Luremaker,
Do you have an electric fence charger? If you do, run a strand of wire around the corn and bait it with some sardines (or smelly cat food) folded loosely in aluminum foil attached to the charged wire.
If there are cats around, you might want to use some mushed up peaches for bait instead. They have a pretty strong aroma and I don't think cats would be attracted to them.
Last year I had something (chipmunks, I think) biting tomatoes and knocking them off on the ground. I ran a wire down both sides of the row and hooked it to the electric fence. It solved the problem. I used plastic fence pegs to hold the wire (they come in 12" and 9" lengths) and you can find the 9" ones in the camping section of your big/giant department stores.
You can buy a pretty cheap fence charger in the garden center at Lowe's for about $23 (Fi-Shock Super 525). I think the aluminum fence wire is the easiest to work with for a small application like this.
