BUFFALO, Minn. — Three duck hunters in central Minnesota have been rescued after a conservation officer spotted them struggling in freezing water.
Conservation Officer Rick Reller was checking waterfowl hunters this week on Swartout Lake in Wright County. He says he saw three duck hunters getting ready to leave the small island where they were hunting.
He decided to wait for them to check their hunting licenses. After wondering what was taking so long he used his binoculars to look out on the lake. He saw their boat was swamped and they were in the water. None was wearing a life jacket.
Reller and a lakeshore owner rushed out on a boat and brought them to shore.
The state Department of Natural Resources said Thursday the event could have turned tragic without Reller.
