Two fishermen and a fishing guide in Mississippi were surprised when they came across 38 dogs on the water who were in danger of drowning.
Bob Gist of Arkansas and his friend Brad Carlisle of Tennessee were on a fishing trip on Lake Grenada when they unexpectedly Rescue Missionthey told Fox News.
They went out on the water in an early morning boat with local guide Jordan Chrestman, but had no luck and had to move on to another spot.
“We went to another spot about a half-mile from where we were, started fishing and soon heard dogs barking,” said Gist, 61. “Soon we saw a couple of dogs in the water on the horizon.”
Chrestman said the pack of dogs appeared to be chasing a deer that had gone into the water, but something was a bit off.
“We continued fishing for another 10 or 15 minutes. Jordan [Chrestman] “I said, ‘Hey guys, if you don’t mind, these dogs are in the water and I need to go check them out,'” Gist recalled.
As the three men headed out in a boat to the scene, they realized just how chaotic the scene was.
“We’re just amazed. There are dogs everywhere and everyone is walking in different directions because you can’t see the banks on either side,” Gist said.
“And they’re all hunting dogs – they’re wearing expensive GPS radio collars, so that’s pretty obvious.”
As it turned out, the dogs had been taking part in the annual fox chase that takes place in the Grenada area, but hadn’t been treading water outside for very long.
Fox News reported that the men “without hesitation” began pulling the dogs into the boat to keep them from drowning.
“We quickly called the dogs over to the boat, grabbed them by their collars and got them on board,” Gist said.
Chrestman was able to load more than two dozen puppies onto the boat before bringing them to shore.
When the fishermen arrived at the riverbank they found the dog’s owners in a “panic.”
After rescuing the second pack of dogs from the lake, one of the men on shore offered to help rescuers track another pack of three or four dogs using a GPS device.
The tracker led the men to the last pack of dogs, which they estimated was more than a mile from shore.
“The dogs were close to drowning because they’d been in the water for an hour,” Gist said. “We got the last batch of dogs back to the ramp… [and] “We had to drag them out of the boat because they didn’t want to get out. They were scared they would go back in the water. It was a terrible situation.”
According to Gist, Chrestman is the true protagonist of this story.
“If Brad and I had been out there alone on the boat, I wouldn’t have thought anything was wrong, but this young man in his 20s — I call him a young man because I’m 61 — knew he had to do something,” Gist said.
The dog’s owner tried to pay Chrestman for his dedication, but he refused to accept the money.
“He calmly knew, ‘If we don’t do something, 38 dogs are going to die here,’ and he saved them. We all pulled them in, but he’s the hero here,” Gist added.
Gist, a State Farm insurance agent, posted a photo of a bunch of dogs on a boat, commenting, “Like a good neighbor, Bob Gist was there!”
Like a good neighbor, Bob Gist was there! #StateFarm #bobgistinsurance #GrenadaLake #dogrescue
Contributor Bob Gist State Farm Insurance Agent upon Sunday, June 9, 2024
