Registered: May 2017
Location: PA
Posts: 70

I made a thread to see if anyone uses feeders or food plots for bringing in coons. If so what do you use? If you pick other please tell what you use. I'm making a coon feeder in the near future and am wondering what everyone uses for bait.

Another question i had is if anyone ever tried planting a food plot for coons?

Thank you for the all the answers,
Eric.

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Eric T.

Last edited by SRF on 05-23-2017 at 11:06 PM

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Registered: Jan 2016
Location: Ohio
Posts: 94

Just plant sweet corn they will come from miles away!!!!!

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Registered: May 2017
Location: PA
Posts: 70

That's what i was thinking to do.

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Eric T.

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A dollar bag of marshmallows on top of your feeder buckets filled with corn.

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Registered: Nov 2016
Location: North georgia
Posts: 217

In my opinion and from what I have seen cheap cat food is the best....corn will attract squirrels,birds,bear.etc.... I have went through 2 30 pound bags of cat food in less than 3 weeks...they love it...pour powdered grape kool-aid In and on your feeder with it the first time and they will find it a lot faster....haven't had a bear touch one of my feeders with cat food in it yet...I'm not saying they won't but where I live there are a lot of bear and it hasn't happened yet (knock on wood)

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Registered: Oct 2013
Location: Maryland
Posts: 2633

I use a 50/50 mix of shelled corn and dog food in my feeders. I add in the corn more to help keep it moving thru the feeders I use than for something they will eat or get attracted to. Corn by itself does work, but adding dog or cat food works even better...it also cost more. I usually add in some dry grape or black raspberry Kool-Aid. In the winter I pour in bacon grease. No bear where I live so I am lucky not to have to worry about them.
I tried a rabbit water bottle full of molasses once and it didn't work at all...even when I sugared it all up to make it edible. They just didn't mess with it. Then I tried it full of grape Kool-Aid that was so sugared up it was like syrup. They went for that, but it don't work good in warm weather...it draws too many wasps and bees and turns rancid pretty quick.
Don't know about a feed plot...sweet corn seems like a lot of work and it's only good for such a short time.

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Registered: Dec 2006
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culled peanuts from the sheller. best thing going around these parts.

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Registered: May 2017
Location: Mountain Fork
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Cheap dog feed works great

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Registered: Jun 2003
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Pop corn.... cheap and they live double butter.. lol

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Registered: Dec 2016
Location: Ark/Miss
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I bought 17 popcorn tins at Fred dollar store for $2.50 around New years. Duck taped the lid and cut a 1x1 square in center of the bottom and tied to trees 16-18 inches of the ground and it worked great. I put cameras on them & never went a night w/o coon, they last 10-15 days typically.

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Registered: Jul 2003
Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 2147

I do the old tire hanging in tree, full with corn and water, grape cool aid to get started

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Registered: Nov 2014
Location: decatur, Indiana
Posts: 225

I've heard guys in here talk about souring corn on here before. I can get corn cheap around here. How do u sour corn so the squirrels n such don't eat it all?

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Registered: Aug 2004
Location: Chattanooga, Tn
Posts: 22462

I sprinkled grape kool aid on the top of a plastic five gallon bucket feeder once and they ate the top off of it. I found out that it doesn't matter what you put it on, they will eat it. I bet that if you planted some grapes, you would attract plenty of coons.

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Central Michigan
Posts: 6539

I have used cheap dog food and sour corn with grape kool aid. Both work well.

Make sour corn by adding water to corn kernels and covering it. After it starts to ferment, it smells. Then stir grape kool aid into the mixture. You may need to add some more water if the corn absorbs most of it.

PS in my area a feeder can become very hard to keep filled.

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Registered: Jun 2014
Location: missouri
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If you want to sour your corn faster mix in sugar and apple cider vinegar.

Some Buy cheap peanut butter jars punch hole in bottom walk and toss out about 2-3 in area you wanting to hunt.
I know a guy who dont like to litter and he takes peanut jars uses a HUGE flat washer and screws cap onto tree about foot from ground. cut small hole in bottom of jar and screw it onto its own cap u just screwed to tree. Only problem is coons and squirrels will chew up the plastic fairly quick. Im improvising the idea with a metal can i can slide a peanut butter jar into .
Also heard of a guy who dug holes in ground to hold a 5 gal bucket flush with the ground pours corn and water in. Too much work for me to dig that many big holes in this rocky ground here LOL but heard it worked nicely and put a guy in the winners circle at Autumn Oaks few years back.
I just use the tire feeders with corn, $1 bag marshmallows or the grape kool aid sugar mix. Always works & fairly cheap

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Registered: May 2017
Location: PA
Posts: 70

Thank you all for the info. I'm hunting this new land and i don't understand why but there are literally no coons on the land. I've treed once on this land in the past 6 months unlike every where else you'll tree a lot. Could a feeder increase the population or what do y'all think i should try? I'm a little frustrated and aren't sure what to do cause i can't hunt the old land no more.

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Eric T.

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Registered: Jan 2011
Location: Canton, Ohio
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quote:

---

Originally posted by SRF
Thank you all for the info. I'm hunting this new land and i don't understand why but there are literally no coons on the land. I've treed once on this land in the past 6 months unlike every where else you'll tree a lot. Could a feeder increase the population or what do y'all think i should try? I'm a little frustrated and aren't sure what to do cause i can't hunt the old land no more.

---

__________________
Lethal Blue kennels.
Where the females count and you will never see a "brood" female!
Dan and Kris Rosier
Canton, ohio
330-904-3392


Home of:
Gr Ch. Nite Ch. PR. Lethal Blue Moonlight Serenade... Gr. Ch. Nite Ch PR Hillbillys Smokey River Dutch HTX X Gr. Ch. Nite CH. PR Lethal Blue Izabell Sitara
Ch. PR. Lethal Blue Lil Bit of Respect.... Ch. Nite Ch PR Shivers' Magic Lead X GR. Ch. Nite Ch PR Lethal Blue Betty Jane
PR. Lethal Blue Tayen Grace..... Nite Ch. Pr Coffins creek running J.R. X Gr Ch Nite Ch PR Lethal Blue Moonlite Serenade.



Gone but never forgotten
Gr. Ch. Nite Ch. PR. Lethal Blue Izabell Sitara... Dual Gr. Ch PR Bowens Blue Deuce X Ch. Nite Ch. PR Becky.

Gr Ch Nite Ch. PR. Lethal Blue Betty Jane...... PR. Crites Soggy Bottom Blue Banjo X PR. Mosquito Creek Tree mamma Sis

Gr Ch. Nite Ch. PR. Lethal Blue Rattlin Samantha ... Dual Gr Ch PR Mid Ohio Rattlin Sam X Gr Ch PR. Lethal Blue Jet's Xena

Gr. Ch. Nite Ch Hillbilly's Smokey River Blue Dutch HTX..... Gr. Ch. Gr. Nite Ch Pr. Smokey River Tramp's Blue Lake and Pr. Misty River Blue Doll III.
(Dutch wasn't ours, but he was here and like one of the family)

Pr. Dan's little Porter.... my last beagle...

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Registered: Oct 2013
Location: Maryland
Posts: 2633

quote:

---

Originally posted by SRF
Thank you all for the info. I'm hunting this new land and i don't understand why but there are literally no coons on the land. I've treed once on this land in the past 6 months unlike every where else you'll tree a lot. Could a feeder increase the population or what do y'all think i should try? I'm a little frustrated and aren't sure what to do cause i can't hunt the old land no more.

---

Last edited by msinc on 05-26-2017 at 03:06 AM

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Registered: Jan 2016
Location: Central Pa
Posts: 1114

quote:

---

Originally posted by msinc
I have played around with feeders half my life. They can maybe increase the population some but the reasons are usually temporary. Raccoons need several things to stay in an area. The most important thing I have seen is big hollow trees. They will go in the ground or in rocks, but that is an exception. Females in the wild always have their young in big hollow trees for safety and survival. No big trees, no coon, it's that simple. Next in importance is water and they definitely prefer a stream or small feeder creek over ponds and lakes. There has to be water nearby or again, no coon. Third is food, and make no mistake, they wont throw caution to the wind and move right into an area that has no wild source of food just because you slapped up a feeder. Sure, they will hit a feeder, but they wont call that area home.
As far as what you can do about it...den boxes can solve the lack of hollow trees, but there still has to be some big trees around. There is not much you can do if there is no stream there. You can still have coon visit a feeder, but it will probably be in the dead middle of winter.
I have a hunting cabin on top of a mountain in Virginia. There are really no big trees to speak of, just a handful of nice oaks. There is no water within a mile and most of the year no coon visit my feeders. When the weather gets below freezing in January the biggest, fattest, healthiest five amigos you ever saw are there every night.

---

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Registered: Jun 2007
Location: jacksonville, nc
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I never planted a food plot but I planted a few high yield mulberry trees. As soon as they got big enough to start bearing fruit, only 3 years, bears almost tore them to shreds. Then they were cut down by the forestry people. I planted high yield persimmon trees and saw tooth oaks. They were killed when the forest was burned. I'm done with that.

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Registered: Dec 2004
Location: Bearden AR
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Another thing I have seen, is that when the berries are out, you can just about forget the feeders. They will choose natural feed over sour corn. I used to get free dog food. I would put the buckets near a source of water. I never had much of a problem getting them the come into the feeders. Now my free feed is gone and last year I used sour corn. I hung a couple 50 gallon plastic barrels up with 50lbs of corn and water in them. It was ok but nothing like that dog food.

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Registered: Jun 2012
Location: McRae Ar
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quote:

---

Originally posted by msinc
I have played around with feeders half my life. They can maybe increase the population some but the reasons are usually temporary. Raccoons need several things to stay in an area. The most important thing I have seen is big hollow trees. They will go in the ground or in rocks, but that is an exception. Females in the wild always have their young in big hollow trees for safety and survival. No big trees, no coon, it's that simple. Next in importance is water and they definitely prefer a stream or small feeder creek over ponds and lakes. There has to be water nearby or again, no coon. Third is food, and make no mistake, they wont throw caution to the wind and move right into an area that has no wild source of food just because you slapped up a feeder. Sure, they will hit a feeder, but they wont call that area home.
As far as what you can do about it...den boxes can solve the lack of hollow trees, but there still has to be some big trees around. There is not much you can do if there is no stream there. You can still have coon visit a feeder, but it will probably be in the dead middle of winter.
I have a hunting cabin on top of a mountain in Virginia. There are really no big trees to speak of, just a handful of nice oaks. There is no water within a mile and most of the year no coon visit my feeders. When the weather gets below freezing in January the biggest, fattest, healthiest five amigos you ever saw are there every night.

---

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Registered: Oct 2013
Location: Maryland
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I have seen woods with everything where there should be at least some coons but none. Do you have coyotes out your way??? If there are coyotes denning up around an area you can bet there will be at least way less coon. A coons number one predator is great horned owls. They don't kill the adults obviously, but an owl with chicks will wipe out an entire litter in about two weeks.
One thing that happens here, and my land is a perfect example...in areas where there are tidal waters {we are on a peninsula} they will go pretty good distances to feed on a beach or marsh during low tide. I have a feeder creek on my land that is a nice bottom with everything they could want. I am about a mile upstream from the head of a big salt marsh. During high tide the coon are here and even my dogs can manage to get one treed. Let a storm come thru and blow the water out of the bay and they are not seen for a week. catch a couple low tides at night and they are gone as well.
They definitely move around to the food supply...there could be some wild plant that they are eating and they all left to go get some.

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Registered: May 2017
Location: PA
Posts: 70

quote:

---

Originally posted by msinc
I have seen woods with everything where there should be at least some coons but none. Do you have coyotes out your way??? If there are coyotes denning up around an area you can bet there will be at least way less coon. A coons number one predator is great horned owls. They don't kill the adults obviously, but an owl with chicks will wipe out an entire litter in about two weeks.
One thing that happens here, and my land is a perfect example...in areas where there are tidal waters {we are on a peninsula} they will go pretty good distances to feed on a beach or marsh during low tide. I have a feeder creek on my land that is a nice bottom with everything they could want. I am about a mile upstream from the head of a big salt marsh. During high tide the coon are here and even my dogs can manage to get one treed. Let a storm come thru and blow the water out of the bay and they are not seen for a week. catch a couple low tides at night and they are gone as well.
They definitely move around to the food supply...there could be some wild plant that they are eating and they all left to go get some.

---

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