Two men were duck hunting in a 10' aluminum jon boat on Medicine Lake. The operator was sitting on a bench seat at the stern. The second male occupant was sitting on the middle bench seat. Both had their shotguns on board and Victim was actively looking to shoot a bird .  While sitting, Victim took a shot over the starboard side of the boat. The recoil of the shotgun knocked Victim off the seat toward the port side, near the stern, at Operator's feet. The boat rocked, but stayed afloat. A short time later, Victim took a second shot over the starboard side. Again, the recoil knocked Victim backwards to the same spot as before. This time the boat rocked more and the port side transom dipped under the water causing water to rush into the boat. The boat sank rapidly and capsized, expelling Operator and Victim into the water.  Neither occupant was wearing a PFD, but quickly found them as they floated to the surface. Operator was able to obtain his PFD and Victim grabbed his PFD along with a seat cushion. Neither put the PFDs on and just held onto them. Approximately 50 yards from shore, Operator told Victim they needed to swim to shore. Victim said he couldn't and would not try. Operator stayed with Victim and helped keep him stay afloat as he became weaker. After approximately 40 minutes in the water, an Idaho Fish and Game air boat arrived and pulled both Operator and Victim out of the water. Victim was flown by helicopter to Kootenai Medical Center where he later died from complications related to hypothermia. 

I checked the capacity of the Lowe jon boat via their website and located a boat with almost identical design and dimensions. The only difference was the boat involved in this incident was 6" narrower at the beam. Based on this, I determined this boat to have a maximum weight capacity of 275 lbs with a person capacity of two people/180 lbs. The operator alone exceeded the maximum capacity of this boat as he weighed 215 lbs. The two occupants combined weighed 345 lbs. I determined the minimum total weight of this boat was 410 lbs., far exceeding the maximum capacity of 275 lbs. Also, this boat was not registered as required, did not have a sound producing device, and did not have an invasive species sticker

Medimont                      