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Anglers are used to catching trout at First Dam on the Logan River. Trophy-sized elk are another matter.

But that's what happened Tuesday when a mature bull elk, which average about 700 pounds, scampered onto thin ice above the dam and fell into the frigid water, sparking a rescue that required much more than hooking a line to his antlers.

"We got along the side of him, grabbed him by the antlers and just towed him to the side," said Gary Cook, a Utah Division of Wildlife Resources employee at the state-run Cache Valley Shooting Range who helped with the rescue. "There was no fight. He was exhausted. We went fishing and we caught a lunker."

("Lunker" is an angler's term for an especially large catch, usually fish).

Employees at the Utah State University Water Research Lab, just below the dam, watched in dismay at about 11 a.m. as the bull headed for the ice.

"It seemed like he was startled by something and he ran across the thick ice," said USU employee Chris Thomas. "When he got to the main channel he broke through. He struggled quite a bit to get on top of the ice or to break his way to shore, but the ice was too thick."

Lab employees called Cache County Sheriff's deputies and wildlife officers, who arrived to find a crowd gathered at the river.

"We knew we needed to get him out as quickly as possible. There were a lot of people concerned about him, but we were concerned about them," Cook said. "We didn't want anybody to get hurt."

Using a state boat stored at the Cache Valley Shooting Range, the rescuers used sledge hammers to break ice to reach the animal and to clear a path to shore.

The bull had been in the water for at least 90 minutes and appeared exhausted by the time rescuers launched the boat.

Rescuers planned to lasso the bull by his antlers and pull him to shore, but simply grabbed the tired animal and pulled him to safety.

The bull wasn't able to stand, prompting rescuers to roll the animal on a tarp and carry him to a trailer. Wildlife biologist Darren Debloois took the bull's temperature, finding it had dropped to 80 degrees from a normal 100 degrees.

But after warming overnight in the trailer in a heated building at the shooting range, the bull was raring to go this morning.

Wildlife officials released him at the nearby Hardware Ranch Wildlife Management Area to join other elk that gather annually in Blacksmith Fork Canyon.

Cook said the bull blasted out of the trailer and sent a little kick in the direction of the rescuers, as if to let them know he would be fine.

--- BRETT PRETTYMAN can be contacted at brettp@sltrib.com" Target="_BLANK">brettp@sltrib.com or 801-257-8902.