ASF PROTEIN FEEDERS

Anyone have any input on the ASF protein feeders? Looking at adding a new protein feeder to the 3 that we already have. I currently run COONHOODS on my HB feeder and love the results.

Saw that the ASF feeders a supposed to cut down an feed loss to varmints. I dont believe any feeder can actually stop all corn theives, but looking in ASF as an option.

Not wanting to spend $300 on COONHOODS for new feeder. Although I believe it has saved me close that amount in protein.

I have had a 500lb All Seasons protein feeder for over a year now with a camera on it 24x7. Not one racoon period. They cant reach that high to get to the openings. Do have a bunch trying unsuccessfully to get in my 500lb Ramball built corn feeder.

They can reach and the can climb on the chutes without problem. I have a few different customer that have reported it on them. Additionally the large chutes makes it easier to scoop out large amount of feed.

I have several All Seasons Feeders, they have worked well for me with absolutely no complaints.

I pulled the top off an ASF, an older protein feeder, and there was a squirrel inside. I think he had figured out how to tunnel in and out.

I think if you think coons are not messing with your protein, you are wrong. I live on my place and see them every day despite all the killing I do. I even beat one that was on the side of a feeder with a mesquite limb at 10 am! He saw the truck pull up, saw me get out, get the limb, and walk toward him. He was stuffing protein from hand to mouth as fast as he could until I bashed his head against the side of the feeder. I would have shot him with the 25 Auto I carry but didn't want to put a hole in my feeder.

I'm tired of trapping coons, I have CoonHounds on order and will eventually outfit all my feeders with them. I've done some measuring and I think one coon costs you at least one pound of protein a night. A pound of protein is about 25¢. Doesn't sound like much but it is. I have four feeders and conservatively, I bet at least three coons will visit every feeder, every night despite my trapping and shooting. If you do the math, that is about $1,095 a year, but worse, that is over 4300 lbs of protein that I hauled and handled that did not go into a deer. To me, money is important, I'm retired, but the lost effort that is made for the deer is the waste.

Got to tell you, my dad has lived on my place in another house for over a decade. I told him if he saw a coon on the house feeder to shoot it. You got to be careful what you tell an 89-year-old man. He did. With a 30-30 Win. Drilled it but also drilled a 30 caliber hole all the way through the feeder. I tell you, it's like having a 5-year-old running around the place!

Great post! Most people have no idea how much coons can cost them. And you are exactly right, the money you save is only part of it, A lot of time an effort goes into filling feeders, no one wants to believe that up to 40% is all wasted. Glad you made the decision to go with CoonHoods. we are still a young small company so every post like this helps us get the word out. Cant wait to help you start saving and hear about your results with the CoonHoods!

I think one of the problems with trapping or killing is that you create a black hole of opportunity that will suck others into it. An old saying around here is that if you shoot a coyote, two come to the funeral and there is truth to that in that you have created a vacancy in the habitat and another will fill it in short order.

I've been working with The Nature Conservancy for my technical assistance for last four years and they have changed my thinking about some of the labor-intensive management practices I've been employing, trapping being one. You want to end a coon problem, you got to stop feeding them and their populations will adjust to the available food.

What about the corn feeder? I think we have that figured out as well. It started as a focus on hogs (habitat behavior of filling a void is the same), and I'm at an all-time low after 13 years of living here. It is hard to find a hog when I want one. I feed corn year round, twice a day, but I no longer feed in the evening. Never. I feed at sunrise and noon. I know exactly how much feed is needed to get my deer to dark. It is easy to do by observing and adjusting the morning feeding until nothing is left at 11 am. Then, mirror that motor run at noon. What that has done is make the afternoon hunt more enjoyable as deer move all afternoon rather than right before dark. There is no food left after dark. A coon or hog has to operate in the daylight if they want a meal of corn and with cameras running 24/7, I kill any that attempt at it in short order. The only way for both coons & hogs to survive here is to adapt to the native food sources and stay away from a feeder. The last two hunting seasons, no one saw a coon or hog on their sits.

The protein feeders are the remaining issue and I suspect that the CoonHoods will take care of that.

My ASF sits quite a bit higher than the one in the pic in this thread. Smaller Deer have to stretch a bit to get a bite. When I first deployed it I had pics of coons standing on their hind legs reaching for the chutes too but none were tall enough. They finally gave up. I have nights where there might be 6-8 hanging on and/or around the corn feeder.

They can jump. This particular feeder port sits a tad over 3 feet.

Jumper

Run 6 ASF protein feeders and it just depends on the location at a couple coons are a nuisance but at others they don't bother it. FYI dog proof traps work wonders.......

I've got one of the 2000lb pro evo units and have yet to have a picture of a single coon attempting to eat from the feed troughs. I used to use a boss buck feeder, the coons loved me then!

Go to a cottonseed based protein, coons don't like it.

Where there is a will, there is a way.

I’m having the Same issue with same feeder. They are reaching up and pulling themselves up. I even have them on camera climbing into the chute and shoveling corn out on the ground

If you can make somewhat frequent trips in the off-season, grab a half dozen Dukes DP coon traps. We routinely had pictures of coons at all hours of the night shoveling protein in their mouths. Video on some of them, we could see deer not approach the feeders because there were so many coons there. AT one location, we had a coon in all 6 traps on the first set. We caught 2 or 3 more the next night. We set traps at that location on a couple of subsequent weekends and managed another 3-5 coons. The last few times we've checked cams the past 2 months, we might see one coon every few days under the feeders. We now have 24 traps at our disposal anytime we see a spike in activity. They will get free passes during hunting season but they are living on borrowed time. We targeted these primarily at protein locations. I think we took out between 40-50 coons over 3 weekends in a 6 week period. Trail cam photos confirm these make a difference. We baited ours with mini marshmallows and fruit loops but I believe pretty much anything (corn, protein, cat food, etc) would work.