[Scorch]

Hunting geese one year in Nevada at Silver Lake just outside of Carson City. We had a real cold spell that winter, temps in the single digits for about 2 weeks, and the river flowing into the lake was frozen solid, as was the lake. We got in some cottonwoods along the river and waited for the geese to fly over to pass shoot them on their way to the alfalfa fields. My buddy and I both dropped a goose from the flock. Later that morning, there was a lone goose circling overhead honking, we figured it was the mate of one of the geese we had shot. After a long time of calling, it came within Hail Mary range and we tried skybusting. The bird flew off, but as we watched it we could see it geting lower and lower, finally landing on the lake about 100-150 yds from shore. We figured we must have snuck a few BBs into it, so we sat down and watched it. Pretty soon, it sits down. A little while longer and its head droops. Pretty soon, it just lays its head on its back like it's resting. We debated for a long time, and I finally decided I was going to go get it. After all, it was only 100-150 yards out on a frozen lake, right? As I started out towards it I kept expecting it to raise its head, but nothing. As I walk towards it, I could hear these "Ping" and groaning noises in the ice, you could hear them coming towards you and then pass you (someone later explained to me that was the sound of ice breaking because the level of the reservoir was dropping). I was walking carefully, didn't want any cracks or holes to suddenly swallow me up. Finally got to the goose (sitting in a puddle of blood, one pellet in the liver), picked it up and turned around, and it was like walking uphill on the ice to get back to shore, and it looked a lot farther to the shore than it looked like when I was standing there looking at the bird. Finally got back to shore, only took about 15-20 minutes total, my buddy was giving me a look like he thought I was crazy. A couple of days later the whole river and lake broke up, the ice was about 8"-10" thick, so I guess I really had nothing to worry about, although it was scary being on that ice that far from shore with the sounds of breaking ice traveling through it.