Ice house removal dates approaching

Minnesota's ice fishing shelter removal dates are approaching.

Dark houses, fish houses and portables must be off the ice of inland waters no later than midnight on March 4 in the southern two-thirds of the state and March 18 in the northern third.

The March 4 removal deadline applies to waters south of a line starting at the Minnesota-North Dakota border near Moorhead along U.S. Highway 10, then east along Highway 34 to Minnesota Highway 200, east along Highway 200 to U.S. Highway 2, and east along Highway 2 to the Minnesota-Wisconsin border near Duluth. The March 18 deadline applies to waters north of that line.

"A line runs down Highway 10 from Fargo/Moorhead to Detroit Lakes; then it's Highway 34 from Detroit Lakes," said Conservation Officer Chris Vinton of Detroit Lakes. "Fish shelters located north of that line have to be off the ice no later than midnight, March 18."

For border waters, the shelter removal deadlines are: Minnesota - Iowa, Feb. 20; Minnesota - Wisconsin, March 1; Minnesota - North Dakota and South Dakota, March 5; Minnesota - Canada, March 31.

Conservation officers may remove the structure and confiscate or destroy it.