Raccoons are opportunistic omnivores that readily consume deer corn, often becoming a significant issue at supplemental feeding stations intended for deer. This scenario stems from their highly adaptable diet and ability to exploit easily accessible, high-calorie food sources. The corn, typically dispersed from feeders or left in piles, provides a predictable and concentrated meal for these nocturnal foragers. Managing their presence requires understanding the corn’s specific appeal.
Raccoon Dietary Habits
Raccoons are highly successful mammals because of their omnivorous and opportunistic nature, allowing them to thrive in various environments from urban settings to deep woodlands. Their diet naturally includes a broad array of both plant and animal matter, changing with the seasons and local availability. In the wild, raccoons consume items such as insects, grubs, crayfish, frogs, and small rodents for protein.
Plant-based foods constitute a large portion of their diet, particularly fruits, berries, nuts, and seeds. This flexibility allows them to quickly incorporate new sources into their feeding habits. Their dexterity and intelligence enable them to manipulate objects and exploit human-provided resources, including raiding garbage and pet food left outdoors.
Why Deer Corn is Appealing
Deer corn is particularly attractive to raccoons due to its high caloric density and accessibility in common feeding setups. The kernels are packed with carbohydrates, offering a substantial energy reward. This concentrated source of energy is highly valued by nocturnal animals looking to build up fat reserves.
The way deer corn is often dispensed from automatic or gravity feeders makes it easy prey for raccoons. They are adept at climbing feeder legs to access the dispensing mechanism directly or consuming corn scattered on the ground. Raccoons quickly learn how to manipulate spin plates or dispenser chutes, often consuming a significant portion of the feed meant for deer. This theft leads to substantial financial waste, as raccoons can consume 40 pounds of corn or more per week from a single site.
Minimizing Raccoon Access to Feed
Effective management centers on making the feed physically inaccessible or less appealing.
Physical Modification of Feeders
One highly effective strategy involves modifying the feeder by installing specialized guards on the legs. Attaching broad, wobbly PVC pipe sections or sheet metal cones prevents raccoons from gaining purchase to climb to the dispensing head. These guards should be installed loosely enough to spin or wobble, making the climb impossible.
Timing Adjustments and Resistant Feeders
Adjusting the feeder’s timing is a powerful technique, as raccoons are primarily nocturnal foragers. Setting the feeder to dispense corn only during daylight hours, such as a single morning event, ensures deer consume the bulk of the feed before raccoons become active at dusk. This severely limits the amount of feed they can access. Specialized, raccoon-resistant feeders that require a specific action or weight to dispense feed can also be used.
Alternative Feed and Electric Deterrents
Property owners can explore alternative feed options that are less palatable to raccoons but still acceptable to deer, such as protein pellets or rice bran. Simple physical barriers like a low-voltage electric fence surrounding the feeder can also be used as a deterrent. A single strand placed a few inches off the ground delivers a harmless static shock that discourages repeat visits.