Thanks for the ideas on the siphon, but I got out there Sunday and I've got to agree with ArkansasElkHunter, taking the damn down was really easy. I went out there yesterday for a couple of hours and forgot the pipe I was going to use for a test siphon. I wasn't planning on doing much besides having a fire and some beer so I didn't even bring any tools other than a flashlight and the 12 guage.
After getting the fire started I wandered down to the damn. Started by removing loose sitcks from the back of the damn. Then I climbed on top and checked it out. Next thing I knew I was using a stick from the damn to start digging through the damn. I'd use the stick to poke down through a weak spot, remove all the loose leaves and sticks and then dig a trench in the clay, letting the water start to run through. Removed larger sticks and rocks by hand. Rinse, lather, repeat. Before I knew it I had a trench 8-10 inches deep and most of the damn down at least several inches all the way across. Man that water was flowing, it was wonderful.
Next time I will bring a shovel, and some better gloves and waders would be nice. Did I mention that I had to break ice to get the front part of the damn out? Oh well it was real fun.
I did learn some things. For some reason I expected the damn to be much harder to pull apart, it was real easy, especially with letting the water do the work. Dig a trench to get the water started and then stir up some clay and let it wash away, before you know it it's time to remove some move sticks and rocks and go deeper. Also I thought that what I saw from the back side was the damn, but it looks like the damn is mostly in front, tons of clay in front, I don't even want to guess how many cubics yards. What I could see from the back of the damn was mostly rip-rap to keep the damn from washing out from behind and it seems to work real will, even with all the water I had running over it.
Even 20 acres of water can drain real fast, I had at least a 1/2" drop in a couple of hours, maybe even more. The ground was frozen so I couldn't get a good marker driven in, but I did set a bottle at the starting water level and did get a stick driven in at water level in another part of the lake. I can't wait to get back out there and check it out, hopefully before this weekend.
The timing is good as we as supposed to have rain tonight and tomorrow.
I can't wait to get back out there and work on this thing some more.
Oh yeah I have pretty much given up on the hunting idea, these beavers are doing too much damage. As I walked the property some more all I saw was more and more beaver damage. It seems like they were pretty satisfied with the lake and are starting on damning up every creek and drainage going. And dropping the small trees and debarking the large trees to kill them in the process.
These things have to go.
I've read about trapping before, I guess I will have to read up some more. The only problem is that I will not be out there every day to run them, but since I'm not trapping for the pelts and I'm not Humane trapping I guess it doesn't matter if the dead beaver sits for a few days.
How territorial are beavers?
Could I have more than one family out here, especially given that I have the river running there?
If there is only one family, then they have been busier than.... uhh I hate to say it...
Beavers.
Ok I'm going to go stand in the corner now.
I also found the front half of a 4 point buck, the rest had been eaten by critters. Probably wounded during firearms season, it wasn't too rotted, but had been eaten on real good. It was getting dark, but I will go back and get the antlers and make a set of rattlers for Paul. I think it will make a nice gift. He's never hunted before he bought the place, he's been out a couple of times but hasn't seen anything yet, except for a neighbor trespassing with his dogs. I offered to try a drive for him last time, but it was 10-15 degrees and 30 mph wind and as he said 'I'm just not that hard core yet'.
It would have been perfect since the river was up and made the funnel between the river and pond that much smaller. This is also a beautiful piece of cover adjacent to the farm fields, which I think were planted in soy beans this year.
So I just walked through to get a feel for next time, and I did kick up a couple of deer, didn't get a good look at them, just their tails, I was in a hurry to get home so I was doing a 'city' walk around the pond, not a real 'woods' walk.
I do have a plan for next time, although one more person would make it perfect, I think I will have a second blind set up closer to the river, push from the pond to the river and send the deer up across the RR bed in front of the blind. At least that is my plan. Once they get caught near the river they start to panic, which will be useful. I was walking down the old RR bed the other day and pushing one along parallel to the road. It kept going until it reached the river then panicked, making more racket than a locomotive pushing though the woods trying to get away from me. And Paul had thought my idea of a drive wouldn't work. Well he's learning.

Matt