Keith Johnson of Winter Park, Florida, was out on the water with friends this past weekend when the group spotted two deer swimming between Sheffield and Fish Island, the Stamford Advocate reports.
Rather than continue on their fishing expedition, the group tried to rescue the animals. They lassoed a rope onto the antlers of one of the deer and rescued it by towing the young buck to shore.
Johnson told the paper it took half an hour to get the deer back to land.
"Once on shore, the deer literally just stood still in sheer exhaustion and probably shock." Johnson said. They weren't able to get to the other deer. "We were convinced that saving at least one deer from drowning was the right think to do. ... Fishing could occur another day."
