Making a new waterhole.

[dreaming bucks]

I have a buddy that has a small dozer and he's going to help me put a small waterhole in on our ridge. I want it to hold about 250 gallons of water. Our soil is very sandy with a little clay mixed in, so I'm going to be putting a pond liner down first to keep the water on top of the ground, followed by throwing dirt back on top of it...

My question is this....... I have access to some rubber belting that we use at the construction company I work for. I was wondering if I should put that down first before the dirt on top of the liner? That way there is no chance of deer's poking holes through the liner. But I wonder if the rubber belting will in any way make the water taste funny? We have it in 4 foot wide by about 1/2" thick, and as long as I need it. I thought that would be a nice barrier between the liner and the deer's holves. I'm a little worried if I just rely on the dirt to stop them from poking through the liner, some day, they will get through it, but if I have the rubber belting on top of the liner, there is no way they poke through the liner, just wondering if it will taint the water in any way....

Thoughts...?

[dirt nap giver]

I do t think they would poke through it. How many mils thick is the rubber?

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[dreaming bucks]

The pond liner is only about 20mm thick, but I'm putting belting over it which is 1/2" thick, they won't poke through that. What I'm wondering though, will the rubber belting taint the water in any way that they won't drink from it?

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[dan]

I have heard of a lot of people having issues with liners getting poked thru... Dirt don't stay on them well either, it likes to slide down to the deep area exposing the liner near the top...

Placement of the water hole in close proximity to bedding is key if its a killing hole... And if your in hill country, the right spots usually have a clay base, not always, but usually. Because I put them near the head of a draw, loose soil is usually washed away down the draw over the years leaving the clay base... If your hole is in that area you have some hope... If the soil is too loose, You could get some clay substitute powder that seals the soil. I think that would be better than the liner.

[bpaulson]

Bentonite is a good clay substitute that I hear works well. I don't have any personal experience but I have helped friends did small ponds from "dried" up existing ones. We used a mini bulldozer and dug it about 5 feet deep in the middle and its held water since. Should be fine doing something like that as long as you don't run into sand.

Dan, I was thinking about doing some water holes this spring on the property i hunt as I noticed deer activity went way down in our Aug-Sept drought with water on the surrounding properties. Should I dig up the existing little muddy ponds up some so water fills them up or would it be that much better putting them in certain spots? Also has anyone somehow rigged up an aerator in the middle of the woods to keep their hole open in the winter time?

[dan]

Bentonite is a good clay substitute that I hear works well. I don't have any personal experience but I have helped friends did small ponds from "dried" up existing ones. We used a mini bulldozer and dug it about 5 feet deep in the middle and its held water since. Should be fine doing something like that as long as you don't run into sand.

Dan, I was thinking about doing some water holes this spring on the property i hunt as I noticed deer activity went way down in our Aug-Sept drought with water on the surrounding properties. Should I dig up the existing little muddy ponds up some so water fills them up or would it be that much better putting them in certain spots? Also has anyone somehow rigged up an aerator in the middle of the woods to keep their hole open in the winter time?

If it were me... I would likely put the water holes in killing positions, but I would have to see your situation to know for sure.

[BackWoodsHunter]

maybe soak a chunk of that stuff in a 5 gal bucket of water for awhile and see if it does anything to it...not familiar with the material so who knows what it might do to the water. what about putting it under the liner just to keep a firm bottom so when the deer walk on the liner there are no soft spots behind it for them to push through into?

[dreaming bucks]

I ended up not using the thick rubber belting. We dug out a spot just off of the ridge, put down the 20x20 liner, & covered back up with approx 6" of topsoil. Looks really nice, I think it will work. My buddy that did the dozer work, did one of these on his land, & he says the deer never have gotten down to the liner. We shall see.

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[dreaming bucks]

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[dreaming bucks]

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[dreaming bucks]

Here is the finished waterhole. Probably a bout a 7 to 8 foot drop in elevation from where the pic was taken, to down to the berm.


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[dreaming bucks]

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[dreaming bucks]

From behind the berm, looking uphill.



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[dan]

Nice... Hope to see some follow up pictures when it fills with water.

[dreaming bucks]

Nice... Hope to see some follow up pictures when it fills with water.

Yep, I definitely will...

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