By Audrey Posten

Since her childhood love of geography and social studies, 95-year-old Joan Saunders has always been interested in new learning experiences.

“The big world we had—it wasn’t little Iowa, out on a farm,” she said. “My family, my school and my church were my life, but I knew, some day, I was going to do a little exploring.”

Joan did that through a teaching career, then a stint as a travel agent.

“I have a lot of experiences through all those many, many, many years and the age that I am,” she shared.

Still, Joan had a bucket list.

After moving back to Guttenberg a decade ago, where she can see the Mississippi River from her home, one adventure moved to the top of the list: bow fishing.

Up to age 95, Joan had admittedly done little fishing outside helping her father with trap lines.

“They were bullheads,” she recalled. “I put worms on the fresh hooks, after the other fish were off. That’s the kind of fishing I did.”

“But in my mature and adult life, I can’t say I ever participated in any kind of fishing,” she added.

So how did bow fishing enter her radar?

Joan said she was speaking to a family member when she learned her nephew, Nathan Elsinger, participated in the hobby.

“Bow fishing? I could not imagine what in the world that was,” Joan said. “And, you know, that became the last thing on my bucket list.”

Nathan has been bow fishing around 20 years, he said, after being introduced by a friend. With interest in bow hunting and fishing, it was a perfect mix of the two.

“So I’ve got a decent amount of experience doing it,” he quipped, “and I said, ‘I think I can fulfill your wish.’”

The item was marked off the bucket list Memorial Day weekend. It just so happened the carp were spawning in Bussey Lake, not far from the marina.

“We hit it right and they were going like crazy,” Nathan said. “We were out there an hour and a half that day, and I shot probably 15 when she was out there with me.”

Joan was able to watch the action in comfort, she said. There was a bench to sit on, with protection from the sun.

“He had a barrel where he would dump the fish into, on this boat, which was right beside me,” she recalled.

Nathan’s boat has an elevated platform about three feet above the bottom of the boat, giving him a better view of the water. He likened it to standing on a bridge.

“You can see down into the water pretty easy, but if you’re standing by the water, you can’t see anything,” he described. “For bow fishing, you need clear water. You can’t shoot what you can’t see.”

Because water bends light, bow fishermen can’t aim at the fish.

“You’ll shoot over the top every time,” Nathan explained. “So you have to actually hold below the fish. And it depends on how clear the water is, how deep they appear in the water, how far you have to aim. It just takes experience. It’s trial and error.”

In Iowa, only rough fish like carp, gar, buffalo, dogfish and sheephead can be shot with bow and arrow. It’s not allowed for species like bass, crappy and walleye.

“You can tell what they are as long as the water is relatively clear,” Nathan said.

Bow fishing can be done with a bow and arrow or cross bow. The fiber glass arrow with line attached to it sticks into the fish, then must be pushed through the fish and the tip unscrewed to remove the arrow.

While Joan thought the fish were beautiful, Nathan said the carp are invasive. They root around and muddy up the water, depriving it of oxygen that sustains other fish species. Shooting them helps control the population and makes other fishermen happy, he noted.

Not a big fan of carp, Nathan said the fish he shoots are sometimes frozen or canned to become cat food for his parents’ cats. Others are fed to the eagles.

“I’ll just make a pile on an island and they’ll clean them up,” he said.

“So the fish have a purpose,” Joan added. “They are feeding other animals instead of human beings.”

Joan called her bow fishing experience “a highlight.”

“I loved it because it answered my questions,” she said. “I told my kids all about it.”

While Nathan has taken out others—usually kids or younger adults—sharing the bucket list moment with his aunt was even more fun.

“For someone to live their whole life and never experience that, it was fun,” he said.

Even more impressive: when the two were on the river, rain prompted them to get underneath the platform.

“How many 95-year-old women can get down and basically do a limbo and get under a three-foot-tall deck to sit and get out of the rain for 10 or 15 minutes?” Nathan commented.

Joan admitted she’s been blessed with “longevity genes,” but said she works at it. She remains physically and mentally active and eats well.

When asked if her bucket list adventure could inspire others, Joan said all one needs is the ability and curiosity.

“We all have some things we would like to do, so you work at it and see if your ability will allow it. Pursue it and prepare yourself,” she said. “Make your life active. We should all, as we age, participate in the new and the different. And give what you can give, as well, to other people.”