Hoop Daddy, I tried the straight shooter by Kenco this year. I mounted on 55 gal barrel and mounted barrel using 4x4's on a wooden plateform so bottom of shooter would be about eye level. Put plateform/barrel at waters edge. My pro's / cons:
Worst problem, coons climbed plateform and reached in and tore off rubber spinner paddle that expels feed. TWICE ! Kenco sent me new paddles ( no charge ) I had a ball of feed that blocked the hole that feeds the shooter, but this also happened on a spin plate feeder Iv'e tried. Water Level:I made my plateform using a 6 ft. ladder to refill when the feeder gets low, but if you have rising or falling water levels that could cause problem of filling feeder when water is too high and feed falling onto dry ground when waterlevel is low. Still as a money savings and quick fix I'm still using the Kenco after coon proofing. Also as advertized, they throw Forty Feet Max. Not 40 yards. When it goes off it will spit out a few very close and then most I would guess would go out to 12- 20 ft. with few going pellets going more. (Depends on Size of pellets)
If battries get low, that also is problem. Just another note of interest. I built a floating fish feeder; a deer feeder that sat on plateform using four 55 gal. barrels, floated out to 25 yds into water. And coons swam out to feeder, climbed plateform and removed spin plate, loosing all that remained in that 55 gal of feed. I have had my share of problems this year, yet I still use both, as its better than no feed at all, untill I find something better.
