Upgrading a waterhole

[Nova]

I have had a waterhole in a spot at the farm for about 4 years now. Originally I made it out of a blue kiddy pool. It was a huge draw for deer all summer and well into the fall. BUT, the deer stepping in it caused a hole and it leaked. I replaced that pool with another and again the deer hooves put a hole in it. I upgraded to a 30 gallon heavy duty water trough(thick black plastic). That has held up to the deer hooves, but it's not big enough. I can't go a week during late summer/early fall with them emptying it.

My plan now is to use the FEL on the tractor to dig a small pond. Problem is about 18" down the ground is all sugar sand and it won't hold water. I was going to dig the pond out a little deeper, line it with heavy duty poly(3 layers), then fill dirt back in and fill it with water. Will this work?

 

[j-bird]

It "should" work, but the heavier the "poly" the better and you will want it to be stable against UV light and the like. You want something more like a swimming pool liner vs just some poly/plastic sheet. With the sand being able to shift under a deer foot it may still develop leaks. I am not sure what sort of agriculture you have in your area if any, but stock tanks and water/chemical tanks come up for sale from time to time or are busted and can be re-purposed with a little saws-all work. Also consider molded Koi ponds and the like at home improvement stores. Something that may help with the plastic pools is doing everything you can to keep it from flexing. That plastic gets real brittle in the cold and if it can flex - then it fractures. What if you used the kiddie pool but put something in the middle of it to keep the deer from physically walking in the water? Just spit-balling ideas!

 

[JFK52]

Look into bentonite or clay for a liner.

 

[kl9]

Look into bentonite or clay for a liner.

Decent amount of YouTube videos showing limited luck with bentonite. I had a buddy bring in clay and it worked well


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[Telemark]

It might sound crazy, but use concrete and a sealant.

Dig the hole out. Line it with a few inches of concrete. Seal with something. Fill.

 

[JFK52]

I was going to use clay to seal my pond. The only problem is that I am in the Central Sands area of WI. Soil with high clay content is East of my location in the vicinity of the Wolf river. The cost to have it loaded and trucked to my farm was just too prohibitive.
Bentonite requires extensive site preparation. Rocks and all foreign objects need to be removed. The area to be done needs to look like a pristine hot house seed bed. Then a sheepsfoot roller needs to be run over the soil. If you try to cut corners on the site prep you will not get a good seal with the Bentonite. Bentonite is also not that cheap if you have to buy it by the bag.
Of the two, I would chose clay every time. Even then, one must make the clay liner 12 to 18 inches thick.

 

[trampledbyturtles]

Trucking anything in sounds dang expensive to me, especially considering that sand situation.

Id look for an old stock tank.
If it rusts an wears out ten years from now, put in another.