Automatic Game Feeder by Moultrie

Introduction

The American brand Moultrie® is a specialised game management company that has been making deer and game feeders for over 30 years and is a very well known brand internationally. As well as a very wide range of feeders, they also make sprayers, spreaders, Reaction Cams (video recorders) and of course trail cameras.
While feeders are commonly used for ducks and other game birds, Pete Thomson, the Moultrie distributor, says this unit will work well for attracting deer as well. So it was deer that I would try the unit out on.

The Product

The test product is an Econ-Kit feeder that you attach to your own drum. This unit sits beneath your drum and sprays out a controlled amount of feed (maize etc) twice a day at dawn and dusk. It has a photo-receptive cell that detects day and night light changes with internal controls so you can set it to feed out 30 minutes before dusk and 30 minutes after dawn.

All bolts and screws are provided, you just need to add a large 6volt battery to run the unit.

In the Field

Inside the drum we tipped in a 20kg sack of maize with some special apple flavoured deer feed supplied by Moultrie mixed in too. Actually the deer feed smelled like apples and tasted OK too!

I knew a local farmer with a few Red deer on the edge of the Kaimai Ranges and, although it was a ‘no hunting’ spot, he agreed to me placing the feeder and even gave me a ride out to a likely spot on his 4WD bike to set it up.

We soon found a nice high tree, tossed a rope over a branch and hoisted the feeder up with a large 40 gallon plastic drum (painted dark green) attached. I set a Moultrie trail camera underneath to see what would turn up and left the unit. There was not a lot of deer sign about so the unit was set to spray the minimum amount of 340 grams twice a day; 30 minutes before dark and 30 minutes after dawn, which is a four second run time.
Before leaving I hit the test button and a nice wide spray of feed rained about for a few seconds in all directions.

A couple of weeks later and the results were mixed. The camera had picked up three shots of people (trespassers?) and only night shots of deer. However, it looked like every possum for miles had moved in and there was scarcely a maize kernel left on the ground. I moved the unit to another spot for pheasants and in no time at all there was a wild bird feeding under the unit.

Conclusion

Because of the weight of the feed and bulk of the drum you really need a place that you can drive relatively close to.
Although it didn’t work that well for me, only attracting deer at night, it did do what it was designed to do in all weather conditions and the deer and possums soon got used to an easy meal.
This is an easy and economical way to feed game that you can just set and leave. Some may see the unit as a meat harvesting aid for wild game while farmers will know the benefits of an automatic feeder as a great time saving tool.
As well as attracting and holding wild game it should work on bush blocks, farm ponds or paddocks with deer, pigs, poultry, rabbits and even fish!
If you have a duck pond feeding out gives you a huge aid to drawing birds during the shooting season and this unit is easy and affordable. You could hang the unit and your drum from a sturdy tripod of suitable material if there was no tree handy.
Pro Hunter feeder kits are also available that you can set up to six feed times a day.
A 20 kilo sack of maize will last up to two months on the minimum setting.
All instructions for set-up are supplied.

For more information email:
moultrienz@paradise.net.nz or
www.moultriefeeders.com