His basement is plain and unexciting, with monotonous white walls and three tiny windows that barely illuminate the area. 

Below the wall lies smooth cement floor, which is cold and hard on the feet.

Yet, amidst this seemingly boring basement, with little vitality, senior Joey Purpura, hunter, creates utter chaos, turning an ordinary storage basement into a gaudy shrine, reflecting his passion and hard work.

His hunting gear invades every available space.  Tree stands, bloody bows, a camouflage camera, tripod, back pack, face paint, tree arms to hold the camera and deer antlers sprawl across the basement.

On the work bench to the right lays tools, fishing line and remnants of his newest invention, a fake turkey.

“I am down here a lot...It’s kind of like my lab,” senior Joey Purpura said.

He spends hours, days and even months preparing for each hunt. And through his hard work and detailed preparation, his 12 point-buck sized dream has become reality.

He is now sponsored by Metzger Outdoor, and his hunting footage has appeared on TV.

His dream started on a Saturday morning as a 7th grader.

“I was captivated by the hunting shows on TV…the ESPN deer hunting shows were awesome,” Purpura said.

With this inspiration, his interest grew, but he had one major problem: he lacked any knowledge of how to hunt.

“I started reading my step-grandpa’s old hunting books all the time.  They were really old and completely irrelevant to today’s hunting, but I read them anyway,” Purpura said.

Eventually, Purpura took initiative and expanded his knowledge on his own by subscribing to hunting magazines, such as Outdoor Life, and attending hunter safety lessons by himself.

“He started all by himself.  We didn’t do a whole lot,” Mr. John Purpura, his father, said.

One way his parents did help, though, was connecting Purpura to Mr. Tom Bartlett, Mr. Purpura’s co-worker and friend.

On a spring day, Purpura ventured out into the woods with Mr. Bartlett and shot his first turkey, which sits proudly in Purpura’s basement.

“[It was] probably one of the best days of my life,” Purpura said.

The avid hunter, though, received much more than his first turkey.  He also found a mentor and role model for hunting.

“[Bartlett] is the ultimate woodsman. He is strictly a bow-hunter. He has never taken a deer with a gun.  He has the ultimate respect and dignity when it comes to the woods and animals…He gave me an example that I wanted to be like,” Purpura said.

With this model, Purpura strives to be an outstanding hunter by becoming in sync with the wild, hoping one day he could show off his talents like the guys on ESPN.

“He has become one of the wild.  He understands what’s going on in the woods at all times…his approach is what makes him a good hunter,” Kyle Metzger, friend and co-founder of Metzger Outdoors, said.

His approach, though, involves work out of the woods.

“I’ve been known to sit and study the land I have hunted or am going to hunt for hours on Google Earth while I should probably be doing homework,” Purpura said while laughing.

Because of his work, his dream started becoming reality last spring.

Purpura  befriended the members of Heartland Bowhunters, a TV show that airs on Metro Sports, WILD TV and the Sportsmen’s Channel, and talks to them frequently over Facebook.

Through the mutual friend feature on Facebook, Purpura was introduced to Metzger, and sent him video, pictures and even audio of his bird call in hopes of attaining a sponsorship. The Metzger Brothers were impressed and eventually sponsored Purpura.

With this sponsorship and connection with Heartland bowhunters, Purpura’s hunting footage has appeared on TV.

“It’s pretty cool to have my dreams start to come true like this,” Purpura said.

In further pursuance of his dreams, he is considering attending South Dakota University, where he will be able to hunt alongside Metzger and increase his opportunities to be in the outdoor industry. He is still undecided, though.

Wherever he ends up, no matter how far from his hunting laboratory Purpura will always just be a phone call away.

But the problem is that he probably won’t answer. His voicemail will just continue to play:

“Hey you have reached Joey’s phone.  I’m probably out watching deer somewhere. So leave me a message, and I’ll get back to you.”