Coon hunter rescued from Edisto – Cordova chief says ‘Time was not in our favor’

Justin Jayroe arrived a little early for the Grand American Coon Hunt “to get to know the dogs some.”

He went out for some practice at about 9:45 p.m. New Year’s Eve while his wife and children stayed at a friend’s Cordova home and popped some firecrackers.

Jayroe took his dog and a friend’s dog into the woods. The dogs crossed the Edisto River a couple of times. He decided to retrieve them in an area near Clemson Drive in Cordova.

Jayroe managed to get the dogs on a leash, but he then got tangled in the leash and fell into the river.

“The dogs were pulling me” as he gripped the leash and fought the current of the Edisto River.

“I let the dogs go and the current swept me under,” Jayroe said. The dogs made it to shore and sat under a tree.

Meanwhile, “The current slammed me into a tree that was under the water,” Jayroe said.

The tree had a limb poking up from the water and Jayroe grabbed it as tight as he could.

He took off his boots.

He was wearing a waterproof vest that held his cellphone and wallet.

It was difficult to use his cold, wet fingers on his cellphone, so he hollered for help instead.

After a little while, his family and friends heard his pleas.

He yelled, telling them he was in the middle of the river and couldn’t get out.

“I just kept holding and holding,” he said. “I was just hanging onto that limb, but was cold.”

His family called 911 and let him know that rescue crews were on the way.

Cordova Fire Chief Kyle Hardison said emergency departments were dispatched to a “drowning” and the “victim was unresponsive,” according to what dispatchers told rescue crews.

Within 30 seconds of the call, he and firefighter Jackson Giacomarro got a fire engine on the way to the narrow dirt road that led to the Edisto River.

As members of the Cordova Fire Department talked with Jayroe’s distraught wife, Giacomarro heard a faint yell and saw a little bit of light moving down the river, Hardison said.

Hardison and Giacomarro went toward Jayroe.

The area was swampy and dark.

They walked through edge of the river where the water was ankle-deep and sometimes waist-high, Hardison said.

They went about one-quarter of a mile.

They found the dogs at the base of a tree.

Jayroe was about 100 yards from the dogs.

Jayroe told Hardison and Giacomarro that he was very weak and cold, saying he’d been there for about 45 minutes to one hour.

Giacomarro told Jayroe to take off his hip waders to make himself lighter in case he had to swim.

“While talking to (Jayroe), I quickly learned that time was not in our favor,” Hardison said.

“We didn’t have enough time to get a dive boat in or make some type of boat rescue,” he added.

Hardison saw a pile of vines on the riverbank a short distance from Jayroe.

They had to act fast.

Hardison told Jayroe to let go of the limb and swim as hard as he could toward the vines.

Hardison assured Jayroe that he’d grab him.

Hardison jumped in the water and Jayroe let go of the limb, swam and clutched the tip of a vine.

Hardison grabbed Jayroe underneath his arms and swam him back to the bank where Giacomarro met them.

Giacomarro was able to get Hardison out of the river.

“I walked out barefooted and everything,” Jayroe said.

He said, “There must have been 50 people there” with heated blankets and other items to make him and his rescuers comfortable.

“Once I was out of the water, I was fine,” Jayroe said

He was tired and wanted to lie down on the ground for a minute, but his rescuers helped him get to a nearby ambulance.

He waited there instead.

Gradually, his body temperature started going up.

Jayroe is feeling better, except for soreness from the ordeal, he said.

Other agencies that assisted in the rescue include the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office, Orangeburg County EMS, Orangeburg County Office of Emergency Services and the Canaan Fire Department Dive Team, Hardison said.