Reclaiming a Woodland Pond

[Jeff]

This little pond was built early in Pete and Lynda's ownership of the property. It has a good overflow system that really works well. It was also built with a wide shallow animal ramp on the south side of it.
This is basically just an enlarged low spot in the natural drainage of the property. I noted last spring how well the drain delivered high water through the drain at the other side bottom. That road on the pond use to be the main way to get to the back field when it was wet.

Over time, the pond just grew up and into just a place for critters to get a drink if it got real dry. I need those mounds of dirt around the pond to help on unknown puddle problems if they occur and a safe slope around the pond to be able to mow and to dredge the debris from the pond. I need to find or build a rake.

Reclaiming a Forgotten Woodland Wildlife Watering Pond in the Upper Pennisula - YouTube

[Chuck White]

That's quite a project Jeff!

Lookin' good

Scratch around in the dirt, and it doesn't take long for deer tracks to appear!

I was quite impressed by that machine.... Nice!

[Hilltop366]

I could use one of those machines for a couple of hours on my camp trail, I wonder how they do in granite rocks. :-\

[bitternut]

I was waiting for when he was going to dunk the machine into the pond completely. Guess the operator knows his stuff. Good job cleaning up Jeff. Always nice to have access to your pond.

Yeah, that machine would work great on maintaining trails also. They don't come cheap though.

[SwampDonkey]

Sure does a better job then ones I seen used. He's putting that thing into the dirt to remove any 'spears'. ;D The reason for the 'spears' I guess is that up here where they used it, you're into granite and glacial sand as soon as you make ground contact, far from being garden soil. ;)

[Jeff]

Ill have some video of his doing my trails and making new ones. Ill have to get creatve on how to present them as on the trails, you either needed to be behind him or in front of him, and that aint a machine to get close to. I was behind trees and such sticking the camera out hoping it was pointed in the right direction! He found some big rocks on mine we did not know existed previously. That thing roto tills and levels some too.
 For $1100 total for the trails and pond area I had more accomplished than I could ever do on my own as it would be growing up behind me.

[jb616]

Good to know. I need to have some of my Popples mulched next year to promote regeneration (deer food). 

[Magicman]

It's good to watch that knowing that you now have the stamina to do what you want to do instead of just wishin'. 

[Peter Drouin]

Looking good 8)

[Marty]

Great job Jeff. Enjoyed the the vid. That Mulcher made quick work of all the overgrowth. 

[trimguy]

Big improvement. Looks good.

[ReggieT]

This little pond was built early in Pete and Lynda's ownership of the property. It has a good overflow system that really works well. It was also built with a wide shallow animal ramp on the south side of it.
This is basically just an enlarged low spot in the natural drainage of the property. I noted last spring how well the drain delivered high water through the drain at the other side bottom. That road on the pond use to be the main way to get to the back field when it was wet.

Over time, the pond just grew up and into just a place for critters to get a drink if it got real dry. I need those mounds of dirt around the pond to help on unknown puddle problems if they occur and a safe slope around the pond to be able to mow and to dredge the debris from the pond. I need to find or build a rake.

Reclaiming a Forgotten Woodland Wildlife Watering Pond in the Upper Pennisula - YouTube

This was more than impressive. I have not been in as good of shape as you are in 25 years!! Awesome job!

[Jeff]

 have not been in as good of shape as you are in 25 years!! Awesome job!

Me either! 35 even.

[Jeff]

Great job Jeff. Enjoyed the the vid. That Mulcher made quick work of all the overgrowth.

@Marty, I know what you were truly impressed with was that 8n working off the trailer ;)

[Jeff]

Didn't take long to get some activity on the pond!


 

 

[Old Greenhorn]

I saw that first photo and the caption that popped into my head was" "Hey! Where the heck did this come from?!"

[mike_belben]

Years ago a friend said a chainsaw is a deer's dinner bell and i didnt quite believe or understand until i did it for myself.  One of my greatest satisfactions to bump a daytime doe 15 feet from the features ive created for them by "killing" the ecosystem with my evil saw. 

Great work jeff.

[Old Greenhorn]

When I had my mill down in the woods 2 years ago and would take a tree for milling within a couple hundred feet of the mill there was a doe I called 'Jenny' who would show up and start munching on the tops while I was still bucking the tree. Sometimes she would bring her girl friends too. Since the mill was in the same area and sounded not unlike a chainsaw, she would often browse right through my mill area while I was sawing. She scared the crap out of me a couple of times as I was focused on the log and cuts and would look up and she'd be 10 feet away. The last season the mill was down there I think she died after birthing (is this a 'thing'?) and I saw her fawn alone for several days so I kept cruising around looking for the fawn after I found Jenny's carcass. I found the fawn from time to time and eventually she twinned up with another fawn and doe. A cute pair they made and were healthy the last time I saw them.
 I had a buddy with 100 acres who cut firewood off his own land for years. His dozer, which he skidded with, was the dinner bell. He always saw deer as he was headed out to cut. During the season and because he had no time to take days off for 'hunting' he would put his son up on the dozer hood with a 30-30 and they would take the first good meat animal they saw, often as the dozer crawled along. It saved time. Field dress it and throw it on top of the hitch for the trip back. It was all about the meat.
 Whitetails are all about learned habits. I just wish I could unlearn the habit they have of coming in my fenced in yard to sample the goodies, then forgetting how to get out. I never lived in Mule deer country for longer than a week at a time, I wonder what they are like. I do know that where I did see them, they didn't seem to care much about people and those boys and girls are BIG. They would browse within 30 feet of us in a campsite above 6,000 ft.
 But yeah Jeff, that should feel very good seeing that photo. Good on ya mate.

[Peter Drouin]

Good job boss. All they need now is a salt lick ;)

[Jeff]

Took 2 hours to upload a few seconds. I spent two hours in there pulling cat tail roots today. Starting to look like a pond

short pond update - YouTube

[Old Greenhorn]

Holy shoot! That pond looks great, A lot better than the other videos showed. Now I am starting to feel like I made a mistake not following you up on Sunday for a quick look. This place is going to be like a playground as you work through the projects you have planned.

[Jeff]

 

 

[Jeff]

All manual cleaning. 

[Tacotodd]

It's just getting bigger all the time. Keep it up and you'll have another GREAT LAKE :D

[thecfarm]

That sure does look good!!!

[jb616]

Years ago a friend said a chainsaw is a deer's dinner bell and i didnt quite believe or understand until i did it for myself.  One of my greatest satisfactions to bump a daytime doe 15 feet from the features ive created for them by "killing" the ecosystem with my evil saw.

Great work jeff.

In Upper Michigan it (chainsaw) is referred to as a "UP Deer Call". 

[DMcCoy]

Nice work!  I've done cattail root removal before.  That is a lot of work(!)
A muskrat moved in and despite warnings I let it be.  The moderate bank damage was a trade off I was willing to make, for all the cattails it removed. 
Looks great!

[Jeff]

 Now I am starting to feel like I made a mistake not following you up on Sunday for a quick look.

Yes you did! :D

[Jeff]

Doberman versus the Frog pond. - YouTube

[mike_belben]

All manual cleaning.

Thatll put hair on your chest!

[metalspinner]

All manual cleaning.

Thatll put hair on your chest!

Builds character. 

[Ed]

I have 3 natural gas pipelines 1/4 mile behind my house. 2 at 30" and 1 at 24". Years ago DTE never maintained their easment.
One day l came home from work to a sound I had never heard before. It was the sound of mass destruction
They were clearing 30 years of neglect from the pipeline.

It was my first introduction to the machine from hell....a Hydro Axe.

Nothing stood in its way, complete destruction.

Ed

[thecfarm]

Nice looking pond you have there now.
I've done a lot of land clearing around here. I found out a lawn mower works the best to get things back to grass. Yes I have a bush hog, but on uneven ground it can be digging in on one side and up in the air a foot on the other side. Than a bush hog can go no lower than 3-4 inches either. A push lawn mower can get much lower. I call them my mini bush hogs.  ;D  : I get a year out of one I am doing good. But as much as you have to do a bush hog would be much better for you. Maybe do certain area with a mini bush hog. I use to do a lot with a weed whacker too. Those do a very nice job too, but take a lot of time. Keep at it, and mean keep at it and often too and the grass will come back. I have claimed back woods and the grass seed is there. Can't sit back and say I will do it next week either. Once the grass comes back, it does get easier. Takes about 5 years of hard work and time, but it is worth it.
And yes on the chain saw is like a dinner bell to deer around here too. As I said, I see more deer when I am driving my tractor than when I am just walking around. Them deer to not fear the tractor. They know that means food. With snow on the ground, the deer really understand that. 

[Jeff]

 

 

 

[Jeff]

Cleaning and reclaiming a forgotten, overgrown woodland pond in the Upper Peninsula. No Chemicals! - YouTube

[Ljohnsaw]

Sawyer is such a help with the rake! :D  Wish I had a year round pond.  I have a seasonal one about that size where my property is in about 1/8 of it.

[Jeff]

That Sawyer, is a relentless companion. :D

[SwampDonkey]

Don't fall in. If the mud bottom spring fed ponds out there are like here, the leeches move in. ;D

[Jeff]

That pond is cold, and has a hard. Slick but slightly mucky bottom with rocks in it. No leaches. Its not on video but I spent over 8 hrs over two days in it rooting up and removing all the cattails I could find. I had over 12hrs of video to get anything even a bit interesting to make that short video. Lots of slogging around working. If there was leaches, id of got one.

[mike_belben]

Heck of a job you did jeff. Dogs seem to approve.

[farmfromkansas]

Need to post that video on Yellow Hammer's tree trimmer thread.  

[Jeff]

 

 

[21incher]

Nice shot.

[Jeff]

One year later, I have a Froggy Hilton!


 

 

 

[Walnut Beast]

That looks Awesome 👍

[trimguy]

Yes, that looks great.

[YellowHammer]

 

[21incher]

I love our little  pond this time of the year.  So many frogs singing their hearts  out that is a very  relaxing music. It's  black with  tadpoles now and the Heron are stopping  in for a quick meal.  8)

[Jeff]

I put a camera on ours yesterday to see what I might catch. It's just below a rise enough that we can't see the water from the cabin.

[Jeff]

So this weekend, my son Jeremy came up the cabin to help me install a cellular phone signal booster. While he was on the roof, I was working cultivating some soil to add to another raised bed, and I turned up a nice fat worm. On a whim,  I hollered at Jeremy and said we should grab one of the fish poles on the porch and throw a line in our little old pond. So we did! No one has ever tried this before, in all these years
OMG!!!! Were we ever surprised what happened next! Luckily I had my cellphone camera videoing to record what happened!!
On a whim, we threw in a fishing line. This was living and BREEDING in our pond!! - YouTube

[WV Sawmiller]

  It must have been your son's lucky shoestrings!. I'd have skinned and fried the fish with baked beans and cole slaw and either tater tots or grits on the side. digin1

 And if those aren't decoys I think you have the laziest ducks I have ever seen. :D

[YellowHammer]

That's amazing!  As the saying goes "Life will find a way."  How long have you owned the pond?

[Jeff]

We closed on the property a year ago last april, but I have been part of the property since 1994 when my sister bought it. My videos in the cabin play list sort of tell the story. Not a lot of sawmill stuff, but my personal loves. Behind the forum.

As far as I know, and definitly in the last 15 years, no fish were put in that pond and no one ever thought to throw a line in. Im still amazed!!

[metalspinner]

That fish was waiting a loooong time for someone to throw a worm in there!

[Walnut Beast]

Awesome! Thank the ducks and geese! Didn't you think you could get the hook 🪝 out

[thecfarm]

It was hungry!!! That was quick.
Maybe some fish food and see how many come to the top to eat it.
Get the floating kind.

[YellowHammer]

15 years, and they just did their thing.  Amazing.  

[Jeff]

15 years, and they just did their thing.  Amazing.  

Yea, and this is not a kind climate here. Winters are long and hard. I'd bet that pond freezes to the bottom some years, 4ft deep is about it.

[charles mann]

What that machine did in a few hours would take me 2-3x that with my shredder and tractor. 
I went back out to property in east tx to link up with a guy to bid the job of bringing his mulcher in. I spent around 8hrs on the hobbs meter and made a huge dent, or what i thought was huge dent, in the under brush, to where he and i could walk the perimeter to get an idea of what he needs to knock over. He said it would still take 8-10 hrs to knock it down (not mulch, just make it manageable) enough for me to run my shredder over to break it down more. There some places im not brave enough to take tractor in, and hate to hire a person to take his machine where i wont take mine, but his equip is more designed for the job, than my 7060 kubota and heavy duty shredder. 

[21incher]

Great video. The heartbreaker is when you watch a heron land in the pond , grab that fish then swallow it whole. We loose many  fish to them.

[Nebraska]

I had an excavator come in and do some digging two years ago, just to get some deep water back in mine. I think I spent  1500.00$.  Helped a bunch!  A good operator could give you some deeper water, and you could leave the silt set over winter then  haul it to your food plots or fill in low spots withi it as you like.  Early spring bullhead eat ok after the ice comes off, there used to be a few bullhead feeds in Minnesota when we lived there for community fund raisers.

[Jeff]

Our little Upper Peninsula pond never ceases to amaze me on the life it contains and supports and has provided us with a lot of free, natural entertainment. Frogs and tadpoles, minnows and Bullhead Catfish. The fish, we never even knew existed just a year ago! This past weekend my daughter and her beau Joe came to visit for the weekend, and we took full advantage of our little nature provided entertainment venue. 

I invite you to come along
https://youtu.be/JITuUv4DCLs

[Old Greenhorn]

That was fun. Y'all need to put a couple of slab benches out by the pond so ya can sit, relax and fish....or wrestle with the frogs.

[Jeff]

That's a fine idea!

[Old Greenhorn]

Accidents happen.

[Jeff]

Got a lotta rain the last 10 days and my little pond is full past it's cleaned up edges.

Pics, spring last year vrs fall this year.

A bit of improvement eh?


 

 

 

[thecfarm]

Poor thing!!!
It's froze in!!!
Yes. looks much different.  
Good job.

[SwampDonkey]

I'll say. And it sure grew with that new rain. ;D