Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Suggestions on damming up a ravine???

I want to create a small deer watering hole by damming up a ravine. The "deep end" will only be 3 to 4 feet, and about 15 feet across. The ravine bottom slope is gradual, so it will give me about 100 feet of water up the ravine. It will only get natural run off, but I'm looking for input on how to dam it. It's steep sided ravine so I can't get equipment back in there. I have trees on both sides so I'm thinking of using downed trees to dam it up, allowing leaves and silt to pack up into the down logs, then putting plastic up against the logs, as it silts in. This will take awhile, especially being winter. Wanting to get by as cheap as possible, meaning $0 outlay, other than chainsaw gas and plastic or membrane. I've tried the black plastic tubs, but looking for a bigger body of water. Any suggestions will be appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Welcome to the Forum Maddad, if your going to use logs to dam it up, try driving in heavy duty steel fence posts to help hold the logs in place against the water pressure.
The higher you go the tougher it's gonna be to hold them in place, I have small dams built into the stream to help the trout during the summer, they've held for 4 years so far.
You could also run a steel cable behind the posts and anchor it to both sides of the bank.

Thanks for the tips and the picture. Do you have any plastic or membrane that helps hold the water in or is it just plugged by leaves? I'm thinking I might have to add some concrete or something.

If you are trying to water deer, consider placing large rocks across the stream creating a small waterfall. When you get heavy rains, the water flowing over the rocks will create holes down stream with the deepness depending on the hardness of the stream bottom (no liner needed). If you have rocks on the bottom, you can speed this up by throwing rocks downstream of the rock "dam" up above the "dam" that you create. You could repeat the process several times along the stream to create a series of holes. If rocks are not available. Fastening logs across the stream can work, but are likely to get dislodged during flooding. Allowing the water to do the digging often works pretty well. Cement blocks placed across the stream parallel to the water flow and in serveral layers (like pavers with holes facing up and down) can also work well. You will likely need at least three courses (like pavers) to create the 8" tall dam. Filling these with small rocks helps hold them in place. Success will likely be on the ability of the rocks or blocks to withstand large rain events. I used salvaged cement chunks down stream of the blocks to keep mine in place. So far, no worries.

i am not sure what kind of deer you are trying to provide water for, but if it is whitetails, he doesnt need much water. i hunted deer seriously for years. we had a large creek bottom that i hunted near most of the time. i dont think i have ever seen a deer stop to take a drink. i know they do drink water, but i was told they get hydrated from what they eat more than drinking. ever notice how small their bladder is.
if you are trying to up your chances of taking a deer, i would recommend corn instead of water. works like champ here in alabama.

We put our "water hole" in on our hunting land in 30 minutes using a front end loader. There was already a natural ravine in the spot, we just used the front end loader to widen it a bit and use the road we were putting in as the dam. A metal overflow pipe keeps it from washing out. The deer love it especially when there has been little rain for an extended period of time. It's about 3 foot deep at the deepest. There is a natural spring seep that seems to keep it fairly full and the natural clay soil helps as well.

I must respectfully disagree with scott69 on water as an attractant for deer and I have the racks to prove it. I actually saw a deer, which I affectionately call gimpy because he limps, drinking from my pond a few minutes ago. He'll be a shooter in a couple years. He is currently a 9pt (including a 5" drop) but is too narrow and lacks sufficient mass. This is the first I have seen him since the gun season ended. Glad nobody got him. I had several deer take drinks within range this year, including a 10pt that will be a trophy next year. During early archery, they even wallow. Water is a great attractant if rainfall is not plentiful during the season.

Regional and forage differences effect deer needs to drink at a water hole/pond.

The log dams sealed up pretty good from debris and silt but then there's alot more flow than in most ravines.
You could weave heavy black plastic around each course of logs to help it seal but if you go higher than 2 ft. I would use some cable to give the dam more support.

I think CJ built his water hole more for his Lab than the deer.

I can't say I have ever seen a whitetail wallow, I have seen elk and sika deer do that though. But I do know the deer flock to our water hole when there is a drought. It is the only water source for over half a mile then. Some parts of the country and maybe certain areas water may be less important as there may just be more of it available via streams, ponds, puddles and food sources. For us being on a mountain, water is often limited, especially during those dry Octobers we often have.

Corn is king though...(watch any hunting show in Texas) Short of a giant acorn crop boom like we had in 2010, nothing brings deer in better than corn. I'd still hunt a good secluded watering hole during a heat spell when it's been dry and the rut is going over a corn field.

HAHA, yes AP, Shanny can't walk by that hole without jumping in! When we're walking on that road she runs ahead in excitement when we get close and I can hear the splash before I come around the curve and see her swimming around.

Can't bait here. I have seen them wallow. They seem to wallow and get in the water during the rut here on warm days. Have had them do that 30 feet from me sitting in a boat with my dog.

Thanks for the quick responses everyone. Just got back in from harvesting a doe. Here are a couple of pics to show you what I'm working with.

I'm going to have to start with Adirondack's suggestion, due to the inability to get any equipment in there right now. In the meantime, instead of concrete chunks or blocks, I've got a couple 18" diameter dead trees that I can drop very close to the area and stack a couple rows of the trunks to hold back the pressure. And since I don't have any continuous flow of water, I'll need to end up with something close CJBS's idea, where I'll place a tube for an overflow. Will post some progress pics, if the weather cooperates!

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Congrats on the doe! Keep us informed on how the project progresses.

I am wanting to do a similar project when the house building slows down (finally got the place insulated). I think I can get a small backhoe down my ravine and just dig the bottom 3 to 4 feet deeper to hold water

maddad that ravine looks like you could get plenty of surface runoff.
If you put down some heavy black plastic, maybe 12'x 100' from the dam back up the flow, and anchor it with rocks it could really help holding water during dry years or summers.
http://s1185.photobucket.com/albums/z342...inevertical.jpg

lassig, if you have a backhoe the sky's the limit.

Don't own a backhoe but the rental place is only 25 miles away. Something to play with when I have more time

Dropped a tree tonight and stacked some 3' long logs before the temps drop and the snow accum's.
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After some more Googling of images, anyone have experience with building "log dams"? If you search that, you'll see that it's kinda what I've started, but utilizes logs sloped on the retention side, as well as on the spillway side. I may have a challenge with manhandling the length of logs required for the ramp on the retention side, but it seems that might fight my bill for this little project. We've gotten 3 inches of snow recently and have 5 degree temps today, and it's the last weekend of deer shotgun, so I'll get some pics today as I try to fill my freezer. Any tips for substances to "fill" the middle parts of the dam, other than clay, which is now frozen? It's not that big of an area, so didn't know if say 10 bags of quickcrete, might be an answer?

Pics during the thaw this morning. You can get a better feel of the short height from my gun in the second picture.
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Looks like your really going Gung-ho on this project,
If you could find some of that heavy plastic pool sidewall stuff you could wedge it up against the upstream side to help seal the dam more, sometimes people just give away those old pools.

Don't forget your shotgun there.

870?

Thanks for the idea on the heavy poolside plastic.

The gun is not an Rem 870, but a Mossberg 500 12ga Christmas gift from many years ago (non-choked barrel) as a 12yr old kid. I've since bought a new barrel with addtl chokes, and a scoped rifled barrel for sabots. It's a solid gun that's brought me years of pleasure.

Had a recent thaw, enough to shovel in a little "sludge" (rocks n dirt) into the wooden dam to help plug things up. I also picked up a heavy tarp that I'll drape up the wooden side and then stake down on the upstream side to help hold water, but didn't have enough time to spread it out and stake it o rbury the edges in good. Already getting a little puddle though! Here's a couple of pictures.

http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z342/maddad78/dammudded1.jpg
http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z342/maddad78/dammudded2.jpg

If you can find it the type of dirt and debris dams that they use on highway construction sites could really help this. You have probably see them...black plastic about 2 feet high attached to a wire mesh. You stake it in place.

Captain1, Thanks for the tip. I know the stuff you suggested.

I did get out there tonight before sunset and was able to get this in before the wet snow started falling. I really don't like the looks of the green, need the brown, and think I should to go bigger (a bit wider and more upstream. I'll see how this does and maybe just leave it but lay a bigger brown colored one over top of it. I do like how the low part is in the center, which should be good for the spillway, which will fall on the large logs I showed in earlier pictures.

http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z342/maddad78/damtarp.jpg