Academy Game Winner Big A Feeder - thoughts????

[rkmontana]

Hi Everybody,

Been in the market for a new deer feeder for feeding corn. Houston area Academy stores have a Game Winner Model Big A feeder that I was looking at that to me seems pretty heavy duty and nice for the price. I like that it has a ladder built in, and varmit guard, etc. Seems like you get a lot for $349. My fear is that it is made by Game Winner - which I have always thought was more your basic inexpensive less quailty product. Have any of you ever owned a Game Winner feeder, and if so how was the quality??

Have any of you ever seen this feeder I am referring to - and if so do you think it looks to be any good or not??

Attached is the link to it on Academy.com

http://www.academy.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_10051_29355_-1?Ntt=Game+Winner%e2%84%a2+Hunting+Gear&Ntk=All

I would love to buy either a winch style or built in ladder style feeder - and thus far this is the best I have found for under $400. If any of you have any better suggestions for me in the Houston area I would love to hear about them. Ultramatic seems much higher in price than what this Game Winner has to offer at $349.

Thanks for your help!

[Kingslayer]

Academy is a great company to buy from

[gonehuntin68]

I have 4 of them and they work great. Three things you should know though

1 - The motor is 6v and it throws great (about 20 yards) but you will need a solar panel because it will drain the battery fairly fast without it.
2 - It's a bit of a pain to put together. Have a drill with sockets and it will make it much easier.
3 - Make sure you build a big varmint cage on it because the coons have easy access from the ladder.

[SCORPION KING]

Doesn't Academy run them on sale alot cheaper after the season is over?

[VorTexan]

Same price. Hunten Outdoors Ladderman Feeder 40 or 70 gal. Not a metal tank but I likey and I might be able to deliver one to your area.

Has site windows to monitor corn. Don't have a dealer in Houston yet but I may be headed that way next week.

Now when you get ready for something really heavy that does corn or protein see the other T-Hanger product.

[keep]

The feeder itself has been good. The timer has been a piece of crap since dad has owned it. I bet 40-50% of the time it wasn't working and that went on for 2 years. Finally this year after 3 trip and no worky, I talked him into getting a new timer "brain". It's been good since. A varmint cage is a must and it will be one of the biggest ones you have ever built because o9f the design of the bottom of the feeder.

[Stan R]

I have two and they work great. A pain to assemble.. Had to repalce the plastic cone other tha that they work.... great I got mine after the season for $175 each.

[eradicator]

We put a new guts in it and built a large critter cage. It has been great since the upgrades. Got mine for $100 bucks one year after the season on clearance. As stated above, it's a pain to assemble. We also siliconed all of the joints/seams out of caution.

[donfish84]

I have the little a. It's been a good feeder minus the timer. The original timer went out within the first month. It kept saying Jammed. Sent it off and got a new timer. Been working like a champ ever since. As the other owners have mentioned the small varmint guard is useless. Easy fix. A major pain putting it together by yourself. Grab some beer and call a buddy. Other than that great feeder for a reasonable price. Wait till after season and academy drops the price a little.

[coop2564]

We have 6 running and they have been good units. not real easy to put together but once done they are good. If you have cows they can reach the motor housing and will do damage so beware of that. If fenced in or no cows your good. ours have been running fortwo yrs no timer or motor failures.

[jooger17]

The motor and timers are chit! I had 2 of them and they both went out inside of 2 months. I got lucky on both, 1 in San Angelo and 1 in Lufkin... When I went to get the one in Lufkin my buddy was working and sold me the display already assembled. Then when I bought the one in San Angelo I couldn't find the sign in the store for the feeder so I walked the guy outside and said I want that one. He started unlocking the chingaderra and said where's your truck... LUCKY!!!

[ByronB]

We have four or five of the Academy feeders on our place. We switched out several of the spinners on them before we set them up. One still has the original spinner and has been working ok. The main thing that needs to be done for safety reasons is to attach the chains from leg to leg that come with them. If the chains are not attached, the legs can push outwards from the weight of the corn along with a person standing on the ladder. We had one damaged this way. Fortunately the guy filling the feeder did not get hurt. They have been good feeders.

[rkmontana]

Just wanted to say thanks for all of the advice here. Sounds like mixed reviews....but regardless it sounds like I should hold off a few weeks until the price goes down on these.

I am sending a separate post on my 2nd choice for a possible feeder shortly if any of you want to help there as well.

Again thanks for all of your help!

[JTB_ATX]

Feeder Verification

Can anyone help me identify the manufacturer of the feeder with the protein attachment pictured in the conversation sting above. It is the one on the right. The conversation is about the Big A from academy but that is not a Big "A". They had one in the Academy near my house during hunting season but no one can remember who made it and now it is out of stock. Any clues on the forum? The forum wont let me post the image. So its the one on the right above this response.

[jooger17]

The feeder itself has been good. The timer has been a piece of crap since dad has owned it. I bet 40-50% of the time it wasn't working. A varmint cage is a must and it will be one of the biggest ones you have ever built because o9f the design of the bottom of the feeder.

Yep this is true for me too. I also had to put a piece of bailing wire through the latch on top so they wouldn't open it up. My buddy laughed at me when I was wiring it up and asked if I thought the coons were going to open it up. Then I showed him the TC pics