Decorah residents videotape their rescue of a buck--and Iowa TV stations air the video

Photo by Gary Smorstad/YouTube

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is publicizing the actions of three Decorah residents who saved a 10-point buck which had fallen into a sinkhole.

The DNR says the rescue happened at the Decorah area farm owned by Gary Smorstad, where a tractor's tire slipped into the recently opened sinkhole.

Smorstad and the neighbor towed the tractor free and then looked down and saw a deer looking up at them from the sinkhole.

The DNR said Smorstad's son Eric, Gavin Nimrod and Bryton Meyer mounted the rescue.

"It was hard to see; only three or four feet wide and maybe ten feet deep," Nimrod told the DNR. "We made a loop, caught an antler and kept his head up. We decided to tie another rope; Eric and Bryton held my legs and I went down and re-tied it."

To see the result, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzVJX-vnOfw

The video so far has played on TV stations in Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Nebraska.