Hope the pictures come out. When we first got the property the tank had no water in it. Area had been in a drought but its notable the property that borders mine has a nice tank that was still full of water. Just for grins my son and I dug down a bit in the center of the tank. Not a soil guy but it looked like clay to me. Red and actually extremely hard to dig. This tank has a "catchment" area almost like a ditch that was dug that goes all the way through the property back up to a state highway. Its has grown up with some brush but you can still make it out. Soil on the rest of the property is sandy loam. On the other end of the property I have a small creek that they say is wet water but it has had water in it even during a drought. When I say creek I mean interimittent pools with like literally an inch or so of water flowing between them. Next to this creek the topo map pictures a ponding area although I was told by locals the state of Texas dug this out to build the small overpass over the creek. Anyway it has caught some water but doesn't have catchment like the other one and it has since gone dry. Anyway i'm just wondering how to determine what exactly needs to be done? Realtor told me it could just need cleaning out?
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They were tanks to me also until these guys civilized and house broke me.

Where are you? Some Mesquite areas of Tejas didn't get the floods and have still been hurting. If you're in one of those areas, the surrounding soils will suck it pretty dry. How's the hunting going? I'm guessing that the rebar is to keep hogs from uprooting the feeder.

Blazin, a couple of things. If you haven't already done it, I would go to Google Earth, and look up the historical view of the pond and see if this pond drying up is just an occasional incident, or it happens regularly. If it is an annual thing, then long term stocking goals may be tough.

Also, my personal experience with red clay is that it often has strains of sand in it, and can create leaks. A good dirt guy could probably shoot some holes, and give you a better idea of the soil makeup and possible solutions, and if they are even needed. If so, the next time it completely dries up may be a good time to deepen the pond, which looks like it has a 6-8' depth. It seems like it's been feast or famine around here for a while, and the larger volume of water you have stored during the good times, may give you a buffer when things get really dry. Perhaps even add a siphon pipe at that time also.

If you decide to go that route, then a call to Mike Otto might be the best option.
Otto's Dirt Service

Sounds like a "borrow pit" used to get dirt to build the road and likely no thought to its water holding capacity. They needed dirt so they dug a hole for it.

Get a good pond builder to look at it. It's likely advantage is that a lot of cubic yards of dirt have already been moved so you might end up with a deeper pond than you would have had if the dirt had not been taken.

We have borrow pits pretty regular around where the state wants an overpass or needs to build up a roadway. If the landowner cares about a pond being there it can be negotiated in the contract of how the pit is dug on the land easement. If not, they just take the dirt whatever is the easiest way for the road contractor to get it. Might end up with a pond, might end up with a muddy hole, might end up with nothing but a depression that will not grow anything.

Looks like maybe they just got whatever dirt/clay they needed easiest way possible.

Thanks for ya'lls input. The one pictured isn't the one the state dug out. I'll get some pictures of it in a day or so. I'm curious about the historical google earth shots. Hadn't thought about that. Dave Davidson1 out in Callahan county. Cross timbers area geographically i think is what they call it. Had some tremendous rains this year so far. I'll let you know on the hunting and yes the rebar is to fight against the hogs. Thanks I'll keep Otto in mind FireIsHot!

Blazin,
Welcome to Pond Boss...lots of good info and helpful folks here. Good luck on your BOW...keep the pics coming.

Here is a thread about my adventure of cleaning out my son's old pond that was about 50 years old. If you look at the pictures at the beginning or the before and after closer to the end of the thread, you can see that old pond had silted in and the dam had been breached to the point it would only hold very shallow water part of the time.

Reclaiming a 50 year old pond

Yours might be something similar. Just many years of silt and neglect.

Before and after pictures about half way down on page 2

Blazin --

Welcome to Pond Boss. Glad you found us.

I unfortunately don't know much about Texas and Oklahoma "tanks". I was probably one of several "northerners" who helped "civilize and house break" our slow talking good friend from Muleshoe,TX.

We've got a lot of very knowledgeable Texans here on the forum who know a lot about tanks, ponds, and lakes.

If these guys can't help you, you may just have to hire a big truck to bring down an iceberg or two from Lake Superíor or from somewhere in Canada.

In the mean time, you might think about contacting the co-owners of this website. Mike Otto probably knows more about dirt and water than anyone. His trusty sidekick Bob Lusk (the Pond Boss himself) knows whatever Mike might not. Together, there isn't much the two of them don't know about filling holes with water and fish, especially in Texas. Don't be afraid to call or email the main office up near Texoma. They are all very friendly and helpful folk.

Ken

DD1
You gonna take that ? LOL

I was in Walmart this past weekend in Fremont, MI.

There was this one dude which had an empty shopping cart in front of him pushing it along. Tall, masculine, truly a rugged person with a snarl that would indicate if I had a dog here, he would bite you! Looked like and reminded me of DD1. (sorry)

Must have been a misplaced Texan staying warm and following thru on doctors orders to get some exercise. They do that at Walmart. Free shopping carts to boot

Pat; yeah I'll take it. Ya know I'm not truly house broke yet. It has to get pretty cold to make me pee indoors and my wife has given up on the potty training and house breaking lessons.

Being civilized is a pretty slippery slope and subject to interpretation. I can read writin and write readin so all of those years in the 2nd grade must have paid off.

Dave, I myself finished in the top 1/3 of the bottom 50% of my graduating class, in one of the lowest performing high schools in Dallas. I made my parents proud. I kinda tear up even thinking about it.

Dave, I am like our little house trained dog Charlie. I go outside most of the time. With an Enlarged Prostrate, I make many trips outside. I figure I save on the water that is used when flushing.

Al, maybe you just thought outside the box. School testing probably did not show well. And you don't look like the norm. you know, long hair and all

Tracy

I'm gonna' nose in here a sec...peeing outdoors? A hard to define, elemental satisfaction there.

Carry on.

Tony, ain't it though.

Tracy, I learned very early that my personal bar should be set pretty low. Like grout on floor tile low.

One of the best perks of being male...the world is our toilet...

EDIT....Worst thread hijack by DD1, ever!

Made it to the place for some deer and hog hunting. We had non stop rain for the entire time almost. Just wanted to show a couple of pictures. This was taken the day before Thanksgiving with minimal rain. The second was taken Saturday morning. So my question is how do you determine why a tank loses water? I've seen it fill up although not nearly like this and then slowly lose water. Whats my first step?

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Some of it will be from wicking back into dry soils. How much? Well, wicking never entirely stops.