# Boss Buck Feeder Problems ?



## Hunt&Fish (May 30, 2014)

I'm going to buy the Jim Kroll Signature Boss Buck 600 lb gravity feeder. I'm going to feed shelled corn or a protein pellet corn mixture. Does anyone have experience with this feeder in Georgia ? Does it get condensation in it in Georgia's high humidity? Does it get clogged with small chunks of corn cob like you find in most 50 lb sacks of feed corn? Do you have problems with coons? Do you have problems with hogs?
I'm now using a trough and have a big coon and hog problem. The trough is 35" high and the hogs are standing on their hind legs and eating out of the trough. Of course coons have no problem getting in the trough and I have pictures of as many as 10 coons in the trough at one time. The Dr Kroll videos claim that coons and hogs can't reach the feed tubes on his feeder if its installed so the tubes are 40-42 inches high. He also says the coons can't climb the legs and reach the tubes because of the spread distance between the tubes and the legs.
I would like to hear from anyone who has used Boss Buck feeders in Georgia. $ 600.00 is a significant investment for a feeder and I'd like to know if I should expect any problems. 
Thanks in advance for your help.


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## Forest Grump (May 30, 2014)

I can't speak to the 600 as far as coons, but they certainly can reach the tubes on the 350 pound model. You will need to use spike strips on the legs of the one like I have. I put them on top of the tubes as well; you could see the scratches in the plastic where the coons would hang on. The 600 may have more distance from the leg to the tube, because the hopper is bigger.

Hogs will dominate a BB feeder; & just a medium sized hog (150-200 #) is big enough to reach the tubes. Hogs stand & bump their nose against the end of the tube, shaking out the feed, until the hopper is empty. Little pigs crowd under the big one & eat the feed off the ground as momma shakes it out. Once they take the feeder over & pee all under it, the deer usually will stop using it altogether, even if the hogs are not present at the time the deer visits. 

I have never gotten very good deer usage with mine; on one property, they won't go to it, no matter where I moved it, & wrens nested in the tubes (in a place where they are used to using trough feeders). In another county, deer began using it within a week, but stopped as soon as the hogs took it over. Don't buy one if you have bears. 

I have had problems with feed (corn or pellets) molding inside it in summer. They have made some modifications to the lid design since I bought mine, though. 

Mine currently is loaned out to a friend who wanted to try it before he bought one; I would suggest if you have hogs to run a low fence around it like with a tripod, to keep the swine away. That is what I planned to do with mine if my buddy doesn't want to keep it. Ben Koerth suggested hanging a spin cast feeder next to it to get the deer started using it. I have not tried that. 

It doesn't clog, & the feed doesn't have any place to get stuck in it. The space around the cone is probably an inch or more wide, so one chuck of cob wouldn't plug it up, it would flow around the obstruction & into the feed tubes.

One of the members on here has a number of them on his place in Macon Co. & gets good usage by his deer. He told me he had to find the right spot, usually at the junction of hardwoods & pines, for them to take to it well. I moved mine a lot, never found that spot; deer would avoid going near it, even a year after placement. 

I won't buy another one for me, but I wouldn't tell you not to buy one, as they work well for a lot of people.


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## old florida gator (May 30, 2014)

*200 boss buck feeder*

deer loved until the hogs knocked it over , will try to use t-posts to stabilize it. having problems with securing the lid , bolts too short from manufacturer, poor design. legs too close to feeder.


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## Forest Grump (May 30, 2014)

old florida gator said:


> deer loved until the hogs knocked it over , will try to use t-posts to stabilize it. having problems with securing the lid , bolts too short from manufacturer, poor design. legs too close to feeder.



They make a kit now, if yours has the square legs, to anchor it. You drive a piece of T-post into an aluminum plate that anchors the feeder. I think the bigger capacity is an attempt to widen the leg-to-feeder distance. Lid will secure with a clip, that's easy.


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## old florida gator (May 31, 2014)

what kind of a clip please explain. I plan on using t-post to anchor the round legs on my 200 boss buck feeder, will bolt the t-post to the legs and drive it in the ground. the feeder feet wil have rebar in them.


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## old florida gator (May 31, 2014)

the 200 boss buck feeder use thumbscrews in the lid to secure , they send me ones too short and they do not secure the lid , need a nut in the lid to secure the thumbscrew. it has a square hole but no way to secure the bolt.  I contacted boss buck and all they do is send same length thumbscrews no help.


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## Hunt&Fish (May 31, 2014)

Forest Grump said:


> I can't speak to the 600 as far as coons, but they certainly can reach the tubes on the 350 pound model.
> 
> Thanks You saved me $600..
> I'll just put a fence around my trough for the hogs and put carpet tack strips on the legs for the coons..


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## shdw633 (May 31, 2014)

If you want to try a gravity feeder out first and not spend a fortune, take the spinner off of a Moultrie feeder and add a gravity tube that Walmart sells on it's website for around $28.  I have 4 of them and though we don't have hogs I do have coons and they don't get into these.  You do have to make a wood adapter to get the tubes to fit the feeder but it is easy.


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## Forest Grump (May 31, 2014)

old florida gator said:


> what kind of a clip please explain. I plan on using t-post to anchor the round legs on my 200 boss buck feeder, will bolt the t-post to the legs and drive it in the ground. the feeder feet wil have rebar in them.





old florida gator said:


> the 200 boss buck feeder use thumbscrews in the lid to secure , they send me ones too short and they do not secure the lid , need a nut in the lid to secure the thumbscrew. it has a square hole but no way to secure the bolt.  I contacted boss buck and all they do is send same length thumbscrews no help.



I don't think I've ever seen one like you describe? On all the ones I have seen the lid is fixed on the hinge side with bolts (comes pre-assembled), & the latch side has 2 eyebolts that you connect with a clip so a coon can't open it & climb in. Can you not buy a bolt like you want at the hardware store?

I could live with the coons, they eat far less out of a BB feeder than from a trough, but I have heard folks say that if you mix corn + protein pellets, they'd shovel the protein out on the ground picking out the corn. The spike strips on the legs do a pretty good job of discouraging the coons from climbing to the tubes, but I think I'd have a hard time forking over 600 $ for a deer feeder.


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## old florida gator (May 31, 2014)

this a new item from boss buck this spring it is a 200 lb protein gravity feeder or can be a spin feeder. the problem is the design of the lid it sits on top held on my thumbscrews  supposed to expand and contract to stop condensation, but is not that secure a slight twist and the lid is easily removed , coons and wind could move it . no good. what were they thinking .


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