When Dave Leebody set out for the Wanapitei River in Killarney last Sunday, he had fish on the brain.

Having recently struck gold with pickerel, he wanted to see if he could repeat his luck before it got too icy to take his boat out on the river.

“We were going up the water, breaking through some ice to go up the river, and we hit some open spots and some ice spots. Then my boy said, ‘dad, what’s that on the other side of the river?’ We weren’t sure if it was a moose or a deer. We knew it was an animal, a big animal. So we broke the ice and got over to the deer and pulled him up, got him out of the water.”

Leebody, his son and his son’s friend got the deer, which was shivering and covered in ice, up onto a thicker patch of ice so they could lead it to shore. There, they covered it in jackets and built a large fire to help him warm up.

“The poor little bugger, he could have been in there all night and all day. This was about 3 in the afternoon … He was just shivering, shaking. I guess hypothermia set in. I think he would have drowned.

“He wasn’t moving at first. I thought he had a broken leg or something. It wasn’t broken, just hypothermia, because he’d been in there so long. He was so weak.”

Leebody and his companions stayed with the deer for two hours, until it began to get dark.

“We got him on his feet and he was really, really wobbly. He fell down I don’t know how many times. I might have walked with him about 1/4 mile in the bush, and every time he fell down I picked him up. Then he took a couple of bigger leaps … so he was coming around.”

Based on how the deer was struggling when Leebody found him, the man knew it wouldn’t have lasted much longer in the frigid water.

“He wasn’t coming out of that water by himself. Maybe if he was in there for another hour, I’m thinking he would have drowned. He just couldn’t move his feet or anything,” he said.

In March, OPP officers shot a deer when it fell through thin ice on a pond north of London, Ont. Police and volunteer firefighters made the decision as a last resort when it became clear the cracked ice was too thin to make a rescue attempt.

What to do if you spot an injured, wild animal

In city limits call 911 or local emergency phone number and ask for police, if you spot a wild animal (injured or uninjured) and are concerned for your safety.

Outside city limits, call the Ontario Provincial Police detachment for the area.

Source: 211 Ontario North

– with files from QMI Agency

laura.stricker@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @LauraStricker