What started as a serene weekend fishing trip became a dramatic rescue operation for Bob Gist, 61, and his colleague, Brad Carlisle, both State Farm Insurance employees. They had hired Jordan Chrestman, a local bass fishing guide, to take them out on Granada Lake in Mississippi. After a quiet morning, they decided to switch fishing spots, which is when they heard the faint barking of dogs. Upon closer inspection, they discovered that a pack of 38 hunting dogs had chased a deer into the lake and were now struggling to stay afloat, unable to find their way back to shore. Gist, Carlisle, and Chrestman immediately shifted their focus from fishing to rescuing the distressed animals.

Chaos ensued when their bass boat reached the dogs as the canines, adorned with large GPS collars, paddled frantically in different directions. The collars provided a crucial grip for pulling the exhausted dogs out of the water. The trio made three trips to ferry all the dogs to safety, with Gist’s friend Brad Carlisle using tracking equipment to locate a third group of dogs that had become separated and were in dire condition. Remarkably, all 38 dogs were saved, albeit traumatized and initially reluctant to leave the boat. Gist credited Chrestman for his quick thinking and decisive action, saying that the outcome would have been tragically different without the guide’s intervention. “The hero here is Jordan,” Gist emphasized to ABC News, acknowledging the young guide’s pivotal role in the rescue operation.