There is little that is exciting to an Outdoorsman than the anticipation of the hunt or fishing trip. There isn't enough coffee to describe how awake you are and the pounding of your heartbeat when you hear footsteps, the honking or quacking of your prey or a splash on the water right in front of you. These are the good moments that God provides for you.
There are also the challenges during the hunt just like life. This is one of them.
Ed Strickland describes his Canadian hunt below:
Well I have just returned from my yearly trip to Canada where each year several of us head up to do some waterfowl hunting and just relax and enjoy the beauty of that area and each other company.
This was a special year as well because I had my eighteen-year-old son Dale along with me. It has been five years since he has been to Canada with me. This hunt was a graduation gift from Frances and me. Also an Old Friend Odell Thompson who took me up to Canada for the first time about nine years ago. I was looking forward to hunting with the two of them this trip as well as the other fellows I go with each year.
We headed out before dawn Monday to hunt a pothole that had been scouted by a couple of the guys Sunday evening. It was just perfect conditions for a good duck shoot with tall cattails and bulrush all around. The fog was heavy and you just could see the water.
Just at seven AM official shooting time it just rained ducks, three and four at a time they dropped out of the fog right into the decoys wings cupped and flipping right down in perfect range for us all to get good shots. We ended the morning with six limits in about one hour. WOW! What an awesome start to the week.
Afterwards we headed in to have some breakfast and recap the morning and plan try and figure out how we were going to top that hunt.
Tuesday we went out to the field and set up on some Canada geese we had scouted the day before. Sure enough another great hunt and we got about thirty geese and ten ducks on the morning. Half of the geese were greater or big honkers and we had two weighed that came in about thirteen pounds each. These birds were huge.
Wednesday was a bit slower and we had to scout pretty hard to find some birds to hunt for the rest of the week and we decided to check out that pothole again because we knew we had not hurt the population of ducks and it should have settled down enough to have another crack at them one afternoon. So we decided Thursday after lunch to go get’em.
It was just a beautiful afternoon, to beautiful for ducking, but hey we were hunting so I’m not complaining. Sure enough the ducks were there and we had another good shoot. With darkness quickly closing in we decided it was time to pick up. Karl Blackley and myself headed in to get up the decoys and the days bounty.
This pot hole as beautiful has it was from the outside was a mess on the inside with mush for a bottom that the moment you stopped your feet sank about a foot. Well Karl headed to one side and me the other. I headed out to retrieve a duck that had drifted out toward the middle. The water was about waist deep and about the time I got to the duck I started to loose my balance and down I went. I landed on my knee and immediately started to sink in the muck. Well this was not good and my waders were taking on water fast. It was right then the cold temperature of that water hit me and away went my breath. This water is black as used motor oil and as I was going under I knew if I went down and could not get back up the guy’s would never find me, so as I was headed under I called out to Karl that I was in trouble. At that time I started fighting with all my life to keep my head above water and try and dig my way to the bank. I had forgotten and left on a fleece and neoprene pullover and it was getting heavier by the second, to the point I could not right myself back up so I had to dig with my hands and push with my feet all the while sinking in the muck. Each pull felt like someone was adding weight to my back.
Karl was about fifty yards from me, and with that bottom like it was he could only move toward me but so fast and as he tried he kept yelling for me to get to the bank. “Keep going Ed, Get to the bank, don’t stop!” Dale and the other guys could only watch as I struggled to get in shallow enough water to keep from drowning. As I approached the bank and thought I was there the water started getting deeper as I had picked a spot with a drop off close to the edge, but thank God I made it. This water was cold, it was frozen just a week before and I was out of breath and shaking like crazy and Karl was still trying to get to me all I could do wait. I tried to stand up only to fall back in so I just lay there trying to catch my breath until he could help me up and out.
Well wrapped up and in the truck with the heat on I was safe. All that had just happened shook us all and realized how quick things like this can happen.
As I laid in bed that night thinking about the events of the day, a thought came to my mind, you see earlier that day we asked Dale my son to find a pair of waders that fit him so he could help in the water. He’s a size thirteen and the largest we had were twelve’s and he could not get his feet in any we had. And then it hit me, had those waders fit him that could have been him in that water. That could have been me on the bank watching helplessly as he struggled to safety. It was not the he might not know what to do in that situation, or that he would have handled it any different than I did. I just had that peace that I was the one supposed to be in those waders.
A funny side to this story that came to my mind on the plane ride home as I was thinking back, I never let go of that duck. When Karl was getting closer to me I chunked that duck toward the bank and he asked, “What was that?” I said, “It was that stupid duck I went after”. I don’t know why I held on to it so tight.
Later I thought about a verse in Ecclesiastes. Verse 4-10 talks about one that falls and his friend can help him up, but pity the man that falls and has no one to help him. I was glad God and Karl were there to pick me up.
I try to practice safety whether I’m hunting or fishing and we actually have hunter safety courses at our church. But I came face to face with how quickly things can go wrong and how blessed I was to survive. Another thought came to mind about that day. What if I had drowned in that pothole in Canada? What if that were my last hunt. And I realized how Glad I am that I know Jesus Christ has my Savior. And I don’t have to fear death or dying. Do I want to die? Well sure I don’t, Like Paul says for me to die is gain. I would be in heaven with my Lord. What about you friend? If you found yourself facing death in any situation, do you know what your eternal outcome would be? Could you have the same peace that I did and know you would go to heaven? Or is it possible you could spend eternity in Hell separated from God Forever? Be sure! There is only one way and that way is
through the saving grace of a loving God through the Blood and sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ for us.
If you are not sure and you need some guidance call me anytime, because one day your going to be in some sort of pothole and you want have your friend Christ to help you up.
God Bless
Ed Strickland
919-422-1111
By any scale, this was a success for the ministry and for the hunting tradition.
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