Grand Forks hunter saves deer from frozen river

A Grand Forks hunterjumped into action to save a deer's lifeMonday evening and there arepictures and videos to prove it.

Marlene Thomas shared the video of her husband, Marty, pulling the deer out of the frozen Kettle River on Facebook after they received a call that a deer had gone though the ice.

Marty says he tried walking out onto it.

"I saw a big open hole in front of me and I couldn't go any further and it was dangerous," he said.

But there were already other people there trying to help and they had a canoe.

Man rescues deer after it falls through ice

3 years ago

Duration 0:39

Hunting guide Marty Thomas pulls a young buck out of an icy river in Grand Forks, B.C.

"They brought the canoe up in a truck, we brought it down the bank and I went out with the canoe and a couple sticks, a paddle and also a diamondrope with a cinch on it to wrap around the deer somehow," he said.

Thomas says he used the canoe to pull the deer, which was too cold to put up a fight, and got it back to his truck.

He says his wife was probablynervouswatching him on the sidelines.

"My dad drowned. He fell out of a canoe 10 years ago. That's a different story but my wife is thinking about that, right?" he said.

"I'm focused on getting this deer saved."

Thomas said he brought the deer back to his place, set itup in his heated mini-cabin with some hay and a blanket but by 4 a.m. it was gone.

"For 38 years, no kidding, I've been a, pardon me, just wait, it makes me emotional, I've been actually a hunting guy for 38 years and a taxidermist," Thomas told CBC News.

"It's been my whole life, I make a living off of wildlife and so to help, yeah, to give back like that was just, you know, it felt good."