ice house removal deadline

I normally shake my head at the guys that leave their houses out too late and struggle to get them off. Well, this year I’m one of them.

Basically we got about double the forecasted snow fall overnight, and I couldn’t get to it after that snow fall with a half ton pickup with great tires and a locking rear differential. Then we got more. And more. And…

Today I spent about 3 hours with my ATV with plow and snowblower and got it about half way off. I’m lucky that I only had it several hundred yards from a boat landing.

FYI the atv with plow is close to useless. If that’s all a guy had you might be able to make it work but not without a whole lot of struggling. I just had to put up with muscling the snow blower through the deep snow with a hard crusted layer of snow part way down. Only sheared 1 pin. So far.

This year I can see how it happened to many. So many areas went from no snow to a lot of snow literally over night. On top of that even more came shortly after, and then wind and snow came and caused some concrete like drifts to form. For the average guy, getting their perm is going to be a little tougher this year than most.

I’d be a little surprised to hear about DNR staff breaking people’s balls about house removal this upcoming week. It was a really rough month. Not one that’ll be soon forgotten. Fishing is a 4-5 billion dollar a year industry in Minnesota, and these wheelhouses are a significant part of that.

Then again, if you leave your $10-30,000 house of the ice all winter despite all the much-talked-about snow, be prepared to pay handsomely to have it removed. Cost of doing business. Ain’t nothing free.

Curley I couldn’t even imagine. I’m glad I drag mine around with me from day to day. Mayne leave it for 2 or 3 days tops. But some skid shacks I’ve seen are crazy buried and I feel for them

Then again, if you leave your $10-30,000 house of the ice despite all the much-talked-about snow, be prepared to pay handsomely to have it removed. Cost of doing business. Ain’t nothing free.
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500 bucks I’ll drag a tracked skid loader and some straps and get it off for any one in a pinch

Bearcat89 wrote:

Curley I couldn’t even imagine. I’m glad I drag mine around with me from day to day. Mayne leave it for 2 or 3 days tops. But some skid shacks I’ve seen are crazy buried and I feel for them

Funny thing is I never even fished from mine in it’s current location! Dropped it in the evening on just a couple inches of packed snow and then the blizzard hit!

I usually keep my eye on conditions and weather and pull it if the forecast is calling for much snow. This seems to be a rare year where we’ve consistently gotten MORE snow than called for. Usually a forecast calling for 6 to 8 ends up 2 to 3. Not this February!

I would of started working on it 3 weeks ago the way the snow and slush was! nothing like waiting till the last minute!

Got my shack off Saturday with the help of my brother’s 3/4 ton and V plow. The hardest part was getting from the boat landing onto the lake where snowmobiles had been packing snow down.

Once on the lake in my snowblower path he drove out and back with plow up. Then on the way baxk out dropped the V and was able to cut a path.

I’m lucky that nobody has been fishing where my shack is and there was 0 slush. We fished out of the shack for a couple hours and had water pouring up out of our holes for a while after drilling them.

I still had 2 weeks to get mine off but glad it’s off the lake and I don’t need to worry about it now.

I feel for the guys that have their houses way out offshore. Might be an interesting recovery.

mikek wrote:

I would of started working on it 3 weeks ago the way the snow and slush was! nothing like waiting till the last minute!

Why would anyone have started working on it 3 weeks ago? 3 weeks ago was February 11th, well before the parade of snow storms and with 2 weeks before the close of walleye season…I don’t know anyone who pulled their house 3 weeks ago.

I’m putting a permanent on Red next year. I’ll go out of one of the resorts up there. They will put it out for you keep it plowed out so you can get to it. Move it if you want, take it off for you and let you leave it there all year if it’s something you don’t use during the summer all for $300! Problem solved.

I refuse to leave my shack unattended on the ice.

I don’t worry about someone breaking into it or stealing it and I don’t bite my nails every snow storm. The peace of mind is well worth the effort and gas money to drag it home each trip.

outdoorsmn wrote:

I refuse to leave my shack unattended on the ice.

I don’t worry about someone breaking into it or stealing it and I don’t bite my nails every snow storm. The peace of mind is well worth the effort and gas money to drag it home each trip.

If they break into and or steal it, that’s why its insured for way more then it’s worth. I dont leave mine out often either. But I also dont stress it out when I do. Knock on wood. We’ve had 0 problems in 3 years

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

Why would anyone have started working on it 3 weeks ago? 3 weeks ago was February 11th, well before the parade of snow storms and with 2 weeks before the close of walleye season…I don’t know anyone who pulled their house 3 weeks ago.

I actually saw more than a dozen of them being moved in from the mud and closer to shore in St Albans Bay because of the flooding, drifting, poor road conditions. It was also the reason we did not go out again!
And sorry it was the 16th, I was a couple days early!