Whitefish man's death ruled an accidental drowning

The Daily Inter Lake

Accidental drowning caused the death of Gary A. Nelson of Whitefish on Sept. 5 at Four Horns Reservoir south of Browning, Glacier County Undersheriff Jeff Fauque said Tuesday.

"There was a couple of different scenarios that we came up with that could have possibly led to the accident," Fauque said of his department's investigation and preliminary autopsy results.

"To say exactly what happened, we probably never will know," Fauque said. "But we are comfortable with classifying this as an accident."

Toxicology results from the State Crime Lab in Missoula may not be available for another month or two, he said, but there was no sign that anybody else was nearby at the time of Nelson's death.

Scratches on Nelson's head and face easily could be attributed to branches and rocks on the lake bottom.

Nelson took along his two German shorthair dogs over the Labor Day weekend on a solo fishing trip at the reservoir on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation near Heart Butte.

He had fished the area many times before, a family friend and fishing partner said.

On Sept. 5, his boat was found floating in the lake with one of the dogs in it, while the other dog was on shore at Nelson's camp site.

Following the lead of one dog that dove into the lake, searchers found Nelson's body that afternoon in about 10 feet of water.