Creating a Lake

[EddieWalker]

Hi Brian,

Welcome to TBN and thank you for the kind words. Steph is not only an excellent shot, she's an amazing cook. She's not too excited about cooking the hogs that we shoot, but she does have a few recipes that we enjoy. Most of what we shoot, we give away. She has a large family and there's always allot of interest in some good meat for grilling!!!!

One of the funny things that I've learned about myself after moving out here is that working on the land and doing projects is what I enjoy more then just about anything. I day dream allot and can spend an untold number of hours planning something. What makes me commit to one of those dreams is anybodies guess, but when it happens, it becomes all consuming. Lake Marabou is my greatest creation by a huge margin. I'm very proud of what I was able to achieve, but also in awe by how nice it is. The picture that I had in my head that kept me going is not what I ended up with. It's looks the same, but it's a thousand times better.

One of my goals is to give our kids the childhood that you describe. I can't imagine anything better then for them to be able to look back on their lives and remember growing up here. I think that I'm growing up here too, so we're sharing these things together and hopefully changing our lives for the better. I wonder if your parents thought the same thing raising you and your siblings? Was it for them, or did they do it because of the childhood they wanted for you? I thought it was for me, but now I'm more concerned with the Steph and the kids and doing what I can to make their lives better. Making them happy, makes me happy.

Eddie

 

[hobie]

Eddie, Thanks for the welcome. I know that was my dad's goal too. You got some great pictures of the wildlife at your place. As a kid my dad was always excited to see, or catch anything! He was big on snakes, catch and release. They still scare me for some reason, though we never had venemous ones. We had the usual residents in the pond, at least 4 species of fish, bull frogs, turtles, eels, and in August jellyfish. There were Sundew(?) fly catcher plants aroud it. The woman that owned the pond kept bees. She was about eighty when she taught us to recue them from the fly traps. Our reward was a jar of honey every year. I can see that your kids are already enjoying your place. Love the pics in the boat, and whith the fish! Brings back all the great memories for me. I am so impressed with the transformation of your land. You had great vision to see the potential, and amazing ability to transform it to what it is! Love that your Dad helped too. Does he get back to see the results? Keep up the great work, and keeping us updated! Brian

 

[patrick_g]

50 elk in our lower field next to the slough (I wish I had a pond).

Apparently you have the water... Just dig it out till it is as deep as you want/need. The chief difference between a slough and a lake is water depth.

Pat

 

[charlz]

She's not too excited about cooking the hogs that we shoot, but she does have a few recipes that we enjoy. Most of what we shoot, we give away. She has a large family and there's always allot of interest in some good meat for grilling!!!!

I'm curious if you have ever tried 'pit bbq' with one? Where you did a hole, build a fire, wrap the meat in burlap etc. and bury it?

When I was a kid the local volunteer fire department put on a 4th of July celebration with games, fireworks etc. A big part of it was 'the feed'. People would donate all kinds of meat, deer, elk, sheep, beef, mountain goat, mountain lion, bear, etc. etc. etc. it was all cooked in the pit and then dug up for lunch.

Foodbanks are almost always looking for meat. The regional one here has a deal with a butcher to handle all the processing.

 

[EddieWalker]

Charlz,

Around here, hogs are like rabbits. They are very common and quite a big problem. Trappers work full time to try and control the numbers, but it's a losing battle. We enjoy them, so it's not a big issue with us, but for those who grow crops or raise livestock, the damage is considerable, which costs them money.

I've been curious about doing a pit, but haven't really commited to the idea yet. Maybe this spring we'll try it, but again, I'd have to have a hog on the ground, or at least seeing them on a daily basis again before getting serious about it. Right now, the acorns are on the ground, and the hogs are not moving around. They just go to the creek bottoms and stay put until the acorns sour.

Eddie

 

[RobJ]

you can also trap them, fatten them, and sell them!

 

[gemini5362]

you can also trap them, fatten them, and sell them!

keeping wild hogs to fatten and sell. I can think of a lot better way to make money. Wild hogs can be rather fun to deal with. Or not

 

[RobJ]

keeping wild hogs to fatten and sell. I can think of a lot better way to make money. Wild hogs can be rather fun to deal with. Or not

Main thing is they are being removed from the land. Think of it as hunting, shooting, eating deer. You are not saving any money at the grocery store, but at least you are getting some benefit. Feed them garbage, then sell. The above batch went to a Church. If you trap them small enough they will sort of become domesticated (mostly) again. I know a couple folks who kept them as pets before butchering. They both hung around the yard, no fence.

 

[john_bud]

you can also trap them, fatten them, and sell them!

A guy here (WI) was in the paper for that. he brought some back from TX and let them loose in the woods at his house. DNR finally caught up with him and the fine is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The lost crop damage being added in, transporting banned animals etc. It may even be a criminal deal. The DNR can get real grumpy with that stuff. Real grumpy.

 

[RobJ]

A guy here (WI) was in the paper for that. he brought some back from TX and let them loose in the woods at his house. DNR finally caught up with him and the fine is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The lost crop damage being added in, transporting banned animals etc. It may even be a criminal deal. The DNR can get real grumpy with that stuff. Real grumpy.

I've had a couple on camera that I saw that were big and fat...a couple weeks later they have about 9-10 piglets with them. I think they can breed 3 times a year.

 

[EddieWalker]

I heard that about them being able to breed up to three times a year too. Read that the population can double every three to five years if the conditions are right.

Wasn't there a recent update on that guy who brought the hogs from Texas and let them go? I thought it was in the news that even though they figured out he was the one who brought them there, that they were not going to charge him with anything.

Eddie

 

[jimmyj]

OK, I just read this entire string (took me 2 days).

1. Awesome thread

2. You are a lucky man Eddie!

3. TBN is a great forum

4. We have a 1/4 acre pond that is old and tired and about 3 ac of wetlands. Now I have another job on my list!

 

[EddieWalker]

Hi Jimmy,

Thank you. It's always fun to hear that somebody read through the entire thread. I've gone back and forth to it when I need to figure out when I did something, or in what order it happened. I still enjoy reading everyones comments and I'm glad that you found it enjoyable too.

Eddie

 

[mike69440]

OK, I just read this entire string (took me 2 days).

1. Awesome thread

2. You are a lucky man Eddie!

3. TBN is a great forum

4. We have a 1/4 acre pond that is old and tired and about 3 ac of wetlands. Now I have another job on my list!

Eddie

I have to confess I never read your entire thread. The pond I started is about 16' x 25' x 4' deep. I have about 6 - 8 hours into it. Actually I'm just going to double its size and use it for the settling pond ( Big Puddle) for at least a 1/4 - 1/3 acre Acre little pond downstream.

When I start digging, I'll study your thread.

Mike69440

 

[jimmyj]

Eddie, you should start a trivie contest on this thread!

How about..

What was the mystery frog?
What was the mystery plant?
What kind of snake did you kill on the front porch?
What machine did you post a picture of where you called it "sexy"?
How many acres is the pond surface?
What did you and Payton do to stop erosion at the spillway?

LOL Could be fun. And the prize could be wild boar meat!!!

 

[EddieWalker]

Mike,

Sounds like you are going about pond building like my friend Phil. He has a thread going too. He'll dig for awhile, them move the dirt for awhile and then rest for awhile and enjoy it. He's been at it for years, and I'm sure he has a few more years of digging and moving dirt.

Jimmy,

Your killing me. I was trying to think of the answers to your questions, and I don't know some of them.

What frog? I have no clue on this one. Did I post a question on a frog? LOL

The plant bloomed and it was an Iris. No idea how it got to the top of my dam, but it's a pretty plant, and hopefully it will spread out.

Front porch and the side porch snakes were both rat snakes. Both dead too!!!

I'm at a loss what machine is sexier then the others??? They are all HOT!!!! hahaha

When full, it's at 4 acres, but that's not accurate. It's a smidgen over that, but I forget what I came up with on my calculations.

I don't remember any errosion issues on the spillway, but Peytong and I spent some time stacking sacks of concrete to protect my culverts.

I shot a sow two weeks ago, but she's already gone. Gave too much away and didn't save enough for ourselves. LOL My brother saw a big board two days ago walking down the middle of one of my roads, but he wasn't hunting or even expecting to see anything. He said it was pretty big, but he'll have to shoot it for us to eat it!!! LOL

It's raining today, but more of a drizzle then anything else. It takes a heavy rain to have any interest to me. Then I like to see the water level rise. Right now, it's about four inches low. I'm in really good shape for the spring rains.

Eddie

 

[jimmyj]

Frog was a female bullfrog. Young one.

Snakes you got, Iris you got.

You posted a pic of the bh with "ain't she sexy." Most of the guys probably hoped it was a pic of Steph with her rifle and a trophy boar!!

4 ac was the size I was thinking of

Yes, the sacks of concrete was what I was thinking of. Didn't count the sacks in the pic though. You got me on that one, it was the culvert not the spillway.

There also was the debate about leopard frog vs spring peeper. For the record, it wasn't no leapard frog in the photo!

LOL

 

[hobie]

Eddie, I got a special invitation tonight, and thought of you and Steph right away...A friend received some wild boar tenderloin as a gift. I happened to be there at the right time, and was lucky to join them for dinner. Gotta say it was really good. I told them of Steph's shooting skills. They asked if you would sell them some, and ship it frozen? My guess is that for all the time it would take it would make it cost prohibitive, still, the stuff is good eatin. Brian

 

[EddieWalker]

Hey Brian,

My understanding of the laws concerning game animals is that it's illegal to sell any wild game animal meat or parts of that animal. Saying that, I give it away all the time. We rarely eat very much of it, and Steph absolutely refuses to touch it. She'll cook it, and Peyton and I enjoy eating it, but most of what we shoot ends up going to friends and family. My brother is staying in my parents RV right now and he's been out a few times hunting hogs. He saw a big one in the middle of the day while out walking his dogs, but didn't have a rifle with him. The game camera is showing three of them at the feeder right before dark, but when he sat in the deer blind, nothing showed up. Today, Steph's cousin and her husband came by to fish Alissa Pond. My brother and the kids joined them and didn't bother with hunting for those hogs. Too many options. LOL

Glad to hear you enjoyed the meat. I find that it's nothing like domestic pig. It doesn't look like pork, it doesn't taste like it and of course, it doesn't have the fat of domestic pork. Of the thirty different types of big game animals that I've shot, hogs are right up there as one of the best tasting meat.

Eddie

 

[hobie]

Eddie, I wonder how restaurants get around the "game" law? Perhaps the stuff I've served, (venison, quail...) was "farmed"? I know there are people that raise deer, and buffalo for meat, so that's my guess. This gift was from a food wholesaler. It was only about 2lbs, and all trimmed. Not a speck of fat, and had been "cryovaced"(?) (vaccum sealed in plastic). I thought the guy must be selling it, but there was no discussion of that between him and my friend. Anyway, I too would rate wild boar as one of my favorite meats now that I've tried it. As long as Steph is willing to shoot them and cook them, you got a good thing going on! Nice to hear about your family coming in to enjoy your place too. All the best, Brian