Body Recovered, Search Continues For Hunter Missing At Kaw Lake

Troopers recovered the body of a man after a Fayetteville, Arkansas musician and his friend went missing after going duck hunting on Kaw Lake in north central Oklahoma Sunday.

KFSM, the CBS affiliate in Fort Smith, reports Craig Strickland, of Backroad Anthem, and his friend Chase Morland went duck hunting and haven’t had contact with their families in 24 hours, according to a post on the band’s Facebook page.

“As some of you may know at this point yesterday early morning about 2 a.m. Craig Strickland & his good friend Chase Morland headed out to go duck hunting. We received a text last night from Randy Strickland asking us band members to pray for Craig and Chase because they had not made any kind of contact with families in 24 hours. We do know they issued a search party which ended last night about 2 a.m., and that they were resuming the search party this morning at 6:30 a.m. We are asking all fans to please pray for Craig & Chase to be found safe and sound. Please also pray for Craigs family, his wife, and for us band members. We love you guys and we appreciate your ever loving support for our dream.”

OHP said they recovered Morland's body just after 11:00 Monday morning. They are still searching for Strickland.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol said it was notified late Sunday and a capsized boat was located just after midnight early Monday, but the hunters were nowhere to be found. The search resumed late Monday morning and was suspended Monday evening due to weather and fading light.

They said the search will continue Tuesday morning.

Strickland is married to Miss Arkansas Helen Wiser and is originally from Alma.