An Illinois hunter tragically died this week after falling through a frozen pond while trying to rescue his dog.
According to local officials via KSDK, Luke Kitterman, 23, was on a goose hunting trip earlier this week with some friends when his dog fell through the ice while trying to retrieve a bird. Kitterman crawled on his belly to get out ot the stricken dog and actually managed to hoist the animal out of the frozen water. However, the young man also fell into the water, and the hound followed him in.
Despite his friends’ efforts, Kitterman did not resurface.
The 23-year-old’s body was recovered on Tuesday after an extensive search.
“They were able to pull the dog out of the water and into a canoe, just unfortunately lost sight of their friend,” said Peyton Matthews of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Conservation Police.
Matthews described the desperate search for the young man.
“As the night went on and the sun went down, the temperatures only got colder. The ice is about three inches thick… once we started to drop in temperature, the ice began to freeze over where we had created a hole for the divers to go in.”
In all, the recovery effort lasted about 23 hours and involved dozens of first responders from various departments.
Kitterman’s grief-stricken friends remained at the site until his body was recovered.
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