Stranded deer gets helping hand; ‘She needed to get off the ice’

A Wisconsin man who saw a deer stranded on an icy reservoir discovered that the safest way to rescue the animal was simply to keep pushing.

The accompanying footage shows Gil Lencour performing the unconventional rescue in Cranmoor on Tuesday, in footage captured by his friend, John Moss.

Lencour told Fox 19 Now that since the doe was stranded in the middle of the reservoir, far from shore, his original plan was to use a leash to pull her to safety.

But when the deer kept falling while trying to stand, Lencour used both hands to calm her down. “I just kind of put my hands on her and started pushing,” he said. “I could slide her across the ice and just kept going, and got to the shore and she took off.”

Moss told Fox 19 Now that he began to document the rescue only when he was sure Lencour had things under control.

Lencour said he didn’t think twice about whether to keep driving when he saw the stranded animal. “She needed to get off the ice and I was the only one around to help her,” he said.