Dale recently retired and Zita had the day off from work. Not wanting to get in too big of hurry, and catching up on some well-deserved rest, Zita opted to sleep in and take it easy. A leisurely start to the morning found the couple setting up in a turkey blind about 9 a.m. on land where Zita grew up. She's fished all her life and hunted on occasion, but really enjoyed turkey hunting since the couple met and married two decades ago.
"I love turkey hunting," Zita said. "It's spring, and you've been inside all winter and it's just nice to get out."
Dale fired off a few yelps on his turkey call and got a response nearly too remote to register.
"He couldn't have been any further away," Dale laughed.
But the love-sick tom was looking for company. He took his sweet time coming hundreds of yards until he finally broke into their field and stepped up his pace a bit when he spotted the decoys. He was gobbling and strutting as Dale was videotaping the hunt on his cell phone. The big gobbler eased closer and the audible click of the safety on Zita's 12 gauge meant she was about to get down to business. The 21-pound tom, undeterred, kept strutting right into range.
"BOOM!" and the turkey started flopping.
"It about knocked me off my bucket," Zita said laughing as Dale panned over to her to get her reaction.
Zita's bird was a beautiful one. After posing for a few photos, the couple laid a plan for the rest of the day.
"Let's go crappie fishing," Dale said.
Zita didn't need any convincing so they loaded up a small boat and headed to a watershed pond nearby.
"Dale caught the most, but I caught the biggest," Zita laughed.
And big it was! Although they didn't have a scale, Zita's largemouth bass looked to be at least 6-7 pounds, maybe bigger. Another lunker largemouth in the 4-5 pound range had Zita particularly pleased with her fishing success and the day as a whole.
"It was just a wonderful day," she said. "It was absolutely perfect and we enjoyed every minute of it."
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