Oh S_____T the ice is broken what fell in?

[addy1]

Woke up this am, the ice at the end of the pond was all broken, the pond breather in pieces. What the heck! Threw clothes on, took the net ran down to the pond. Nothing found. Water is really dark being ice covered and just at dawn. 24f a bit cold, not jumping in! Pond water is 42f.

Next step look at the cams!

Right around midnight, here comes a little yearling deer. We watch it approach, push the edge of the net up snacking on the bushes at the edge of the pond. There are more deer across the pond climbing up our hill snacking. This little one decided it wanted to join them. Put two feet on the ice, took a step and the ice gave way.

I have two different video views of the disaster, which turned out ok........................whew!

You can see the glow of its eyes first.

 

[j.w]

Wow that was very scary! Hope that deer learned a good lesson from that episode! Glad it made it out safely but sorry it broke your pond breather. Hope your liner is ok.

 

[addy1]

It just knocked the top off, I think it will just go back on, wait for the next melt to check on it. Not even worried about the liner, this is not the first deer hoof attack it has had have not had damage yet.

I am just so happy that little deer made it out.

 

[brokensword]

I guess now you'll have to install deer escape platforms, like for the turtles, huh? Sheesh! Glad the yearling made it out but how scary for it!

 

[addy1]

The end it climbed out has a rock ledge that is my over flow. That is how it managed to grab a way out. I could see it tried on the far side and mid edge before it made its way back to the fall in spot. Checking out hoof prints.
There is also a slight bog wall shelf which helped.

Sure worried me, I thought we would find a floater. This is the deep end of the pond, no way to push off the bottom.

 

[RobAmy]

Glad it made it out, hopefully it is doing okay

 

[addy1]

I watched it stand there for a bit then walk away, loss it behind the bog wall. I think it is ok. Would take longer than that to soak through that insulated hair they have. It was darn cold.

 

[poconojoe]

I'm glad the deer is OK.
I once had to net out an opossum. It was laying on the bottom. It must have been the one we saw on the front walkway the previous night. It was acting really strange, walking back and forth, stopping, then back and forth, back and forth. The neighborhood cats were there too. Neither seemed to care being so close to each other. Very weird.

On the pond breather: last Spring I somehow broke mine when pulling it out of the water. The main tube snapped off where it connects to the red disk. I tried to fix it by applying epoxy to the two mating pieces, but it didn't hold. Then I mixed up bigger batch of epoxy and smeared it in and around the red disk and big tube. It's pretty solid now.

 

[Tula]

OMG @addy1 , my heart sank when I read your title and saw a yearling had fallen in !!!! Thank heavens he survived!!! Let us know if your PB is working.

 

[addy1]

The PB is working just on its side with that top clear cap off. I managed to net the cap off the ice. After the deer broke the ice it refroze. We are warming up a lot so it will be all water again soon. I can then pull it out and see if it will go back together.

I even had the net over the entrance so none would fall in, the deer pushed up the rope and the net and went under it.

 

[GBBUDD]

If that's not n advisement for your choice of liner i don't know what is .

 

[addy1]

If that's not n advisement for your choice of liner i don't know what is .

I love my liner.

I had a deer fall in the shallow end a few years back, it was eating lilies. It bucked, slammed those sharp little hooves into the pond bottom trying to get out. Finally made it out the other side. No leaks. The deer also walk my stream all winter, no leaks.

It has a great tear/ burst strength, higher than epdm.

 

[Sunshine]

That poor deer. Bet that scared the crap out of him.

 

[addy1]

I bet it did! It is dark but you can see it standing right where it got out for a minute or so. Then it walks off.

 

[Lisak1]

That would have been one big mess if that deer hadn't gotten itself out of there! We had our natural ponds dredged a number of years ago, and the number of deer carcasses that they pulled out of there was kind of shocking. Of course these are bigger, deeper ponds so the chances of getting out are significantly reduced!