The body of a missing duck hunter in Jackson County was found early Monday, two days after his kayak capsized on Lake Guntersville.
Brooks Hardie’s body was recovered about 3:30 a.m. near the Goose Pond Resort. Hardie was 22 and lived in Georgia.
Hardie graduated from Bremen High School in 2021, where he was a standout baseball player. He went on to play for Snead State Community College before graduating this past spring.
“He was the true definition of Snead State baseball,” Casey Underwood, athletic director and head baseball coach posted on Facebook. “He cared more about the guy to his right and left than he did himself.”
“He wanted nothing more than to make the guys next him much better,’’ Underwood said.
“This boy had a piece of my heart the minute he walked into my 8th grade classroom,’’ wrote former teacher Tracey Morris. “Brooks loved big, and you always knew where you stood with him.”
“The last time I saw him, he immediately stopped hitting to come sit with me,’’ Morris wrote. “We talked for an hour about life, the Lord and the future.”
“Our hearts ae broken,’’ wrote Canes Southeast Baseball.
“To say that our hearts are broke would be an understatement,’’ Blue Devil Baseball posted on Facebook. “Brooks was the identity of our baseball team for many years.”
“I still see his impact on our team multiple years after he graduated,’’ the team wrote. “The way he prepared, competed and led the way will never be forgotten.”
Around 8 a.m. Saturday, Hardie was duck hunting from a kayak on Lake Guntersville when the kayak capsized, causing Hardie to go under.
Crews from multiple agencies have been searching for Hardie since Saturday morning, including the ALEA’s Marine Patrol Division and Aviation Unit, officers from the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Scottsboro/Jackson County and Rosalee rescue squads, the Guntersville Fire Department, Crane Hill Fire and Rescue, Logan Fire and Rescue and the North Alabama Search Dog Association.
