Been wanting to get this started for 2 years now. Finally able to get it going. Not going to be a big pond, or even a deep pond. About 7/10 of an acre of surface water when full & about 14' for the main body. The nice part, it's 100% surrounded by timber. The closest open ground is around 100 yds away.


I'll tell ya what, I was flat worn out last night. I'm getting to fat & old to be doing what I done yesterday.

We skidded around 30 logs out of that hole. It's about 100 yds up to the clearing. My job was to get the butts cut off & the tops off, as well as hook up & unhook from the tractor. I was at a dead run ( and I mean literally) for about 3 hours straight just trying to get a handle on things. When you're paying a feller around $100 / hour, ya don't want him waiting on you.

My little brother had surgery on his hand about 6 weeks ago & he's nowhere near 100% yet, but at least he was able to drive the tractor for me.

I didn't get as many pics as I would like, but I did get some. Here they are.

I'll be sure to update this thread as he progresses. We're rained out today, so I imagine it'll be sometime next week before he gets back out there. I know my body was glad to see it raining this morning.





Sure hate seeing all this good firewood going into the brushpile. At least within a couple years, a lot of small game will have new homes.

Looks like a lot of work, but it's fun work.....right? It'll be rewarding to see the finished product and the wildlife using it.

Sweet! You will really enjoy this when it is finished.

That looks like its going to be really nice when its done. Cant wait to see more. Gonna stock her with fish right?

Looks like a nice setting back in there.

looks good

that pond is going to be awesome great job so far PIN

Our govt contract requires it to be stocked. MDC will provide the fish at no cost to me. I'm hoping I can get it stocked with chub minnows in advance of the real stocking to establish a food source for the bass.

Here's an ariel of where it's going to be. To the north, & east, you'll see the outcroppings. Those are both heads to the valleys that will feed this pond. Should be a more than adequate water shed. I'm hoping we can get the dam & banks seeded down early enough for the WW to provide a nice new food plot.
Attached Images

Early Sept, the contractor got rain delayed for over a week. Here's some of the progress he had made before that rain.







In this next pic, this contractor shows his expereince in digging ponds. As you seen in the precious pics, he left the center out of the dam. On the north side, he took all the dirt he needed to build the north end of the dam, that way, when it rained like it did (6" overnight) he wasn't shut down very long. It only took about 2 days for it to dry enough for him to start again.

Here, the structure is nearly complete. It's kinda hard to tell it in this picture, but he left me a birm tunning across the pond. You can see the pool on the north side & there will be a very similar pool on the south side. It's about 5' high. Should make some great structure.




Here's another angle of the birm. This pic also shows I've still got some trees to remove. That's me on the far side taking down those 2 beautiful white oaks.

Just so you'll get an idea of the waterline, it's going to be right inside the edge of the timber on the far side. Guys, I can't begin to express how happy I am with the contractor that built this structure for me. I've known him since I was in high school & he was digging ponds before that. (nearly 30 years ago). When I contacted him about putting in this pond, my main concern was water clarity. The man who designed the pond from the NRCS office, highly recomended that for the best pond, the waters edge soil should not be disturbed. As you can tell, that's exactly what we've got. Also notice how he seperated the soils for me. There's top soil everywhere the ground was disturbed as well as the pond dam itself.



All said, all done. Now it's time for some lime, fertilizer & seed. I broadcast 3500# of pel lime (1000#enm per acre). Put on nearly 500# of fertilizer & seeded with smooth brome, timothy, red & ladino clover & 100# of winter wheat as a companion crop. Needless to say, I'll be having a rifle stand overlooking this pond dam. 100% in the timber freshly seeded pond dam equates into new food plot.

One of the piles of root balls for structure in the bottom of the pond.




I was able to use my old drill to seed & fertilize the dam. I was concerned it was going to be to steep on the backside, but fortunately, it wasn't.

Wow! That is a lot of hard work that you will enjoy for years to come.

Great Job!!

in a couple years that is going to pay BIG time
awesome job

any updated pictures? im curious how it worked out