Monday, August 9, 2010

Best of the Outdoor Bloggers: Whitetail Woods: Do it yourself Gravity Fed Deer Feeder

© 2010 Albert A Rasch and
The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles
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Best of the Outdoor Bloggers
Do It Yourself Gravity Fed Deer Feeder

From Rick at Whitetail Woods, comes this little gem of a DIY project Whitetail Woods: Do it yourself Gravity Fed Deer Feeder. First appearing on his old blog, he revamped it a bit and put it on Whitetail Woods, and now I have chosen it for another installment of "Best of the Outdoor Bloggers!"

For those of you who don’t have a lot of finances like myself, here is a do it yourself deer feeder that you can make at home.

You do need to check the laws in your area to see if it is permitted. I know in Connecticut you can not hunt deer over bait but, there is nothing that says you can’t take pictures over bait and that is what I am talking about as well as giving them supplemental food over the winter.

I have a feeling that they will need the extra nutrition this winter. I plan to set up a gravity fed feeder for deer and have a deer cam not to far away for the purpose of getting pictures and seeing how the local herd in my area is doing.

This has 3 basic purposes for me:

1. This will give the deer more to eat during the winter months
2. It also acts as a scouting tool by showing me the type and size of deer I have in my area.
3. I can sit back on a cold winters night and browse my photo albums.

Items needed:

1 - 6′ piece of 4″ pvc pipe ( will hold approximately 25 lbs. of corn )

1 - 4″ pvc cap so the feed does not get wet while in the pipe

1 - base tray that the pipe will sit in just like the picture

What you can use for a base tray is a 5 gallon plastic can and cut it down to 6″ then all that you need to do cut a slot in the plastic pipe about 1 to 2 inches wide and about 3 inches in height at the end of the pipe that is going to be in the container.

Fasten the pipe to one side of the container with the slotted portion towards the center. Cut some small holes in the bottom of the container so that it will not hold water when it rains.

This is the best example that I found for a do it yourself deer feeder project. So I would like to thank Whitetail Deer Management and Hunting for giving me another idea of how I can enjoy the whitetail deer.
Rick Kratzke

Albert's Notes:
This is one of those DIY projects that you can but together from scrounged up materials! I would say that at any construction sites dumpster, you are bound to find a piece of four or six inch PVC tossed away. Always ask before you scrounge though! Most guys will gladly allow you to get it, or will fetch it for you, especially if you tell them what your building. The cap on the end though, you will probably have to purchase. Secure it to a tree with a couple of old bicycle inner tubes, and you won't damage the tree either. As Rick mentions, make sure you drill a whole mess of 1/8th to 1/4 inch holes all around the perimeter of the bottom so any water can run out. Use large fender washers on the inside of the pipe to protect the PVC from the bolt heads. If I get home for a couple of weeks this fall, I'll be putting one of these together myself.

Remember to Reuse and Recycle!

My friends, that is the second installment of "Best of the Outdoor Bloggers," which I hope to make a weekly series. I want to thank Rick Kratzke of Whitetail Woods for allowing me to share his great Do it Yourself Gravity Fed Deer Feeder project with everyone. If you have a post that you are particularly proud of, or if you want to look at your Analytics and check out what your # 1 post is, please feel free to forward it to me and I will gladly post it and link the bejeebers out of it to your blog!

Best Regards,
Albert A Rasch
Member:Kandahar Tent Club
Member: Hunting Sportsmen of the United States HSUS (Let 'em sue me.)
The Hunt Continues...


The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Another spin on the same project is to simply use a 45 degree elbow and another foot of pipe. Cap it off and cut out the top piece from the bend to the end for feeding and there you go. Makes it much easier to move around and blends in well with the tree in which it is attached.

Anonymous said...

I'm a little behind in my blog visits as the state of Connecticut wants me for OT and little sleep but I think I'm on my way back.

Thank you Albert for the post, I am a man of little money hahaha so i try to look for the easy way to do things and after all it is more fun and satisfying if you do it yourself than if you just go out and buy it.

Whitetail Woods Blog / Muzzleloader Testing

Bio Bo said...

What keeps the 'coons out of your corn? A feeder like that one will, no doubt, go through a lot of corn, but you should get some neat pictures of the 'coons and 'possems with one arm reaching as far up that tube as they can reach. LOL! Those little buggers can be outlandish raiders...