Our Story
M.A.G. OutdooRs/ M.A.G. Feeders “Our Story”
My name is James Reed, I teach Core Construction to high school students. I’ve been in the school system for 21 years now. Before that, I’ve done a little bit of everything from growing up on a hog farm, working in steel construction, and plastics manufacturing, as well as, coaching high school football. I’m a jack of all trades, aint really good at anything, but I can do a little bit of everything. I’ve been blessed beyond measure with my family, my wife Alison “AL”, my son Gavin “Gator” and my daughter Maggie “Brute”. God has allowed me to enjoy the outdoors from a young age up, my Paw and cousins took me hunting and fishing seems like when I started walking, at least as far back as I can remember!
If I wrote down every detailed “miracle” God performed to get us where we are today, it would definitely be a very thick book! So, I will try to encompass our story concerning why “AL” 150 was built, as simple as possible.
We hunt a patch of woods called Pine Ridge; we’ve hunted it a little over 30 years now. The name alone gives away the reasoning for the need for feeders, there are a few oaks on the property and we’ve been fortunate to establish a few food plots, still not nearly enough food sources. This being said we have used a wide variety of feeders, electronic and gravity. As with any type of food delivery system you attract all types of animals. “Our” nemesis is the well-known “raccoon”!!
Year after year trying to provide feed for the deer, the raccoons kicked our butt! This was true until 2 ½ years ago, when I finally built something that kept the raccoons at bay. The first one I built out of chicken wire, plywood, metal conduit & fiberglass–basically a bunch of scraps. Not real pretty, but after about a year of running with success, we filed for a patent and are currently patent pending.
We searched out multiple methods of manufacturing, looking for something of good quality and durability that would be relatively easy to produce results for anyone feeding animals. One of the many miracles came when God provided the resources we needed and we were put in contact with the “Boys from Elkin” to build some molds to Roto Mold the “AL” 150. Believe it or not, the first 6 feeders were roto-molded in the middle of a corn field!!
From that point, we began testing with a new material to verify we were still raccoon-resistant. Also, farm animals (ex: goats and sheep), utilized the feeder very well, ducks enjoy the feeder too! Once we saw all this, we thought we were ready!! We thought wrong! We found out raccoons were the least of worries for a lot of people. Others were dealing with bears destroying their feeders, so we realized we needed to test/expose the feeder to bears. Through these tests we realized God had a much bigger plan than what I was thinking, the “AL” 150 has proven that it’s bear tuff, as well as, something like a 290” elk can eat from it!! The “AL” 150 isn’t just a deer feeder, it can be personalized to almost any set-up you can imagine.
M.A.G. OutdooRs is a family-owned business based in Granite Falls, NC. We are/have been blessed by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in more ways than we even know! We owe Him everything! We are so thankful He has allowed/made a way for us to be a part of something we enjoy very much! Lord give us the strength, wisdom, and courage to do your Will, for Your Glory!
