Anyone ever successfully re-sunk a pit that popped up???

[jar0023]

Anyone ever get a pit back in the ground without draining the entire field or waiting til summer??? Wondering if I'm going to be wasting my time this week.

I'll save the you back story of the greedy farmer and the last minute scramble to find a place to hunt. Short story is this pit went in the ground in October and wasn't anchored properly. My Dad arrived on Friday night to reset decoys and found one end out of the ground. Details. 14ft steel pit with straight vertical sides. When I dug is up it had iron pipe at the base on both ends and 2x12 wings. When they put it in the new location they did not use wings. Just the pipes at each end. Pit is actually on a road bed between two fields so water only on the front. Ground at the back and part of ends is solid at least for North LA clay field roads. We pulled 6 inches of board Saturday so that should pull the water back a little.

Current plan is to use sump pump to get as much water in the pit as possible for weight and carefully dig out a little and then attempt to push the end back in the ground with a backhoe/loader. Backhoe is 4wd, wide tired so access won't be the issue. If I can get is down then we'll attempt to use cable and anchors on the one end and keep some water in the bottom.

Am I insane for thinking this will work?? Field is good and we actually killed a bunch of birds this weekend even with the pit four ft. high on one end. If we can get the pit remotely level we'll tough it out and regroup for next year.

Alternate is to just dig the whole thing up, move it and hunt it like a skid blind sitting on top of the ground. Not looking forward to hunting the rest of the year out of a layout if I can help it and looking for ideas.

Thanks,
J

[BR549]

Anyone ever get a pit back in the ground without draining the entire field or waiting til summer??? Wondering if I'm going to be wasting my time this week.

I'll save the you back story of the greedy farmer and the last minute scramble to find a place to hunt. Short story is this pit went in the ground in October and wasn't anchored properly. My Dad arrived on Friday night to reset decoys and found one end out of the ground. Details. 14ft steel pit with straight vertical sides. When I dug is up it had iron pipe at the base on both ends and 2x12 wings. When they put it in the new location they did not use wings. Just the pipes at each end. Pit is actually on a road bed between two fields so water only on the front. Ground at the back and part of ends is solid at least for North LA clay field roads. We pulled 6 inches of board Saturday so that should pull the water back a little.

Current plan is to use sump pump to get as much water in the pit as possible for weight and carefully dig out a little and then attempt to push the end back in the ground with a backhoe/loader. Backhoe is 4wd, wide tired so access won't be the issue. If I can get is down then we'll attempt to use cable and anchors on the one end and keep some water in the bottom.

Am I insane for thinking this will work?? Field is good and we actually killed a bunch of birds this weekend even with the pit four ft. high on one end. If we can get the pit remotely level we'll tough it out and regroup for next year.

Alternate is to just dig the whole thing up, move it and hunt it like a skid blind sitting on top of the ground. Not looking forward to hunting the rest of the year out of a layout if I can help it and looking for ideas.

Thanks,
J

Yes we have successfully done it, just the way u describing it only we couldn't get a backhoe to it. We used light pole anchors with bigger flanges welded on and rachet comalongs to pull it down. Once we got it down we attached cables in the place of the comalongs and left water level just below the seat. Worked fine to finish out the season with. Its not gonna be easy though, and when u hook ur comalongs up u will actually have to reach across the pit to opposite sides. But use 2 comalongs at the same time and get it back as level as possible. Im sure a lot of dirt has already gone under it and you most likely wont get it all the way back down. But u should be able to get it usuable. We did ours in a field surrounded by water all by hand ! A 20ft pit at that!

[SWAG]

We had one pop-up on the rain we finally got Saturday/Sunday. Looking for track-hoe now. Hind sight is always 20/20 but some good advice is to fill the pit with water until you get the first good rains to settle out everything. Ours had huge wings but still came up about 3 feet.

[novacaine]

OUCH!! Its gonna get nasty.

[jar0023]

Thanks for the input. Going to give it a shot at least. I'm sure we have some soil movement under the pit but the area in front wasn't visibly caved. I just need to find some suitable anchors. TSC shows some 6" in diameter and I guess I'll call the local mobile home seller. Come-a-long doesn't sound all that fast or fun so I may see if I can swing a backhoe and push down on the pit with the bucket. If I can get it close, we'll make do this year. -J

[BR549]

Thanks for the input. Going to give it a shot at least. I'm sure we have some soil movement under the pit but the area in front wasn't visibly caved. I just need to find some suitable anchors. TSC shows some 6" in diameter and I guess I'll call the local mobile home seller. Come-a-long doesn't sound all that fast or fun so I may see if I can swing a backhoe and push down on the pit with the bucket. If I can get it close, we'll make do this year. -J

You will most likely need a chain ratcheting comalong rated at at least 6000lbs. Doubt very seriously you will find any anchors with large enough flanges already on em. Only power companies use those big ones and they have a power digger to screw em in the ground. We took two of those and made the flanges about 14 inches in dia. Then cut them off to about 4 ft long. Get about 5 people around it with a solid pipe thru it and u can screw it in the ground. Dout if the backhoe will put enough down pressure on it to push it back in the ground. Good luck, it aint easy!

[jdbuckshot]

i'd go spend $200 on a lay out blind and finish the season out.

[ScottyLee]

Thanks for the input. Going to give it a shot at least. I'm sure we have some soil movement under the pit but the area in front wasn't visibly caved. I just need to find some suitable anchors. TSC shows some 6" in diameter and I guess I'll call the local mobile home seller. Come-a-long doesn't sound all that fast or fun so I may see if I can swing a backhoe and push down on the pit with the bucket. If I can get it close, we'll make do this year. -J

You will most likely need a chain ratcheting comalong rated at at least 6000lbs. Doubt very seriously you will find any anchors with large enough flanges already on em. Only power companies use those big ones and they have a power digger to screw em in the ground. We took two of those and made the flanges about 14 inches in dia. Then cut them off to about 4 ft long. Get about 5 people around it with a solid pipe thru it and u can screw it in the ground. Dout if the backhoe will put enough down pressure on it to push it back in the ground. Good luck, it aint easy!

this ole boy usually knows what he's talking about

[MemphisStockBroker]

I would invite Biggie to hunt with you one time, and get him in the pit.

That should sink it...

[mudsucker]

Hell. I have a lifetime LA lic and will gain weight to help out! I'll drive Bigwater to the hunt!