Saga of the Sunken Camper Comes to a Close

This could be a prime example of learning from someone else's mistakes, as an ice fisherman's pop-up camper has finally been taken off the ice on Little Muskego Lake, and at a pretty penny to do so.

The camper had partially broken through the ice in January during a thaw, lifted up again via a makeshift structure, which then also broke through, taking the bottom half of the camper with it. The Little Muskego Lake District was considering enforcing its removal before it completely fell through.

With the deadline looming for the statewide mandate for all ice shanties and structures to be removed from Wisconsin lakes on Sunday, William Miller of Miller Recovery in Waterford was contacted by the camper's owner to remove it.

"If it would've been removed the first time it broke through, this would have been a much easier operation," Miller said. 

His crews arrived on Saturday around 8 a.m. The process of removal by this time included chainsawing through about 14 inches of ice around the camper. Of course the inside of the camper was also heavy with ice, making the process that much more tieme-consuming.

"I figure there was about 3,600 pounds of ice on the inside of the camper," Miller said. "I broke a couple of pieces of equipment in the process, and I've learned a couple of lessons from this job."

Armed with several winches on ATVs, the camper was finally extracted around 6 p.m. Miller said the 10-hour task cost him the tools, a sore body, and for the owner about $1,000, which could've cost far more.

In about 15 years in the recovery business, Miller said this year has been especially busy, having to rescue five ATVs from area lakes, and it's barely March.