SANTEE — Eight hunters, including a Broken Bow man, and a dog were rescued Thursday in northeast Nebraska from a Missouri River marsh island near Santee after their boats became stuck in the ice.
No injuries were reported.
The hunters told authorities that there was no ice on the river when they put their 18-foot flat-bottom boats in about 5:45 a.m. However, South Dakota authorities received a call for help about 11:30 a.m. The hunters were unable to free the boats.
Nebraska Game and Parks Commission officers tried to reach the hunters by boat, but ice in the river prevented that. A Nebraska State Patrol helicopter arrived and ferried the hunters, two at a time, from the marsh to the Nebraska side of the river. Their boats were left in the river.
The rescued men were Colby Kerber of Broken Bow; Ben Micek of Omaha; Eric and Mitch Scranton of Norfolk; Leigh Winterboer and Brad Rasmussen of Spencer, Iowa; Matthew Cronk of Scottsdale, Ariz.; and Bill Lang of Huntington Beach, Calif.
http://www.kearneyhub.com/news/local/helicopter-rescue-saves-broken-bow-hunter/article_7375f0d6-5ea2-11e3-ad23-0019bb2963f4.html