Stokes Select Bird Feeder Pole, 36-Inch Reach, Wall Mounted, Black Metal

I recently started getting into bird feeding/watching. Birds have always intrigued me but I never stayed in once place long enough (apartment life) to establish a bird feeder. But having recently purchased a home, I ended up getting a "barn style" feeder as a gift from my wife. In addition, my mother-in-law purchased me a large bag of nyjer seed to start off with.Unfortunately, my backyard is devoid of tall trees. All the trees currently there are sapling trees and not strong enough to hold my barn feeder, let alone any bird feeder. I thought I could get away with putting up a shepherd's hook that stakes into the ground, but my backyard is on a slope and I have a tall deck. So my problem is that there was no good place to put this hook. I finally resorted to looking for deck-mount hooks but all of them were the "clamp-style" that attached to a 2x4 railing on your deck. Unfortunately my deck was made in such a way that there was noway I could put one of these deck hooks on the 2x4 because I don't have enough of a "lip" to attach to and even if it did, I was unsure if it would hold my bird feeder securely.I eventually found one that screwed into the deck at my local Lowe's store. The problem with that one though was that it was too short (only measured 1 foot in height and was in a U-shape). If I mounted the hook on my deck, my bird feeder would have hung lower than the location I mounted it on.Frustrated, I started looking online all over and some sites did have an extended reach/height pole but they were charging $30+ for one. I then turned to Amazon but I had to filter through dozens of results until I finally found it... the item you're reviewing and it was cheap ($19.99 at the time of this review). I guess the reason I couldn't find it is because it says "wall pole" rather than "deck mount". Either way, this thing looked like it would fit my needs.The pole itself is incredibly sturdy. It is made very well and the pole itself is close to half an inch in diameter from top to bottom. This is where it gets its strength. The base is extra sturdy too (solid construction). It did come with inch and a half screws but since I am mounting it on my deck outside, I used same length decking screws instead (so it won't rust).Installation is a snap, took me 5 minutes to screw the base in and then I inserted the pole. The good thing about this pole is that it swivels when you loosen then clamp. This makes it easy to reach for your bird feeder or plant.I highly recommend this product, as you won't find it anywhere else for this price.

I first purchased two of these to attached to two 4x6 posts off of my deck. I wanted a clean appearance and wanted the length and distance these would supply from the deck in order to add a couple of bird feeders. As others have noted the screws provided are essentially worthless (they very easily twist off and bend during installation) so I gave up on them and used some #10 3" screws for pressure treated wood to mount them to the posts. A very clean appearance and I can swing the arm over to the deck for refilling the feeders. Exactly what I wanted!The poles and mounts are super heavy-duty. The easily hold even my largest feeders with several pounds of bird seed. Although not squirrel proof the diameter and smoothness of the finish on the poles does challenge the "tree rats" ability at least a little to get a grip to climb out to the feeders. The feeders themselves are squirrel proof so lots of work for nothing for the pests. Birds too have a hard time landing on the poles for the same reasons as the squirrels.As others have noted, the 36" reference is not the length of the arm but the actual distance from the wall or post that the feeder hangs on. So the length of the actual arm is longer in order to accomplish the 36" reach.The screw knob mechanism is also heavy-duty. I don't tighten them much as I need to swing the arms back to the deck weekly and have had no trouble with the wind - I just tighten the screw knob enough that it won't fall off. If you needed the arm to be in a fixed position all the time the screw knob would certainly help. I just haven't needed it much.Overall, I am extremely happy with these. In fact I just bought 2 more and set a 4x4 post in the back yard in order to hang a couple of hanging baskets. The baskets are about 10 lbs each and look great. I may buy a couple more to mount on some of my fence posts.

I have 3 of these hooks and was expecting the screws to be awful after reading some of the reviews, but I had no trouble at all since I always drill a pilot hole before I try to install any screws into wood. Just remember to drill the pilot holes and you will have no problems with the screws (Notice they may have changed the screws that originally came with it to better ones before I purchased my hooks). I bought one of these for a feeder and loved it so much I have bought 2 more for my deck, as my upper deck is 20' up I wanted something I could swing in to fill the feeders, and they work perfectly for that. I wanted these extended hooks to keep the racoons out and after watching the coons many times they do not even try to get to the feeders anymore, so it works great for that. Our squirrels are leaving them alone too as I think being so high up they don't want to risk the fall and they just eat what falls to the ground. Overall the hooks are very high quality, and as with any long rod of steel it has inherit flex and you will not want to over load the hook with too heavy of a flower pot if you intend to use it for that purpose. I have a very good size feeder on one of the hooks and keep it filled with Black Oil Sunflower seeds, my biggest feeder weighs about ten pounds when full and has weathered a few really harsh wind and rain storms on the hook with no problems at all.*Side note: This is a very heavy duty pole, mounting bracket, and lock down screw/knob.