Working the land... (Page 2)

I'm damn sure in! 

I'll bring 50 lbs or so of tannerite and enough .223 ammo to kill all the beavers in North America.  If Tony has enough beavers, and we get enough beer to go with the explosives and ammo, I promise I won't even talk politics.....you guys can have at it.  I'll be good.

Oh.....and duck jerky. I'll bring a bunch.  I've been working on it all weekend since it's raining......it'll make you want to smack your mama. LOL

I remember when Tony asked us to help him fly his airplane and nobody stepped up.  I don't want to see that happen to him again.

haha, it's on and I think we can never have enough tannerite to aid in the venture.
There's lots of ducks, geese, fish, coyotes, deer, raccoons, and just about any other critters you can think of.

I can confirm, it is a strange land

Currently live in Omaha suburb, but bought land in Iowa.  We'll be building there in the next year or two and moving out that way.  Originally grew up in Sioux City, IA as well.

Dude - I'm not taking anything away from those girls and their accomplishments......but I just want to point out that they were valedictorians and such of one room school houses.....they may have been the only senior. LOL

I was not a great student......but if I was the only graduating senior I bet I could at least make a run at being valedictorian.... even if I wasn't a sure thing.

Blame Obama for the FDA not releasing a "Republican" vaccine.  

Went out there again today to throw some flags down where I'm cutting the road in.  If I don't kill myself in the process, it's going to be a kick butt driveway entrance.  It's about 50' from the top of the hill to the water.

I do have another advice question from a wildlife habitat standpoint.  This is the land area that I'm filling in for the driveway.  I plan to biuld it up another 4'-5' above the water but I'm considering taking it all the way out to the edge where the berms are sticking out of the water.  It's about 1' deep at the edge of the road and gradually goes to about 2' deep towards the berms.  I'm thinking that shallow water are would be really good for fish reproduction and other wildlife because one of the challenges with a quarry lake is very few true "shallow" areas for reproduction.
Anyways, I'm thinking about just leaving the shallows and building my road up where it's at.

Where are the trees that the beavers are working on?  Without more pictures......I'd say that "berm" is actually the work of beavers....that could be the answer you've been looking for as to where they are/were working.  Those willows growing in the water behind the "berm" is another clue.  I'd lay odds that there is/was a lodge somewhere on the deep side of that "berm"....or maybe within it.  Get in a boat or put on some waders and check both sides of the "berm", for it's entire length, for beaver runs.....it'll look like a trough perpendicular to the "berm".  It looks to me that they have abandoned your lake as not suitable since there is no spillway to help them control the depth. ( if the depth is largely a product of the water table, as you say, that's WAY less than ideal for beavers)  Are the cut trees freshly cut or old cuts?

I did go out there on a boat last fall and they're definitely just dirt berms.  I was walking around them and checking them out pretty thoroughly.
There's definitely recent beaver activity because we come out on occasion and see a bunch of new trees cut down.  I've also seen their chubby little waddles on my security cameras at night.  I was just walking on the bank on the other side of the lake today by where the road was and for almost every tree there I saw a beaver chewed stump.

Here's a picture of a section of trees that they whacked last fall.  It's maybe 100 yards to the west of the dam area I'm filling in (with the berms).  As best I could tell they were dragging the trees to the north lake but I still didn't see anything and there's nothing for them to dam over there either.  The fence is our northern property boundary.

That "berm" is the work of beavers......old abandoned work.  If that lake is a strip pit then that shallow area is the work of beavers.  I think they have probably moved on from your lake because they couldn't control the water.  It's hard to tell from the pics you have put up what they are up to now, but those tree cuttings are the work of beavers without question.

This could take more beer than I previously considered.