Father, Son Who Died During Duck Hunting Trip ID'd
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HUNT COUNTY (CBSDFW.COM) - Authorities identified a father and his 5-year-old son this afternoon after the two died while duck hunting on Monday.
Their bodies were recovered in Lake Tawakoni in Hunt County, nearly 12 hours apart.
Corey Saunders, 26 and his son Nathan were inseparable, according to a GoFundMe campaign set up to help the family, including wife and mother, Megan Clark, with funeral arrangements.
Captain Steve Stapleton, with the Texas Game Warden's Office said Nathan died of accidental drowning and that medical examiners have not given a cause of death yet for the father.
They took their boat out on the water at around 5:30 a.m. Monday but a storm with strong winds blew through the area shortly after, according to Cpt. Stapleton.
Crews began searching the lake with boats.
The family Labrador retriever survived the boating accident. He was found on shore and began to bark, when crews reached the area where the victims were later found.
"The dog swam a considerable distance to shore. When crews got in the area, that dog would not stop barking and yapping. He kept running in and out of the water," says Stapleton.
The Nathan's body was found around 11:30 p.m. Monday night. He was not wearing a life jacket when he was found. The body of his father was found Tuesday.
The cause of the accident is still under investigation, but authorities believe that the weather, the small size of the boat, and its load likely played a role.
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