DNR Coordinates Air, Water, and Land Resources to Free Stranded Waterfowl Hunters from Icy Nanticoke River
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Natural Resources Police and Wildlife and Heritage Service staff helped rescue six waterfowl hunters stranded on a disabled vessel on the Nanticoke River on the evening of Jan. 31.
First responders were dispatched around 6:30 p.m. that Saturday evening, however local fire rescue crews were unable to reach the stranded boaters due to unnavigable waters caused by substantial ice thickness and frozen boat ramps. Recorded weather data shows that temperatures were in the high teens to low 20s, while strong northerly winds gusted over 20 miles per hour at times.
Natural 1 – NRP’s helicopter manned by Sgt. John Buchanan and Ofc. Christian Helwig – had just completed an escort of another vessel in the ice-covered waters of the Tangier Sound when called to assist with the incident in the Nanticoke River.
Buchanan and Helwig successfully located the vessel and all passengers upon arrival to the scene, illuminating the disabled vessel using the helicopter’s onboard spotlight. First responders called in multiple forms of rescue, including Maryland State Police’s Trooper 6 helicopter and the DNR Wildlife and Heritage team’s airboat.
The airboat – also known as a fan boat – is designed to operate in shallow, marshy areas or areas in which gliding over ice is necessary. When Wildlife staffer Greg Schenck arrived to operate the airboat with responding NRP officers, responding crews determined it would be safer to rescue the boaters by boat rather than a risky hoist by Trooper 6 in windy conditions.
Schenck initiated the rescue by launching the airboat from a nearby campground parking lot, along with Cpl. Jeremy Ryan and Sgt. Robert Karge from NRP. With assistance from Natural 1’s searchlight, the airboat rescued all six individuals in two separate trips, safely returning the boaters to shore where they were evaluated by EMS personnel and transported back to their vehicles.
The coordination and precision in which responding crews worked with was imperative in the safe rescue of all six individuals. DNR applauds the cooperation between inter-agency partners and the Maryland State Police.
Maryland’s waterfowl hunting season came to a close on Jan. 31. All boaters should continue to exercise extreme caution if operating boats during the ongoing icy conditions.