John Redcorn

Update: Contractor moved his equipment this past weekend.





Things are starting to get real. Started moving dirt yesterday. I think everything has been bought, ordered, and delivered except for the VFD for our pump.








I planned on going up every other weekend to check on the progress and help where needed. Contractor told me he’d let me run a scrapper. Thought it would be cool to have contributed to some part of the dirt process, but as with all things life I’ve had a family issue come up that will prevent this. Also wanted to do time lapse photos with a game cam of the process, but I didn’t get that done when I delivered all the pipe. Hopefully he will send pics along the way of the progress or my partner will take some. I’ll update this thread as best I can. God willing we will have water to hunt come November.

For as little rain as that region has gotten all the corn at each property looks really good.







Even the timber hole we planted in July is looking good.

Sweet !!
Flooded timber hunting is a blast, nothing like ducks raining down on top of you.

My absolute favorite. I'll give up a few to get a few coming into the trees.

Inlet pipe, wet well, pump, rail system, and discharge pipe going in today…..

I hear that is Darin Bezos. Jeff’s richer younger brother.

Assuming a shallow water table that allows this pump setup?


Sweet project! Very envious of both your tenacity to complete the project and availability to get up there so often!




As a TSU alum that has shot quite a few waterfowl over the years, I look forward to seeing you give it hell and shoot ducks in the face, day or night. Lot of equity in this project, so bravo sir. Very impressed. It beats my half acre Falls co water hole by a long shot!

Thanks. It’s definitely a labor of love and hopefully something my family and I can enjoy for years.

Pump setup is to pump from a creek.

Like all things the contractor ram into solid bedrock which shocked all of us about 4’ above where the bottom of the pit needed to sit. His hoe wouldn’t break the rock, so he had to rent a bigger hoe with a breaker. Got the 12” inlet pipe set with the base of the wetwell late on Saturday. Hopefully that’s the only snafu we run in to.

Concrete company built one of the man hole sections wrong, or the wet well would be done.






Pump and wiring next. We will probably wait to install pump until all the wiring and VFD are installed.

i see whats wrong with it… aint got no top on itttttt

Love watching this and hope to do this one day myself. Not duck related but, all that feed out there, seeing any good whitetail? Best of both worlds.

Oh yeah. That's the best part of creating a wetland in KS. If you are on a creek in KS with farm ground around it, you are going to have big whitetails. The first property developed were by two of my friends born and raised in KS. They HATE deer. They want every deer dead. Anyway, they leased the deer rights to me on the original property. The first pic I ever opened on a game camera from that place had 190"+ whitetail on it standing on a levee they had just built. The deer was so big I thought they were playing a trick on me. They weren't. I ended up killing a typical 10 over 150" that year. Had lots of pictures of the big deer, but I never saw him in person. The next season he was on camera again and about to the same size. I had an older 8 point and another 10 I was after as well. I never did see the big deer in person again that season nor the really old 10. I arrowed a really big 8 point during the rut, but I never found him. I ended up finding the old 8 I was hoping to have a shot at after the season dead in the creek. He measured 151". The third year the neighbor who owned the CRP field the big deer and most of the deer bed on ended up killing him. I think he went 197". He was 190"+. I wish I had saved the pictures from my old phone. A friend who owned the land just South of where I hunted killed 178" deer that season as well that no of us had on film. Deer just showed up during the rut. He has since sold that property to my two friends with the wetland.

The new property we are developing now with all the pictures in this thread has much of the same in the way of deer. I haven't hunted it yet because my 9 year old is flat eat up with hunting. Every opportunity I have to hunt I take him. I haven't taken him to KS because I don't want to set the bar at 160 or 170" whitetail. My buddy killed a really nice 135-140" young 8 off the place last year. The deer didn't need to be shot, but he got excited during the rut and shot him. His first deer with a bow, so I couldn't be too upset. The agent that found us the property is an outfitter in KS as well. He told me after we closed on the property that he personally leased this ground to deer hunt himself before we bought it. He said he killed two deer over 170" off it. The place also has great turkey hunting too.

If the servers will ever stop being so dang slow, I'll try to upload some more progress photos.

Corn and millet are looking good.

Wet well is mostly done except for setting pump, wiring, and putting the top on. Meter installed and stubbed for PVC attachment.

Starting in the low water crossing. Plan is concrete to build a low water dame to add more height over the inlet pipe with more head pressure which means more flow to the pump under normal water conditions than I pump can deliver to wetland so we are never starving the pump of water.

Pump with bracket installed to center on base and slide up and down rail system for maintenance




Now aerial views of borrowing and moving dirt. Good news is clay is right where soil analysis and soil scientist predicted as well as enough content to build levees and hold water. Hopefully no more surprises.

Geez, knowing his dad I can't imagine where that comes from

Looking good buddy !
Congrats !

Pump and lid installed on pit, poles set for power meter and disconnect. On the books for electrician to set the meter and power company to drop transformer to connect power. Once that is done it’s a matter of trenching the power to wet well and setting VFD.

Contractor cut grade with dozer until he found clay and started scraping to build levees. Shouldn’t be too much longer now.

We will have to poor man hunt it a couple of years from skid blinds until we see how the birds use the property and are comfortable building permanent hard sided blinds. Got one of the skid blinds raised so the floor is 6” above the very top of the highest elevation of our pool. Just need to get in and level it with some skidsteer work before we brush it.



Despite the unseasonably dry summer for this area this year, we have made plenty of nocturnal duck food it seems.





Last pic with truck in corn field is the original wetland we normally hunt and not the new property we are developing.

“Poor boy hunt”

We have different definitions ole son.

Blind leveled and brushed.




Drain pipes installed:

Main levee on East Pool built and levee in West pool started: