Two men piloting a canoe helped save the life of a deer that became disoriented while swimming in Barron Lake on Christmas day in Niles.

Niles realtor Brian Floor watched the scene unfold from his home on the north end of Barron Lake Sunday. Floor said he and his family were eating lunch at around noon when he saw a large brown animal swimming towards the northeast part of the lake from the south.

“I thought to myself, ‘is that a deer? It can’t be,” Floor said. “I took out my binoculars, and, sure enough, it was a deer.”

Floor and his family watched the deer swim closer and closer to shore. At some point, a man piloting a jet ski appeared and began circling around the deer taking pictures.

When the jet ski left, Floor said the deer turned away from shore and began swimming back south.

“I don’t think it was intentional, but the jet ski might have scared the deer,” Floor said. “I was surprised to see it turn around, but I wasn’t too worried about it because I know deer are good swimmers.”

About an hour later, two men in a white canoe showed up and began paddling behind the deer, which was swimming northeast again. They corralled the deer to the shore, about “six doors down” from Floor’s home.

Floor said the deer sat in the shallow water for a few minutes before getting up and sprinting away.

“It must have been exhausted,” Floor said. “The lake is about a mile long, so it must have swam a couple miles.”

Floor said he doesn’t know the two men who helped the deer, but he thinks they came from the east side of the lake.

“We were just grateful they had access to a boat and had the compassion to go out there and help encourage this animal to get back to the shoreline,” Floor said. “It was just a neat thing to see on Christmas day.”

Floor posted a video of the rescue on YouTube. The video is titled “The Christmas Deer Rescue Barron Lake Niles Michigan 2011.”