Dredge watering hole briefly — deer returning (8)
I believe the answer is:
sprinkle
'dredge' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'watering hole briefly deer returning' is the wordplay.
'watering hole' becomes 'spring' (spring can mean a source of water).
'briefly' means to remove the last letter.
'deer' becomes 'elk' (type of deer).
'returning' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'elk' backwards is 'kle'.
'spring' with its last letter removed is 'sprin'.
'sprin'+'kle'='SPRINKLE'
(Other definitions for sprinkle that I've seen before include "Spread water in fine drops" , "Drizzle" , "Shower" , "Spatter liquid around" , "Scatter small drops, spray" .)