Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Bear raid

Reminds me of an old joke:

In light of the rising frequency of human - grizzly bear conflicts, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is advising hikers, hunters, and fishermen to take extra precautions and keep alert of bears while in the field.

We advise that outdoorsmen wear noisy little bells on their clothing so as not to startle bears that aren't expecting them. We also advise outdoorsmen to carry pepper spray with them in case of an encounter with a bear. It is also a good idea to watch out for fresh signs of bear activity.

Outdoorsmen should recognize the difference between black bear & grizzly bear excrement. Black bear excrement is smaller and contains lots of berries and squirrel fur. Grizzly bear excrement has little bells in it and smells like pepper.

I've never seen an automatic feeder this cheap. After you've had a chance to test it out could you start another thread on it? I may buy a feeder sooner than expected if it works well.

"There he is, pilgrim! Skin him!"

Grizzly bear excrement has little bells in it and smells like pepper.[/i] [/quote]

Classic.

This is the reason Walt that I have a policy to meticulously examine and smell all bear excrement that I find on our property. Fortunately, as of yet, I have not found any bear excrement to examine.

That sounds like a very meticulous policy...

I understand that you should look in the woods.

Didn't see the bear this trip, but he left me a present in the driveway. ( what happened to using the woods )
I finished the tripod and put it in the pond, just waiting for the new feeder.
Schroeder, when I get it set up I'll let you know how well the feeder works. It doesn't come with a bucket but I wanted to use a smaller bucket anyway.

AP, what about shipping the present to JHAP? That way he'll know what he's looking for!

I think it's illegal to ship s--t to California, unless it's green.

"organic fertilizer"?

I saw on the Discovery channel once that one of the favorite places for some Grizzly bears to dine is on railroad tracks where human excretement used to be dropped by train (not sure if it still is). Now that's downright gross!

I believe on the same program a griz was stalking a husband and wife and the husband left his wife to get help. Say what? What kind of a dork would do that? Of course the griz caught up with the wife and mostly ate her.

"what kind of a dork would do that?"
Al Bundy in a NY minute!

The new feeder came today and the bucket does come with it.
I tested it with 5mm pellets, feeding 6 times and works fine. I wish I had gotten a digital feeder before, much better than fooling around with pins on an analog timer. It will feed up to 4 times per day at 1 to 20 seconds, and even has a connection for an optional solar charger, not bad for $40.

Hey AP, I'm interested in that feeder. How would the solar charger work since there are multiple batteries? Where would it hook to? Forgive if these are hopelessly dumb questions; I'm not super-mechanical (or electrical as the case may be).

Walt, they want 20 to 30 dollars for the 6 volt solar panel, but the 4 AA batteries which total 6 volts are suppose to work up to 4 months, so I think the solar panel is unnecessary since AA's are cheap and I'll replace them every month.
There's a plug in port in the side of the unit for the solar connection, it's visible in the first photo.

Nope, it's not illegal. They are just to full of it to accept anymore.

AP,

That tripod looks like something I'd see in the military! I'm scanning the pond looking for VC bamboo hollow shoots sticking out of the water!

This thing is sold as a deer feeder, right? Aren't there differences in design between a fish feeder and deer feeder in respect to the size/weight of corn vs. fish pellets. I know its not a directional feeder, with your tripod thats not needed. In my situation with lots of standing flooded timber to mount to its not a concern either.

Also is there anything inside the bucket to help the pellets "feed" to the motor? or is it just gravity? It seems to me if just gravity and no funnel or something to force the feed to the center hole there could be an issue with old food accumulating around the sides at the bottom of the bucket.

Not at all putting down the product, just curious how this thing works. It has an attractive price for someone wanting to try out feeding before making the huge dollar commitment that a top end feeder requires.

csteffen, my old feeder was the same type but cause it was mounted on the dock I blocked 180 degrees of the opening so it would throw in mostly one direction. To offset possible clogging due to restricted opening I epoxyed a 5 inch piece of steel wire to the center of the throwing plate with a slight bend to vibrate the feed, it never clogged on me.
With the new feeder mounted on a tripod and no restriction on the feeder I'm going to leave it unmodified, if it clogs I will add the steel wire to the throwing plate because it does solve the problem. Another thing I would do is every couple weeks empty the feeder to make sure no feed had solidified around the opening.
I've read where some of the fish feeders with vertical throwing wheels sometimes clog, so I guess wet or humid conditions could be a problem with any feeder.

Cecil, If that tripod was made for the military it would run about 5 grand instead of 40 bucks.

The new fish feeder was put on the tripod yesterday and the bottom is 18 inches above the water.
The only modification I made was to put a 6" dia. piece of stovepipe in the center of the feed bucket and add feed only in the stove pipe so that the feed level will be reduced quicker hopefully avoiding any clogging from feed sitting too long.
There's enough feed in the pipe to last atleast a week at the rate I'm feeding.
If I have any problems with the feeder I'll post it.

Looks great AP... Let us know how the set up works. Being in bear country, I think that set up may be the trick!

Looks great, AP. I got these pictures in a chain email today and thought of your situation. I hope your bears are not as motivated as this little guy!

That bear has entirely too much time on his hands.