Bear Trouble

I have been hunting for the last few days. Part of any hunting camp is maintenance. This trip included fixing a deck and sealing a leak in the roof, (I hope). We hunt under feeders, which for those unfamiliar, means we set up a 55 gal. drum filled with corn hanging from a tree. It has a timer and a spinner motor on the bottom. You set the timer to go off whenever you want. Mine go in the morning just before sunrise and in the evening just before sunset. It throws out corn which attracts the hogs. I have to fill the barrels every trip

 

This trip, I did have some “bear trouble”. Yes, we have bears in Florida. Actually, we have lots of them. Right now there are a ton around the area we hunt. I have one feeder that I had built to sit on the ground. I designed it to be “bear-proof”, of at least that was the idea. I’ve had a running battle with the bears. They keep tipping it over and tearing it apart. I keep putting it back together and making it so they can’t do it again.

A few months ago, they tipped it over, pulled the barrel out and ripped off the motor. They dumped all the corn out and had a feast. The next month, I chained the barrel to the frame so they could not pull it out. It worked….sort of. They still tipped it over and bent the legs and broke one of the welds. On the last trip, I chained the feeder between t trees so the bears could not tip it over. It worked…….sort of. While they could not push it over, they could push the bottom to the side so the feeder was at an angle. Then the ripped a hole in the side of the barrel and al the corn came out.

Yes, you heard that right, the bears ripped a hole in the side of a steel barrel. I give up! I’m tired of messing with them and them messing with me. Time to move my site. Unfortunately, there are no trees big enough to hang a barrel from in that area, so time to move. but that will be a project for my next trip.