A hunting family who thought they’d lost their duck dog in the Mississippi River on Sunday is now thanking their friends and neighbors — and even a few social-media strangers — for helping find him. In a Facebook post Monday, the family let everyone know that their black Lab, Waylon, was back at home in Illinois.
“It takes a village and we are so beyond touched, grateful and happy that he’s back safe and sound!!!” Madison Krause (who goes by Maddy Myers on social media) wrote in the post. “We cannot thank everyone enough for all the shares, calls, texts, messages. We had so many hunters out today helping us look.”
Eric Gaines, Krause’s fiancé and Waylon’s owner, explained what happened over the weekend to local news outlets. Gaines said he and Waylon were hunting geese along the Mississippi near Montpelier, Iowa, Sunday morning. They’d gone out with Gaines’ buddy, Tom Davis, and his retriever, and at one point the hunters wounded two geese.
Davis’ dog was able to get the closer bird, while Waylon swam after the second toward the middle of the river channel. Around that same time, Gaines explained, two boats came flying down the river, and he was jumping and waving from shore trying to get their attention.
“I don’t think they [saw] me,” he said. “With him going down the river, I just saw the wakes coming off the back of the motor … and then he disappeared.”
The two hunters then hopped in Davis’ boat and searched that stretch for hours. After checking a few mid-river islands and not finding him, Gaines thought Waylon had drowned. Davis, meanwhile, held out hope.
“I was like, ‘Man, the dog didn’t drown, you know. He had the heart to chase that goose; he’s still chasing it. He’s on them islands,’” Davis said in a later interview.
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That Sunday night, Krause made a post asking for help on a community Facebook page. She said the response was overwhelming. Messages poured in Sunday night, many of them from hunters who said they’d bring their own dogs and drones to help look for Waylon the following morning.
One comment on Krause’s post proved particularly helpful as she and Gaines continued their search Monday with Davis’ help.
“Where it’s safe and legal shoot some rounds off down in the area and wait,” the commenter, Tyler VanAlsburg, wrote. “Shoot a few more times and wait. If he’s on that side of the river he will come to the shots.”
Krause said they did just that while searching along the river with Davis in his boat. She wrote in a reply to VanAlsburg that the gunshots drew Waylon out, and they found the dog near the river that morning.
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Waylon was later checked out and cleared by a vet. Gaines said the dog should recover just fine, thanks to the community of people who came together to help.
“It’s definitely the first time I cried in my boat,” Davis told reporters.
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