I’d like to hang another birdfeeder outside and I need to hang it high from one of our tree branches. The tree branch I’m eyeballing is about 30 feet up.
Past experiences have been promising. I’ve used the stone and rope/cord method to hang other birdfeeders in the yard (and backpacking food in bear country). But I’ve not tried to conquer something so far away.
One could ask, why so high, Arch? The answer is multifaceted, but it rests on 3 main pillars. Firstly, I’d like to position the feeder clear of the driveway, and this limb would keep the refuse away from the vehicles. It won’t keep the bluebirds and the occasional towhee from pecking and pooing up my car mirrors, but that’s another thread. Secondly, we had the trees aggressively pruned about 5 years ago; there’s no branches any lower in this part of the yard. And, I’ve had some luck with height being a deterrent for the squirrels. I’ve got a plan B for this concern, i.e. hot and spicy seeds, but I’ve found the precarious perch to be a deterrent, even if not 100% effective.
30 feet up doesn’t seem all that high. I see no reason the rock + string method won’t work fine.
You might need to make it rock + thread, then use the thread to pull up a string, then use the string to pull up your actual suspension cord. Which probably doesn’t need to be more substantial than 1/8" double-braid nylon.
ETA: rather than a rock, get a baseball or softball and put it in a small bag like a grocery bag or produce mesh bag and tie it closed with your string. Something like a real ball can be thrown a lot more accurately than some random stone. And the connection between the weight and the string will be a lot more reliable.
I did that, feeder was a good 10ft from the tree, 6ft off the ground. It was really amusing to watch a squirrel run up the tree, blindly leap off, do a half spin . . . and land on the top of my feeder.
Problem with most launchers is where is the weight going if it gets detached from the cordage? Better to use a tennis ball launcher for dogs if you’re going to try that method with new gear.
Whatever it is (weighted bag?) should be attached to the end of the throwing line so that it cannot work itself loose. As a first approximation, a figure-eight loop ought to do the trick; if anything, that might prove difficult to untie. Or perhaps an anchor hitch.
I’d go with a tennis ball+racquet - 30 feet would be easy. If you have issues with fishing line coming loose from the ball, you can thread it directly through the ball with an awl.
Once you get a rope over the branch, how high off the ground do you want the feeder? If it’s only 10-12 feet off the ground, refilling it is (relatively) easy with a regular ladder. If it’s 20 feet off the ground, you have other problems besides refilling, like how do you tie off the rope after you pull up the feeder?
Nope. Without seeing a picture of this specific tree to know if it would work, if there was another branch above the bottom branch you’re trying to thread a needle putting the drone between the two branches. Any drone that doesn’t have obstacle avoidance probably doesn’t have good enough finite controls to make it thru; better drones won’t make it thru with the default obstacle avoidance turned on if it’s not a big enough space. I can turn avoidance off on my drone, but then I’m risking crashing/damaging my expensive drone if I don’t thread properly.
Secondly, & more importantly, most consumer drones don’t have any drop capability. Even if you had one that did have a detach/drop capability, you need to do more than just drape it over the branch as that won’t stay. No, you’d need to bring the leader string back down to the ground & when the drone is descending so the string will be going up, thru the props. That’s going to do one or more of
Cut the string
Damage the prop(s)
Crash
Become entangled in the string & get caught x feet in the air. To recover, you’d need to pull it up, over the branch & then have it fall the 30’ to the ground, damaging you (if any of the props are still spinning) or the drone when it hits the ground.
@oligArchie, how are you going to refill it? Are you going to have a 60’ string tied off to the base of the tree/rock on the ground & just untie it & lower it down when necessary?
Thanks for all the responses. I don’t think I have the chutzpa (sp) to simply throw it up there. Maybe my stepson who is more athletic and (of course) younger would have more success. The tennis ball/racket approach has merit. Oh, and my non-fetching dog has a tennis ball launcher around here somewhere.
I thought the drone approach was intriguing. Until @Spiderman pointed out the shortcomings.
Oh, there are no cars, kids, pets or fragiles in the landing area. It’s okay if the rock comes loose. Certainly not ideal, but rather harmless.
I plan to ultimately hang the feeder from a cord that is in excess of 60-feet. It will allow me to lower the hanger to filling height and then pull it up again. I expect the feeder will hang about 10-12 feet off the ground after I’ve filled it and pulled it up.
No problem. I can easily fly my DJI Neo through a ~16 inch target when using first-person view with the goggles. I’d be more concerned about how the drone’s handling will be affected by dragging a long cord under it.
Ham radio guy here. I do this fairly frequently. Use a fishing weight , some 12 lb test line, and a slingshot. Pull 70 ft of line off the spool into a big loose pile . Tie on the sinker (a round one works best) and fire that puppy up into the tree. Weight will likely pull it down the other side of the tree. Use the fishing line to pull up the rope, chain, or whatever you want to hang the feeder.
I had to throw a climbing rope over my old house so I could use ascenders to get to the peak/ridge and install a satellite dish. I hooked a weight to a smaller rope and threw it. Took a few tries. Then used that rope to pull the climbing rope over. I anchored the rope on the other side and climbed the back of the house.
It wasn’t that steep really, but the steel roof was too slick for any of my shoes.