what do you guys do for water?

just wondering what you guys do for water. Here's the deal, this is in a dry area north of del Rio. I'm a rookie and I'm trying to make the land more appealing to the deer. We have most of what the deer want. With the exception of water. What setups do you use ? I plan on going out there every other month or so.

Build a tank and maybe get a windmill out there. Not sure how much it would cost but my buddies neighbor has one it keeps his tank full year around there' an idea.

Yeah a tank is out of the question. Nothing but lime stone out there. I was thinking of making a series of little two foot dams going down the gully. To trap some of the runoff before it dumps into the Rio grande. Or some simple barrels?

If a tank is out of the question that sounds like a good idea to me like for cattle.

Yeah I'm checking out those big round cattle troughs.

we have a bunch of those 330 gallon totes with a 10 gallon bucket on a float system directly underneath. still have to find a way to fill them though...

Probably need a few if the creek goes dry during the summer idk how you would go about keeping the troughs full during the summer but that might be the key to keep the deer close make sure there by cover so they'll be comfortable coming to them.

Any pics? And yeah filling would be another challenge. I could try and funnel the run off into the container. For whenever it does rain.

drilling a shallow well would be the best option.

if there is no underground water, i would install a series of water guzzlers or watering stations using poly propelyne tanks and haul water in.

your pissing in the wind making water cache's

You need a well of some sort. Check into the local soil conservation district, ag extension agent, TPWD biologist or other sources. There used to be grant money available through various government programs that can assist with the addition of surface water sources. You might get lucky.

We got lucky on our place at San Saba and they gave us a grant to help excavate a stock pond to assist with habitat creation for migratory birds. It wasn't a lot of money but it helped.

Thanks for the ideas guys, keep them coming. What really stinks is that the Rio grande is our back fence! So close but yet so far. The only thing keeping us from water is a 100 ft cliff.

I researched that water guzzler its pricey. I would probably go with a well before I did that. But then again its my dads land, so I have no aay so.

I'm familiar with the area. First and foremost is eradicate as much of that salt cedar as you can. Second if your that close to the river more than likely the deer have a good route already that they use regularly. I'd set up some feeders with some large tank waterers and fill them with 55 gallon drums or a larger tank.

Thanks for the info, I'm new to hunting and the area. So any help you on the terrain is greatly appreciated. Now I have to research salt cedar.

S.A. Hunter. Water guzzlers or what ever else will not be near as expensive as a well.

Google ram pumps.
It is a pump that uses the water flow to power itself. No electricity necessary. It can run for months at a time, continuously. They we invented in the 1700s and might work for your application.

We build one this summer to move water from a spring we have, when our tanks went dry.

We have a spring in a steep rocky draw that (amazingly) produced 1/2 - 1 gpm all year long, even through the drought.

We have been tinkering with this spring for a couple years, it is a evolving project.
We cut a "vee" into a 5gal bucket and stuck it under the rock ledge.


Threaded a bung into the bucket and piped it down the draw. There are a series of 55gal drums in the line that act as pressure chambers. Once we got to flatter ground we placed a tote for storage.


We placed a water trough in the bottom of the draw, that is feed by the tote. We also have two other totes there now that we tranfer water from to the other water troughs.


This is how we filled other troughs throughout the place.



We captured the water to 300gal totes, and transferred it to a trailer mounted tote to some water troughs.


Here is a video of the ram pump testing.

The ram pump allowed us to pump uphill approx. 30 rise, and reduce the long trip around and up the steep grade pulling a 2400lb water trailer.

Your application along the river would be ideal for a ram pump. Our pump is fed from a tote and We have to catch the PRECIOUS "waste-water" so the pump sits in a big tub. A river or stream is the ideal use of these pumps.

If it is only or deer/wildlife the quantities required would be FAR less than needed for a herd of cattle.

It kept our cattle alive this year.......wildlife probably benefited too.

I know a well would be more than a water guzzler, but my thinking is if I spend ten thousand on a water guzzler. If it doesn't rain I still don't have water. I would rather just bite the bullet , and just get a well.

Phish tx, I like your setup. I'm researching it now. we have three gullys that dump thousands of gallons of water straight into the river when it rains. I would like to trap it. I think a system like yours could work. How do those storage tanks with the cage around them work for you? I've seen those around pretty cheap.

The totes are great for our needs. It is a tight, rugged little path/road that we access by Polaris Ranger/trailer. 300 gallons is about all you want to haul at a time.

We are working on a system to put 2 or 3 totes on my big flatbed, so I can pull it with the truck.

They have been very durable for ~3yrs now. Through the cold of last winter, and the heat of this summer.
We wrapped black plastic around one of the totes to see if it will cut down on the algae. But we drain and clean 'em at least once a year anyway.

Also now that we are getting rain, the stock tanks (ponds) have been dozed, and have a little water in 'em. The excess that we get from the spring will be piped/routed ~2000 ft down the hill to the tank, (when we don't need the troughs).

If you are going up once a month then buy some totes, run em to a float, get a pump, and buy a cattle trough.. then all you have to do is transfer the water from one tote to the other when you go.
300-400 bucks and call it good!

We don't have water. We bring 2 55 gal. barrels everytime we go. Pump it into totes. This fills our shower house, and outdorr kitchen.

A couple of totes in differents areas is a pretty inexspensive way to go. I did that this year and had more wildlife in my area than ever before.

I used ratcheting straps to secure 40 gallon Rubbermade tubs to the sides of the tote cage and that's what they drank out of. Hung cameras off the cage too so that I could see what was coming in. I used some zip ties to secure a camo net over the tote and they were hitting it within a few days.

It was a PITA but worth it.

PHish - great setup and since I have a spring just like yours I am going to do the same thing.

To the OP - a water guzzler will not cost ten thousand dollars. The pictures below are the one I built 2 years ago for around $400. It has three tanks - 300 gallon out front and two 275 totes in the back. The are all tied together with 3/4 inch PVC so as the main tank catches water the totes in the back will fill due to gravity. This summer I only had to add a couple hundred gallons once and this was due to the cows I believe.

Oh I see I looked up water guzzler and it brought up some 10k bathtub thing with a cover. I have a idea. I'll post it later to see what you guys think. And to everyone thanks for all the replys and ideas. Keep them coming.

Water totes and Rubbermaid troughs got me through the Summer of Hell.

Ok here's my terrible illustration of my idea for collecting water in my gully. Collect water in the tub. Run it into top of the first tote connected to a floater valve. Water comes out the bottom of the first tote into the top of the second tote. Which will also have a floater valve. A plastic barrel cut in half will catch the water coming out of the second tote also connected to a floater valve. Should be able to collect over 600 gallons with a good rain. What do you guys think of the idea. Let me know if you see something wrong with my plan. This will be my first attempt at something like this, so I'm open to advice.

Get a clean 55g drum, cut it in half and bury it about 1/2 way in the ground. Either carry 55g of water to the lease or use a tote or 5

Ok, not trying to rain on your parade but we have to fill 5,000 gallons of storage tanks a month at our place just a bit west of you. The deer, every animal around and the evaporation will take their toll big time in that heated desert. If there is any way to get to the river you'd be better off with a generator & jet pump. If you can't get to it then I'd think at least your well might be shallow since your so close to the water. We used Bollinger (prob. misspelled) in Del Rio and they did a good job. Our well was 960ft deep and cost $23K, yes that hurt!

Yeah I hear you. We don't have a bunch of land, nor do we have livestock. Just trying to get the deer some more water. They have been getting it from some where because they look pretty healthy. I just trying to catch some of this water that goes right threw our property and directly into the river where it does the deer no good.