Constructing a normal-sized Backyard Bag Feeder Project mat (and platform):

To construct a normal sized Backyard Bag Feeder Project mat, begin by cutting a piece of foam into a 9 1/4″ by 8 15/16″ brick, about 2″ thick. The foam should fit easily (or somewhat easily) into a standard gallon-sized storage bag (i.e., a ZipLock™ bag or similar.) The foam fills out the space of the mat and gives curious animals something to grab on to (in the case of squirrels) and birds something to hold on to (in the case of birds like grackles and bluejays, who dig their talons into the foam for traction.) Another thing I like to do is to cut either visable or hidden (small cuts with recessed holes, but not showing up on camera) holes into the foam to hide bits of food - some squirrels (and birds, once and awhile) notice this extra food and work harder to get to it! This is the basic set-up of the smaller Backyard Bag Feeder Project mat. My setup uses the instructions above with 2 additional pieces, a wooden platform with a centered dowel that the mat is stapled to (to prevent the mat from being taken away which has happened to me before :)) and small plastic supports (cut from a hard surface, like the top to a container of peanuts) to support the bag being stapled to the wood.

To construct the wooden platform, cut a board down to 7″ by 6 7/8″, a little more than a 1/2″ thick (I haven’t tested it, but 7″x7″x1/2″ should work fine), make a small recess for the dowel and glue a large enough dowel in the bottom of the board to support the platform from not being pulled out of the ground - 5-6″ long should be good enough (OR… drill 2 holes in the upper left and lower right of the board and insert small spikes into the holes - I’ve been using this method for the larger project which you’ll see below and it seems to be more efficient, as well as a lot less invasive to the yard, of course…)

Now, I’ve never really had the chance in my own yard to try my project with larger animals like raccoons and foxes and the like (although that would be an absolute dream of mine), so I basicially used the same design since 1998 with the local squirrels, chipmunks and various birds around this area. In the summer of 2006, however, I had a chance while visiting relatives to try out my basic Backyard Bag Feeder Project design with the hope of seeing larger animals investigating this strangely placed variety of food that is my project, so I designed a larger version of the platform mat (which I dubbed the “Coony mat” with the very slight optimistic chance of trying my project idea with raccoons.)

As you can see, the design did not disappoint, and neither did the local wildlife! A raccoon (a pair of raccoons, actually!) found my platform interesting, and even tried getting food out of the similar-to-the-small-but larger-project! Trying the whole project with larger animals (like raccoons) has been a dream of mine, like I said before, since I started the whole project in 1998 - but since I already wrote about that, let’s just get down to the details of how to construct your own “Coony Mat”…

Constructing a medium-sized Backyard Bag Feeder Project mat (and platform):

Similar to the smaller mat, cut a piece of foam out that will fill a bag comfortably, but not too tight. In this case, use a large storage bag - I used Hefty™ One Zip Jumbo™ 2.5 Gallon storage bags for my version. I cut my foam pieces to 12″ wide by 12 6/8″ tall, and 2 7/8″ thick. The wooden platform for the larger mat is 13 1/8″ tall by 15 1/2″ wide and 3/4″ thick and this design uses the spikes method, where holes are cut in both the upper left and lower right of the board. 6-7″ spikes can then be used in the holes, with a diameter of .25″ (make the holes a little larger, like .30-.35″ for a little leway room - but not too much that the spike won’t hold the board down!)

Now, of course, you can build a larger version of the mat and platform (is anyone stupid, er, adventurous enough to try this project with cougars? With bears? :)) but these are the sizes I’ve used, and they’ve both worked for me… To watch a promotional video of yours truly replacing an old destroyed normal-sized Backyard Bag Feeder Project mat with a new one, click on the video link below…

 

 Creating a new Backyard Bag Feeder Project mat platform, version 1 [1:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup