Jami Ritter
IDA Field Staff
Reged: 04/09/02
Posts: 1320
Post Bucks: $2.70
Loc: Hastings, MN
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Hey all, wondering if anyone has made their own watering hole for critters. There is a piece of land that I hunt and I can't find the nearest source of water for animals. I know the area pretty well, have walked/talked with the neighbors/land owners and to my knowledge there isn't a creek/stream/pond any where close by.
A little background info on the land. Its a 20 acre piece mostly trees (oaks/pines/firs), surrounded on 3 sides by agricultural fields (beans/corn) and on the other side is a wma.
What I would like to do is get more animals coming to the property, so I was thinking about starting with a little pond this year. Next spring start with food plots and go forward from there.
Am I on the right track?? Will this work?
Has anyone done this before and have any tips/tricks on how to accomplish this?
Thanks,
Jami
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Erick
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Reged: 05/22/01
Posts: 1268
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Loc: GRAND MEADOW, MN
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maybe look at the lay of the land for where runoff would most likely occur and speak with someone (landscapers?) about where to go from there possibly?
Just a thought 
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Walleyebuster5
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Reged: 12/22/06
Posts: 466
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Loc: Central MN
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Quote:
maybe look at the lay of the land for where runoff would most likely occur and speak with someone (landscapers?) about where to go from there possibly?
Just a thought
Great idea. I'm sure they do landscaping type ponds all the time and would be able to help you. Then, maybe you can get some tips and rent a big *ss piece of equipment and get dirty.
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-The more you know, the more you want to know-
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Erick
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Reged: 05/22/01
Posts: 1268
Post Bucks: $3.06
Loc: GRAND MEADOW, MN
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[quote
Then, maybe you can get some tips and rent a big *ss piece of equipment and get dirty.
OH YES!!!! I am driving!!! 
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swimingjig
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Reged: 12/21/06
Posts: 142
Post Bucks: $3.44
Loc: Waumandee, WI
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We have 7 hand made water holes. We dug some out with farm equipment and some we dug by hand and put containers in the ground. If you have an area where you can capture run off water that is great but years like this one it doesn't help. We have a 500 gallon tank that we fill up in the yard and take out to the water holes. If you are lucky enough to have clay on your property digging one by hand is the way to go. Don't go to deep. We did that on two of ours last year. They were awesome water holes they held water all the time for some reason we decided to make them a little deeper big mistake. Now we have containers in them. Here is a picture of one that we screwed up. The water you see on the ground only lasts a few days.
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whitetails4ever
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Reged: 10/08/03
Posts: 317
Post Bucks: $2.38
Loc: Rochester, MN
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Depending on how big you want the water hole. I know guys that have buried little kids plastic swimming pools and built the sides up with clay in a run off type of situation to keep it full. Has worked for them.
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Jami Ritter
IDA Field Staff
Reged: 04/09/02
Posts: 1320
Post Bucks: $2.70
Loc: Hastings, MN
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I do have a old metal water trough that I was thinking of burying and filling. First I should make sure the thing holds water.....
I've got some thinking/looking to do.
Jami
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Darrin Bauer
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Reged: 05/07/07
Posts: 28
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Loc: Menomonie Wi.
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I lined a 70 sq ft, 3 foot deep hole I dug with rubber roofing liner from menards and anchored the edges with flat rock, cut the extra off and let the snow and spring runoff fill it up. Worked great except all of the leaf debris from fall rotted and now it stinks bad of ammonia.  Maybe this won't happen if you line it with clay.
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Chuck Norris does not hunt because the word hunting infers the probability of failure. Chuck Norris goes killing.
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Lars
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Reged: 09/04/01
Posts: 170
Post Bucks: $1.22
Loc: Rochester, MN
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Darrin, Out of curiosity, how much did that run?
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the GREEN one is the BEST one!!!
Edited by Lars (09/02/08 10:11 AM)
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