DNR Rescues Duck Hunters From River

So much here to unpack from a safety standpoint.
5 guys, in a boat that size, in a frozen river, in 12 degree weather???
 
Chip M. said:
Looks like they went downriver when they shouldve gone up
Click to expand...
Chip,
I disagree.

I was in such a scenario. I had launched, then hunted a mile up river from the ramp.
It was snowing all the time as I hunted for 4 hours.
Upon trying to motor back downstream, I got stuck in the snow slush. The slush that had been freely floating downstream in the current all morning, was now backed up and packing even more tightly, the further downstream I motored.
I reached total blockage 100 yards before reaching the ramp.
Had the ramp been upstream from me, I would have been motoring AWAY from the slush blockage, as I returned upstream to the ramp.
 
I know them, it was 5 high school age kids who actually do have quite a bit of experience navigating this river. In fact, the one's dad(boat owner), was in my office on Wednesday and we had a long discussion. This occurred about 5 miles from my office and about 8 miles from my house. A couple of the kids hunt a property next to my marsh for both duck and deer.

The boat was plenty large enough to handle the 5 hunters(it actually rated for 8 people) and their gear just to clear that first concern up--social media has all kinds of comments saying boat too small. It was not near its capacity. The biggest issue, and they are getting a citation for it, was they only had 3 life jackets.

When the boys left to hunt, the river was free of ice, but a large ice mass broke free upstream and they got stuck/trapped trying to get through it to get back to the launch site after their hunt. They were able to drop the anchor and remove all their hunting gear plus all the high end electronics on the boat.

Story on the boat--It is the boat of the dad's dad(friend of mine) whom passed away in March 2025. It is one of the keepsakes that the son kept. They are hoping and praying nothing seriously happens to the boat as it is still there and we are not expecting temps above freezing the next two weeks.
 
And here's a part of the story that I believe we old timers will appreciate--They all were at the launch site that morning with 2 boats not hunting together and had not hunted together before, but the one groups boat ended up having a broken steering cable and the other group ask them if they wanted to hunt with them in their boat since it was more able to handle the 5 hunters. I think that says something good about these kids.
 
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