Mother mourns loss of husband, son during hunting trip

QUINLAN, Texas - A mother is trying to figure out how to move on after losing her husband and son in a hunting accident earlier this week.

Corey and 5-year-old Nathan Saunders went to go duck hunting on Lake Tawakoni Monday morning but never made it back home. Their bodies were discovered the next day.

It’s been an unbearable past week for the Saunders family.  The matriarch mother had to begin planning her husband and son’s funeral while still having to care for her infant son, who turned one month old the day Corey and Nathan went missing.

With family by her side and her infant son, Jackson, asleep in her arms, 23-year-old Megan Saunders took herself back to Monday morning.

“I’m just going to act like I didn’t hear the alarm. Just let them sleep in, but I woke them up,” she said.

It was 4:30 a.m., and Corey and his 5-year-old son, Nathan, were excited about their first duck hunting trip on Lake Tawakoni.

“They came and gave me a hug — both of them did,” Megan said. “They ate breakfast, and they left.”

The duo took Hunt, their chocolate lab, along for the adventure. When they failed to return home by sunset, Megan grew worried.

“I had the feeling,” she said. “I just knew.”
Hours later, game wardens would find Nathan’s body in a cluster of tree stumps in about eight feet of water.

Nathan's uncle, Clayton Thompson, says he and several other family members went out on a friend's boat in search for them.

“It sucks trying to find your younger brother that looks up to you and knowing what you're going to find when you find him,” Clayton said. “But you don't want him to be out there by himself.”

With help from volunteers, game wardens recovered Corey's body on Wednesday morning along with the capsized boat that was just feet from where his son’s body was found.

There were thunderstorms the morning the father, son and their lab were out in the ten-foot boat that was also filled with hunting gear.

“It has been a rough couple of days,” said Billy Clark, Corey’s brother-in-law. “I want to thank everyone for the amazing support that we've gotten.”

Hunt was the sole survivor of that fateful excursion. He is back home with the family. They hope everyone remembers just how precious life is.

“Be sure to take advantage of all those moments because you never know when stuff like this can happen, and you’re not going to be able to do it again,” Clark said.

The family is holding a candlelight vigil at Ford High School in Quinlan Thursday at 7 p.m. It is open to the public.

Friends have set up a GoFundMe page to help Megan and her infant since Corey was the sole provider.