Got the new fence up back in the woods(1/3 mile). It was a big project that I don't think I could have tackled without the help of my pasture leaser. He and I worked Wednesday, Thursday and Friday getting pull posts in place, t-posts driven and, top and bottom barbwire stretched and cattle panels hung. The wife and I worked 16 hours Saturday and Sunday tying it all up(really impressed she hung in with me for that long). 94 16' panels x 13 ties per panel = 1222 individual ties......my hands are just now getting back to normal.
The place will really look nice when you're done, and by staying on top of things, it'll lool nice for a long, long time! It looks like you are doing it right!!
That actually looks like a lot of fun to me. Especially that caterpillar bulldozer but I would have probably "accidentally" had to much fun ramming into things and would turn my property into a desert with it.
O.k. for the ignorant among us what is a "cattle guard" and how does it work? I have a guess but...
Awesome pics. Thanks for sharing! Interesting that the fencing is done differently than up here. At least the way my dad and I have done it. Here the fencing comes in rolls and we stretch it as we put it up.
And we use limestone and crushed limestone for our lanes up here. I guess it's depends on what is available.
A cattle guard is a grating with large enough openings that cattle won't walk over it but you can drive a vehicle or walk yourself if you step on the bars. A series of horizontal metal bars evenly spaced at a few inches with a space under it. They're used all the time in cattle country- the farm lane crosses a fence line but you don't want to put a gate, so you put in a cattle guard.
A cattle guard is a grating with large enough openings that cattle won't walk over it but you can drive a vehicle or walk yourself if you step on the bars. A series of horizontal metal bars evenly spaced at a few inches with a space under it. They're used all the time in cattle country- the farm lane crosses a fence line but you don't want to put a gate, so you put in a cattle guard.
Just to add.....over time, the hole under the guards fill in making them ineffective which is why Tbar is "cleaning out and resetting" his.
love cattle guards....no getting out to open the gate!
I'm with Cecil on the fence building also. I've never seen panels used for an entire run.
I've never seen panels for a run either. We used them for pen enclosures. I guess they make sense from the stand point you can get by with all metal posts (instead of every other wood) as there is no need for rigid retention points to maintain a "stretch" as you would with woven wire.
O.k. for the ignorant among us what is a "cattle guard" and how does it work? I have a guess but...
Awesome pics. Thanks for sharing! Interesting that the fencing is done differently than up here. At least the way my dad and I have done it. Here the fencing comes in rolls and we stretch it as he put it up.
And we use limestone and crushed limestone for our lanes up here. I guess it's depends on what is available.
Cecil, the cattle guards are in the road at the cross fences that separate pastures. They keep the cows where you want them without the inconvenience of having to get out to open and close gates. The one at the front gate is just insurance in case the gate gets left open. Cows won't walk across them for fear of tangling their feet.
Regarding the fencing material cattle panels are not normally used for this application, the roll material is. In my case I chose the panels because they are much heavier gauge wire and I was putting t-posts every 8'. Also I didn't want to cut my trees back to the recommended 50' either side of the fence(I like my trees) so if a limb falls and damages the fence its easy to replace a panel.
I was guessing the corner posts were to pull barb wire and to provide some stability at the ends.
That would also be my thought, were rolled fencing to be used. That's the way we do it anyway. Just curious if Texans have a better way to build a fence....always up for learning something new!
We never cut our trees back either. When the fence got damaged, we spliced in a repair.
We did the same, but we always had a wood post at least every 16 feet so we did not loose the stretch on the entire run. The wood posts also gave us something to pull the patch against. We used single wire stretchers on each wire of the patch. Not perfect, but not too bad either.
Patching was something we did a couple times a year. We had a field that was along a highway and it seemed folks always choose our fence to drive thru!
A cattle guard is a grating with large enough openings that cattle won't walk over it but you can drive a vehicle or walk yourself if you step on the bars. A series of horizontal metal bars evenly spaced at a few inches with a space under it. They're used all the time in cattle country- the farm lane crosses a fence line but you don't want to put a gate, so you put in a cattle guard.
O.k. for the ignorant among us what is a "cattle guard" and how does it work? I have a guess but...
Awesome pics. Thanks for sharing! Interesting that the fencing is done differently than up here. At least the way my dad and I have done it. Here the fencing comes in rolls and we stretch it as he put it up.
And we use limestone and crushed limestone for our lanes up here. I guess it's depends on what is available.
Cecil, the cattle guards are in the road at the cross fences that separate pastures. They keep the cows where you want them without the inconvenience of having to get out to open and close gates. The one at the front gate is just insurance in case the gate gets left open. Cows won't walk across them for fear of tangling their feet.
Regarding the fencing material cattle panels are not normally used for this application, the roll material is. In my case I chose the panels because they are much heavier gauge wire and I was putting t-posts every 8'. Also I didn't want to cut my trees back to the recommended 50' either side of the fence(I like my trees) so if a limb falls and damages the fence its easy to replace a panel.
Again makes a lot of sense. Ya learn somethin' every day!
What are the heavy, corner "pull" posts for then? Do you anticipate changing out the fence for rolled fencing in the future?
We never cut our trees back either. When the fence got damaged, we spliced in a repair.
Think of the corner post as an anchor. It gives a solid point to hold the fence tight. Corner posts should never move or lean (ideally).
Yeah, I get that. That was the reason for my query...using panels doesn't require any stretching or pulling, so I didn't see the reason for braced double posts on the ends. Panels simply stand up and are fastened.
In the last photo, I don't see any stranded wire, just the panels. But if there is barbed wire used top and bottom, which must be stretched or pulled, then the braced corner posts makes sense. We always braced our corner posts, and they were usually heavier than the posts in the run. But, we were using barbed wire also, and pulling it tight as we went.
Hey Tbar, I am also fairly new here. I just built a pond in Harrison Co. Are u adding the panels to help control the wild hogs? Do u have a hog problem in that area?
I wish those darn cattle guards weren't so expensive, me being a city-boy I told the guy leasing our grazing rights "hey instead of putting up a fence lets run that one side all the way down with cattle guards to make it appear as an "invisible fence". he said "boy you know how much dat would cost?"
I was kind of half-joking but wish I could do that. I need a 16 foot cattle guard for the front gate.
That's shocking Cecil had never heard of a cattle guard? I wonder if that has something to do with snow and ice in the winter? But heck they use them in Colorado.
They use em' in Indiana also. But, tongue-in-cheek, I will say that in the part of Indiana that I'm from, the philosophy on fence building appears somewhat different than what I'm seeing in Texas.
My family's take on the matter was that steel and concrete costs money, while sweat is cheap. And, I would imagine that the operations are larger in Texas than what we see here. To that end, not many around these parts have cattle guards....it's cheaper for the guy riding shotgun to get out and open the gate. As a boy, I longed to replace our gates with cattle guards. ......rode shotgun a lot.
We had a cattle guard at our Virginia farm and maybe our cows are geniuses but it did not seem to stop them. We have a wooden fence around the house and yard and we used to have a cattle guard on the driveway but on at least 4 seperate instances we would wake up to find half the herd inside the fence line eating my dad's plants.
I thought cattle guard / brush guards were what I put on the front end of my truck...The more yah know I guess. Also we called them cow catchers too but I'm from Wisconsin originally so that may be why different verbiage for different areas.
Two of the cattle guards were built out of railroad iron. They were in the vicinity of 10,000#'s and were a real challenge to move. PO had a line haul truck/trailer/dozer and he ran in and out of the property that were heavy enough to bend the rails.
Had to work on the dam and spillway of the pool above my main pond last week. The water was seriously starting to go over the dam and some large holes appeared which might have been from beavers or nutria. A few bucket fulls of dirt in the holes and cleaning out the spillway appear to have fixed the problem.....for now. I know I have a beaver in the area and I need to find him.
Mark, I'd bet if you swung by Al's for a bit of instruction, you could take care of the problem yourself easily without having to actually be there on the property.
Don Hightower = Dr. Beaver/otter !! He charges by the hour and is not that expensive. Especially compared to the amount of money most on this forum have spent on their lakes and ponds.
TBar.....looks great that's what I want without the roof. Did they have to launch a big barge to do the piers? What are the dimensions of the deck? It is a fixed dock correct? I would like the builders name or was it you?
Bill, Those are 330's. I set them up because I was unsure if I had beavers and or otters. Turns out I had two otters. The traps went back to work, I'll see if I have more problems or not. I am betting on the beavers as well, I have seen some occasional damage that must be beavers.
Ahhh. Setting a double spring always made me nervous. I trapped alone and was always thinking, ok, so when you screw up and catch yourself what ya gonna do! If your setting a 110 single and catch yourself you just say Son of a B@&xH that hurts and set yourself free. A 330 double means possibly a broken bone and a miserable walk to the truck and a walk of shame to get help!
TBar.....looks great that's what I want without the roof. Did they have to launch a big barge to do the piers? What are the dimensions of the deck? It is a fixed dock correct? I would like the builders name or was it you?
Zep, It's a 16' x 16' platform.
No barge, they worked their way out from shore and drove the posts with a pneumatic pile driver. It was a real trapez act sometimes and yes the dock is fixed. A buddy of mine from Lousiana that builds docks came over and did the job. He, his wife, son and helper stayed at the house with us for several days.
Scott, Not only did I use tongs, but I got the big tongs with the Kung Fu grip!! I like my hands and want them nowhere near open 330's.
Allen, Yep, the thieving varmints were headed to Extratopia, while they did make it, they won't be back.
On a side note, I get to use my new tanning equipment. I see gloves in my future.
TBAR, Looking good!!
Are you going to be able to fish off that dock? Is the roof going to be an issue for casting? Also, are your corner posts 4x4's or bigger? We are working on our dock and any input is welcome!!
After attending the Pond Boss Conference I am wanting to purchasing a Texas Hunter LM175. I think I have a healthy BG population and look forward to feeding them.
Experimenting with some dog food in a basket feeding the BG aka Bass bait.
Tbar, great decision. Did you get the solar charger option? It pretty much makes the TH's maintenance free. They're the only feeders I have personally used that don't cake up from fish food dust, so that eliminates a lot of winter cleanings.
Tbar, I missed u @ the PBC sorry we did not meet up. Have u checked your water temps? Mine temps went from 59 10 days ago to 44 after the snow. And they are calling for 70 degree days this weekend. If you don't like the weather in our area of Texas, just give it a day and it will change. Tracy
FWIW I have no idea if you are PIW as far as controlling the FA cause I am way not a pro. But after reading in the forum about all the critters in FA and how it soaks up nutrients, I won't be throwing the FA I skim off the surface up on the bank anymore. It will go into a bucket and get dumped into my composte pile for the garden.
I sprayed the small front tank with algacide and pond dye. Already had the sprayer cleaned up and decided to try manually cleaning a small part of the big pond.
When should I start seeing my forage fish in the 5 acre pond? So far I am not seeing any. When I was working around the small shallow tanks on the front of the property I was seeing tons of minnows.
IMHO, if you only have FA a few feet out around the bank and the rest of the pond stays as open as it looks in the pic. I would not do anything.
Manual removed is an endless battle and will start to feel like a waste of time I suspect.
I second Bobby's idea.
The one place I have found manual removal or even just pushing it down into deep water is to aid fishing. I spent a couple hours cleaning patches along the shore of our 3 acre pond and it made fishing much easier. Just cleaned up the areas we wanted to fish from and they appear to be staying open till new growth takes over which might be a few weeks. Worth the effort to not pull muck off hooks all the time.
Tbar, I like your home made structure. I would double or triple up the numbers of these I would put at your nice pier. But that's just my personality, I tend to overdue sometimes lol
I can't say enough about this little lure. I caught 40-50 fish before finally replacing the first rubber piece. EVERYTHING hits it.....bass, crappie and brim on almost every other cast. My fish only like white for some reason. Tried other colors and nada.
One evening last week I caught 18 crappie, countless brim plus a few small bass. Can't wait for my fishing buddies to show up in two weeks to help me harvest some of them. Nothing record breaking but TONS of fun.
When should I start seeing my forage fish in the 5 acre pond? So far I am not seeing any. When I was working around the small shallow tanks on the front of the property I was seeing tons of minnows.
I now have tons of minnows......the pond is at flood stage and there is lots of vegetation under water they are swimming in. Also found some beautiful 4" long shiners that had been washed over the spillway.....hated that. They would have made some premo bait/fish food.
Interesting. When I ordered bought both granules and liquid.
Used the granules and they seemed to work. Had a big surge and some mats more recently so tried the liquid. Will see how it works.
I can see where the liquid could easily drift off target with any wind induced current. The granules (little chat covered with copper that dissolves off the chat is what the granules look like to me) have the weight to sink to the target.
FWIW.....we have had a tremendous bloom in my pond the last 2 weeks. Visibility has been cut buy 2/3rds and it looks like billions of tiny green specs floating beneath the surface.
Spent 30 minutes yesterday evening taking "samples" of the pond occupants. I have friends coming over this weekend to help me do more intensive culling.
Spent 30 minutes yesterday evening taking "samples" of the pond occupants. I have friends coming over this weekend to help me do more intensive culling.
That for sure looks like white crappie stacked in the middle of those BCP
53 this morning plus the 9 I caught yesterday.....we are going to have plenty for a fish fry. Its going to be catch and release the rest of the weekend as that was a lot of fish to clean!
Great pics and a great video too. You have a place you can be real proud of.
Did you decide what you were going to do with your FA? I decided to take a try pronged approach. The fishing areas I use Curtrine plus granual, add a few Tilapia every spring, and then if I want to,do a little raking, when and If I feel like it. So far I have not had to rake.
Do you let the cows use that pond? If yes, that will keep the FA higher density in your pond.
With all the rain I stopped trying to treat the small pools as the chemicals were getting washed away. In the lake FA isn't currently a problem but the various weeds are. When the weather returns to normal I will start treating them.
FWIW, one of the cattle pools was 80% covered over in weeds before the storms. After the flood waters engulfed and flushed it the weeds are only 40% coverage. Still not great but better than it was. Will take less chemicals to treat.
Sorry for the duplication. Just putting this project here for future reference.
I am building a fish holding pin that measures 3' x 3' x 6'. It will stand on end allowing the fish to drop to 5'-6' depth.
I am wanting to hold fish in this pin for several days or up to a week until I get ready to eat them. Total depth of the water in this area is 8' and will be shaded by the dock from the afternoon sun.
How long can I expect to keep them healthy without feeding them? This area is abundent minnows, brim and bugs.
Target species will be BC and maybe a few brim. Would like to stock maybe a dozen fish at a time.
It is very buoyant so I drilled holes in it so it would sink. I have two sets of mounting brackets.....one set low and one set high when you want to net them out.
Fishing is great right next to the cage. First resident.
Feed in the basket is to try and draw in minnows. BG's are beating on the corner of the cage trying to get at it.
15 BC in the cage now and most will get eaten tomorrow for lunch.
Cage worked great today. Three of us caught 57 BC off the dock. It was so easy just tossing them into the enclosure and return to fishing. Also caught 2 white crappie.
O.k. for the ignorant among us what is a "cattle guard" and how does it work? I have a guess but...
Awesome pics. Thanks for sharing! Interesting that the fencing is done differently than up here. At least the way my dad and I have done it. Here the fencing comes in rolls and we stretch it as he put it up.
And we use limestone and crushed limestone for our lanes up here. I guess it's depends on what is available.
...........
Regarding the fencing material cattle panels are not normally used for this application, the roll material is. In my case I chose the panels because they are much heavier gauge wire and I was putting t-posts every 8'. Also I didn't want to cut my trees back to the recommended 50' either side of the fence(I like my trees) so if a limb falls and damages the fence its easy to replace a panel.
Here is why I like using the cattle panels. When the guy shredding next to the fence line accidentally backs into it only one panel gets damaged instead of pulling and stretching a whole roll of field fence or multiple strands of barb wire. The tie wires broke loose between the panels preventing further damage. Simple easy fix to R & R it.
Isn't using those panels to construct an entire fence line rather expensive? I know....it depends on how long the fence is.
When our fence gets damaged we don't buy an entire roll, we splice in a repair. I was doing it myself by the time I was 12 years old. I do think panels make great temporary enclosures, though.
I use expensive materials because I can. They are heavier gauge, last longer and are easier to repair......I'm sure that's not "fair" in overbearing/over regulating/everyone must be equal land. I probably should have gotten an EPA permit to construct it.....
I prefer the brim and crappie to be cleaned and cooked with the skin on. And dusted pretty heavy with Tony Chachere's original creole (cajan) seasoning added to the stone ground corn meal. Looks good Tbar
The first farm I visited this morning had three of these on the drive. As a boy, these were the most common cattle guards in use. Steel units were homemade, and precast concrete units were purchased.
I remember there being a few different styles, some more complex than others. Probably a coffee table book in there, somewhere.
9.4 pounds. I am lucky to have an experienced friend from Louisiana that knew how to selectively cut up, marinate and cook him so he wasn't tough and strong tasting. He was cut into ~ 1-1/2" x 3"pieces so the meat would cook faster. Made for nice finger food.
My internet order of Wobble Heads came in yesterday.
wobbleheadlures.com
Today I went out to the farm to supervise some fence brush clearing work. After the guys left I put on one of the new Wobble Heads and went to the pond.
Middle of the day(2pm-3pm), 90 degrees, I was able to catch 8 LMB's. Had a blast!!!
it's funny that I went through my tackle box yr before last and threw away about 9 wobble heads. Had them for yr's, caught a few lmb on them but not so many I wanted to keep them in the tackle box. They were getting rusty.
Bought a new scope and got the rifle sighted at 200 yards.
Was going to try some different rounds this morning to get it dialed in tighter but....."Negative ghost rider the pattern is full".
$&@" cows.
Quit shooting and went fishing. Those wobble head lures(above) are supposed to be for summer time. I'm still killing the bass on them.
Picked up some .22 shorts(hard to find) at a gun show last week and spent an hour culling some turtles. Had fun but didn't put a dent in the population.
Had a tree fall across one of the trails back in the woods. Got it cut up and moved but it was a PIA as the canopy was hung up in other trees. I have cut wood all my life and I don't remember fighting one this much.....and before you ask no I didn't have my wedges....they were at the other property.
Finally this evening I loaded up a fuel tank and drove to town and got diesel. The pallet forks on the tractor have been invaluable. Made loading and unloading a breeze.
Wedges are an easy shape to make in the field, for sure. It's carving the sledgehammer or maul needed to drive em' in that gives me problems. And if I remember to grab the maul, then I tend to remember the wedges also. Good thing too, as wooden wedges don't last too long for me when attacked with a sledge or maul.
Wedges are hard to make once the saw is stuck.....
I'd cut that particular one the opposite way, cut 1/4 - 1/3 the way from top to bottom, then finish going bottom up. As the pressure is put on the cut, it opens the bottom up.
Ones that get hung up like that, I'll cut in 3-4 foot sections from the butt to the top of the tree, that way I'm not dodging larger pieces as they drop.
I'll put in my 2c's and agree completely with Scott. In my many, many years as a timber faller in Oregon and Idaho, I of course, got to see similar scenarios on occasion. Even now, working as an arborist, I run into the same thing at times.
A real problem is that when the top is suspended as yours was, there may be quite a twist and "back pressure" or compression, on the log. Cutting from one side then the other-top then bottom in this case-can still get your saw pinched as the top rotates and pushes back toward the butt! What we recommend is that you cut down from the top, say 1/3 of the way thru, make another cut from the top so as to remove a narrow sliver maybe half or 1 inch wide, then cut the off side very slightly, an inch or two-be careful and brave on that one as you are reaching under the log-then finish the cut from the bottom. I like to make that top cut to the point where I just start to sense the chain beginning to bind slightly. It's really easy to go too far with that cut, so quit sooner rather than later. Ha!
I just used this technique Saturday for a local landowner on a cottonwood of his that was hung at a 45 degree angle into another cottonwood, and still attached to the root ball.
When stuff starts to move, it moves very fast, so have your escape route(s) planned and rehearsed. Have fun! Be safe!
Two years ago, I cut a dead tree that had branches tied in with its neighbor. When I cut it, the tree at the cut moved up instead of down and pivoted about 20 feet in the air on that other tree. Knocked the saw out of my hands. Scared the crap out of me. I went ahead and cut what I could reach on both sides of that pivot point. That chunk of tree hung there for a year, haunting me. Got er down this year!
Tbar, sticking your saw is the kinda of thing that happens to me. And with my luck using my tractor to help out, The limb would have fallen on the tractor or me I stick things or tear thing up all the time.
BTW: I love seeing the pictures of your progress! keep it up.
Me too....I love seeing people's places and projects.
Zep, said something here I been wondering about. Is there a single thread out there where people have posted images of their places. I really enjoy seeing those photos.
I guess I have always got off lucky too then. My episode with the trunk of the tree "falling up" was the closest I've ever come, or ever want to come, to an injury when cutting.
The new CPNBG are ravenous hitting everything I throw in the water......even in the rain today.
Live worms, jigs, crank baits, artificial worms, small spinners, etc. When the Texas Hunter feeder was first set up the turtles were getting half of the feed. Now the turtles don't get any as the BG boil to the surface as soon as it hits the water. Water temp currently is 68 degrees. Will be interesting to see how they react as the temps fall. (I am still in the learning curve here)
On another note I was surprised that the electro fishing survey did not bring up any BC even though we pulled out ~ 200 this summer and this week I caught 10 more. Guess they were schooling really deep that day.
I have started culling my bass today at Walts suggestion pulling out any 14" or smaller to lessen compitition for the bait fish. Hopefully I will see some results next year.
This was my fishing partner yesterday.......she had a blast.
Tbar, looks like she had a blast, her big smile tells the story, a day she will remember. So after the sampling, will you add some RES to the pond? And is there anything else you will do besides removing some of those 14" or smaller lmb ?
Tbar, looks like she had a blast, her big smile tells the story, a day she will remember. So after the sampling, will you add some RES to the pond? And is there anything else you will do besides removing some of those 14" or smaller lmb ?
Tracy
Yes, RES, Tilapia and Threadfin Shad. There was a recommendation to fertilize. I had three major blooms and one minor bloom this past year so I don't have a problem getting them started but do in maintaining them.
Interesting note.....Walt said he saw a 15-20 pound grass carp which I didn't know I had. That would explain the mystery reduction in submerged vegitation that I mentioned several months ago.
On another note, I was fishing yesterday and caught this guy on a crappie jig. Should I keep throwing them back in hopes they bred and feed the bass? Is this a Bullhead?
I don't want Bullhead Catfish in my ponds. I do have them, but when they are caught, they are removed. It is a personal choice. LMB will eat them, but they also will eat other resources which I want for other more desirable fish.
Just my two cents.
The place looks great, and I can tell you are working very hard to make it the way you will enjoy it most. Keep it up!!
FWIW I would not stock BH but I would not nuke the pond if I got them. IMO they will provide forage for the LMB and a mess the size you have in the pic would make for a tasty Friday night fish fry as a bonus.
So we had this resident mallard that decided he liked Cargill fish food. He knew when every throw was, and would paddle over to the downwind side of the feeders, and get all the food that floated away. In short, he was a pet.
So one day I'm sitting in the office, and see this huge Bald Eagle repeatedly dive bombing our mallard. My boss is wanting to run out and scare the eagle off, and I'm wanting to wait and let nature take it's course. It was just to close to a National Geographic moment to be interfered with. After repeated failed attempts, the Bald Eagle gave up, and just flew over to the dam and watched the mallard swim away.
This summer, our mallard was molting and ultimately got permanently retired by a big red tailed hawk.
Previous owner had built a pond below the main pond in a low area behind the dam. Later he went back and cut the lower dam and put in a culvert to drain the area......he did not tell me why but the the utility company may have complained as it looks like it flooded their easement. Now I have to decide weather to try and relocate this dam and build another pond or just put in a BIG culvert to keep this from happening again. Its 8 feet from the road surface down to the culvert at the bottom and blew out after the recent heavy rains.
Read your easement contract or ask the power company to provide you with a copy. Probably recorded at the courthouse. Someone at sometime signed giving them a easement and outlined any restrictions.
I worked for an electric utility for 35 years. When someone built a pond and it put poles in the water, we usually moved the poles. I can't remember any pond causing an emergency. In fact, some poles and lines are still in ponds after many years as long as they don't have line clearance issues. Most residential distribution line easements are not recorded unless fairly recent.
I bought a 1979 45' float for a bridge project across a creek at the back of my property. The bogies and jack legs will be cut off before the trailer is set and welded to steel post set in concrete at the corners. Yes I put the "R" in Redneck.
On edit: I priced having a bridge built and it was going to be between $9-$10k. Found the 45 foot flat bed for $3k + $900 for labor which included cutting the under carriage off, welding pipe footings and cement.
Had the trailer pulled to the back of the property and turned over so the under carriage can be cut off. Then it will be set across the creek.
I also had this little 10' X 20' cattle guard bridge built for one of the creek crossings. They welded posts to the bottom, set and marked holes, dug the holes, set it in place and poured concrete.
This skid steer dug each 4 foot hole in 20-30 seconds. I was amazed.
Digging clay to build up the tank dam and repair the spillway on this small pond. They also repaired two other pond tank dams on the property.
Bridge #1 set in place. Dirt/rock approaches to follow.
Bridge #2 set in place. This was a 45 foot flatbed trailer that we cut the undercarriage off of. Posts were welded to the bottom.
Trackhoe carried it to the creek and set it in place. Dirt/rock approaches to follow. We will also replace the rest of the boards.
Bridge #3:
This one was built in place where the road was washed out by the heavy rains. The trackhoe pushed four ten(10) foot long 5" pipe posts(1/2" wall) into the dirt like tooth picks. They only drilled 3 foot deep pilot holes.
#3 Nearing completion. The sucker rods were heated, bent down and welded to the pipe.
We also added sucker rod to two existing cattle guards for smoother transition.
Lance that bridge is a great idea. I was thinking earlier this week about basically the same thing. I have a small but deep creek I want to put a small bridge across and I was thinking about ways to do it. I want to be able to drive ATV's across it...will discuss it with you tomorrow.
Here is the creek (with some friends being goofy):
In an effort build the soil and prevent erosion I have added hay to the back side of my dam. The topsoil is thin and in some places non existent in others(bare hard clay in spots). It won't look very nice for a couple of years but once it decays I hope to get a nice stand of grass. I will probably sprig it next year. FWIW.....this hay was full of seeds. I wonder if they will sprout?
I had a seep in the dam before I had the spillway poured. The leak disappeared for 6 months after packing the ditch and pouring concrete but now has reappeared right next to the spillway.
You can see a seep of water going over the side of the concrete but the majority is moving parallel to it about 4' feet to the right.
Beautiful day at the farm. I cannot believe it is August in Texas......we stayed in the 80's all day. I cut the yard and did a little fishing and barely broke a sweat.
Tbar, that is a shame, for sure. Kinda morbid question though... what do you do with that dead carcass? did the DWF person take it away?
No he didn't take it. I was going to drag him to the back but ran out of time.
The buzzards and coyotes will have completely stripped clean in 3 days. Nothing but a little hide and skeleton. I will get the rack if there is anything left of it.
11:15am this morning my wife hears the pig alarm go off at the feeder.
She takes a quick look through the binoculars and confirms they are there and sends me a text.
I am fishing in the boat on the pond and return to shore, drive the mule back to the house, get the gun out of the gun case, load it, walk to my shooting station(200yrds from the feeder), aim and fire.
The new 20" 6.8SPC rifle isn't virgin anymore. One pig dropped where he stood.
I eat a quick lunch when I get back then go back to fishing.......slowly trolling a crappie jig behind the boat. I had some success and added them to my fish holding pen.
I'm curious. With the ever growing feral pig population down south, is there an increase in the predator, like coyote, populations? Are folks less likely to shoot predators now that the pigs are out of control?
Bill you bring up a good point. Our fawn crop was high this year due to rain at critical times and possibly and I mean possibly coyotes hitting the yoy pigs instead of fawns! Jury is still out if that is the reason for good survival of fawns. We have discussed the possibility that they are helping keep the population of pigs down somewhat. I still pop the yotes if I get a chance....... oh well
I'm not an expert but I don't think yotes would risk taking a piglet with full grown hogs around. I don't think it would end well for them. As far as predators go I can't imagine anything short of a mountain lion willing to take the risk and that might be a stretch. Again I am not a zoologist and don't play one on tv.
We raised domestic hogs for a number of years. At our farrowing house we had an outside piglet feeder that as the weaning pigs reached about 10 pounds up to about 40 they could go outside any time of day or night and eat.
Woke up to a pig squealing and the sows all up in arms and making racket. This was in the middle of the night. Checked on them and the sows had settled down by the time I got out there. Few nights went by and same thing happened. Can't remember for sure but I think these pigs were 20-30 pounds and were still suckling and running with the sows in a common area (old school weaning pig raising, not like the new confinement stuff).
Happened again and did a head count and we were loosing pigs. Moved the small piglet feeder from just outside to one of the stalls within the barn where the sows slept and no more problems.
The feeder, even though just outside the shed, was located such that a coyote could sneak up, snatch a pig, take off running with it and before the sows could come to its rescue after waking up to the squealing and getting outside the building, the coyote with pig in mouth was gone. Once we had actually heard the squeal rapidly moving across the open pasture. Was an eighth mile to any timber cover.
Coyotes are pretty clever and resourceful animals.
I leave them be here unless they cause some problem. But then I do not have calves or other livestock any more. Likely would feel different if I had chickens or sheep.
I would have to agree that a yote would have little problem getting piglets. My reasoning is due to seeing what a Hog dog will do and the other is yotes may also run in packs where one might occupy the sow while others might take a pig or two. But! I am no expert with all that
Since yotes do run in packs at time I'm thinking that they run in an cripple a piglet and come back or flat run off with it. I understand that sows have up to 10 at a time. We usually only see three or 4 at a time making me think something is curbing the numbers somewhat. Can't be sure tho not knowing how many the sow had.
It is very buoyant so I drilled holes in it so it would sink. I have two sets of mounting brackets.....one set low and one set high when you want to net them out.
Interesting observation.
In the past I have noticed the crappie I put in this cage were fatter/larger after being in captivity for several weeks. I just thought it was my imagination.
Fast forward to yesterday........We caught a bunch over the weekend and when I went to net them out for cleaning dozens of 1-1/2" fingerlings showed up in the dip net.
It makes me wonder if the small fish are using the sides of the cage for cover not realizing there were predators on the other side.....???
Does this sound reasonable??? With 37 crappie in the basket I can't believe small fish would be anywhere near it.
Went out to fish for culls this evening and instead caught this. Could be the twin to the one above. If Bob is right that bass caught in waters above 80 degrees will die from stress then I just killed another nice bass. I would be better off not fishing for culls at all until fall. Culls - 0
I just read this thread from start to finish and what a great read! Enjoyed watching all of your projects come to fruition Tbar. Beautiful place you have there! Keep up the great work.
I think it is a nice looking fish. The head fits the body, not a big headed small body lmb. I think the summer months here in E. Texas warms the water temps quite high and make them less likely to feed. I'm no expert but I think if I had a fish that looked like that in August I might return it to the pond. Depending if I had a lot of 6 to 7" bg for them to feed on. And what if the lmb was to eat a 7" bg just before it was caught, how would that improve the weight at the time of the fish being weighed?
I think it is a nice looking fish. The head fits the body, not a big headed small body lmb. I think the summer months here in E. Texas warms the water temps quite high and make them less likely to feed. I'm no expert but I think if I had a fish that looked like that in August I might return it to the pond. Depending if I had a lot of 6 to 7" bg for them to feed on. And what if the lmb was to eat a 7" bg just before it was caught, how would that improve the weight at the time of the fish being weighed?
When I used to fish bass tournaments (40+ a year), nothing was more frustrating than to catch a really nice bass, all fat and healthy, drop it in the live well and later find it had coughed up a 6 inch BG. I could see that paycheck slipping away!! Sometimes it only took ounces to either be in the money or just another donater.
I think that fish looks good for late summer. She'd definitely stay in the pond here. We're having the second hottest summer in recorded history, and it's definitely affected feeding patterns.
FWIW, I am having my pond electrofished Thursday(time TBA) 10/11/18 if anyone wants to come by and watch. We will also be doing some culling.....LMB, BC, CC, etc.
Tbar, I want to know where you got your hands on those H&H spinnerbaits. When my dad was taking me fishing as a kid, they were the "go to" bait down here. Haven't seen one on the shelf in ages, and thought they'd gone out of business.
Tbar, I want to know where you got your hands on those H&H spinnerbaits. When my dad was taking me fishing as a kid, they were the "go to" bait down here. Haven't seen one on the shelf in ages, and thought they'd gone out of business.
Tbar, I want to know where you got your hands on those H&H spinnerbaits. When my dad was taking me fishing as a kid, they were the "go to" bait down here. Haven't seen one on the shelf in ages, and thought they'd gone out of business.
I’ve been setting out at nite shooting them in our 5ac food plot...... 3 so far but hasn’t deterred them from rooting up the fresh planted seed..... ugh
Another big sow down. 200 yards placed right behind the ear. DRT. Doesn't get much better than that. Regret I did not get a video of it. I am still impressed with this 18” IWT 6.8SPC and IR Hunter Mark III 60mm.
A friend and I were going to do some load development work for one of my rifles at the shooting range below the spillway but it was underwater. The weather was bitterly cold too. So that was a bust.
Shooting range under water. Pond releasing lots of water.
Lance nice hog! It's crazy the rain we are getting....when I got to my place on Sunday the top of my fixed dock was missing. WTH? We could not find it. We assumed it might have came loose and sunk. After more searching we found the Trex dock walkway floating in shallow water at the other end of the pond. It was obvious that sometime last week the pond water came over my fixed dock. Partly my fault because I told the dock builder I wanted the dock as close to the water surface as possible and didn't care if it got submerged ever few years. I guess once the dock was submerged it popped the attachments holding it to the braces which he now admits were "not heavy duty" attachments. We'll try to re-attach this coming Saturday. Supposed to be sunny and 61, but will be cold in that water...lol
He says he can do it....but that thing once we get it back over there is going to be heavy as hell out in the cold water. He says he has a "trick" that will do it. We'll see.
If he has, or he can rent airbags that can be inflated under the dock and hoist it up to a higher elevation float it over its posts and let the air out of the bags lowering it to the top of the posts to be fastened back down.
Live and learn. 5 years down the road and erosion has eaten away at the banks under my bridges necessitating they be reworked. Original Build
Bridge one has had rock added under and around it, 10' added to the length and it has been raised 12"....more like 18".
Bridge two has had rock added under it and around it as well as the center boards replaced. The cattle didn't do me any favors either walking down the sides of the bridge creating channels for rain water to carry away the dirt.
Bridge three has rail road ties and rock added as well as 10' added to the length.