring to the eliminator spinner? I don’t see eliminator varmint proof plates on their site.

Not sure you can buy the varmint proof plate. I made one out of the lid for a 55-gallon barrel. Very good addition to the feeder.

Maybe Russ79 will answer, I'd like to know.

You got pic's of what you built? Sounds like a good hack.

No sorry I don't have pictures, as I remember the timer box had 4 bolts that went into the barrel to hold it in place. I had to determine where to drill holes to accommodate the plate. Put a nut on top and bottom of each bolt in the plate in order to raise or lower the plate. Drilled a hole in center of plate to accommodate the shaft of the motor. Made it wide enough so the coons could not reach the center of plate. Not difficult, hope this helps.

Just did a quick look on Amazon- you can order eliminator spinner plates on there. The one for $41 is the one I use. I do a quick spray every now and then with dry lubricant on the shaft and never have a problem with it. You should also be able to order off the All Season Feeders website.

Yes, I knew about the eliminator spinner. I thought you were referring to plates that prevented access to the spinner. Personally, I see these as a point of failure. Even if it's a very slight chance of a jam, I prefer to use something with no moving parts to prevent access to the spinner.

Have cages around feeder motors, had coons hanging on cages, reaching in and spinning feeder plates. Wrapped them extensively with four point barb wire, took care of that problem and didn’t impede corn throwing. Watched one coon try to jump on cage, was funny to watch him hit the ground!!!

Hard to picture how it "didnt impede corn throwing". Do you have a picture?

No, sorry, feeders are 100 miles away.

Only had to wrap about bottom 2/3rds of cages, so no more interference than just the cage.

Grease the legs. It works for me.

I think I have tried all the tricks but they are persistent little creatures and usually find a way.

Out at our place SW of Ozona, the LO doesn't allow them killed, only relocated, so I keep trying new things.

I added carpet tack stripes that worked for a while but they found a way around it.

I added cages, but given time, they tear them up where I have had to re-enforce quite a bit. These drastically help.

I tried the grease or Vaseline on the legs which works very well for a while until they get enough dirt / mud on the legs where they can go on up.

I've tried the large PVC hanging loosely where it can spin but they seem to still find a way to get up to the cage.

I now use a combination of the re-enforced cage and PVC on the legs. seems to somewhat keep them minimized from tearing things up too bad.



with it being 5.5+ hours one way drive, I'm not out there enough to keep grease slathered on the legs frequently enough to be effective but that works very well when you can re-apply often when they get mud / dirt caked on ...

update us on results

Going to place it this weekend.

Couldn't help myself. Dumped a few lbs. of corn in it and let it rip in the back yard. Threw corn in a 84' Ø . Those plates with the fins that direct about 1/2 of the corn up, and way out work great. Birds, rabbits and squirrels gonna eat well in my backyard for a few days.