Countdown - 100 days until Youth Weekend!!!!!

I received a phone call today from a family that we met in Greensboro today regarding our youth hunt. Blake wanted to make sure that he had one of our 15 spots for the youth hunt reserved so he had his father call us while they were on vacation to let me know that they would be here that weekend. We look forward to having Blake and his parents join us for a great weekend of hunting, eating and hanging out with fellow hunters.

Since I received the phone call from Rodney (Blake's dad), I thought that it would be appropriate to repost my original comments about youth weekend. When I started counting up the days until this special weekend, I discovered that we are 100 days from the youth weekend - so much to be done before that time!!!

So...........in case you are still contemplating bringing your favorite under age 16 hunter to visit us November 15 & 16 or in case you haven't heard of our youth weekend, here is a repeat of a post from several weeks ago................

As many of you know, Alabama has a special weekend set aside for youth hunters prior to the opening of rifle season. This year the dates for the hunt are November 15 & 16.

At Pushmataha, we are all about the kids that weekend and the parents are there because the youth hunters (age 15 and under) are required to sit with an adult eligible to purchase an Alabama hunting license.

Let me describe the weekend for you....The youth hunter and the accompanying adult arrive on Friday afternoon (this year November 14) and they are settled into one of our 15 rooms each with a private bath. Before you can blink an eye, the kids are outside tossing a football or fishing the lake that the lodge overlooks.Friday evening a delicious meal of usually pork tenderloin along with chicken fingers for the kids along with wonderful side dishes, a full salad bar, and dessert is served. Before everyone can comment on how full they are, the milkshake machine is already being put to good use because it is just too tempting. Everyone heads to their beds because morning comes early.

Saturday morning everyone is served a true "Southern" style breakfast complete with eggs, grits, bacon, sausage, and biscuits before heading out to attempt to harvest a deer. After the morning hunt, the guides pick up all of the hunters and return to the lodge for a great lunch of Mrs. Jewel's famous fried chicken. Around 2 p.m., all of the hunters return to the woods seeking the "big" one. At dark, everyone is picked up from the green fields by their guides hopefully bringing with them a nice buck that has been harvested. After a meal of steak and all of the trimmings, no one has trouble falling asleep!

On Sunday, the whole process is repeated, but obviously we don't serve the same food two days in a row. Lunch is usually turkey and dressing, ham, macaroni cheese, etc. and dinner is usually a barbecue. Everyone is welcome to spend Sunday night (without charge) since some people come from 10+ hours to hunt with us, but some sadly head back home.Three nights lodging, seven meals and a great time to bond with your child - the cost $800 plus a 3 day non-resident hunting license if necessary - the memories made with your child - priceless!

What is so great about this weekend you might ask? We believe if you introduce kids to the outdoors and hunting at a young age; you have the opportunity to provide them a lifetime of enjoyment of the outdoors. This weekend is all about the kids and we have several that will return for their 4th youth hunt this year. The children get to meet other children from across the Southeast and many of them correspond via email, text messaging and internet throughout the year.

We all (Earnest, Alan, Billy, Woodie, Bobo, Mrs. Jewel, Darrin, Mr. Ezell and Nena Beth) really enjoy having the youth hunters with us. They definitely don't lack enthusiasm in anything they do. So why am I writing about youth weekend 100 days prior to the date? Well, there are a couple of reasons:

Space is limited to 15 youth and 15 adults and we have already sold 8 spots leaving only 7 left (I can still add/subtract without my calculator!)

It is not too early too start thinking about this weekend. While talking to children and parents about this hunt at the Big Buck Expos we have attended, the kids think that it makes a great birthday and/or Christmas gift.

Important facts to remember about Youth Hunt Weekend:

Dates are November 15 - 16

The cost for parent and child is $800-nonresident hunting license is $127-doe tags (if the child kills a doe) are $75 each

The youth hunter can kill 2 deer a day one of which may be an antlered buck

Only 7 spots remain for this wonderful weekend

Call me if you are interested at 1.800.906.9663 as soon as possible to reseve your spot.

Nena Beth

Does this help locate Mark?

Get ready Clemson - The Tide is headed to Atlanta to meet you in 26 days! Does "Howard's Rock" hold mystical powers outside of Death Valley? I guess we will see. I once had the privilege of meeting Frank Howard when he was with Joe Namath and he seemed to be a true Southern gentleman.

By the way.....For the maybe 4 people that cared as to which historical home was shown, the picture was of Fort Hill, the home of John C. Calhoun, South Carolina's pre-eminent 19th century statesman, from 1825 until his death in 1850.

John Caldwell Calhoun's national political career spanned 40 years from 1810 to 1850. His service in the national government included: United States representative (1811-1817); secretary of war to President James Monroe (1817-1825); vice president to President John Quincy Adams (1825-1829); vice president to President Andrew Jackson (1829-1832); United States senator (1832-1843); secretary of state to President John Tyler (1844-1845) and United States senator (1845-1850).

Thomas Green Clemson, Calhoun's son-in-law and founder of the University, envisioned "the preservation of the home of the illustrious man who spent his life in the public service of his country." Thomas Clemson willed that Fort Hill "shall always be open for the inspection of visitors."