What a weekend, Thank you Lord!! (Long but worth it!!)

[longbeard11]

Well the weekend started for me with a "sick" day on Friday, it was the last two days of turkey season and I still had a tag, I had to be in the woods, it wasnt an option!  Me and good buddy Nathan Stevens took off to the farm in Calhoun, we knew there were a bunch of gobblers there and chances were good to fill my tag.  He had the camera and we had hoped to get some good footage to end the season.  Got there plenty early, the words were dead silent, with heavy fog, OH NO!!! We hunted hard all over the farm and only heard one gobble one time about 9 oclock and never another thing. We pulled camera cards (card was full of gobblers and growing bucks) and left with the boat in tow to do a little fishing. Well in the first 15 minutes of fishing Nathan hooked and lost a nice musky, motored on up and floated down a bank and he had a nice one come up and slam his bait, hard fight netted it, pics and release (underwater footage is awesome!). Nice 38.5" in fish.  We lost one other one about the same size.

Well my good buddy Chris had been texting me trying to figure out plan for Saturday, "idk we could go back to calhoun, but didnt hear anything" i said. He responded with "how about the lake?".  I said "yup thats a good idea". So Saturday morning Nathan and I were up bright and early running on 3 hours of sleep and heading north to pick up chris.  We got on the lake before daylight and it was a beautiful day.  We took a second to bow our heads and thank God for another amazing day and ask for his hand of protection on us and for him to show his favor on us that day.  We went on hooting and calling, never could get one to gobble on the roost, so we said, "time to fish", thats the good thing about hunting a lake, if the turkeys dont act right, you can turn around and fish.  So we fished, raised a couple good muskies, about 9 oclock I gave chris a new bait to cast (he had never caught a musky before or even been so that was part one of the mission for the day).  We had an awesome powerful conversation going about God and his calling in our life, and BOOM!! Explosion boatside and Chris let out a big scream!! He was so excited he could barely stand it, that fish blew up on his bait, hard fight, we netted it, got it all on camera, good underwater footage on the release.  Turned out to be a beautiful 33 inch fish, and his first one ever, welcome to the addiction my friend, your welcome. He had to sit down because of the rubber band legs.


So we continued to float down the bank and one of my buddies came around the bend bass fishing, we motored over to him and started talking.  He said "i just heard a turkey in that hollow over there gobbling good about 15 minutes ago"  thanks man, and off we went!! Got in that cove and shut the motor off and called and he cut me off on the mountain side. I called one more time to locate him and he was all the way on top, time to go! We parked the boat and started up this huge mountain to get to our last day bird.  We knew he was all alone, and ready to play the game.  We get to the top and he gobbles twice on his own out in a pretty feild off the point from us, scramble time to get set up.  We set up and start calling and filming, hes gobbling and us every time, just a matter of minutes and this dude is toast!! Well about that time a hen starts yelping down in the hollow from us and working up the hill, OH NO!!!! She walks right up to him, gets him and off they go, she takes him back down the hollow and up the other side, him gobbling the whole way. We were so dejected and let down about this, we just knew our season was over, what a way to end it.  As we went back down the mountain on to the boat, dripping wet with sweat, Chris said "well thats the end of our 2013 season boy, more than likely, sorry Zach we couldnt get him for you." we were all excited we got on a last day bird but very sad we couldnt get it done on him, but thats hunting.

We got back to the boat and changed into our shorts and flip flops to fish and took off down the lake to fish some other spots for the day.  As we were going to our spot we looked out ahead of us and saw something flying across the lake right on top of the water, it couldnt be! Nathan said "Is that a turkey?", Chris says "yup, gobbler, get up there and pull off, Zach get your camo on and your gun" SCRAMBLE MODE!!!  We get up there and I hope out and walk up the hill, there they are, three gobblers walking up the hill together.  I get on them and shoot, rolled him and he comes rolling down the hill to me.  WOW!!!!!!!  Killed this bird at 12:15, last hour of the last day, how awesome, and crazy is that!?!?!  Turned out to be a good two year old bird, about an 8 1/2 inch beard and 3/4 spurs, beautiful fan on him and a hunt with my soul brothers I will never forget, what a day!!! This was the end to one of my toughest seasons I have ever had, but turned out to be one of my most rewarding ever!! Got to take my wife and good friend Rob on their first out of state hunt to VA, was able to call in my buddy Nathan's first bird and have Chris there with us to film it all, able to get Chris his first musky, and kill my first public land bird with them all in the same day. I am just truly blessed beyond measure and my cup is still overflowing!! Now for some pics.











The very next day my buddy that is also on our staff messages me saying he just caught a STUD musky, one of his best.  Big 48 inch monster, inhaled a bucktail. Super happy for him as he has had a rough go this spring, the Lord was really watching out for him and blessed him that day.  Our God is so good and has really had his hand of blessing on us at Grunt Gobble & Gills Outdoors and we cant thank him enough. Here is a pic of that beast.


In conclusion to all this, I just want to say how thankful I am for my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for blessing us with such an amazing weekend on the water and in the woods.  We were very humbled as I pulled the trigger on my bird because just a few minutes before we were down in the mouth and saying our season was over, then here this bird is gift wrapped for us. If we wouldnt have left that other bird when we did, we would have never seen this bird fly across the lake, we would have gone right on by, but God had a bigger plan for us, it was in his hands all along, and we doubted it was going to happen. Never ever doubt your God, because he is so much bigger than we are and has the ultimate plan in our life, we have no idea what he has for us, but its all in his hands!! Thank you Lord for your showers of endless blessings in my life and how you have allowed us to show your love through our love for the great outdoors, just cant thank you enough!!! Sorry for the long read guys, but Im still on a emotional and spiritual high after a day like Saturday, hope you enjoyed.

[Gold Spur]

Congrats on the awesome birds and fish. Great pics also..   

[jblackburn]

Great pics! Congrats!

[DirtNap647]

congrats looks like an awesome weekend

[Wrangler95]

 


Very nice gobbler,congrats!Thanks always to God for sure!

[WiLL B]

  Congrats!!

[Gobble!]

That looks like a blast. Caught my first muskie last year can't wait to start fishing for them once I get some more equipment.

[longbeard11]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it!! Yeah it was definitely a blast, there is nothing like musky fishing and nothing like turkey hunting,  and to be able to do it in the same place and get it done in the same day, I would have just never imagined! We were truly blessed that day, just cant thank the Lord enough for a day like that, that just doesnt happen very often.