As a kid I lived in North Eastern Pa... One of my favorite places to hang out was Francis Walter Dam area. I remember one year... The winter was so bad in NEPA that the ground was iced over... The Pa Game Commission reported to our local newspaper or media.. That many deer from the herds at Francis Walter Dam were found dead in the Spring... The conclusion was that the deer were coming down the sharp inclines on both side of the dam...The ice made them unstable and of course they took the ride down the hill.. Death occurred when they hit one of the many trees at the bottom of the sled ride.
Also as you all know.. Ruffed Grouse will burrow themselves into snow banks... So neat when you hunt them in snow.. They flush and snow goes all over the places. You see brown, and snow, and more snow as the flush erupts from the burrow in the snow.. Most times you miss the grouse. However it just so happens that when the grouse burrow down into the snow bank to sleep, rest or hide... They end up dying just after a freezing rain... Here they are under the deep snow but now the crust is so hard they can't break out of the ice.. If the cold conditions persist for days they die of starvation..
Also heard tell of Ringneck roasting on the ground and getting their tail feathers frozen from the same snow with freezing rain... They can't pull themselves free and are victims of the ice to predators or exhaustion?
I read this once in Pa Game News....
By the way should you go out in the boonies and you have heavy ice... Gee watch you don't slide down the steep inclines like the deer and hit a tree at the bottom too. Odds are that you would fall down.. Watch if you go feet first... Keep your legs closed!!!!!!!..
