Yeah that's him. I have no problem with somebody that only hunts his lease and with guides on private land, but don't come on here and start telling experienced public hunters what they need to do. Seems cut of the same cloth.

Well…

That was an entertaining read.

Looking forward to see how this project turns out. My guess is that they kill a duck or two on flooded corn in Kansas but it’s just a guess.

Sorry. With all the azzhatery in this thread, I missed someone who actually had legitimate questions.



I'm not CPA, so I'm not sure how to answer this for you. Yes there can be tax advantages. Everyone's situation is different, and this depends on a various different situations. If the land has income from farming then the improvements can be deducted from the income. If the improvements exceed the income, the improvements can be depreciated and carried over year to year until the property is sold. In that situation the carry over would directly decrease your capital gains. There's also various federal programs you can enroll the property in. Some stay with the property in perpetuity, so it decreases the land value and appeal to someone wanting to buy a turn key property. Some are 10, 15, 20 year programs but dependent on a history of farm income as well as other requirements to register with those programs. Hopefully that answers your question.



Sure you can do what you want on your own property if that's the risk you are willing to take. By the time this project is over, the development will be well over six figures. Not having the proper paper work for water rights and levees was not a risk I was willing to take. Water rights and diverting water is controlled by the feds. All it would take is one person to complain to the right people about our use of water or a levee breaking to no only make us liable for the damages the levee breaking would cause but fines and tearing down of levees. I've had countless friends tell me I don't need permits to do this, but I don't see any of them risking six figures or dropping a pump into any of the major waterways around here flooding fields either. Yes, we will have a wet well and pump each pool. I'd love it if we could just catch the water from run off each year. Save a lot in electricity for pumping.



Not based on my research.



Hindsight is always 20/20. I wish rather than maxing out my 401K every year since I started working year 1 I would have just done match up to my company, taken the delta, and invested the money myself to buy land with. Instead, I've got the huge number on a computer sitting in accounts that I can't use until I retire and will never use all of granted there's not a major medical event for my wife and I. Anyway, off my soap box, but I wish I had done this 10-15 years ago. Would have cost 1/4 to 1/2 of what this project will cost, but yes after you get the property bought you get to deal with the slow wills of the government on permitting. If we are lucky, we will get to flood and hunt the property this year which will be just a year after owning it, but realistically you have to go in with the mindset it's going to take 2 years to get the property developed. Then it's going to be another 2-3 years before the birds really imprint on the property, and the hunting is as good as you want it to be. I was lucky that my buddy I'm partnered with has another wetland developed we've been hunting the last 5 years.

Thanks. Trying to get final bids from contractors now as well as pipe and electrical wiring purchased. Should be a busy spring and summer!

Wanna trade some hunts for a finished retriever once we are up and going? My chocolate meat head should be just about retirement age by then.

It's good to see a little liveliness around here again.

Cool project.
Not sure on the feeding at night only thing for corn but, I would plant some variety just in case you have a corn issue.
More than one species might be good if your corn doesn't make for a reason.
Millet, milo etc seeded in along the edges maybe or interspersed.
Get some grains that might be staggered in there harvest times so grains on the ground are throughout your season.

Hit up some farmers or coops right now, we saw piles of grain driving down through Kansas , Colorado and Texas first of the month.
Have you looked into a solar pump?

How many turkeys do you have on your place?

This is the type of crap you have to deal with when permitting a wetland. SMDH!!

^^SMH

My 1st attempt at a wetland. NRCS designed it and i built it. Only 6 acres but add a nice feature to my ranch. Has average of 18 inch deep water, Installed small core under levee. Has drain pipe with concrete seep collar. Built little over a year ago. Lots of Woodducks use it. Took 38 hrs to push up levee with dozer.

Very cool project! Wish I knew where to even start! Please continue to post updates

Thanks Blu. Definitely a lot too it and processes to go thru if you want to dot all the “i’s” and cross all the “t’s” to cover your investment.

Got good news today. Our structure permit has been approved. Next step is to get the water right approval before dirt can be moved. The state says it’s in the final steps and expects approval in a couple of weeks. Now to finalize bids with contractors, so we can hopefully have a duck season this year. Fingers crossed!

Seems like the prices of everything has close to doubled in a year since the last wetland was built. Feel lucky to have found our 8” inlet pipe for $1/ft vs the $60+/ft at the current rates. Wish I could find a deal on electrical direct bury wire and pumps.



I’ll try to setup a Timelapse camera once we start moving dirt to document the process.

water rights permit came in the mail last Saturday, so we are good to start moving dirt. Working on a possibly grant that would pay dollar for dollar for every improvement made for a wetland. If the application is approved, we can't move dirt until after July 1st. Fingers crossed we qualify!

Meet with another contractor last Sunday for a third bid. Waiting on that estimate and working with the other two contractors on updating bids for things they missed.

Meeting with the engineers that work with the grant to address some questions they have with our application the first of May as well as the power company to set a pole and meter needed for our pump.

Things are progressing. We should have levees and water to hunt this season.

let me see what kind of top secret corn seed I can find you

Will trade hunts for top secret corn seed!!!

don't plant corn, mallards will feed at night only in it and you wont shoot anything

I would plant millet. You have the best luck when you start planting it in November and continue planting it incrementally through the end of January.

Yeah, just throw bags of in the shallow once a week.

Just a question, but why are you using companies that bid a job, versus hourly?
Do you know exactly how much dirt needs to be moved?

Yea Barney why aren’t you just hiring the first dude that answers the phone and paying him hourly

That wouldn't be very smart.

We have tons of annual Lambs Thumb smartweed this year. Big soil disturbance last Feb. plant grasses on late drawdown this year. Easy peasy.

Be careful...he has a Chessie and what they don't bite I hear they piss on

That is not a very nice thing to say Judd.

elder just had pups, I tried to talk the big purple people eater into it… But I think he got scared