For the Guy Who Has Everything

[Outdoor Writer]

Here ya go. Get them deer trained right with the Feeder Repeater. -TONY

[Coues Sniper]

That's pretty good. I have been looking at getting an electronic caller, and I noticed one of the sounds you can choose from Foxpro is called "Corn Feeder" Wonder if that guy is aware of that

[Outdoor Writer]

I can assure you that deer readily become trained to the sound of a mechanical feeder.

 

Once in the late 1980s, unbeknown to me, I was literally forced to hunt over a feeder -- something I despise with a passion. Heck, I don't even care to hunt from a blind or a treestand, much less over a feeder where all I'm doing is shooting trained game.

 

Anyway, it happened in Michigan on an archery hunt near Roger's City. An outdoors product manufacturer had set it all up and invited several writers along. When we arrived at the place we were supposed to hunt, we found out the property was quite small, with several ground and elevated blinds spread around, all within a 100 yards of each other. They all overlooked either a pile of sugar beets or an elevated, solar-powered corn feeder. I was assigned one of the latter.

 

First problem: It was actually a gun blind about 15' up that was like a little cabin with a roof and two shooting windows facing the open areas. Each window was about 1.5' high and 2' long. The actual multi-pane window folded in and up to get it out of the way, and there was a sill about 6" wide. The distance from blind to the feeder was 20 yards.

 

So now picture me standing with my PSE compound with the ceiling about 6 inches higher than I'm tall, standing back far enough so my top limb doesn't make contact with the edge of the hung-up window frame or the ceiling and trying to shoot downward over the protruding sill through the narrow opening. Needless to say, I had to be somewhat of a contortionist. If I bent my knees too far, I couldn't even see the area closer to the feeder. If I stood too straight up, I worried about what would happen when I released an arrow. Needless to say, all I could do was make the best of the situation.

 

Now back to the subject of trained deer.

 

The feeder was automatic and set to go off just after sunrise and about an hour before sunset. It did so like clockwork, and each time the little motor "whirrrred" and the disk spun to spew out the corn in a about a 15' diameter circle, the woods came alive with critters within a minute. There were deer, turkey, coons, porcupines and all-black squirrels just waiting in the wings for their free meal. I even have photos of several of each all eating at the same time. It was somewhat amusing to watch the smaller critters scampering around and under the deer to get at the tasty morsels before it disappeared until the next scheduled meal.

 

On the first day, I decided to test my shooting location by taking out one of the porkies. There was an old wooden arrow with a two-bladed fixed broadhead sitting in the corner of the blind. Although it was about 6" longer than my normal arrows, I figured "what the heck." I got into my contorted position and held the bow canted a bit just in case. My shot drilled the porkie and literally skewered him to the ground.

 

The next day at breakfast time, two does, each with twin fawns, and a small buck emerged from the brush. I nocked an arrow and waited until they came into range. This time, though, the shot angle was a bit steeper because they were closer to my blind than the porkie had been the day before. When the buck stood alone and broadside, I shot and watched the arrow merrily go over its back by at least six feet and careen into the woods never to be seen again. I had heard a bit of a noise when I had shot, but thought it was the bow's upper limb hitting the edge of the hanging window. NOT!

 

Can anyone guess what happened? -TONY

[Red Rabbit]

Sounds like you got good penetration through the wall or sill. What kinda broadhead?

[Outdoor Writer]

Bingo!

 

Although I couldn't see the sill while looking through my peep sight providing a much higher and clear view above the sill, my arrow was pretty much pointed straight at it. It didn't go through the sill, but one razor cut a very nice 1/4" deep gash in the wood. Maybe I should have removed the sill and had it mounted, huh?

 

I used several different broadheads over the years, but I think I was shooting 100-gr. Thunderheads on that trip. -TONY