Yesterday morning the pole for the bird feeder was bent almost to the ground with the seed container on its side, several feet away. Of course, the squirrels were overjoyed at not having to go through all their antics to get to the seed. This happened once a long time ago, a one time event.

Pickles straightened out the pole (it's not real heavy duty like the other one), reset it in the ground and refilled/hung the feeder. This morning it had happened again.


OK, there are no bears in the area. I've never seen a possum interested in any spilled seed around the feeder. Raccoon? Their little hands could probably get a grasp on the pole and with their weight at the top bend the pole over. I don't think deer would mess with it but maybe. Too much trouble for the deer. They seem to like things easy. Time for the game cam tonight! I think whatever's doing it will back and third time's a charm.

Any guesses as to the culprit?

My guess is the coon or the deer.

Riveting subject matter!! I'm in the squirrel wars here, over my car.
Three wifi surveillance cameras on the car since Christmas Eve. Two nights fox, two nights hare, one ruffed grouse, two daytime squirrel appearances, and one neighbor cat crossing the parking area in stealth mode at night and detected as a "vehicle".
I need a game cam with a faster trigger, less AI.

Looks like bear damage. Is it possible there's a lone bear passing through your area? We don't have bears living in my county or nearby, but every few years or so there are a few sightings and then the bear moves on.

I looked up a GA bear study (Strategic Management Plan for Black Bears in Georgia) and they say bears "may occasionally be seen anywhere in the state." Here's a map of their normal range and various sightings outside the range. The green shading of the range areas is from 2011; I don't know if the black-dot sighting info is more current, but definitely no more recent than 2018. Bear range and population is expanding pretty fast in much of the Eastern US.
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If you're sure it can't be a bear, that pretty much only leaves deer, raccoons and human vandals. Can you bend the shepherd's crook with your hands (in a spot that wasn't already bent, I mean)? If so, maybe a raccoon could do it, but I think they'd just move on to someone's trash can instead. Deer probably would have grabbed the bird feeder and pulled, and I would expect the bird feeder to break off before the pole bent like that. But I'm just guessing here.

The illusive southern moose.

normally here, i would say a bear did it. when they come out of hibernation,
they are hungry. they will bend the shepherd hook down to the ground, damage
the bird feeder, and sometimes take off with the feeder, never to be seen again.
i still have not come across a feeder from last year. deer might eat fallen seed.
i don't know if raccoons are big enough to bend the hook to that extent at least
not any of our local ones. maybe yours are bigger? my guess is you have a bear
mooching. if so, it will keep coming back for an easy meal.


keith