GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - The hunter who was saved from spending more than 20 minutes in the icy Colorado River Tuesday is doing well and out of the hospital.

John Leyh spent two nights in the hospital and was treated for hypothermia.

Leyh was hunting near the river when his dog fell in while trying to retrieve a duck.

Leyh safely got his dog out but wasn't so lucky himself.

The firefighter, who came to Leyh’s rescue, happened to be a familiar face.

"When I was about 30 yards from him, he turned and I recognized his face," said Ryan Jordan, with the Grand Junction Fire Department.

"He said ‘this is Ryan Jordan’ and we've known Ryan most of his life and I looked up and I just knew I was safe then," said John Leyh.

The rescue fire fighter, Ryan Jordan, is a good family friend of Leyh's.

But the two say the real heroes that day were the hunters on the other side of the river that called 911 when they saw Leyh stuck.

Leyh said that without them, there would have been a different outcome.