There's no other explanation, for me being here, other than God was watching over me today and saw fit to send me back home to my family.

I've been sick the entire deer season, had gallbladder surgery three weeks ago, and haven't hunted at all. Today was my first hunt of the season and, given the circumstances, could've very easily been my last.

I had all day to hunt so I decided to take the boat and head down river to some TVA land that I've hunted all of my life. Uneventful hunt with no deer seen.

I'd watched a large houseboat move up river earlier in the afternoon and could hear the wake rolling up the bank and thought to myself, "I hope my boat isn't washed up when I get back". Well, sure enough, I get to the boat after dark, the water has dropped, and 3/4 of my 1860 aluminum G3 is beached. That's a lot of boat to be moving alone but I can usually manage to shimmy it back in, on my own, but today it wasn't happening. It's after dark now, cold, and my phone is dying so I make a quick call to my cousin and he heads my way.

Once he's there, a few minutes of prying and pushing and the boat is back in the river. As he's headed back to his boat, mine now decides that the battery is weak and doesn't want to crank. I go to the front deck and drop the trolling motor and gather the rope to toss him so we can get to the ramp and put an end to what had suddenly turned into the deer hunting trip from hell. Little did I know how much worse things would get.

I had the nose of my boat pointed up river so as he's headed to me the current is pushing his boat from behind, toward me. As he goes to turn the back end of his boat to me, between the current and the darkness, the back end of his boat doesn't come around quick enough and I can tell that we're going to hit, although I didn't think that hard. I wasn't really concerned about the front of my boat but I reached down to put my hand on the cowling of his motor to soften the blow.

The next thing I remember was the jolting from the impact and looking at the sky. I flew off of the front deck backward and landed flat on my back in twenty feet of water with layered clothes, bibs, jacket, Lacrosse knee boots, and no life jacket. In the haste of pushing the boat in and the battery being dead, I'd forgotten to slip it on. I remember the water knocking the breath out of me and gasping and the next thing I remember is sinking while I'm flat on my back. I'm not sure exactly how far I went down but I was completely submerged for awhile before I could get my bearings straight, Once I was upright I tried to reach the surface but I couldn't get there. I tried again and somehow got my mouth and nose above water to take a breath but I still couldn't breathe. I could see my boat but it had drifted several yards down river. When I went back under I knew which way I had to go so I swam. I somehow swam as hard as I could swim, and when I surfaced again I was almost close enough to reach the boat. The next time I came up I grabbed the side and held on for dear life. I barely had the strength to hold on, much less pull myself over the side. Luckily, my cousin was able to maneuver his boat to where I could grab the back of his and was able to pull me in.

Now that I was in the boat, I was able to vomit some of the water I'd inhaled but I was spent. My adrenaline was gone and I was cold. I had a dry coat in the boat so I took all of my upper layers off and put on the dry coat. Luckily, we were only a couple of miles down river and were able to get to the ramp relatively quickly so I could get the rest of my wet clothes off and get in the truck.

That was the first time I'd actually had time to grasp what had happened and the fact that I should be dead. I'd fallen in 20' of 38� water, with an air temperature of 26. I literally poured a half gallon of water out of each boot. Given that, and the amount of clothes I had on, there's no logical reasoning to why I didn't sink straight to the bottom, to be found later. I've been physically sick since just thinking about it.

I've never been so glad to walk in the door and hug my wife and kids. I'm physically, and mentally, exhausted but I doubt I'll sleep a wink tonight. I'm just thankful the the good Lord allowed me to come home.

Thankful you are still with us!!! Glad you made it out, lots of clothes and water are a bad combo!

Scary scary stuff

Glad you are ok, that was a close call. Thank the Lord.

Praise the Lord!

That's some scary stuff when one takes the time and realizes how little it would have taken, for the story to have death or a major injury in it.

So glad you are still with us.

God Bless,
David B.

Glad you�re safe.

Wow brother glad you are all right! That is an incredible story and a just a reminder of how quickly things we do all the time can go south in a hurry. Again, glad you are still with us to tell your story for both you and your family�s sake and for all those that read your story. You definitely had a strong will to survive - hope you are to get some rest tonight.

Dang. That�s terrible. Glad it worked out. Guess it just shows the rest of us how quick something can happen.
That water had to have felt like a thousand needles.

Glad you�re still here.

If you�ll vacuum seal a change of clothes, wear a life jacket, and attach a kill switch to your life jacket, you�ll make it next time too.

It�s your life. Do what you want with it.

Glad to hear of a good outcome. I can almost relate as few years ago I had a seat pedestal break loose on a hook set one night. The water temp was closer to 50 but no life jacket and heavy clothes. 10:30 at night is awful dark under water with less than half your witts. I don't get on a boat without a vest of some sort anymore. My tournament partner at the time siad he did not know how I didn't know up from down. That same week his seat back broke (different boat) on a hook set. He only got wet from his elbow to his fingertips but he then was able to see why I didn't know which way to swim.

Appreciate your story for the value it adds to those of us who can relate and who might make a better choice.

Most don't put their vest on until they get ready to crank the motor. You did nothing any of us would have done differently. It is amazing how quickly things happen, it's just a flash in time. I'm glad your will to live overpowered the your bad luck. We live and we learn. God Bless you my friend. It's lucky you were able to exit the water quickly, hypothermia takes most lives this time of the year.

Man what a story. I hunted out of my boat in 8 Degrees weather the other morning, and I know that one little mistake and it�s over. Shane you are one lucky man. The good lord was with you today. Wow no other words, just wow.

Glad you made it home! That's the second story like this tonight. Saw a video on Facebook were a duck hunter fell out of a boat on the Arkansas river. Luckily he made out too.

Glad it worked out and glad you shared it for others to learn from.

And glad you're okay man.

Wow glad to hear your ok.

Glad you're ok. Had some friends lose everything in the river a few years ago except their lives. Almost lost them to. Dangerous to hunt alone on the river.

Glad you are still with us! Its amazing how fast things can happen.

Sorry you had to go through that. Praise God that you are ok.

Shane, it just wasn't your time. God bless you.