Oologah Hunter Captures Photos Of Accidental Raccoon 'Party'

An Oologah hunter must be a legend in the Oklahoma raccoon community, thanks to a malfunctioning deer feeder. He has the photographs to prove it.

Rollie Lunsford, 39, is a small business owner who loves hunting and the great outdoors. He says he feeds deer year round.  

"As soon as their antlers fall off and start growing back I feed a high-protein pellet feed until they stop growing in late summer. Then I'll switch to corn," he said.

Lunsford said the feeder he was using this summer was a 1,200-pound-capacity Boss Buck feeder with four tubes on the bottom where the deer feed. As the deer eat out of the tubes, gravity forces more pellets down to refill the tubes.

Lunsford switches to corn during the summer. The corn kernels are much smaller than the protein pellets, so the feeder has to be adjusted.

"When I put the corn in for the first time this year I forgot the tools I needed to reset the flow rate," he said. When Lunsford left the feeder that day, he said, just the slightest touch would open the flow of corn. 

"Instead of going back and doing it right I thought, 'It won't run out too bad.'" Boy, was he wrong.

Thanks to his motion-activated game camera, he got photos of what happened next. The camera recorded seven raccoons as they gorged themselves on 1,000 pounds of corn Lunsford had loaded into the feeder for deer.

The photos show the seven raccoons in the middle of what must have been a raccoon party, eating, lounging and generally just enjoying themselves. In some of the frames the raccoons appear to be bewildered or even suspicious at their unexpected good fortune. One frame even shows two deer nibbling on the corn, with one of the raccoons appearing to be less than thrilled that they'd joined the feast. 

Lunsford saw the humor in the situation and posted the photos on his Facebook page. He doesn't mind that his 1,000 pounds of corn attracted a different kind of animal than he intended.

"The raccoons certainly appreciated it," he said.