CATAHOULA — A 10-year-old tried desperately to save his father from drowning after the 36-year-old duck hunter fell out of his fishing boat Saturday morning, but the weight became unbearable and the boy was forced to kiss his father goodbye and swim to land for help, a family member said.

Catahoula’s Archie Vicknair was duck hunting with his son, Ridge, around 6:30 a.m. in an Atachafalaya Basin lake near Catahoula when he fell overboard from his Go-Devil boat and drowned, authorities said.

Richard Poche is the uncle of Mady, Vicknair’s wife. He was deer hunting on land about a mile away at the time of the accident. Poche said he spoke with Ridge about what happened.

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“Archie must have slipped and hit his head then fell into the water, which is about 5 feet deep there,” Poche said. “Ridge was trying to pull him out but the weight became unbearable. He pushed his father up so his head was out of the water.”

Poche said Ridge kept trying to hold onto the boat and hold onto his father at the same time.

“All of a sudden his dad quit breathing,” Poche said. “He looked into his father’s eyes and could tell his father was dead. At that point he realized his own life was in danger as his legs were beginning to get cold from the water. After realizing his dad had died, he kissed him on the forehead and said he loved him. This is a little boy in an alligator-infested swamp.”

Poche said what is especially amazing is Ridge has an eye condition known as Achromatopsia.

“He’s legally blind, but fortunately this happened before daybreak and he can see better in the dark,” Poche said, adding Ridge then swam about 400 yards back to land to get help.

“An assistant coroner from St. Martin Parish went out and pronounced (Vicknair) dead on the scene,” Capt. Lastie Cormier of the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ Enforcement Division said.

Vicknair and hundreds other Teche Area waterfowl hunters were out Saturday for the opening of the 2008-09 waterfowl hunting season in Louisiana’s East Zone. West Zone duck and goose hunting opened a week earlier.

Cormier said Vicknair was not wearing a personal flotation device at the time of the accident, and alcohol is not suspected as a factor in the accident.

“With this cold weather, we urge everyone to wear their life vest and jackets,” Cormier said.

Vicknair worked as a contract welder for New Iberia-based Superior Derrick Services LLC. His sister, Lisa Vicknair, said he was a lifelong outdoorsman.

“He loved hunting, fishing, golf and playing with his kids,” Lisa Vicknair said this morning. “It was all so sudden. He’s going to be missed.”

Vicknair is survived by his wife Mady, Ridge, and daughter Dru.