Around 78, I was trapping rats in push Ups on frozen over Goose creek

It was a high of zero that day, I was 20 years old

Had all my gear on the ice, setting 110s and covering the with buckets and snow

All was going good till the last hole, the ice cracked

Then it happened, down I went thru the ice, it was a shock to my body

Grabbed my age and chopped my way to shore, it wasn't far, maybe 50 feet

Once to shore I noticed all my gear still on top of the ice

Like a fool at zero degrees I got back in the water and retrieved my gear

My car was parked along side Panama - Stedman road where Goose Creek crossed under the road

By the time I got the 100 yards to the car my clothes were froze.

I only lived half a mile away and pulled into my inlaws driveway

Laid down on the horn as I couldn't get out, I was froze in

My 2 brother in laws came out to see what was going on,

they were like 14 and 15.

After some work they got me out and took me to the tub,

they set me in the tub and turned on the water to Luke warm

It took some time to get my clothes off and slowly warm me up

Never forget that day , been afraid of the ice ever since

I don’t blame you that’s a scary incident!

Around the same era, I met some NY guys at the last Marionville fur sale.
They hac pelts I had never seen or knew of.
They called them fishers.
Later came this interweb
and I always wondered if those guys were on here.
The world is a lot smaller today.

Did you catch anything?

-30F. 18 miles from my my trapping cabin and had been checking line and heading to the cabin and I noticed what liked like a trail that I had not noticed. It was my 5th year on this line so I thought I would explore since the check was over. I turned my snow machine towards the what appeared trail across a pristine white fluffy snow area and all of a sudden I was in water up to just below the carburetor. Rapidly turned the machine off and wondered what now. There was instant fog from the water and air temperature and wanted to warn my partner not to follow me through the fog. I walked around the front of the machine and felt ice against my rear end and got up in it to warn my partner but it broke and I was soaked. We got the machine turned around and it started and I walked it out of the water. We built a fire but it was so cold we couldn't hardly feel the heat and decided to head for the cabin. Changing socks in our bunny boots and down the trail we headed stopping every so often walking to keep your feet warm. At the cabin my Carhartts were frozen in the shape of setting down. Always had a good fire going when running line in the wood stove so the cabin was warm and we thawed out had soup then headed home. SAFE and that was in the mid 80's.!

I know right where Buzzards talking about. Drove over Goose Crick yesterday.

Mr. Buzzard,

Your story brings back memories of two very similar incidents. Surprised I made it to my 70s.
I too have become very leery of trapping through the ice.

Mac

I figured you would know, the native brooks were on the shallow side

The crazy stuff we did in our younger days.

My earliest memory was when I was too young to stand up and walk. Mom took me to the garden and set me on the ground while she went to work in the garden. I looked over and saw a big bullsnake right beside me. It was huge to me. My older brother helped me get up and skedaddle away. That was about 69 yrs ago. Like it was yesterday.