Men of the Outdoors

MOTO Northern Wisconsin Fishing Trip The recent fires in the Boundary Waters forced MOTO to cancel our planned trip to the wilderness. In leu of doing nothing we came up with Plan B. Our new plan was to fish a number of different lakes in the Northern Wisconsin area. The plan called to fish a variety for different type of lakes that would present different challenges. Day one we ventured to Bearskin Lake which is a 400 acre that holds musky’s, walleyes and panfish. We found the lake to have a lot of green algae which didn’t help our search for fish. We did manage to bag several fish but no were near enough for a meal. Day two we took off to the Willow Flowage which is a 5,000-acre flowage. The flowage has a variety of different structures; a number of islands and the Tomahawk River runs through the flowage. This was our biggest challenge with the flowage was the water level was down 8 feet. Virtually all of the structures were above the water and the only safe place to fish was in the ...

This Devotion was written by Sportsmen Devotional and posted with permission Bible Study Verse: Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus. Isaiah 40:29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. NIV Thoughts; Go ahead and do it—no one will ever know; have you ever whispered this to yourself? Let’s face it; sportsmen face temptations: slip to the pond that no one fishes, cross the property line and go to a gobbling tom, take a shot at a buck just after legal shooting time, or ride an ATV across posted land. The temptations are numerous, and you have probably faced many in the outdoors. How have you handled these temptations? When I have met the lure of similar things, I’ve often wondered if anyone else knows what it’s like or fa...

This Devotion was written by Sportsmen Devotional and posted with permission Bible Study Verse: Colossians 3:2  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. NIV. Thoughts: Turkey hunters spend a lot of time chasing spring gobblers, myself included. We think about it long before the season opens. We get up early mornings for pre-season scouting and listening to locate gobblers to hunt. And when the season arrives, we’re obsessed. We scout, put out trail cameras, burn vacation days at work, drive many miles, and do whatever it takes to try to fill our tags for the monarch of the spring—we put in the effort, and it’s our primary focus during the season. If you’re not a turkey hunter, you can swap turkey hunting for whatever your passion might be: deer, elk, duck, or pheasant hunting; maybe it’s fly fishing, camping, hiking, or any outdoor passion you enjoy. The point is, we focus on what we love to do. Action Point: I often ask myself whether I am hunting for Jesus with more...

This Devotion was written by Sportsmen Devotional and posted with permission Bible Study Verse: Romans 6:23 (NASB) “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Thoughts: Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a fatal neurological disease affecting deer, elk, moose, and other cervids. It is a prion disease, caused not by bacteria or viruses but by misfolded proteins the body cannot destroy. As prions build up, they damage brain tissue, leaving microscopic holes that give the brain a sponge-like appearance. This damage disrupts coordination, behavior, and the ability to eat and drink. The disease progresses slowly, during which infected animals may appear healthy while damage continues unseen. CWD is always fatal. There is no cure, vaccine, or natural immunity. Once symptoms such as extreme weight loss, loss of coordination, drooling, and abnormal behavior appear, death is inevitable. Prions persist in soil for years, allowing the disease...

This Devotion was written by Sportsmen Devotional and posted with permission Bible Study Verse: Mark 7:5-13 – 5  So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?” 6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain, their teachings are merely human rules.’[a] 8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” 9 And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe[b] your own traditions! (NIV©) Thoughts: Traditions. There are many in hunting and fishing. Get on a deep-sea fishing boat and break out a bunch of bananas to eat on your way to the fishing spot and old school Captains just might throw you overboard! At the least, the bananas are going away...

This Devotion was written by Sportsmen Devotional and posted with permission Bible Study Verse: Ephesians 4:17-24 S o I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in Him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. NIV) Thoughts: As I read this Scr...