DugOuts

**BraggSurvivor** · 02-10-2008, 10:56 PM

For those of you who are land owners, do you have a dudout or have you considered putting one in?

One of the best investments i've made on my property bar none was installing a dugout. With the closest volunteer fire department over half hour away I was pretty well crap out of luck if a fire started on or near my land. I hired an excavation company to start digging after first freeze right behind my house. I cleared the land just before they arrived and had everything ready. At the twelve foot depth on the south end of the new dugout they hit a natural undergound spring. First thought that came to mind was "Oh crap, how is this gonna affect my well?" I ran to my well (artisan) and popped the cap and up came the water. Close call for sure.

Anyways, other than it costing me about 1/3 more to dig because of the water entering the dugout as fast as he could dig it, was the new overflow culvert I had to install to get rid if the excess water.

Now I have over 1 million gallons of clear clean water to fight fire, have reserve emergency water, irrigation water and recreation. My kids skate all winter and swim all summer. Keeps them busy and out of the house.

Ive since put in a pump house with a Honda 18hp low pressure gas pump with 200' of 3" wet line and an ajustable fire nozzel. Shoots upto 100' if I need it in a fire situation.

Here are a couple of pics:

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Cheers,

**pgvoutdoors** · 02-10-2008, 11:11 PM

What about fish? With it being spring fed can it sustain warm water species like Bass?

**BraggSurvivor** · 02-10-2008, 11:16 PM

Everyone keeps telling me stock fish but I dont have the heart to rid the frogs. We have 3 species that have moved in (one endangered - leopard frog). Its a beautiful sounds in the spring mating and brings in alot of ducks and geese to nest. Fish would kill everything.

Plus I'm not much of a fish fan.

Cheers,

**pgvoutdoors** · 02-10-2008, 11:40 PM

If you have frogs your protecting then you most definitely don't want Bass in there. Sounds like it's perfect just the way it is.

I like to fish and have a pond in my backyard that's why I asked. You know fisherman, we would stock fish in every water puddle we came by if we could.

**Rick** · 02-11-2008, 08:37 AM

You won't have to stock. Nature will take it's course. I don't know how it works. Science says birds don't transport them but.....?

A couple of thoughts. Can't you replace the gas pump with a solar one?

If you have that much outflow, why couldn't you place a turbine and gen electricity? You wouldn't have to be this industrious but you could build your own:

http://www.otherpower.com/scotthydro1.html

**crashdive123** · 02-11-2008, 09:20 AM

Nice idea BraggSurvivor.

**Sourdough** · 02-11-2008, 09:40 AM

BraggSurvivor, What did they use to build it? A excavator or a dozer? Looks good. I have been looking at building a small lake, and using one of my year around creeks to feed it.

Do you have a spruce bark beetle problem there???

**crashdive123** · 02-11-2008, 02:00 PM

It also looks like in the top picture you're getting some water fowl around. Just another benefit and potential food source.

**Beo** · 02-11-2008, 03:05 PM

I thought you meant "Dug Out" like the canoe. We just call that a pond round here.

**Rick** · 02-11-2008, 03:07 PM

I started to say something and thought, Naaaah. But I thought canoe when I first saw the post, too. I thought, "that's a rubber boat, not a dugout," then started reading. We call it a pond, too.

When I was in Wisconsin, they called it an impoundment. Anything up there that is man made is an impoundment. Anything natural is a lake.

English is a grand language.

**BraggSurvivor** · 02-11-2008, 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by Rick

You won't have to stock. Nature will take it's course. I don't know how it works. Science says birds don't transport them but.....?

A couple of thoughts. Can't you replace the gas pump with a solar one?

If you have that much outflow, why couldn't you place a turbine and gen electricity? You wouldn't have to be this industrious but you could build your own:

http://www.otherpower.com/scotthydro1.html

No, the whole idea is to have fire suppression in case of fire. A solar pump just wouldn't give me enough pressure to douse an area effectively. My land is completely treed in except for around the dugout area and a small area for hay storage at the barn.

The overflow is quite slow, not enough for a turbine. Maybe 2-3 gallons a minute. I gravity feed my livestock with it which is about it. The funny thing is is that this dugout attracts alot of wildlife. This summer I came back from town and the dogs started barking. When I looked I thought one of the calves got out of the paddock but it ended up being and Cow/calf moose laying down at the edge. Real cool for sure.

At any given night we have about 20-30 deers running around the back yard. They hang out near the feed troughs collecting spillage and by the bird feeders. Yesterday after the snowfall there were deer tracks all over my back deck. Balls for sure. I have 3 Maremma's females and a 175lbs Leonberger male puppy that I thought kept everything away from the back deck. Guess I was wrong.

We should start a thread....."Would You Eat Your Pet" if the SHTF?

I know I would.

Here is Aurther, my newest dog. He thinks I like to pet him but what I'm actually doing is checking out the good cuts of meat. If he only knew.....

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**BraggSurvivor** · 02-11-2008, 06:25 PM

Originally Posted by hopeak

BraggSurvivor, What did they use to build it? A excavator or a dozer? Looks good. I have been looking at building a small lake, and using one of my year around creeks to feed it.

Do you have a spruce bark beetle problem there???

We used an excavator to dig it. The Asian Pine Beetle on its way but not so sure now. We had -46C here a week ago or so for almost two weeks...hope it killed all the little buggers. My land is 60% hemlock, 30% old pine and about 10% poplar.