Dan Durkee has known Jacob Martin for almost 40 years. Dan is president of Pennview Bible Institute in Central Pennsylvania, a ministry training school that's been around for 60 years. Jacob is a retired minister and a retired conference president of their denomination. When Dan learned Jacob was retiring, and that he'd been dealing with Huntington's disease, he wanted to give him a proper send-off. He landed on quite the retirement gift! A 360 Shootin House XL hunting blind.
Dan came to Pennview as a 17-year-old student back in 1988. That's where he met Jacob, who was already pastoring a church nearby. Before long Jacob was pastoring in Sunbury and Dan was just up the road in Berwick, and the two of them started calling each other every Sunday night. They'd check in on how their churches were doing and trade sermon ideas. Somewhere in there they found out they both loved to hunt, and the friendship went from there. They went on to run their denomination's youth camp together for over two decades, Jacob as president and Dan as his vice president, and watched it grow from around 55 kids to over 200.
So when Jacob's health started making hunting harder and he was stepping away from full-time ministry, Dan knew exactly what to give him. A hunting blind where Jacob could stay warm, stay out of sight, and keep enjoying the woods no matter what was going on health-wise. Jacob had 360 Hunting Blinds set up the new blind on a 21-acre piece of land he's been hunting for 17 years! Out of his five tree stand locations, he picked the closest and most level spot for easy access, and it sits right above a crick where he's watched deer on the move season after season.
The Shootin House XL gave Jacob plenty to talk about. There's room inside for two seats and a swivel chair, with windows all the way around so he can see in every direction without fighting for position. He brought his bow out to try it, set up a target, and put his first shot right on the mark. He's also looking forward to bringing his grandkids out for some pre-season scouting, since they've already started hunting themselves.
When Dan told him the blind was a gift, Jacob said he was in shock for a second. Then he got up and hugged him. He talked about the two of them being best of friends over the years. More than three decades of Sunday night phone calls, a youth camp they built together, and a lot of time in the woods.
Jacob is planning to hunt out of the blind this season, and it won't be long before he's got some stories to tell.
We've got 360 dealers all over the country. If you've been thinking about a blind, head to our Find a Dealer page, punch in your zip code, and somebody near you can answer your questions and get you squared away before fall.