Ponds are, in a word, rad.
“Few amenities better enhance the value of a woodland property than a pond,” opines the Oregon State University (OSU) Extension Service. “When built correctly, ponds can provide water for livestock and wildlife, fishing, boating, swimming, fire protection, aesthetics, and higher land value.”
That means your deer pond can serve many purposes beyond simply bringing bucks and does to your neck of the woods. You and your family can enjoy water activities during the warm months and skate on it in winter if you live somewhere cold enough to freeze. You can use it as overflow drinking water for wild or domesticated animals.
… and the list goes on.
Plus, ponds are just pretty. Most people feel a sense of peace and serenity in the presence of water, which the science is backing up today. (More on that below.) Truly, there are tons of reasons to get a deer hunting pond beyond the deer.
Still, if you’re reading this eBook, four-legged game are likely your main concern, so let’s start by talking about them.
Population Regulation
While deer were at one time endangered, that is no longer the case. Today, the opposite problem more commonly crops up … deer are too plentiful. When deer are hungry and rove onto agricultural lands, it can endanger farmers’ harvests.
Deer may also pose a nuisance inside city limits if their ranges become overcrowded. They get into garbage, eat plants out of gardens, and can even pose a danger of car accidents.
Every state has a different approach to managing populations, but many believe as Michigan does that “The key to controlling deer populations down to manageable levels lies in the removal of females.” The important point, they say, is to hunt early in the season. “Producers working to lower deer populations in their fields have found that these early hunts are critical in reducing the total number of female deer over the course of the year.”
A wildlife pond can help in two ways:
- It draws deer to your area so you can safely, easily hunt them and keep the population count lower.
- It keeps deer away from cities and farms, areas where they pose problems to people and their operations.
By installing a pond, you give local deer populations somewhere less burdensome to go, while simultaneously bringing the hunt to you.
Deer, Deer, Food for a Year
Deer are an excellent source of food, as no hunter needs to be told. Nothing beats a venison stew on a cold winter’s night, while steaks grill up well in summer. One of the best benefits of deer hunting is, therefore, the free food. (Okay, it’s not free, since you have to pay for permits and tags. But compared to specialty store prices, it’s almost dirt cheap!)
There are also numerous types of deer, so chances are you can bag several in a year. In Oregon, for instance, you’ll find white-tailed deer, black-tailed deer, mule deer, and Columbian white-tailed deer. Other states offer other types of game, but every state has some deer available for hunting.
Plus, the meat offered by a single deer is impressive. Let’s take a look at this little math problem from Stone Creek Ranch, which says that a field-dressed buck weighing in at 165 pounds will have a carcass weight of 124 pounds. Then, “Further breaking it down, it will ideally yield 83.08 pounds of boneless meat. The deer’s realistic meat yield is about 58.15 pounds. Because waste can vary between deer to deer, we suggest using the ‘realistic’ figure as a gauge. In the above example, the buck’s realistic meat yield would range from 58 to 68 pounds.”
That’s a LOT of meat. Figures vary when it comes to venison prices, depending on where you live, but typically a pound of venison will cost upwards of $12/pound. If you multiply that out, your average buck will yield more than $700 worth of meat … which is a savings no matter how you slice it.
(Were we making a steak joke? Possibly.)
If you then multiply those numbers out over several years, assuming several deer a year, those savings can definitely pay back the cost of your pond.
Comfort and Convenience
Speaking of money, gas costs quite a lot these days. Although getting up in the wee hours, packing the car, and driving hours to get to a hunting spot can be fun, many hunters would prefer the option of bagging game somewhere closer to home. And nothing is closer to home than your own literal backyard.
One of the biggest benefits of a deer hunting pond is the cost savings – no more gas, no more park permits, no more meals out or complicated cooler lunches needed – combined with the ease of simply walking onto the back of your property for a quick hunting “trip.”
Even if you factor in the cost of building a high-quality deer blind, you’re likely still saving money. Plus, many spots require that you bring a blind with you, so you’ll need one either way.
If you’d like to make your pond available to people for more than hunting, that’s great. Everyone loves a peaceful setting in which to rest and relax and take in the wildlife. And given the limits on hunting deer, you certainly can’t go out every morning and bag a buck, so you might as well use your pond for other means too. (Just make sure everyone is clear on the times for hunting and for R&R, otherwise tragedies can occur.)
Stormwater Management
In today’s increasingly paved world, stormwater is becoming a bigger and bigger problem. We’re not only talking about precipitation from actual storms, either. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines stormwater as “rainwater or melted snow that runs off streets, lawns and other sites.”
Typically, “When stormwater is absorbed into soil, it is filtered and ultimately replenishes aquifers or flows into streams and rivers.” That’s what happens in wilderness areas, anyway, with rain and snowmelt easily incorporating into waterways, wetlands, large plains, forests, and more – where it eventually penetrates soils and reaches the water table to recharge aquifers.
On “impermeable” surfaces that don’t allow water through, though, not so much.
But, you might be thinking, stormwater management seems like an urban problem. Water flowing over streets and driveways, parking lots and concrete slabs … that doesn’t happen in the countryside, right?
Sadly this is wrong, says Washington State University, adding that rural areas in some cases have it worse. That’s because “Curbs, gutters and storm drains on city streets help reduce flooding and, in some cases, lead to water quality treatment. These features are often absent on country roads, rural properties, or smaller subdivisions.” Plus, rural communities aren’t immune from flooding, “even with fewer paved surfaces, fewer homes, and less traffic. Compacted gravel roads, buildings, and farm structures are susceptible to runoff problems without the benefit of big-city solutions.”
This poses a number of issues for people living in the country, even on large properties. For instance, if you’re a fisherman, you’ll be bummed to know that “Rural areas have many high-quality natural resources such as clear, clean streams, wild salmon, healthy forests, open pastures, and abundant wildlife. Poor stormwater management can harm water quality and impact these resources.”
Such problems affect more than wildlife, though. When you clear out native plants, pave and gravel roads, pour slabs, and compact soil, you change the movement of water over and around your property. Unfortunately, “Altering the water flow can have unintended consequences downstream such as flooded basements, overwhelmed culverts, washed-out roads, and loss of salmon habitat.”
You can read more about the many options for stormwater management, as they are beyond the scope of this eBook. For now, it’s important to know that your deer hunting pond can do a lot to help with management. If you provide a place for runoff to flow into, then you reduce the amount that travels down gravel roads and over compacted surfaces, picking up compounds such as chemicals, diseases, and fertilizers that could be harmful to downstream people and wildlife.
Just make sure, if your pond receives runoff that may contain such hazardous compounds, that you use filtration. Otherwise, you can face issues such as:
- Eutrophication: Algae overgrowth from fertilizer washing into the pond, which depletes oxygen and mucks up the water (more on that below).
- Plant death: When the plants around your pond kick the bucket, that means less shade, shelter, and food for the deer you’re hoping to draw to the area.
- Ecosystem imbalances: If part of the food web dies off, your pond gets thrown out of balance, making plant and animal diseases more likely.
- Unsafe water: If you hope to use your pond for swimming and boating, you’ll need to ensure it is clean and chemical-free.
Luckily, you can solve all these problems using modern technology such as filters, skimmers, and aerators. We will go into specific materials below.
