Rescuer lassos deer off frozen lake

GOLDEN, Colo. (CNN/KMGH) - A deer is off the ice and on dry land after getting stranded in the middle of a frozen lake.

Rescue crews in Golden, Colo., were able to pull the animal to safety.

"When you first pull up, you thought he was through the ice,” said a passerby. “You didn't realize he was just laying on the ice."

The deer was trapped on ice near the Coors brewery. At first, the well-intentioned guys from Coors thought they might get a boat out there.

The deer tried to flee multiple times, but its spindly legs and hooves failed to gain traction. It's a deer neighbors have seen many times.

"So you do, you get attached to them,” said a neighbor.

At one point, a coyote even stalks the deer but quickly moves on. Then, in comes Todd Taylor, a certified ice rescuer and Lake Regional Parks ranger.

"At this point, it was up on top of the ice,” said Taylor.

Taylor first tried to shoo the deer off the lake. When that doesn't work, he lassos the deer, and the guys pull it in.

"It did take me a couple of tries, but I was able to get it over the antlers,” said Taylor.

The deer makes it ashore, stops as if to say "thanks," and takes off.

"You see it on the TV all the time -- these great rescues -- and you want this to be one of them,” said a passerby.

The deer did still have the rope tangled in its antlers when it left the icy lake. But wildlife officials say the deer will shed those antlers as part of the natural growth process and in the process get rid of the rope.