Photographer spooked off Big Spirit Lake before he gets his photo witnessed in Dickinson County, Iowa

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I was photographing the sunrise on Sat 4th February in the morning on the frozen shore of Big Spirit Lake in northern Iowa, it was about 5am, so I had to wait until daylight. I shut off my vehicle, walked out towards the lake and stopped to listen to the ice cracking on the lake. To the North of me I heard three very distinct sounds that I would say we're 'wood knocks', I am reluctant to say that because I don't want to pigeon hole what I heard, I would estimate the distance of the noise to have been within 1/4 mile or so. In response to that I heard from the South at a closer distance the sound of, and I can only describe it as bottles being moved in a trash can. The temp was 4 deg and there were no other vehicles in the area, it is a state campground, but obviously shut for the winter. I saw no ice fishermen in the area until about 6am or later. It was as if the 'whatever it was' to the South was being alerted to my presence by a lookout. I would not consider the area to be highly wo...