last frickin week

Yup its the last week of school. Gotta love it right? I did not expect it to fly by this fast but here I am. Cant wait for break. I got a ride-along type internship lined up with the USDA wildlife services. I rode along with a wildlife tech. from the USDA this summer on the Naval Base on 611 and absolutely loved it. I think its what i want to do after I graduate. Its a lot of fun and just a good group of guys to work with. Also muzzleloader starts the day after Christmas which im pumped for. Not lookin forward to finals tooo much though, but I've only got one that Im thinking I wont pass. Chemistry with "VENKI"-sucks, Thursday NIGHT, 6:15-9:30!!! I dont know if the class actually goes that long cuz i tend to slip out of there around 7.

Thanksgiving

I had a very relaxing thanksgiving. Too relaxing, im not used to laying around doing absolutely nothing for days. We went out to Cambria county. east of Pittsburgh to my grandparents house on a dairy farm. Besides farming, hunting, and off roading, theres not a whole lot to do. So i went hunting for small game. Weather didnt cooperate but i still had fun. I helped out on the farm, bottle feeding calves- SUCKS. sometimes you have to force-feed them by stradling them and backing them into a corner so they cant escape, other times they will run you over to get at the bottle. Lots of fun

bear hunting

After my 8am on monday i skipped town to head to schuylkill county aka bear country-sort of. There are bears up there just not a ton of em but they get a few where we went every year. Bear season is three days long so you dont have too much time to get out. thats why you gotta make time! I went out with my buddy tuesday and wednesday. it rained both days and was just shitty. Since bears dont move to much in the rain on thier own, you have to walk around in the thick brush to try and kick one up. Thats the idea anyway. We walked almost the entire day both days, just stopped for lunch. It was very rough because we are on mountains pushing our way through the thickest shit we can find, cuz thats where they like to hide. We figured we walked a total of over 25 miles in two days from my buddys GPS-which by the way if we didnt have one we would not have found our way back to the truck on the second day. The area we hunted was beautiful. Wieser State forest. A few thousand acres that bump up next to state game lands- another couple hundred acres. It felt like we were hunting out west-AWESOME even though we didnt see anything cept a few deer and squirrels

Good news

So i was saying earlier that everywhere we go we try to hunt or fish. Well.. Just talking to my parents and they are looking at a trip in two years to Hawaii*. we've never been there so it should be a great time. We normally dont go to touristy places like that to just lay around. We go to do things outside like fishing, hunting and stuff. I've been to Maine, Quebec, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, and Alaska. We dont mess around and sit on the beach to get burned. This is no different. the first thing my dad researched is game to hunt. They are called Axis deer and theres a crapload of them on one of the islands. The reason they let people hunt them is because.. well.. its an island. theres only so much food and space for them and they easily get out of control. to the point that there is literally no food for any of them. Well im gonna do my part to manage and conserve the wild resources the best i can.

Vacation TIME

I cannot wait for vacation. Mine starts at 9:16 on monday morning- right after math. Going back to my place for some archery doe-only time. Then probly take my dog out for small game. Then back in the stand till dark. Tuesday and wednesday im going up to the gamelands past Cabelas with my buddys to hunt bear. Success is not expected as there are not tooo tooo many around the area but its just nice to be out in the woods with high school pals to catch up on the latest shit. So if you havent already noticed, hunting is my life. That is how i vacation. Anywhere we as a family go we find out if there are any seasons open for hunting or fishing. My fam is headed out to Pittsburgh for thanksgiving to visit relatives. Then its back to Berks county for the first day of Rifle. I believe im taking a personal day just for the occasion. Gotta love it

Last day of buck(archery)

Another Year... No Deer. So ive been going home every weekend so i could hopefully get a deer with the bow. I figure i went out at least 25 different days. I cant complain, ive seen deer almost everytime, just not in range or too small. Ive come really close to a bunch of deer-a six point, seven point, little bucks, and a non-typical 10-13 point( couldnt tell how many points he had cuz they shot out all over his head). That last one was a very cool deer and a great expierence. I went out saturday in the afternoon and waited patiently, but i was very anxious subconciously. It was coming down to the wire on the final day of the archery season. As it got darker, i saw some deer moving in the distance. they didnot come in. Then right before quiting time a bunch of deer were chasing each other and snorting and bucking about 8o yards from my stand. I stood, waiting for an opportunity. I knew that one of them was a buck since they were chasing each other and its their breeding season. No luck. they took off in the distance and the evening came to a close. Yea well, thats why they call it hunting and not shooting. I had a lot off great experiences this year and some close calls. Rifle starts monday after thanksgiving so maybe later.

pain in my ass

So im trying to stay ahead of the game by getting my schedule together now. I got some Ag classes that were not AP that transfer (or supposed to transfer) Del Val. I sent the paper work in over the summer to the registrar, thinking how could they possibly EFF this up. Well they found a way beleive it or not. Now this paper that says everything about my classes and transfer credits is on DEL VAL letterhead. Thats because they sent it to me, not the other way around. Then i go to the office to check and make sure everythings good and suddenly theres a problem! Since then Ive been there four other times and just today they realized theyre a bunch of dipwads. Anyway, I feel much better now. Im looking forward to Thanksgiving break.

This weekend

Since i worked all the time in high school, i never REALLY got to experience multiple Crazy-ass parties in the same weekend. Well now i did. Halloween is just another excuse to get hammered and ive got no problem with that. Friday Night was pretty good. I went to a small party with some kids from high school near Kutztown University. Them farm boys sure can handle their share i ll tell you that much. I was driving home so none for me. It was just a straighup good time with people i havent seen in a while. Saturday was a different story. There were at least 100 to 150 people there and all ive got to say is WOW. Ive seen some crazy shit but this probably tops the list. Anyway, there was a kid there who looked exactly like Billy Mays, he even brought Oxyclean with him. Ya know, just in case someone spilled something. This guy was legit. He even sounded like him, it was almost scary.

Earlier on Saturday in the morning i went out hunting. I was sitting there for about a half hour when i see a big deer coming towards me with his nose to the ground, smelling. This tells me its a buck because right now they are in their breeding season (rut), and he was smelling for does in estrus. He was still far away and i could just see a very small set of antlers. There is an antler restriction in Pa that is Three points on one side. Anything smaller cannot be harvested. This is to ensure that the deer that are taken are mature. He came closer and i kept looking at his antlers to see what he was. When i looked more closely, all i saw where points. I couldnt tell how many but estimated about thirteen. Even though his antlers did not have mass, he had points shooting out all over the place. A deer like this is termed non-typical, because the antlers do not grow relatively symetrical. Ive never seen a deer like this while i was hunting so it was a very cool experience. I could tell by his size that he was a mature deer. I had a doe decoy out in front of me to try to bring deer in closer. It worked, the buck saw it and instantly came over to it. He touched it with his nose and realized something wasnt right(because its made of plastic) but he hung around the area for a little bit. He stood about eight yards away from me(thats pretty freaking close). I was planning on taking a shot, but he didnt turn broadside for me. When hunting, it is crucial to make a clean shot for the welfare of the animal. If i tried to move he would have spotted me and took off. so i sat there and watched him walk away. This hunt was a great experience for me. hunting really lets you experience nature up close and personal. Every hunt i go on is a humbling experience. I really feel that a successful hunt is all about the thrill and not about the kill.

Redlining

I went home on wednesday after class. To get some stuff done at my house and then get into the stand for an evening hunt. I saw three doe but let them go because im waiting for a buck. I stopped in to a few parties after dark. You know the crazy Wednesday night parties everyone talks about. not. I was going to go out hunting before my 12:15 English on thursday. turns out i didnt wake up in time so i slept in. I thought i set my alarm but really turned it off instead. So i woke up precisely at 11 am. Now i live one hour and twenty minutes away from school on a good day so i figured im screwed since i still had to do some crap fore i left. I took litterally a 20 second shower, folded laundry, packed up, let my dogs outside and hopped in my subaru. I dropped my crap off at my dorm and ripped over to D lot and still made it to class on time. Amazing right, I figured it was worth blogging about since not much else goes on.

Watchin the Phillies

So im sitting here typing a blog about i dont know what. I am in my dorm room with my roommate watching the Phillies take it to the Rockies. I m not that into baseball, im more of a hockey kinda guy. Just how i was brought up i guess, no one in my family likes baseball so neither do I. I always find myself comparing baseball to sports like ice hockey, football, lacrosse- sports that are fun to play and watch. These sports are a lot more challenging to play, more physical, and for the most part, you cant chew tobacco and have a huge-ass beer gut and still be good. Yes i hear the same arguement from everyone, "its soo hard to hit the baseball going 90+ mph, it hurts sooo much when you get hit." OK so basically to be a good player you have to have one skill, hit the ball. Pitching- ok they are the only ones doing anything out there. Where as football, hockey, lacrosse, it actually takes multiple skills to be successful, oh yea and there IS physical contact. Baseball player gets a scratch or hurts his finger and hes out for weeks. In hockey you break your nose and they stitch you up on the bench and you play your next shift. Now even though i rip baseball up pretty good, that doesnt mean that i could do it at pro level. But it does mean that compared to other pro athletes, pro baseballers are generally wussies. Another thing that kills me is a few years ago, ESPN showed NHL hockey on a regular basis. Now those fools would rather talk about how Pedro Martinez bought food at the grocery store before spring training than the GAME 7 of the Stanely Cup Finals. That pisses me off! Now i forget what i wanted to actually talk about but this was good too.

Traffic violation

So my buddy and i are driving home on friday. We are on backroads about ten minutes from my house, we're out in the middle of freakin nowhere and ive never seen a cop there in my entire life. So we are cruzin at about 35, going around a turn, talking about another friend who drives like we're in nascar. We are making fun of him from the night before when we hear a WHOOOUUPPPP!! and see lights in our mirrors. We are the only ones on the road besides another friend following us in his truck. So we have no idea why we are getting pulled over, none at all. The cop is sitting in his cruzer for awhile meanwhile im talking to my friend who is shitting his pants in the drivers seat. As the cop walks up our other buddy drives by real slow waving and laughing. The cop goes, You know why im pulling you over today? My friend goes "Uh... NO" I clocked you doing 47 in a 25. We looked at each other and were thinking, "No you didnt you lying son of a bitch" But he kept his mouth shut. Now we are in a very old explorer with no shocks left, there is no way in hell we could have driven almost 50 mph on that road in that vehicle. NO way! The cop was screwing with us and we knew it, So he knew my friend would fight it so that is why he dropped it to no points and 40 bucks less, just enough to piss us off but not enough to fight it. Anyway, so we rip out of there double time and then five minutes later almost hit a deer. not a good day for my friend! When ever i hear stories about cops being A-holes, it is coming from the A-hole that got pulled over for doing stupid shit. But i can attest to the statement. I realize that there are a few bad ones everywhere in any job, but i guess the good ones are always somewhere else.

A slow week

SO this week went by smoothly. so far im doing alright in my classes, we havent had to many grades yet even though ive had a shit ton of homework. I guess thats a big difference between high school and college, there arent as many grades to help you out. Just tests and papers. Any way, looking forward to this three day weekend! Gonna go back to my home Rink to screw around with my high school hockey team. should be fun to ruff em up a bit. haha. I havent skated since my last game last year so it should feel pretty good to get back on the ice for a change. Im really out of shape though so im gonna be pretty winded. Im typing this while waiting for my buddy to pick me up to take me home but i think he forgot. Maybe i wont be going home this weekend. Its starting to get a little cooler out and im excited for hunting season. Archery for doe already started so maybe i'll get out a few times. I hope. If i don't i might go crazy because i live to hunt. Its not about being successful, its about the experiences and learning things even though it is nice when your effort pays off. For me it is just getting out in the woods and not thinking about the shit going on in my life, its about slowing down and forgetting about my problems. For someone who doesnt hunt, it will be hard for them to really understand why I hunt. Well, i m gonna go try to find this kid before he leaves without me.

Week Three

A lot of things happened this week. I signed up for a few clubs including The Wildlife Society, FFA, and I am still thinking about AGR. I was an officer for two years in my high schools FFA chapter and it is a great organization that offers its members tons of opportunities. I really enjoyed my time in FFA and made lots of friends through it as well. I heard about the wildlife society from former members and i dont know much about what they do, but my major is conservation and wildlife management so they said it is a must for me. The Ag. Fraternity sounds fun. I know a few brothers there but its still up in the air. So anyway, i feel terrible but not as bad as i felt on thursday. Im just getting over a cold so hopefully in a few days it will be gone. Now to change the subject completely, my moms car died a few weeks ago, so now she drives mine. this means that i am pretty much stuck at home or school. Yesterday, we went out to testdrive some very unpractical cars that are way out of the question just for shits and giggles. Cars now a days go a lot faster than they feel and we got one up around 85mph on the test drive. So anyway, I was bugging her to get stick shift so you could actually get moving good and it finally paid off. She didn't sign yet, but it looks promising. Its a four door saab, very reasonable and decent on gas. Its a turbo pushing 270hp and it rips pretty good. Very fun to drive. Unfortunatly, I won't be driving it too much because Im at school.

Just relaxin

Just got home from school. Im not up to much, just some laundry and that BS. I was gonna get some stuff done outside but then the rain just doesnt stop. Was planning on taking my dog out to hunt doves but not in this shit. they dont fly in the rain and id have to give my dog a bath afterwards. Forget that! Rain sucks. So anyway now im doing some HW so i can screw around back at DVC. Im enjoying school, DVC is different than i thought it would be but its allriight. Not liking Chem Lecture too much though, Hell i dont like any class that starts at 6:15 and goes til 9:30. first class almost put me to sleep and we left like two hours early. Yea well, my motto in HS was "just gotta get by" and im sticking with it. Yea so this is my first blog and i dont know what im doing so im about done. Prbly gonna watch Boondock Saints later... Classic movie. My group English presentation goes next and the first group oowwned theirs so i guess we'll have to step it up for the grade. Thats it for me im out.