I Got My Skid Steer STUCK In The Mud! | Pond Build Part 3

Danglers, welcome back to another episode of the backyard pond restoration where we are trying to take a silted in old catfish pond and turn it into a bass and sunfish paradise. If you have kept up with the other videos, we have had some ups and downs. you know, the initial vision and starting the layout of the pond. All good. And then we tried to do a little digging and we tried to do it with our lawn tractor and that did not work out so well. Now, since that video, I have taken the old John Beer tractor and I have gotten in here and I've almost got around the full circumference circumference. I don't think that's quite right. And we have had extremely hot temperatures. It's only 107 today. The only good thing about it being a 105 just about every day and beyond is that this pond has been drying out dramatically. So, with the lawn tractor, we've already made this thing. This is a probably a twoft cut deeper around the edge right here. Got pretty close. You can see the layering along the side. We've we've dug out a pretty good bit. I mean, for a lawn tractor, not too bad. I've had many hiccups where I've almost gotten stuck having to dump the bucket and, you know, push myself out basically. And this this stuff right here is just when you get a tire in it, it ain't working. But let's go out to the middle. If you guys remember the first video, couldn't do this at all. You know, I'd be up to my knees right now. Can't quite do the jumping jacks. I'm going in a little bit. But the scary part is if we do a stick test, it's still going way down there. And if we just give her a Oh, that's hard right there. That's good. It's like I hit rock or something right here. Not so much. Okay. >> Oh gosh. >> Say that's a solid two-footer. You know, that's a 24 inch large mouth right there. That's a three pounder. And I already had one of our our neighbors come over here. Shout out. You know who you are. He looked at it. Does this stuff a lot and he looked at the the sludge, the some of this clay in the middle that's below all this kind of crust. And he said, "This is the best thing about what you got going on is this stuff holds water." He suggested to to take this and try to work this around the pond. And obviously it's going to be saturated in the middle, but anywhere that's like sandy, you could take that right now. Make a make you a little What would you make? What kind of clay thing would you make? >> A pot. Yeah. >> A pot. You would make a little vos. >> You could form a little pot out of that. Put it in an oven. No need for an oven. It's 107. And this would form a pot by by day's end. That's the great news about this. The only bad thing is once we get something very heavy in here, it's going to compress down. There's not much clearance on this machine. That's really the goal is to try to get this to 8 foot in the middle. It was about four or five before. So, get it a little deeper and go around the edges and kind of shape it out. So, I think we've done pretty good work with the lawn tractor so far. It's time to take it to the next level. So, let's get back to the machine. We are moving on to the next step in the evolution of this project, and that is getting some bigger equipment. So, I just had this thing dropped off. This is called a skid steer or a skid loader. This even isn't even really a huge one, but it does have tracks and it has a bigger bucket and it has a lot more horsepower. My concern with this unit is that I'm probably going to sink this thing. I've rented it. I've brought this up to the the rental company and say I might just this thing might go under. Return it. You guys come grab it out with a helicopter. What's the deal? They said that's on you, sir. My other concern is obviously the weight. This is a very heavy machine. Much heavier than my little lawn tractor. So, it might just keep on going in. I don't know. We're going to find out. And if we can get this thing kind of in the middle and start working, I think we'll be able to complete our pond project with just this machine. But if not, we'll be moving on to something even bigger. Okay. Please. I didn't even notice this before cuz there was so much mud in the last video, but there's these like little rebar weights on the side. What is this for? Is this a crawfish house? Obviously, it's meant to like sit on the bottom like that. So, what what would go in there? A catfish. >> Turtle. >> Hey, catfish would spawn in there, maybe. But these things were just silted in. And what else are we going to find in the backyard pond? All right, boys. Here we go. Don't really know what I'm doing. Tractor bucket or the control on the bucket should be the same, but other than that, I don't have much experience on these. So, let's let's pop her in. See what's going on here. Diesel pigtails are off. We can start it. Okay. It is actually quieter than uh than the tractor. I think we're clear. All right, let's get a little bucket lift. There we go. There we go. All right, traveling position. Looks like we got a throttle here. Throttle up for power. All right, sweet. I'll keep you guys up there. I think it'll be kind of cool to look behind me. See what I'm doing here. And here we go. We're off. We're about to find out. this baby's going to sink in or not. Got to figure out a plan like where I'm going to put the dirt as well. Okay. It's also wider than the tractor. I have to contend with that a little bit. Okay. That does not feel as tippy as the tractor. This is really soft. I know cuz I worked with the tractor just a few days ago. How much am I going in? Let's dig in a little bit. Here we go. I can feel it right there. Something's happening. There we go. Hey, now we're skid load. Oh my goodness. Okay. Getting a little stuck right there. Wow. I just dug in a ton. Holy cow. Well, obviously I've got a little I got a little work to do. Figure this thing out, but we got power, boys. Almost got the tractor stuck here the other day. Oh yeah. I can't even see what it's doing. Oh, it's tearing it up. That's good. Oh yeah. We're doing some damage with the tracks here. Okay, here we go. >> Now we're getting stuck. >> Back it up. >> Let me dump this and let me try to back out using the little skills that I know. Okay. Okay. It's going to push the back end in. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. This is not good. Look at this. Look at Look what we're doing here. It's bad, honey. It's not good. backing out. I'm inching. Oh no. >> Holy cow, guys. >> Look at this giant rut that I'm forming. Holy cow. It's so deep. It's so deep. Yep. I think we bogged her in, boys. I think we're bogged. >> Well, that took about 10 minutes. >> Yeah, not even that. We're done. It's fun while it lasted. Yeah. This is the This is the problem you got to contend with on the skid steers, too, is the back end is just buried. Like my cheeks my cheeks are deep into the sand here. You know, I I honestly thought I was going to have a chance. Like after counseling multiple people, I thought I had a chance. But now we have a skid steer sitting in our pond. Okay. Well, maybe the Chevy can pull it out. I don't know about all this. Here I am back with a shovel. The most basic basic of digging tools. Feel free to light it up in the comments. comfortable on my little tractor, but not not this thing. You ever have those moments in life where you're like, "What am I doing?" >> I was just having that thought like, "Is it worth it? Why are we doing this? >> What am I doing?" I had such big dreams when this thing showed up. I was like, "Oh yeah, I'm about to get in here. I'm going to have it dug out in 2 hours." That's what I was thinking. I'm going to have a dug out in two hours. It's like, how can I find a way to extend the fun? Oh, here we go. Not really sure what the uh insurance package is that I got, if I got any. So, all right. I'm going to go with the get the chain. Here's what we'll do. My fear is using a chain is like if something snaps the chain flying. Yeah, >> might be just long enough for the chain to hook up side to side and slide it through here. I still got a little room to back up. All right, let's fire it up. Okay, easy. Easy. Easy. Slow, slow. Getting somewhere, boys. We were doing it. We're doing it possibly. We're swimming. We're scooping. We're paddling upstream. There we go. Yes. Yes. Honey, you're my You're my toe queen. You're my toe queen. It looks like our camera got a little offkilter. Let's take a look at this hole. >> Oh, it smells. >> Look at that. >> Oh my gosh. >> You know, that's a solid 2, three feet. >> Yeah. >> Well, that's going to dry. >> Yeah. >> And then you can come in and scoop that out tomorrow. >> No, there's no way. I looking at this, I can't even believe that we got the skid steer out. What's this about? What do I do here? That's probably not good. >> Shovel it off. >> There's probably catfish bones in here and you know, knows what. Look at that. Look at these chunks that are coming out. >> You smell it? >> I mean, they're made to get in the dirt. Right. >> Right. Okay. Well, boys, we're going to we're going to continue doing what we can do here and uh try not to get this big machine stuck again. Got very lucky right there being that we had easy ground to get the truck right behind it. I was having so much fun until that happened. I don't want to have to get back to the shovel again. Oh yeah, stuck again. Check one, two. All right, we're uh we're going to get the radios for this one because I can't see. It's very difficult. OSG can't really see me. If you guys fight at boat ramps a lot, launching your boats with your significant other. Talkies could save marriages. Now I really know the limits. Really can't go anywhere. My tractor can't tighten up the rope. I'm going to uh start moving in countdown of five, four, nice and easy. We're making a little progress. Just keep easing up slow. I've got about 5 foot of mud right here in front of me. All right, give me a little more juice on this one. Are you still going? >> Yeah, but I'm slipping. >> You're slipping. >> I'm slipping. >> Pause for assessment. I'm going to double it up. Shorten the rope. All right. right there. Your back tires are on grass now. >> Okay, I can't see you, so talk to me. >> When you hear the backup beeps, that means give it some gas. Okay, >> roger that. There we go. Okay. Whoa. Whoa. >> Are you good? >> We are out. Back up a little bit. Take the tension off. Tow queen comes in again. Okay. So, this is what we did. >> Yeah. >> Just to really get you guys in here. Here's the thing. When I was swimming backwards doing the backstroke here with the bucket, it's not sludge. >> OSG was saying, "Okay, you've agitated this Maybe if you wait a couple days, it can then be workable. I think that might be the ultimate combo. You know, if I had an excavator and another guy or gal, maybe you're the excavator gal, and just scoop scoop out with the excavator and then grab with the uh the skid steer. That's probably the way to do it. I think two competent people that know what they're doing have this done in like two hours. Yeah, >> it'll take me two years. >> Clay. >> Yeah, this is clay, too. It's clay down deep, which is awesome. That's what we want. >> Yeah. >> I am seeing a new color, though. So, like we broke through the the muck, the black, and we're starting to see >> Is that a bucket? >> Oh, shoot. That's a bucket. What the heck is this? >> I'm telling you, you're >> What the heck? So, this is all this is all stuff that's been in here. But it's like this is a crappie structure. This is a this is a fish structure. This what all those little tubes. Holy cow. It's what all those little tubes were sticking out of. And that at one time was at the bottom of the pond. So, you can see how much stuff has built up over the years making it silty. Just totally silted in. I've buried the tractor three times. I've buried a skid steer twice. But this is great. You see this right here? How this >> Yeah. >> This this hard >> That's what it needs to be. >> That's what it needs to be. And and when we go all the way around the pond and I go back over with the tracks, this may not even need bentonite. It may not even need it cuz you look at this stuff. It is rock solid and it's it's that clay and that's that's what water's not getting through. So that's the goal is to get the entire pond like that. Back in the game, boys. Let's not sink this ship another time. I am so not comfortable with this like I am the tractor. It's going to take her easy. So much rougher than the tractor, too. Oh my gosh. This is terrible. Feel good. It feels terrible. I don't like it. getting big loads of dirt, but I don't like the feel of it. Heat up Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Okay. Go ahead. Go ahead and pull up to get it tight. Keep going. All right. Right there. Okay. He's forward. He's forward. He's forward. He's forward. He's forward. Go. I'm getting nothing. Getting a little bit. Getting a little bit. Pull. Pull. Pull. Pull. He's forward. Talk to me. >> I'm going. I'm going, but nothing's happening. >> That's certified. Yeah, it's a good thumbnail, but very costly. Slime. Slime. What's amazing is how far in I am back here. Yeah. And I can I can use the bucket to like creep forward, but I can't do it with when I'm hooked up to a rope. You know what I mean? >> Can we not pull you back out the other way? >> Come look at it. Just come. I want to get your reaction. You went full sand, didn't you? >> I did. Well, >> how did you manage to do that one? >> I need expert opinion. >> Well, Danglers, it's a new day. Uh, and we are very much stuck. So, didn't go so well yesterday. And at at the end of the day trying to get the skid steer out, uh, my son ended up having a a spill. Had to go to the ER. you know, typical boy stuff. Just split his head open and um that halted operations. So, we're back here at a new day. Um and I've got one of my one of my neighbor buddies that's going to come over and assess and try to help us get this thing out. We're going to try one more time. Good thing about getting it stuck in here a few times is really stirring up that muck. It looks like there's about 3 ft of of stuff we need to get out here and moving with the tracks. It's just like it's digging in there, churning it in, and pretty much seeing the depth that I want to be at just burying the skid steer in here. So, we're finding the bottom. Unfortunately, that bottom is uh it's got 3 ft of muck. So, there's still a ton of dirt to move. And I don't know if we're going to be able to uh maybe get this thing a little farther in here and and kind of work our way around. I I just don't know. it it might have to go to the excavator, you know, just the nuclear option. But for now, we got to get this thing undone so we can get back to work. Um, my next door neighbor saw me struggling and uh he came over with his his big truck and he had a big recovery strap and tried to pull me out. actually got somewhere. Got about a foot and uh the recovery strap actually broke. So, small world situation. I took these kids turn uh to fish their first bass tournament the other day. It was just it was just cool. We got some kids around here just pawn hopping. You know, it just reminds me of my childhood. And anyway, one of their dads, turns out he grew up with my tournament fishing partner from&m. His dad has skid steers equipment, does this stuff for a living. I think he's going to try to help us out. Come over here and try to lift this butt end out with some some of his his gear. I'm just I'm just blessed to have great neighbors that have heavy equipment as well to get me out of a pinch like this. Shout out to the neighborhood. All right, the big guns are showing up. We got Parker and his dad Josh with the big machine. >> The chains. >> It's a little bit bigger than that one. It's only 10 more horsepower, but it's it's got a lot of uh it's got a lot of room. >> I think it's more about who's operating it. That's the key. Who is behind the controls? Awesome. Awesome truck here, too. Look at this thing. Absolutely rigged out. Every tool, chain. He is ready. I am going to be behind the controls of the other K Cabota over here and we're going to see if uh we can get this thing up and out of here. right now. I can't even get to your hooks, but on the back once I get to the hooks, then we'll hook up and come on out. Okay. Well, I don't like hearing this, but experts are saying, uh, yeah, this there's no bottom here. He's going to have to get up in the grass with his machine. And even then, I don't know. >> When you get in there, bring that bucket down as low as you can to where it's not impeding the strap. >> This makes you incredibly topheavy. >> Right. >> The only time I've ever seen a machine turn over was with the bucket all the way up. So, when you get in, >> it's also a shield from any strap breakage. >> Yes. Exactly. So, just bring it down to where the strap is pulling, but not um it's not putting pressure on the strap, but it's in front of the strap. >> Okay. >> All right. Here we go. >> Lowering bucket. It's happening a little bit. What's happening? What's happening? Yeah, there we go. All right, we're good now. Let's go, boys. Yes. Let's take a look at that run. Huh? Oh my gosh, >> that is crazy. Okay. Uh, rate that one from 1 to 10. >> I would say that's probably an 8.5 on worst as I've ever seen. >> Oh, boys. We are back in the game for now. We cannot get stuck like that again. And we also got a ton of mud in our tracks. So, we're going to have to give her a little little bath. Heat. Heat. Big win today, boys. Big win. Huge shout out to Parker and his dad, Josh. So, love to see it. So, we were able to tag team it a little bit. And of course, I'm I'm just kind of fumbling some dirt around, but he was doing some serious digging and we made some big progress. I'm about 6 ft tall. So, we're about we're about 6 ft. A couple more feet is what I'm trying to achieve. Couple more feet. Well, bam, there they are. And as we got into the video early on, I was thinking, "Yeah, there's no way. There's no way this skid steer is going to work. I like my tractor even better." But now using it a little more after getting it unstuck and just safely kind of working around the edge and chipping away, I think it could be done. It's just going to take more time. The excavator though, one day, wab bam. I mean, you could probably somebody that knows what they're doing could scoop this out in probably two hours and the rest is just going to be moving the dirt around. Danglers, new day. And we are we've already done a little bit of work in the pond this morning. And we're going to finish this video out with basically whatever we can do around the edge. I want to get like a full track around the edge. And we're we're getting close. The greatest asset that we have in this pond, guys, is just this this clay. It's it's when it's slick and wet and and silted, it is you can't really work with it. But I don't even think we're going to need bit night, guys. I think if we just roll this, float it really hard, I think it's going to be fine. And we're starting to seriously pile up some dirt, y'all. And I see the formation. Do you guys see it? The drop offs. We got drop offs now. Drop offs into the the deeper part of the pond. I I think Let's go stand out here. This is like the deepest part that I can make out. Oh my gosh. I just found Stephanie's shoe. I found her shoe. We got another neighbor's shoe in here somewhere. I might be just above the bank over there. So, we're 6 ft now. Just imagine continuing this angle. Continue that out. And we're definitely eight, probably going to 10, maybe even 12 ft in the middle. I didn't think we were going to be able to get that deep because of just the way the banks are structured. We don't have that much room. I don't I didn't think we'd be able to get that steep, but we definitely can. We can we can make this puppy 12 ft. No problem. The erosion around the edge. I think we come back in here and we just compact. Boom. We hit it. We hit it with the uh the bucket. We just smash this stuff in. And once we get water in here, we get the riparian zone working. And those root structures are going to hold everything together. And we're going to have a good ecological system and a little shelf where the bass and the sunfish can hunt. Baby, it's starting to form. I love it. >> I can see you got a lot. This is like a giant little adult playground with the tractors. >> Uhhuh. >> I bet you're enjoying this. >> Think you might want to do a little swimming in here. >> Just imagine. >> Yeah, that'd be really cool. Can we make this like one big swimming pool? >> Oh. Oh. Oh, I found your shoe a while ago. It's pretty crusty. >> It's okay. I threw the other one away thinking I'd never find the other one again. >> Well, I found it. But let's get give us a shoe test. Give us a croc test. >> Walk. Let's let's do a little stomping around on the not the shoe, just the clay. Give a clay test. >> See how hard this stuff is? >> Yeah, this is pretty solid right here. >> This is exactly the bottom that we want to hold water. This is a nice bluegill tree. >> The problem with this tree has always been uh it it is dipped in the water, but the water was well, look, this was the old This was the old edge right here. That was it. So, it was like right here. It was so shallow. >> No. >> Yeah, >> it wasn't that shallow. That's like a foot deep. >> Babe, look. Look at the shelf. This is where the pond was. This is what I'm saying. >> What? >> Yes. We have come down. Look. I know. >> What? >> Yes. That was the pond edge. So, just imagine that grade all the way in. We've taken out so much dirt. Wow. >> Okay. >> This is like your dream swimming pool. When this thing's done, >> you're going to be able to come in here and let the bluegill nibble on your toes. >> It's going to be like No. >> You'll be in here with the bluegill nibbling your toes. >> No. Is this a fishing pole? No. >> Oh, you found my arrow. >> Where did this come from? That was a That was a possome mission. Yeah. >> Did you not know that this was here? >> Um I knew it was it was thrown somewhere over here, but you just found it for me. Good eye. All right, let's do a little digging. Wow, we are getting in there, boys. Oh man, look at that beautiful black dirt. nutrientrich. Snap turtles used to live in here. Oh yeah, it's like chocolate shavings. Ganache. Heat. All right, danglers. So, we got two choices. It's wait until this stuff just dries out. Keep taking little scoops with the skid steers. probably make it happen over the course of the next couple months. Or we could take an excavator, a big come in here, get it done. You let me know in the comments what do you want to see. I think I already know. But I've learned a lot about operating this big piece of machinery. And it just feels good to get in here and play around in a big old sandbox. The more dirt we take out, the more I see. It's like a small lake. And I just got I just got all these ideas. is I'm excited about. Thank goodness we got this machine out unstuck. Shout out to the neighbors. And next time we might just have ourselves a big old excavator. So we'll see you then.