Anyone with experience prebaiting coons off deer feeders? Some hunters have a coon problem on the feeders in the fall. I'd like to clean the coon off the feeders quickly so I can concentrate on the yotes but where they are placed is fairly wide open and scouting the place didn't show any trails yet the coon are thick coming off the roads to the feeders. So I need to drop something than can pull them to a better ambush location.

Thinking about spiking some dog food in coon sized feeders and placing them where I need them.

Any other ideas would be welcome.

No need to spike the dog food ! Drill a hole along the side near the bottom of a five gallon bucket, glue in a short piece of pvc and fill with the cheapest dog food you can buy. Use a piece of rope to keep the bucket just off the ground by 10” to 12” , this will help keep the bucket from being cleaned out the first night !

Sniper, I kept up with over 100 feeders on plantations that kept feeding deer year round. About a dozen different properties. Now that the tundra is receding, in assuming it is in your country as well(?), I knocked the you know what out of them right at the feeders. Up to 6 coons at a feeder but 3 and 4 were most common.

You'd be best served to get a cat food made with a fish base.

If they end up not wanting that, give them what they came for (what's in the feeders) with a tap of lure on the rim. Moonshine lure works. Anise and glycerine in a spray bottle works but not on the food. Adding fish oil and vanilla to the cat food does wonders.

What USMC47 said. I put 18" cable on my dps and attach to each feeder leg. Bam 3 coons almost every nite. Couple drops of anise or vanilla in an ice cream bucket of deer corn, shake up and bait your traps.

Coon Bait Station-
Kitty litter bucket with lid. Hole drilled into 3 sides. Dry Dog Food from Dollar Store

LOL Good pic Hern.

Do you set traps around it during the season or is it just to draw them away from any feeders?

TB1, I was experimenting with several different 'Coon Baits' and videoing individuals that visited.
Dry Dog Food (DDF) was the clear winner for Coon Bait.

This picture was at the back of our property, within 40 yards of Deer Feeder with Corn. I did set live traps there baited with DDF & caught Coon. Other bait stations I was monitoring (videoing) elsewhere, I placed DP traps, baited with only DDF & caught.
*disclaimer
(this research was done my me- for me- it's not scientific- just my own study and may not apply to your area)

Thanks Hern, I appreciate the info. I have a buddy who is buying a 200 acre farm in southern Ohio and is planning on putting out multiple feeders. So this type of information is good to have to help him out, as well as good knowledge to have for myself should the need arise.

Use 4-inch or bigger, thin- wall plastic pipe for feeders. Coon still work them but you don’t go through so much food. A little liquid smoke on the outside helps get them interested.

Here is what I do on my contract jobs. IF a client wants coons trapped along with coyotes. I simple set out camera on feeder and throw some sweet feed around them . If i return and camera shows 6 coons I set 7 traps. I use cat food with a squirt of clam juice, then I put 1 white marshmellow on top of trap and 1 inside trap.

You guys that have used vanilla with your dog or cat food, do you have trouble with deer ?

USMC 47 the cat food is a good bet but I still don’t feel the need to spike it here with our cooler weather. I use canned cat food before it freezes and dry cat food after . The canned cat food works good in a cage or a coni box, just poke a few holes in a can and wire it in a box or cage and you are good for the season !

You Tube "Burger king set" and there's some good info about a coon station setup to prep for a big coon trapping harvest.

Put a trail camera on a few of the active feeders and you will likely see coon on the deer feeders off/on all night long. You can see and count the number of coons in the pictures, but you usually can't tell how many are different or same coons from one hour to the next. They come and go all night and some or many are different coon. I have seen as many as 12 coon at one feeder at one time. No telling how many came and went later in the night so the total number of coon using one feeder could easily be double what you see in the pictures. The coon you are after are already set in their pattern of going to the deer feeders so set your traps around those feeders and on the trails leading to the feeders.

Thank you very much AJE, I loved that video. Now I can't wait for the fall to arrive. I never saw that guy's videos before. After watching that one I instantly subscribed to his channel.

your not going to pull them off the deer feeders. I have tried. you can put in your coon feeders and they will work but the deer feeder creates a bigger draw. they will hit both but the deer feeder has more draw. Most deer feeders are started in August early Sept, that is if they are not used all year. This creates the habit in the coon to go check them even if there is no feed in them. If I am competing with a feeder I will pick the spots along the late summer travel and dig the Baits and oils into the ground so the ground takes on the odor. I use a dry coon attractant I make for this, but have and still will used corn, cat food, dog food and then puts some oils like fish oil or my persimmon or molasses or even mix my Deer stuff on it and work it into the soil.

I drill about Six 2” holes on the sidewall of an old tire with a rim and fill it with cracked corn and cheap syrup.

Old video I did on bait coon

Old video I did on bait coon

I've had a stump shaped corn feeder out for a few weeks and coon track pass it by about 10' away. Can't seem to get them to the corn.

They're probably not having a whole lot of trouble finding food this time of year. Shoot some liquid smoke on the corn, it'll be gone in a day or two.