I have a huge Raccoon coming to my side bird feeder every evening at dusk. I put quite a bit of food out everyday. He eats everything on the ground and then stuffs his fat self right into the house feeder and cleans that out as well. He's so big, I don't even know how he makes himself fit into the feeder.

I'm now waiting until morning to take food out so the wild birds and squirrels at least have access to it all day. Is there anything I can do to try to stop him from getting into the feeder?

We run into this problem almost every spring, Karen. The only (peaceable) solution I've found is to stop feeding for a while until the raccoons amble on to greener pastures. It's best to actually take the feeders down, and clean up what residue you can as well. Raccoons are opportunists, and when they see the supply dry up, they usually move on. Disclaimer: We're really rural here. In a suburban setting where the raccoons might have local alternative sources, this might not be so effective.

How about some kinda collar on the post? I thing they would outsmart it or destroy it but might work

I was wondering if something like that would work. Maybe one of those big aluminum round trays? I think they're used under hot water heaters.

We tried not putting any food out at all and that didn't work too well. The Raccoon found one of those "local alternative sources" that Nate had mentioned.....our garbage cans!

Well they are smart little buggers

And very persisitent, I rehabbed a baby a few years back, the little one got out of his cage, took us 2 weeks to track him down....2 weeks he stayed hidden in this 2 bedroom house.
Best to remove any and all feeding sources, the coon will move on.

Karen; they make a collar for just that. You can find them at a tractor supply /farm store...I have also had luck with wind chimes.

I had a friend with problem raccoons. He used a live trap to catch as many as he could and then released them in a wooded area far away. Worked for him -- until the next year, that is!