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    Wildlife Water Quantity Question

    I am looking to add two of the 275 gallon water totes with a small simple water trough and float valve. Question is how often are y'all refilling your totes? I have a couple more totes that I would fill up and trailer down to transfer was and curious how often I will need to do this. I understand evaporation rate and how many animals drink from it will impact how often. just looking for a ball park number.

    Thanks,

    #2
    We built a small “shed” over our totes that’s about 6x10 and they stay full unless you go 4-6 weeks with no rain. Used some gutters and pvc to channel the water into the top op the tote. Very simple and works great

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      #3
      In Coryell County the most I have used is about 50 gallons a week. That was last year during the drought.

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        #4
        We did the same a few years ago. Initially we just put out 1 tote. It was fine 9 months out of the year but July-September it would be empty when we went back down there. I try to go down every 4 weeks (sometimes 5 though). A year ago we added a second tote. Now in the 9 months the other was never empty they will both be down 1 ring. The other 3 months they have been down a little over 2 rings. I would say with 2 totes you are looking at a complete fill up every 6-7 weeks maybe 8.

        As you stated, this will depend on other factors like size of trough (i.e. exposed surface area of water to evaporate), whether the trough is in the shade or not, other water sources, etc. Our trough is roughly 1' wide by 3' long and 1.5' deep. Our trough is also in the sun so that makes it worse. And finally, our trough is located a quarter mile from the Nueces River. Where we are, the Nueces can go dry though. The times when the Nueces went dry were the times when we ran out of water in the tank as the animals were hitting our water pretty hard. So far this year the Nueces hasn't gone dry so that has helped us with less frequent fill ups and we haven't come close to running out of water.

        Hope this helps

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          #5
          My water use fluctuates out in Christoval. I have two totes (275 gal each ) at each of my setups and last week I had to pump over 300 gallons to each set up after only 3 weeks. Pics show heavy deer usage and I'm sure some evaporation from the high temps.


          Our trailer has two (2) 330 Gallon totes that we use to fill the multiple water set-ups at our lease.

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            #6
            Originally posted by The Texan View Post
            We built a small “shed” over our totes that’s about 6x10 and they stay full unless you go 4-6 weeks with no rain. Used some gutters and pvc to channel the water into the top op the tote. Very simple and works great
            Do you have a picture of this set up?

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              #7
              FYI As far as troughs go this is what I find works best.

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                #8
                Originally posted by 9452772 View Post
                I am looking to add two of the 275 gallon water totes with a small simple water trough and float valve. Question is how often are y'all refilling your totes? I have a couple more totes that I would fill up and trailer down to transfer was and curious how often I will need to do this. I understand evaporation rate and how many animals drink from it will impact how often. just looking for a ball park number.

                Thanks,

                Totally depends on your deer population and the time of the year.

                We have a large deer population and during the July/August summer months, two totes last me like 7-8 weeks max even with some rain. But.... during the winter when it rains, that same set of totes can last me from October to early January and did so last year. It can also last me 3 months if there is not a lot of standing water in those rains. That's about as ballpark as I can give you. I'm up at my place every couple of months minimal so I put it in my plans to fill when I am there.....and if I don't have to, I don't. During the summer I will almost always top off in case I can't get back up there though. Humper and I have 4 sets of two between us that we fill so that my experience with them.....




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                  #9
                  I've got them in a high density area. Roughly 500 acres in the western hill country. Four total totes/troughs spread across the ranch and they've gone as fast as 10 days in the heat of the summer in dry conditions. WT, pigs, axis, antelope, and all sorts of smaller critters utilize it. You could cut out the pigs by putting the troughs in feed pens, but that would limit blackbuck and wt fawns utilizing it as well, so I decided against it. But I feed protein and cottonseed too. When the protein is empty, the water seems to last a little longer. May get a full two weeks then. Very little loss to evaporation as I use the horse waterers with the built in floats that you can purchase at tractor supply.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by cehorn View Post
                    We did the same a few years ago. Initially we just put out 1 tote. It was fine 9 months out of the year but July-September it would be empty when we went back down there. I try to go down every 4 weeks (sometimes 5 though). A year ago we added a second tote. Now in the 9 months the other was never empty they will both be down 1 ring. The other 3 months they have been down a little over 2 rings. I would say with 2 totes you are looking at a complete fill up every 6-7 weeks maybe 8.

                    As you stated, this will depend on other factors like size of trough (i.e. exposed surface area of water to evaporate), whether the trough is in the shade or not, other water sources, etc. Our trough is roughly 1' wide by 3' long and 1.5' deep. Our trough is also in the sun so that makes it worse. And finally, our trough is located a quarter mile from the Nueces River. Where we are, the Nueces can go dry though. The times when the Nueces went dry were the times when we ran out of water in the tank as the animals were hitting our water pretty hard. So far this year the Nueces hasn't gone dry so that has helped us with less frequent fill ups and we haven't come close to running out of water.

                    Hope this helps
                    Does the water station seem to draw a lot of animals even with the river nearby? When I hunted Val Verde county, water stations were deer magnets but now I hunt in NW Kinney Co not far from the river and I have been on the fence about putting one in due to the proximity of the river. There are a couple pools that seem to never go dry. Does it help draw exotics for you?

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                      #11
                      Thanks for all the comments. This has been a big help.

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by Txhuntr2 View Post
                        Does the water station seem to draw a lot of animals even with the river nearby? When I hunted Val Verde county, water stations were deer magnets but now I hunt in NW Kinney Co not far from the river and I have been on the fence about putting one in due to the proximity of the river. There are a couple pools that seem to never go dry. Does it help draw exotics for you?
                        It seems to draw more animals but it is hard to tell for sure because we have a protein feeder in the pen with it which also draws them in. One thing that probably helps is having it in a pen, ie no pigs. Our section of the Nueces goes dry/underground pretty frequently so it is worth it to have. Even if it doesn't help, which it does, it is never going to hurt to have water out. We don't have exotics in our area unfortunately.

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