Can't join us in Harrisburg for the Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show?

We realize that not everyone can pick up and head to COLD Pennsylvania (with lots of snow predicted) so we are going to give our blog readers the opportunity to get the show discount anyway.



From Saturday, February 6 - Sunday, February 13, you may receive our show special of $75 off per day of a hunt which would take place between Sunday - Wednesday. Your 50% deposit must be made by February 13 in order to receive this discount. You may make your reservations by calling our office at 1.800.906.9663 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. CST.



We would love to have you visit Booth #8027, but will be happy to talk with you on the phone instead!

Another one bites the dust!

Congratulations to Issac who killed this over the weekend! To say that we have had an excellent week of hunting would be an understatement!!

The Rut is on!

Check out these new photos from the past couple of days! Things have been hopping at the lodge and we are anticipating even bigger and better things through January 31. We still have limited availability during the remaining weeks of the season. The weekends are busy, but you get much more individualized attention during the week.

Give us a call and come on down! We'll even leave the light on for you!!

Signs of an early rut?

Will Choctaw County have an earlier rut this hunting season? Traditionally, our rut begins in earnest around the 15th of January and continues through February.

Based upon several deer that were killed this past weekend, several bucks were taken that had swollen necks and that "smell" that all hunters know as the one of the signs that the big show is about to begin.

If you don't have plans for New Year's, you might want to consider spending time with us. I don't think the bucks will know that it is a holiday!

Gobble, gobble - It's Turkey Time!

TURKEY DAY AT MARK'S OUTDOOR SPORTS

Congratulations to Mike Steele who won a free day of turkey hunting at the lodge just by stopping by our booth at the Mark's Outdoor Sports' Annual Turkey Day and registering. Alan is excited about having you come hunt with us.

For those of you who registered but didn't win, please stop by and visit us next year and register again for your chance to win. A special thanks to Mark Whitlock and his wonderful staff for doing such a great job putting the Turkey Day event together. We look forward to seeing everyone again next year.

It's Getting to be Turkey Time!

Another deer gun season has come to a close and Alan and Ernest are busy burning and other wildlife management activities to ensure that our hunters always have the best opportunity to harvest game. They also will be taking care of some hog hunters headed our way in late February and early March.

For those of you who know Alan, he is a guy that just doesn't get excited about too much, but big bucks and gobblers get him worked up! Since deer season has passed, he is getting real excited that turkey season opens in one month.

Actually, one month from tomorrow on March 14, Alabama's turkey season opens with a youth weekend. Turkey season for everyone 16 years of age and older begins on March 16 and continues on through April 30.

Similar to what we did last fall with our youth deer hunt, we are offering a youth turkey hunt on March 14 and 15 for youth ages 15 and under along with their parent:

• Two mornings of turkey hunting one on one with an experienced guide
• Lodging on Friday and Saturday nights
• Three meals on Saturday and two meals on Sunday
• Total cost of $800 for both youth and parent

What a deal! Bring your fishing pole or four wheeler for Saturday afternoon fun. If you want to hunt on Saturday afternoon, there will be a $75 charge for the guide.

Don't miss a great opportunity to spend some quality time with your child while hunting a turkey and getting a chance to eat Mrs. Jewel and Mrs. Kim's Southern cooking. It will be a great weekend!

For those of you 16 and older, the season cranks up on March 16 and the cost of a two day hunt including your morning guide is $1100 per hunter. We are currently taking reservations for what promises to be the best turkey season every at Pushmataha!

Based upon signs that the guides have seen and what our deer hunters observed, we have an awesome turkey population this year so make your plans early to join us!

Don't forget - It's Turkey Time!

The deer are ruttin' and the guides are rarin' to go!

The rut is on! As you can see from the pictures, Alan, Ernest and Billy have been working hard trying to make sure that our customers get a chance to kill the big one. Despite the terrible weather that we have experienced over the past few days, some nice deer have been taken.

This morning, Todd from Michigan (top picture), was able to kill this nice 8 point and a doe. He told me that if Alabama sold lottery tickets, he would definitely buy one today. Of course, Mrs. Jewel, one of our cooks, attributes his good luck to the fried chicken, turnips, rutabagas, grits and cornbread she has been feeding him. By the way, Allyn from Louisiana, this is the deer you missed earlier this year!

Alan's eyes are getting big again this time of year because he is pumped up. For those of you who know Alan and have hunted with him, you know how excited he gets when hunters start killing deer and he sees signs of rutting going on. Well, both are happening and he is one excited guide.

Thanks to Todd's deer this morning, Billy is in the lead among the guides in their annual contest for the largest deer; but don't you worry! Alan and Ernest are determined not to let him win 2 years in a row.

The weather forecast for the next several days couldn't be better for deer hunting - cold and clear. We have a few openings for this week and the early part of next week so come on and try to help Alan and Ernest beat Billy in the Pushmataha Guide Big Buck Contest. Billy can't have bragging rights two years in a row!

Fall is in the Air!

We are so close...to my favorite time of the year! The temperature the past few days has been "chilly" to us Southerners. I mean 57 this morning. I actually needed to grab a jacket. When you consider that on Saturday it was 90+ at Bryant-Denny Stadium, 57 feels like an Artic chill!

Of course since it is now September, Alan and Billy have started bushhogging while Ernest is running the bulldozier building some new roads. We have picked up some additional property so they are busy, busy!

We have had several groups of hog hunters over the last few weekends and they have done their part in attempting to control our hog population. I know that one hunter lost the battle with the mosquitoes! Between the mosquitoes and love bugs, I don't want to be outside but these guys love it.

Several dates are filling up quickly during deer rifle season so if you are wanting to book a hunt - now is the time. I would hate to tell you that we didn't have availability as I had to tell several groups last year.

Don't forget several spots are still open for our Youth Hunt Weekend (November 15 & 16). Muzzleloader season opens on November 17 (two months from today) and rifle season opens on November 22.

Enjoy the cool weather!

Gustav Get - Away

Don't know what you guys have been up to, but we have had a Hurricane Party! Pushmataha has been the host to 50+ people and animals (customers and family and friends of our customers) since Saturday when Louisiana began evacuations for Hurricane Gustav. Some of these people had never met before, but were brought together under the common cause of escaping Gustav.

I will say that these people are some of the finest that we have ever met and they have a great spirit. Since the lodge is not normally open this time of year, they have pitched in to make beds, wash linens, and when we left after lunch someone was planning on cutting the grass. They have enjoyed meals together - barbecue, shrimp boil, spaghetti, etc. Someone is always in the kitchen cooking.

While we have enjoyed having them visit us, I know that they are anxious to head home and survey the damages. Wishing you guys safe travels and hope that you will come back and visit us again - maybe to hunt instead of hurricane escaping.

Rain, rain go away......

Don't know about you, but I think we have seen enough rain in Choctaw County for several weeks. If only this wonderful rain came after all of our food plots were planted!

We are about to crank it up getting food plots ready to be planted. Don't forget, dove season opens on September 6 and we are having a dove hunt that afternoon and on Sunday, September 7. Call me if you are interested.

Did you know that our lodges could accomodate 100 girls? Neither did we until Friday night when Mark's daughter, Tut, hosted the Kappa Delta's from Alabama for their pledge retreat. According to Mrs. Jewel, their were girls sleeping everywhere!

NB

Let's try again!

Since Rainer Ezell was visitor #1013, we are trying again to give out some Pushmataha goodies. So............what about visitor #1099?

If you are visitor #1099, let us know.

Nena Beth

Will you be visitor number 1013?

It is exciting to see how many visitors that we have to our blog spot! When we started this blog back in July, I was hoping that maybe a few people would view it; but in less than 45 days, we are approaching visitor number 1000!!!!

Some might make a big deal about visitor number 1000; but I have decided that if you are visitor #1013, be sure to comment so that I can send you a Pushmataha souvenir.

On a hunting note - we are gearing up for planting season. We received some wonderful rain this week and everyone is getting "bushhogging fever". It is getting close to time to hunt..................

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."

You people are killing me!

Okay you guys- No one is commenting on the posts and wanting to play along on our little game....So.........It appears that the shameless attempt to get several posts out of the little "Where is Mark?" game is not working.

I am going to give you a serious hint - If you know Mark at all (or have read his profile), you know that he is extremely serious about one thing - Alabama football!!!!!!!!! The pictures that have been posted might (okay they do) relate to his passion. Any guesses as to where he was??????????

Nena Beth

Where's Mark - Hint #2

FREE TRADE....NO DEBT.....was part of the campaign slogan of this famous statesman.............Now where can Mark be? Isn't it amazing that the principles that this person believed in comes across like a sound bite out of the current campaign? Any guesses as to where he is?

NB

Where in the world is Mark?????

During our trips to the various hunting shows over the last few weeks, Mark took some pictures of sights that we passed. I am trying to find out if anyone is truly reading the blog so I will be awarding a prize (your choice of a Pushmataha hat, shirt, or bag) to the first person that can identify the city and state in which this picture was taken.

I'll give you a little hint to get you started - we have driven through Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina - so the picture is from one of these southern states. Additional hints will follow over the next few days until it becomes very obvious where he is. Put your thinking hats on and don't forget to comment on the post if you can figure out where the picture was taken. If you have a question about the picture, comment and maybe I will provide an additional hint.

Mark says I should give you a hint to start you thinking - so here it is - Someone famous lived here!

Nena Beth

Home sweet home!

We are back in Alabama and have no plans to leave until football season! The people of North Carolina were wonderful to us and we hope that lots of you will come experience the hospitality and hunting at Pushmataha. Thanks again for stopping by to visit us......See you soon and happy hunting!

Hunters from near and far.........

We met some really great hunters today from Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. In fact one family that we spoke with today, Mark had originally met in New Orleans in 2004 at another outdoor show. Thanks again for stopping by to speak with us!