Duck hunters stuck in 36-degree lake faced 1,000-yard swim to shore, Utah cops say
Unexpectedly brutal weather left a small party of duck hunters — and their dog — in a dangerous, freezing-cold situation over the weekend in central Utah, according to authorities.
The three men were hunting Sunday morning on Utah Lake near Lincoln Beach when high winds, waves and hail began to pound their 12-foot boat, ultimately swamping the vessel with water and sending each of the hunters and their pet into the 36-degree lake, the Utah County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release on Monday.
One of the men called dispatchers just before 9 a.m., saying he and two friends were duck hunting on the lake when they were tossed from the boat, deputies said.
The men were 1,000 yards from shore, or more than half a mile — a distance made more complicated by the fact that wetland grasses stood 8 to 12 feet tall in the water, so it was tough to tell which way they should wade to safety, according to deputies.
“The men were wearing life jackets, but they were wading through chest deep water,” deputies said.
It took an hour for the men to successfully wade through the waters and for the dog to swim to shore, and they made it without the help of search and rescue teams that were responding, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
A deputy who was responding to the lake met the hunters, and the hunters got into their vehicles to warm up. But the dog, apparently preferring the deputy’s already-warm Chevrolet Tahoe, “decided it liked the heat and curled up on the front passenger side of the Deputy’s floor,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
The men and their dog all suffered from hypothermia but are expected to recover, authorities said.
“Weather, while overcast, had initially been calm” during the hunting expedition, deputies said. “People should be aware and recognize that when storms come up on Utah Lake conditions can quickly become life threatening. When adverse weather is possible people should make their way off the lake as soon as possible.”
This story was originally published December 9, 2019 at 1:46 PM with the headline "Duck hunters stuck in 36-degree lake faced 1,000-yard swim to shore, Utah cops say."
