Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Pictures of My Zephyr Pond

Beautiful AND dry, heybud. That looks like your current 5 foot down condition.

p.s. You had of couple of extra [img] brackets at the beginning and end of each URL, which were removed courtesy of your friendly neighborhood Spidermoderator.

Hi Neighbor!

That is one beautiful pond. I love that area. It is the start of the Texas hill country. You need someone to help with the pond just let me know. Have you fished it much? Keep a log of what fish you catch, weights and sizes to help figure out where you are. I will help you do a survey when you are ready. I need to get a good seine first.

Theo- We have good chances of rain this weekend. The best I have seen in 26 weeks. Heybud's pond is only 20 miles from mine. Heybud and I are holding our breath.

Hey, heybud....outstanding pondage! What an inspiration. And, if that ain't enuff, you have the topo, the trees and vegetation. What a marvelous package. Pic #2 is post-card'ish. Throw us some spec's. Did you build it?

It is listed on the tax roll as a 2 acre pond. I believe at times it maybe slightly larger. I bought the property with pond on it. The pond is probably at least 15 years old. and the guy that owned it before me did not take very good care of the property. Opportunities abound to get this place in shape. You have to cross the dam of the pond to enter the property. We love and can't believe we own it. Thanks for all the nice comments.

Wow, what a neat pond! Would make a good post card.

Neat, neat place.

Wow it does look dry there!
Pond looks great.
How many acres do you have and do you live there?

Sorry to here about your friends who died in the fires.

Hopefully you'll get that rain this weekend.

Heybud,

Nice looking pond you got there. I noticed in your post, you stated the tax rolls list the pond as 2 acres in size. There have been a couple of discussions in the past regarding the value a pond adds (or not) to a piece of property. Do you know if the value of your property has been affected by the presence of your pond. Given the current drought situation in that region of the country, I suspect it would.

Russ,
I think any improvements on land in Texas add to appraised value, which they tax us on. This property is a total of 25 acres. We do not currently live on the property but spend more time there than we do at home. There is an old cabin on it, which we are turning into stroage and are going to build a small house by the pond, which will add more value and more taxes. We are in the process of filing for a wildlife tax exemption. It is not an easy process. This property has been grandfathered, being just 25 acres, because it had a wildlife exemption before. Now, 50 acres is required to get the exemption. Taxes without wildlife exemption are around 800 bucks. With wildlife exemption 62 bucks.

In the past post about this topic of ponds adding land value some appraisers chimed in and said they don't add much value if any at all and are more likely a liability rather than an asset. I totally disagree with that idealism. Why do you see a majority of homes in rural America built next to ponds or streams if one is on the property? Man needs water it has been that way sense the beginning of time. Here's another example, Why does my land over grown with black oak, briars & poison ivy sale for 4000$ an acre and up and my other land only 3 miles away which has no trees no pond only rolling costal grass sales for 2000$ to 2500$ Reason people in our state are no longer buying land based on agriculture value that's a thing of the past. I found this article about the topic you might find it interesting. http://recenter.tamu.edu/pdf/1654.pdf

RockyTopper,
I agree with you about ponds adding value. I would not have considered buying the place without the pond. My criteria when hunting for property was it must have a pond or a place to build one. I noticed on the paper work I got from the county tax people it stated that the property was 25 acres with a 2 acre pond. I was assuming that since they referenced it that they must be considering it in the valuation of the property. Thanks for the link

Interesting article. When I travel throughout the state, I often stop and buy small town newspapers. A couple of years ago, I was on a rattlesnake hunt by Meridian. I noticed the rural lands for sale. Good, productive farm land was going for about $1,200 per acre. Rocky, hilly junk that would grow nothing but cedars and deer were in the $3,000+ range. Oh yeah, the closer to Crawford it was, the higher the price. Standing water and size also were determinants.

In the area where I have land, 70 miles NNW of the D/FW area metroplex, there is very little demand for open, flat property. Cattlemen want a place that will grow winter wheat but they want it partially wooded for deer. Land with water holes are more valuable. It costs $ to dig holes to impound water and the larger the pond, the better. Hitting sand is always an expensive risk. Hunters want the wheat as a deer attractant and hunting rights can go for as much as $20 per acre. A picture of a monster buck or 2 can drive the price out of sight.

Last months issue of The American Hunter(NRA) magazine had an article about the average guy being priced out of hunting on leased lands. More people are buying rural property for their own hunting. They also dig water holes for bass. With the increasing value of land, the landowner needs to recoup more to rent the access.

I love the unmanicured and virgin look of your pond. Ponds that look like that always seem to have fish. There used to over 20 ponds on an isolated ranch in Stephens county, TX that had that somewhat untouched appearance in a rugged sitting and all had an abundance of fish. And, I know for a fact that they were never managed. I hate the laboratory appearance of meticulous manicred ponds with their docks, fountains, and paved paths,etc,etc.

Squeeky,
Thanks for the kind words on the pond. I promise to keep it unmanicured. We are having to restock some BG and do some adjustments on the fish that are in the pond. All the bass we catch are in the 8 to 10 inch range. I am taking as many out as I can catch. Anybody need bass and are close let me know.

Heybud, that 50 acre minimum may be for your county : "The ratios chosen by the county are based on the region in which the county is located. According to the ratios set up by the Texas Parks and Wildlife recommendations, the smallest tract of land that could qualify for an exemption would be 12.5 acres, except for some exceptions. Landowners who had a wildlife exemption prior to Jan. 1, 2001 will be grandfathered regardless if they meet the ratios or not."

p.s. Awesome pond !