Gunner.PNG
Gunner, pictured here with Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale, joined the sheriff's office one year ago. On Friday, he led lawmen to 3 12-year-old boys lost in the woods.
(Jefferson County Sheriff's Office)
Jefferson County sheriff's deputies, armed with night-vision goggles and a tracking dog, were able to safely return three boys to their families after the trio got lost in the woods over the weekend.
The boys, all three age 12, lost their way in the woods near the 4500 block of Shades Creek Drive in McCalla and one of them called 911 from his cell phone.
Dispatchers notified deputies of the call, but said the cell phone was losing power. Deputies told the dispatcher to tell the boys to stay where they were and they would come for them. Chief Deputy Randy Christian said it was getting dark, and the area the boys were in has a lot of deep drop-offs. That is why deputies didn't want them to continue to wander.
One of the deputies and tracking dog Gunner, a Bloodhound who joined the sheriff's office one year ago, quickly responded to the area and were shown where the boys had entered the woods.
Two deputies, one of them wearing the PVS13 night-vision goggles, joined in the search.
Gunner tracked the boys for a bout 30 minutes, and a mile into the woods, where they found the boys. Christian said the terrain they were near was treacherous.
McAdory Fire was dispatched to the scene and checked out the boys, who were fine. They were turned over to their parents, who Christian said had been anxiously awaiting their return.
The search began about 6:10 p.m. and ended at 8:36 p.m.
"At 12 years old, I'm not sure I would have had the maturity to recognize we were in trouble and make a 911 call before my phone lost power,'' Christian said. "What was potentially a dangerous situation turned out just fine thanks to this kid having the wherewithal to call for help before it was too late."
"Had they wandered around in the dark, a lot of things could have happened and there are a lot of places nearby where they could have fallen and been seriously injured or killed,'' Christian said. "This was very good work by our deputies and a special shout-out goes to Deputy Gunner's well-trained nose. Hats off to those dispatchers also, they played a key role in this ending successfully."
"I can't tell you how happy we were to find them safe and return them to their parents."