Easter Weekend Hunt

This past weekend, April 22-24, I decided to return home once again to visit with my family for Easter and to hunt a few times. On Thursday, when I returned home, I met with my father and we both decided where we would go the next day. We woke up at 5:30 AM and drove to the piece of property that we planned to hunt. When we arrived, we split up and went to two different sections of the land. After about an hour, I received a text from my father asking if I was ready to leave. We had both not seen or heard anything and I began to wonder how well hunting this weekend was going to be. That day at lunch I met with a family friend and we both decided to go down to a farm of my father's and spend the night for a morning hunt on Saturday.

Once again, we woke up at 5:30 AM and headed into the woods. We decided to split up to help increase our chances of tagging a turkey. I decided to set up in the fields that are on the property and hoped that I could call in a turkey. After about an hour of not hearing or seeing anything, once again, I walked back to my truck and waited for my friend to come out of the woods. Half an hour later, Ray walked out and informed me that he also had not seen or heard anything. I began to realize that this weekend was going to be an unsuccessful hunt.

The next morning was Easter morning and each year my family goes to church together; therefore, I knew I had to be out of the woods by 8:30 AM. I had decided to go out to our farm, which my dad had informed me that a big turkey had been seen a few days earlier. I parked at the farm house and put all of my gear on. At day light, I finally heard my first gobble of the weekend. I went to the property line and set up as close as I could to the turkey. As I began to call, I realized that the gobbler (male turkey) had hens (female turkeys) with him. However, about half an hour later I had called the turkeys fairly close to me but just outside of my shooting range. I then realized that two gobblers were with the hens rather than only one. These turkeys proceeded to walk past me without allowing a shot.

I then got up, ran back to my truck and called my dad to inform him that I was about to try to set up on these two turkeys once again. At this time it was about 8:00 and I knew that I only had about half an hour left to hunt. I ran down to a point where I believed the turkeys would be heading and set up. After sitting down for a little while I began to wonder if I had spooked the turkeys while running down to my set-up. At this moment one of the turkeys gobbled right around the corner. I raised my gun and waited for the turkeys to step out in front of me. As the turkeys began to realize something was out of place I took a shot on the larger turkey and the second turkey began to fly away. In a reflex, I swung on the second turkey and took the second shot. After placing tags on both of the turkeys the excitement began to set in. I have always dreamed of killing two turkeys in one hunt but never thought it would happen. I then went through the task of carrying the two birds out of the woods. Once home I began cleaning and dressing the turkeys and was able to finish on time to make it to church with my family.

21st Birthday

This weekend, April 16th, was my 21st birthday. Last weekend while I was home, my family decided to give my gifts to me a week early since they would not be seeing me on my actual birthday. My parents then decided that they may have time to come up to Clemson for an afternoon and take me out to eat. However, later in the week I was informed that my father was too busy with work to take off any days that week. On Friday, the day before my birthday, my girlfriend came to my house with her roommate and surprised me with 21 gifts.

The fraternity that I am a member of had a date function that night, which worked out perfectly because it would be a great place to celebrate my birthday. The name of the party is Paddy Murphy and it is an "1920's Mobster" themed SAE tradition. The entire fraternity gathered at a brother's house and later that night we all had rides to the actual party. At 12 o'clock I talked to the owner and received a few free drinks from the bar. As it got later, I returned home and went to sleep. The next day I relaxed and did nothing all day. It was nice to be able to relax for once with the amount of school work that I have had lately. Later that night my girlfriend took me out to eat for my birthday to Ruby Tuesday's.

Overall, I had a very good birthday. I was able to spend it with a lot of my friends and had a great time. I received a lot of excelent gifts and feel very grateful to have such a wonderful family and such great friends.

Weekend Hunt

This weekend, April 9th, was my little sisters birthday. Midway through the week, I decided that I was going to go home Saturday morning to surprise my sister along with hunt that afternoon along with the following morning. I left Clemson about 10 o'clock on Saturday morning and arrived back home about 12. When I pulled in the drive, I noticed that my sister's truck was not there and soon found out that she had gone to a friends house to work on a project. I then unpacked my truck, ate lunch, and got ready for the afternoon hunt. I went out to our farm to see if I could call in a turkey, however, I was unsuccessful. Next, I went out to a friend of my father's land and again did not see any turkeys. At this time I was getting worried that I would not see anything. Seconds later, my father called me and informed me that he had heard a turkey at another piece of property that he owns. I got in my truck and headed to where he was.

As I was driving I received multiple calls from my dad telling me to hurry up. Once I finally arrived, I ran to where he was and we discussed our plan of attack. He was generous enough to let me take the best location closet to the turkey. I snuck across a creek and set up as close as I could to the bird. I called twice and I knew that he was on his way to my set up. Five minutes later the turkey stepped out onto the road. Once he stood still I took the shoot and tagged my first turkey of the year! I took the turkey home, skinned him, and cut out all of the meat.

The next day, my dad and I went again to another piece of property and did not have much luck. It had a huge storm the night before so all of the turkeys were hiding out and not making any noise. I walked a few miles and finally heard the first turkey of the day about two hours after day light. I had lost my luck and could not call this turkey in, and decided it was time to call it a day and head home.

End of School Year

Each year, the weather begins to warm up and the attitude of everyone on campus begins to change. This is due to the weather and the fact that Summer break is just around the corner. However, for me this is the time of year that I dread the most. This is when all assignments are due and finals are next to be taken. Normally, I can make it through without much stress; however this year is different. Almost all of my teachers have assigned projects to be due at the end of the semester. This would not be so bad if it was not for a few of my teachers assigning multiple projects and assignments for that one class alone.

In my estimating class we have been working on multiple assignments throughout the semester and we were even told that we would have multiple assignments towards the end of the year; however, we were not given these assignments, therefore, we could not begin them. As the months went by, our teacher finally has handed out all of our assignments so that we can begin them. These include one project dealing with a heavy civil project where we have to create a schedule for the job and complete an estimate for the same job. We also must complete an entire estimate for the Clemson Rowing Facility that was built a few years ago. Along with these two extensive assignments we must interview an estimator for a company, create a writeup on the interview and then create a presentation to present our information to the class.

All of my other professors have done an excellent job of distributing the assignments throughout the semester so that they did not build up other than my estimating professor. In total I now have two projects for my scheduling class, two projects for my environmental systems class, one major project for my business writing class, and the three major projects for my estimating class. This is not including the final tests and final exams that I must prepare myself for. Taking all of this into consideration it is very tough for me to get excited about the end of the semester due to all of my assignments!

Spring Break Turkey Hunt

As Spring Break approached, I had planned on traveling to Columbia to meet up with my friend Neil to go on a turkey hunt. On the Thursday before the break I received a call from Neil explaining that he would not be able to go hunting due to some family issue that had come up. This changed my whole plans for the break. After this set back, I decided to head home for a few days of relaxation. This ended up being a much needed break for me, considering that I had been going none stop on school work for the past few months. Throughout the week I stayed in touch with Neil, and by the end of the week we had decided to try out the hunting trip again for the last weekend of my Spring Break.

On Friday morning I woke up, packed my hunting supplies in my truck, and headed to Columbia to meet Neil. When I first arrived, he was trying to convince me to attend a hunting exposition rather than go hunting that afternoon. Afternoon hunts a normally less action filled than morning hunts, however, I really wanted to try our luck. It was tough to argue with Neil, considering that that day was his birthday and I told him that I would do what ever he wanted to do. After half an hour of discussing this we finally decided to go hunting. An hour later we arrived at his hunting land and began putting on our gear.

We walked to the first setup, and decided that it would be a better idea if we were to split up. Therefore, we flipped a coin and I was awarded the back stand, which Neil felt was the better of the two. After about another mile walk, I found a great set up and sat down. An hour later I finally heard a turkey gobble a few hundred yards away. I called to the turkey and before long he was within 200 yards of me. At this moment I heard Neil start calling to the same turkey. I was upset at first, however after consideration I figured it would be awesome if he could tag a birthday turkey. I stopped calling and after about half a hour I heard it get very quiet and then a shot rang out. I stood up and walked over to the location I had last seen Neil and saw him standing beside his birthday turkey.

The rest of the weekend turned out to be terrible weather and I was unable to tag a turkey myself. However, with turkey hunting you have to learn to be grateful with any chance you receive. Therefore, I was happy that Neil and I went hunting rather than attending the hunting exposition.

Turkey Season

I am an avid hunter and hunt any chance I can. The month of February and the first half of March is a very slow time for hunting due to no hunting seasons being active. On March 15th, the season for turkeys opens in the lower part of South Carolina. Every state is split up into different "game zones" that all have separate hunting laws that must be known. Due to this, the northern zones in South Carolina do not allow turkey season to open until April 1st each year. This was an issue for me until I met a friend named Neil. I do not have any hunting land other than in the northern part of South Carolina; therefore, I always had to wait until April to hunt again. Once I met Neil in 7th grade, I was able to start hunting on March 15th due to him owning hunting land in the lower regions of South Carolina.

This year I have been waiting since January 31st to be able to hunt again. The season opens this Tuesday and I am planning on driving down to meet Neil at his land in order to hunt this coming weekend. Due to next week being the Spring Break for Clemson University, I plan on driving to his land on Friday and hunting with Neil on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. If we are unsuccessful then I will return home for the week and drive back to his land the following week and hopefully have success. I would then drive from his hunting land back to Clemson to finish out the school year.

50th Birthday

March 4th is my dad's birthday along with my grandmother's. This year was special because it was my dad's 50th birthday. I decided to drive home and surprise him and my grandmother. When I first got back to Rock Hill, I went to my dad's office to perform an interview for a school assignment. This is where my dad first saw me and was very excited that I had come back to celebrate his birthday. After I talked with my dad and completed my interview I decided to go to my grandmother's house and surprise her. When I first got there she had company, however, she was still very excited to see me. I stayed and caught up with her for about an hour then returned home.

As I returned home my mother was busy setting up for the party she had planned for the next day. My dad had made it very clear to my mom that he did not want a surprise party, therefore she had decided just to have a few friends and family over for dinner.

The next day my mom was running everywhere trying to get everything ready for the party. My sisters and I helped in any way that we could and before long it was time for the party. The party went well and everyone had a great time. Everyone was gone around 12 o'clock, which is when we began to clean up. In the end, both my dad and grandmother were very pleased that I returned for their birthdays.