Throw and Mow/No Till plot update

[phil@thesidehill]

I use plastic tubs not liners for my waterholes so I'm speaking without any practical experience here. But do you think activity would increase if you "covered" that liner with a couple inches of sand or dirt?

This waterhole was a result of pure happenstance. before i installed this waterhole the plan was to go with a tub....i just hadnt decided on a location at that point. in the spring of 2014 a buddy of mine brought his quad down to help pull some of the junk from my grandfather's inventory out of the area around where the waterhole is now. when we were pulling out a pile of tires a depression formed and quickly began filling with water from a spring seep that comes out of the hill up above the plot. I jokingly said something about too bad that hole is in the plot....it would make a nice waterhole. My buddy hopped on the quad which had a snow plow on it and began using it to doze out a waterhole. It filled quickly with out a liner. we have some clay in our soil but not enough to keep the water from draining out. Another buddy of mine had some extra liner laying around. he has had great success with the waterholes he built using the liner and he was gonna give it to me for free...so that was what i went with. you can see most of the waterhole build here: http://habitat-talk.com/index.php?threads/waterhole-plot-expansion.64/#post-10602

because of the slope of the land the liner towards the uphill side of the plot is exposed, but it is mainly vertical where it is exposed....and deer approaching the water hole from that direction will be hard quartering toward to head on when i'm in my stand....which i dont want. not to mention there is no way to keep dirt on that steep slick slope. the lowest spots on the down hill side i burried the liner as best i could with rocks and dirt. If deer approach the low side i have mainly quartering away and broadside shots, but can also get texas heart shot straight away...lol...dont worry i'm not taking that shot. the deer can also walk right into the water hole from the uphill side where i ditched the spring seep to run into the water hole.

Here is a view from the stand from last summer.


I just cant decide if its a matter of deer just dont need water at the point in time during any given day that they are in the plot area, if it has to do with the overall design/construction of the waterhole.