Creating a Water Source
Filed under: Ask Grant, Deer Biology
Grant, During your seminar last week at Bass Pro you gave me the idea of putting a water tank at my food plot to keep the deer down in that location in the summertime. Currently they have to travel 3/4 of a mile to our pond. Long term I would like to build a pond there but a water tank is a good short term option. Is there any additional risk for transferring disease by using a water tank? I will be hauling this water in from a rural water system. Are there any risks with using treated water? Just want to be sure I’m attacking the problem correctly without creating additional ones. Thanks! Alan
Alan,
Thanks for attending the seminar at Bass Pro! I’m not aware of any problems with deer consuming water treated for human consumption. Although I have never researched this, I am aware that deer at several research facilities and universities consume treated water.
Anything that concentrates deer in close proximity increases their chances of contacting a disease from an infected deer. However, deer congregate at sources of water, food, etc., in the wild with very few problems. I doubt the deer at your water source will be exposed to anything that they are not exposed to at the existing pond.
It sounds to me that you are working to improve the local habitat and reduce the stress of the local deer and other wildlife populations. Keep up the good work!
Growing Deer together,
Grant
