Looking to rehab a 40 acre marsh. It has been un-hunted and un-managed for over 5 years. About 60-70% is standing water for most of the year. Small areas of plus 2 to 3 foot of elevation spread through out the area. Surprisingly some decent trees growing on this property up to 30 ft tall surrounded by cattails,marsh grass, red willow, scrub brush and tag alder.
Who has tried to bring a piece of property like this back to life for deer and turkey hunting, and how did you tackle it?
Meeting with forester this weekend to see how we can improve it, for habitat and accessibility. Hopefully we can create a pond or 2 to improve that habitat for water fowl, and also drain some of the marsh to increase available cover and bedding areas for deer. There is about 2-4 acres on one end of the property that is a little higher that the rest would like to drag the pond spoils over to the potential bedding area and build it up a little,.
We might be able to open a few senderos through the marsh grass also. We are hoping that some judicious pruning of the brush would add browse and cover also for turkey and deer.
Long term project but if it comes together as planned it certainly would set this property up for success for a long time.
Nice rc.. suggesting to illegally drain what sounds like a prime wetland with a ditch. You'e being ignorant. We should be preserving wetlands not destroying them for self interests.
To the OP: You could very likely get permitted to do a pond but as I mentioned earlier, the spoils could not be deposited on any existing wet area. Essentially, you could have no "bank" around the pond.
As of now there is an easement that is in desperate need of improving.
One of the biggest issues is access to the high ground with out hip boots.
Then if indeed there is a deer to be dragged out how to accomplish that with out having a heart attack. Would not be adverse to digging a duck pond or two and draining the majority of the land towards the ponds. Even in a moderate rainfall year there is a foot of water on most of this property.
The potential is incredible if we can dry it out a little. I am trying to contact a forester to help me come up with a plan. He was listed on the DNR website as a viable resource.
What specifically are you trying to accomplish? From your description it already sounds like ideal deer habitat and (likely) marginal turkey habitat dependent upon nearby access to higher ground with better food sources.
Being that you are dealing with a wetland, DNR regulations will take precedence. Any digging or dredging would require a permit and demand that all dredged spoil be deposited outside the wetland area.
