Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries enforcement agents rescued a missing father and his two sons today (Nov. 3) in Union Parish, after the trio failed to return from D’Arbonne National Wildlife Refuge.
Agents received a call from the Union Parish Sheriff’s Office shortly after 9 p.m. yesterday about Timothy Thomas, 36, and his two sons, age 7 and 10, who hadn’t returned from a deer-scouting trip in the refuge.
The man and his two sons left the Holland’s Bluff boat launch around 2 p.m. yesterday.
LDWF agents found Thomas and his two sons shortly after midnight on the bank of Bayou D’Arbonne about five miles from the Holland’s Bluff boat launch.
Agents transported the family back to the Joe Bob’s landing, where medical personnel were already standing by. Everyone was treated for mild dehydration and hypothermia and released.
“These agents performed a search-and-rescue mission under very adverse conditions, and successfully returned a man and his two sons to safety. The rainy, foggy and nighttime conditions made it very difficult to traverse the waterway and to find the lost party, but these agents were able to persevere,” LDWF’s Col. Winton Vidrine said. “This is a very fortunate event as now the man and his two sons can reunite with the rest of the family and move forward with a good story to tell.”