Bob Gist and Brad Carlisle are both State Farm insurance agents who treated themselves to a fishing trip on Granada Lake in Mississippi. But a normal day on the water took an unexpected turn when they heard dogs barking. Lots of dogs barking.

Their professional guide, Jordan Chrestman of Tri-Lake Guide Service, reacted instantly. He turned the boat and raced full speed across the massive lake. Gist says when they finally caught up with the dogs he could barely believe his eyes.

“We’re just flabbergasted because it’s dogs everywhere, and they’re all going in different directions because they can no longer see the bank on either side.”

Gist explained, “The dogs were at least a mile offshore…The way their heads were in the water, there’s no way they could see the shore. They were dog paddling and completely lost.”

Without another soul in sight, the three men started hauling dogs out of the water. When they recognized radio tracking collars on the animals, they realized they were in the midst of a huge pack of hunting dogs. They grabbed as many dogs as they could, but soon had a problem. Chrestman has a small bass boat, an open-top affair with an outboard engine. And it was completely full of dogs.

With the hounds hanging on in the bow, the three fishermen turned the boat and headed for land. There, they found the dogs’ owners who were understandably concerned. During a fox hunt, a group of hunting hounds took off after a deer. The deer jumped into the lake to escape. It proved it could outswim the dogs, leaving the animals trapped.

Getting the dogs out of the boat was a bit tricky, because many of them were terrified to get back into the water. But soon the men had the craft empty and turned around for the rest of the dogs.

When they returned, they found many of the dogs so tired that they needed to reach into the water and lift their heads so they could breathe. They filled the boat again. In the end, it took three trips to bring all 38 hunting hounds ashore. But the owners said every single dog survived.

The three fishermen refused any money for saving the dogs. Of course, Gist made light of the situation. He said of the trip, “We didn’t reel in a lot of fish…but we reeled in a lot of dogs.” The two State Farm insurance salesmen also joked about the company slogan: “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.” But in the end, they didn’t take much credit.

Gist said, “If Brad and I had been there in a boat by ourselves, we wouldn’t have known anything was wrong.” He admitted that guide Jordan Chrestman deserved the credit, “The hero here is Jordan…if it wasn’t for Jordan, there would have been 38 dead dogs.”

Next, read how the goodest dog ran 4 miles to get his owner help after a truck crash in the forest, or learn more about rescuing the dogs in the video below: