Water well for wildlife

[Dukslayr]

In thinking about the ponds and putting in water sources I just ran across this on the NWTF website. Seems like it would be a nice fit for wildlife, including deer. Anyone ever done anything quite like this? If you could keep it open this time of year I would think the critters would use it frequently. Not sure if predators would use it as an ambush spot if it’s being heavily used. I’m guessing it would provide a great trail cam spot. Thoughts?

http://www.nwtf.org/conservation/article/water-wells-cedar-bluff

 

[Telemark]

That's really expensive. Last I heard, it was 6-10 thousand dollars to get a well drilled.

 

[j-bird]

All I will say is that I bet the cost of that is more than I spend on all my habitat efforts in 5 years time. I also don't think that water is as big a habitat limiting factor to many properties east of the Mississippi river. I am sure in some of the plains states things are very different. Most of the cases I have seen things like this was actually to support cattle and the deer simply adapted to using them. I can't see doing this just for wildlife alone....at least not on most private lands I know.

 

[Bill]

Be cheaper to add a freeze proof tank below the ponds you’re having installed now. I actually have one of these on my farm. It’s in need of repair, valves are probably shot. Never really worried about winter water. They can lick the ice

http://www.carrconcrete.com/assets/carr-freezeproofwaterer(install).pdf

 

[Dukslayr]

I wasn’t sure if it was cheaper to drill a well for a wildlife supply vs a conventional supply line. I thought it was interesting...maybe too interesting it sounds.

 

[Dukslayr]

Be cheaper to add a freeze proof tank below the ponds you’re having installed now. I actually have one of these on my farm. It’s in need of repair, valves are probably shot. Never really worried about winter water. They can lick the ice

http://www.carrconcrete.com/assets/carr-freezeproofwaterer(install).pdf

No doubt. There was a waterer there previously, plus a supply line to the old homestead. Those were a couple of the problems with the pond that created the eventual demise. I’m going to repair this pond and another once my number comes up with the NRCS. Hopefully that’s good enough for them for now.

 

[buckdeer1]

If you have high enough water table you can drive a sand point and do this,I have done the sand points and I have a well with a windmill.The windmill is probably the single best thing I have on property.I can use for fire protection,ice cold water to wash off during summer,wildlife drink out of it,the lab loves it.I fill tanks to water trees and can use to spray food plots

 

[Apple Junkie]

I love the idea of adding water sources Dukslayr, I'm in the same boat. But if the intent of this project is to support anything other than insects and deer, then I am not too impressed. If the sides were closer to, or even with, the ground, I’d say it could be a nice addition to a dry habitat (assuming money is no object). As it is… I’d say there is room for improvement, and you can do better.

 

[JFK52]

I put in a 6 inch rotary drilled well. It is 156 feet deep. It has two pumps in it. The bottom pump runs to my mobile home. I want water there first and foremost as I stay there quite a bit during hunting season. I have a secondary pump that puts out 30 gallons per minute. It sits higher in the water column and provides the water source for my 5K square foot pond. The pond is only 4 feet deep at the most and is only for wildlife use, no fish are stocked. The closest natural water source is a natural lake that is at least one mile away. My pond gets lots of use by everything.
I get deer, bears, turkeys, birds of all sorts, raccoons, coyotes and other varmints, squirrels, etc. If it drinks water it has visited my pond. It was very expensive to put in a 6 inch rotary drilled well 27 years ago. More money was spent on the second pump and the set up to have it fill the pond. I am able to have time of day electric rates on my land and I only fill the pond during the time period when the electricity is the cheapest.
I love this pond and consider it one of the best things I have done to improve the land.

 

[NEBUCKS]

I have about 10k in my well to add water to my pond. It's quite a bit bigger than what is talked about in the article. I can see this for sure in arrid areas of the country being much more beneficial than food.

 

[thedoublejranch]

In thinking about the ponds and putting in water sources I just ran across this on the NWTF website. Seems like it would be a nice fit for wildlife, including deer. Anyone ever done anything quite like this? If you could keep it open this time of year I would think the critters would use it frequently. Not sure if predators would use it as an ambush spot if it’s being heavily used. I’m guessing it would provide a great trail cam spot. Thoughts?

http://www.nwtf.org/conservation/article/water-wells-cedar-bluff

I have just the setup, a solar well, its called "livestock well". I got my set up from https://solarpumps.com/

I pumps about 2.8 gallons a minute. On a stock tank, you'd have a float switch to turn it off. The DC pump runs on 12-38VDC
The well is 178 feet deep, static water level at 100 feet, pump is about 40 feet under the water line. Well is a 6" commercial.

The pipe from pump to cap is just 1/2" black poly pipe. I pierced a hole in the side of it just below the frost line, this creates an internal leak to allow the water to drain down to where it wont freeze. I did stub out the section that goes througt the cap in 1" PVC, but went back and used galvanized, so if a forest fire came through, it wont melt it and drop my pump in the bottom of the well. I have a stub ater the 90" turn longer then well size, so it wont drop in.

Cost was about $11,000, $8000 for well back in 06, then add the pump, panels, wiring kit, well cap, hardware, fencing... was close to $3000. I added the fencing around it to protect it. So its a spendy proposition.
Oh, I might add, I bought their 24V transformer, plugs into my generators 110VAC and I can run the well on those days with little to no sun. Fortunately, my area gets 300+ days of sunshine a year. Warm summers, very cold winters.

Water runs at the level a kitchen sink would at full open. Pump is capable of building good pressure, but on a well set up like this, its open, flows when power is applied. Simple set up, no storage batteries etc. Never under really any pressure. Well drillers report showed my well producing 15GPM.