Outdoors Unlimited® Online | The award-winning publication of the Outdoor Writers Association of America

Hank Pennington

Hank Pennington is a 35-year resident of Kodiak, Alaska, but travels extensively throughout the West. He’s been a columnist for the Kodiak Daily Mirror for 22 years. His Outdoor Kodiak featuring 12 months of how-to in all disciplines for residents and visitors alike. Pennington has taught fly-fishing and fly-tying classes in Kodiak since he arrived in 1975. He and his wife Jan own Pennington Photography, a full-service photo source for more than 20 years. The spectrum of their services can be seen at their website, kodiakfoto.com.

Carmen Abrego

Carmen Abrego lives in Rochester Hills, Mich., with her two children. She is a graduate student at Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich., and will graduate this year with a master’s degree in communications and an emphasis in journalism. A freelance writer, Abrego is interested in environmental issues and travel stories. Recently, she wrote for the Sierra Club at www.sierraclubgreatlakes.blogspot.com.

Editor’s note: New members are welcome to submit a one-paragraph bio for this monthly feature to OU Editor Ashley Schroeder, aschroeder@owaa.org.

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Al Hauge

Al Hauge resides in Spokane, Wash. He is currently a contributing editor to ClayshootingUSA and TrapshootingUSA magazines from Brunton Publishing in San Antonio, Texas. Hauge also writes for www.shotgunlife.com about his western wing shooting experiences. Hauge is an avid outdoors man, primarily involved in bird hunting, sporting clays and trap shooting. Originally from New England, he grew up in the outdoors . Hauge is married to Diane and they have two grown daughters and two young granddaughters. He also is very involved in his photography and he enjoys traveling with his wife. Hauge enjoys writing about the many interesting people he meets everywhere he travels in the sports he specializes in. Hauge’s hobbies include golf and fine wine. “I have long admired this organization and I am please to be a new member.”

Ken Morrow

Ken Morrow is a popular fly-fishing blogger who writes the syndicated blog, Upstream, and the column, “Fly Fishing News,” for Newsvine.com, a division of MSNBC. He also writes a hunting blog called “Shooters of the Campo Grande Ranch,” and does freelance editing work, public and media relations consulting and is a frequent guest lecturer.  In 2008, he appeared in the award-winning documentary film “We All Live Downstream” and on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines.”  Disabled himself, Ken is also the founder of the Adaptive Fly Fishing Institute, a nonprofit organization promoting and developing fly-fishing both as a disabled recreational sport and as an alternative therapy for a wide range of physical and mental disorders.

Jeff Nedwick

Jeff Nedwick is a freelance writer and life-long resident of Michigan. He has published several articles for the Lapeer County Press and the Michigan Outdoor News. Living in Michigan is a blessing for anyone who has a passion for the outdoors and Jeff has made the most of this opportunity. He was active in the burgeoning bass tournament scene of the 1970s and was a member and officer in several local bass fishing organizations.  Although no longer an avid tournament fisherman, the techniques and knowledge acquired in this highly competitive sport proved invaluable as his interests have expanded to include nearly all freshwater species that swim in Michigan’s lakes and streams. Jeff and his German short-haired pointer Sadie also enjoy waterfowl and upland game hunting. Springtime turkey hunting, bird watching, photography, Great Lakes ship-watching and camping also compete for an increasingly small share of his free time.

Editor’s note: New members are welcome to submit a one paragraph bio for this monthly feature to OU Editor Ashley Schroeder, aschroeder@owaa.org.

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Dennis Dunn

Dennis Dunn, of Kirkland, Wash., has been an ardent outdoor enthusiast all his life. Introduced to archery by his mother at age 5, he found his way into hunting through the backdoor, so to speak, with no hunting mentors in the family. Fishing and skiing have also been lifelong passions for Dunn, but around 1998, those sports were placed on the back burner so he could devote all his energy and resources to completing the North American Super Slam of all 29 huntable, North American big-game species with a bow and arrow. In the fall of 2004, his goal of the first-ever “barebow” Super Slam was achieved, and he has since written and published a 504-page, coffee-table book which chronicles his remarkable pilgrimage. Dunn has also been a freelance outdoor writer for the past five years, and now seems to be launching a new career as a public speaker/lecturer on the political challenges to our national outdoor heritage.

Wende Gray

Wende Gray is the managing director of the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance, www.upperandro.com, an organization that is committed to improving and promoting the Upper Androscoggin River as an emerging destination fishery for trout. She has served as the managing director of other outdoor organizations – Raft Maine, an association of whitewater outfitters, and the Maine Nordic Ski Council, an association of cross country ski area operators. She lives on an old farm in Bethel, Maine, where the deer and wild turkey are abundant thanks to century-old apple trees that provide good forage. “I don’t have a good picture of myself, and I’m not sure if the attached is high enough resolution, but it is of my dear golden retriever, Zeke. … He is much better looking than I am.”

Marilyn Stone

Marilyn Stone, of Paonia, Colo., has been a contributing editor to SHOT Business for more than 10 years. She specializes in the thorny issues facing hunting, conservation and energy development today. Her degree in psychology enables her to deliver insightful, engaging stories of people in the outdoors. She has been published in NRA and NWTF publications, Wyoming Wildlife, Whitetails Unlimited and others.

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Marc Anthony

Marc Anthony, of Goodfield, Ill., is a freelance writer and currently writes a daily blog at Prairie State Outdoors under the title of “Non Typical Hunter.” Marc also is the chief editor of Non Typical Hunter Magazine. Anthony is an avid bowhunter and has taken many record-book animals bowhunting. His forte is writing strategies related to ground hunting and early season bowhunting. Anthony is an avid seminar speaker and on the pro staff for Muzzy Broadheads, Vital Gear, Natural Predator and several other companies. He has a solid history in the aviation industry, owns a nationwide taxidermy studio (www.lookalivetaxidermy.com) and operates a hunting product testing company (www.nontypicalhunter.net). Between his interests, it’s his love for writing that allows him to reflect upon and capture the subjects he feels most passionate about. Reach him at manthony@nontypicalhunter.net.

Ryan Newhouse

Ryan Newhouse is a Missoula, Mont.-based freelance writer with special interests in hunting, fishing, profiles and addressing climate change. His work has been featured locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. He holds a master’s of science degree in environmental studies from the University of Montana-Missoula and writes regularly for the National Wildlife Federation. He is in the midst of training for his first triathlon. His work can be found at www.ryannewhouse.com. Contact him at rwnewhouse@gmail.com.

Jason Wells

For the last 6 1/2 years Jason Wells, of Staunton, Va., has worked as an industrial refrigeration technician, traveling all over the U.S. and to Canada a couple of times. He is on the road 20-25 days a month. Wells and wife Nikki have a 16-month-old daughter, Phaedra Anne. Wells intends to keep his job and schedule for a few more years as he trains to be an outdoor communicator. Over the next few years he will complete the North American School of Outdoor Writing program, take some photography courses and, in a few weeks, will be going to Pennsylvania for his first outdoor videography course. He attends as many outdoor shows and events as he can in an effort to meet people. “By the time I am able to quit traveling and resume a more normal work schedule I would like to be well enough established in the outdoor world, via writing, photography, videography, or any other means, to work part time in a field I have always loved. I view being a student member of the OWAA as a great stepping stone toward my goal!” Contact him at jasondavidwells@hotmail.com.

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Steve Budnik

Steve Budnik is a Wisconsin Northwoods-based freelance writer with a wide range of outdoor interests including fishing, boating, natural resource/conservation/environmental issues, silent sports, outdoor travel and fisheries-related research. He is currently a field editor of MUSKIE Magazine. He enjoys being a competitive long-distance runner, diehard Atlanta Braves fan and an avid reader in his spare time. He can be reached at skbudnik@yahoo.com.

Lori Robertson

Lori Robertson, of Edmonton, Alberta, applied for acceptance to Roger Brunt’s North American School of Outdoor Writing last year. “I was thrilled upon my acceptance because of my desire to be a professional outdoor writer. My ambition is fueled by my desire to write in a way that is gratifying and informative for the reader, in that the reader feels my experiences or is satisfied with further knowledge or understanding about outdoor issues based on an article I wrote. My passion about writing and photography, I believe, will provide me with a very rewarding journey. The second article I wrote was published in The Woman Hunter e-zine magazine as the editor’s and people’s choice awards. This is the beginning of my journey.” Robertson can be reached at pentopaper@yahoo.ca.

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Kris Millgate

The quiet cast of a fly line cures writer’s block for outdoor journalist Kris Millgate. Many of her multimedia production ideas come from the time she spends outdoors in Southeast Idaho where she hosts the weekly outdoor TV segment “Time OUT with Kris Millgate.” Millgate won the Communicator Award of Distinction in 2008 for the segment in which she investigates outdoor and environmental issues for TV and the Web with cross publication in newspapers and magazines. Millgate recognized the meshing of the mediums three years ago and made the move to multimedia as a freelancer. Through her production company, Tight Line Media, she produces stories using video and voice, pictures and print, then wires and Web. Along with hosting “Time OUT,” she produces shows for “Outdoor Idaho” and writes for the Associated Press, Post Register and several magazines. Millgate has 12 years of experience and several cross-country moves to prove she’ll go anywhere for a good story. See her work at www.tightlinemedia.biz.

Trevor Carruthers

Trevor Carruthers is an avid hunter who makes his home in Southern Alberta. He started writing when he was younger and now is a student at the North American School of Outdoor Writing. He spends most falls bowhunting and rifle hunting all that Alberta has to offer; his first love is backpack sheep hunting in the mountains. Carruthers has guided across Alberta and British Columbia for various big game and hopes to one day own his own outfitting company. He hopes to become a successful freelance writer and is looking forward to learning as much as possible along his journey into outdoor writing.

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♦ Kent “Bigshot” Albrecht is the founder and developer of www.MyHuntingPage.com (and www.MyFishingPage.com), a unique outdoors Web page in style and function. Members can share their pictures with stories, and they are placed geographically down to their local county areas (i.e. USA-Wisconsin-Waukesha County), thus more relevant for all viewers. Pictures can also be searched via species or text. Albrecht writes colorful blogs on the Web page from an “average Joe” perspective. The Web page supports Christian Missionaries building water wells in Southeast Asia.

♦ Lynn Keillor is a Minneapolis-based freelance writer with an eclectic combination of writing and personal interests. She’s worked as a staff writer, editor and contributor for several snowmobile-related publications. She can talk/write motorsports, silent sports and adventure sports. She enjoys snowmobiling, cross-country and downhill skiing, bicycle touring, camping, canoeing, ice fishing, traveling and defending her garden against the neighbor’s noxious black walnut tree. Journalistic claim to fame: standing in the center of an iced oval racetrack in northern Wisconsin, taking notes, for three days with a high of minus 5 degrees.

♦ Stephen L. Lindsay is a small-animal veterinarian, with a special interest in wild and pet birds, in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. He also has a Ph.D. in zoology, based on his studies of the North American red squirrel, and had a natural history-oriented teaching career at three universities before and after becoming a veterinarian. He has been an avid birder and naturalist since his teen years and has studied both squirrels and birds widely across the United States and Canada. For the past six years he has been writing about birds and other outdoor topics for the Spokesman-Review, a daily newspaper with a distribution covering Spokane, Wash., and North Idaho. He is just beginning freelance magazine writing on mostly avian topics. ◊

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Walter “Sonny” Dinkins is an author, teacher and popular speaker who is currently deployed as an armed-forces chaplain due to the Global War on Terrorism. He has been stationed and lived all over the world, and especially enjoys working humanitarian missions with interdepartmental agencies. His most recent book, “Red Fish on a Fly,” focused on fly-fishing and travel throughout the nine major redfish states in the South Atlantic and Gulf Coast. He is North Carolina’s first outdoors writer to author a book on the state fish. His next book, due out in 2014, will be titled “Waterfowl Hunting (Ducks & Geese) Around the World.” When not deployed, he calls Wilmington, N.C., home with his wife and three children.

Doug Kelly serves as editor in chief of Traveling Sportsman Magazine, an international publication for those who like to travel to enjoy their fishing and hunting experiences. Publisher of the video series “Saltwater Flyfishing from A to Z,” Kelly enjoys light-tackle fishing, bird hunting, camping and travel. In addition to OWAA, Kelly’s memberships include SEOPA, the Society of American Travel Writers and the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust.

Jennifer P. Kross has been with Ducks Unlimited for three years, beginning at the Southern Regional Office in Ridgeland, Miss., then moving to the Great Plains Regional Office in Bismarck, N.D. She has a master’s degree in wildlife and fisheries science from Mississippi State University. Kross’ position as a communications biologist with Ducks Unlimited entails using her waterfowl biology background to communicate DU’s message through various media. She works with writers and journalists who are interested in writing about ducks, duck hunting and wetland conservation. Kross enjoys duck, pheasant and dove hunting, hiking and bird watching. As a Southerner who has been transported to the Great White North, she is still getting used to that white stuff that falls from the sky.

Drew Rush is a photographer and writer based in Jackson, Wyo. He graduated with a degree in secondary education/social studies from the University of Wyoming and then realized that guiding fishing and snowmobiling trips was way more fun and exciting than teaching. He has guided fishing trips for 10 years and snowmobiling trips for five. Now he spends the majority of his time trying to figure out how to get back out into the field to write and photograph and still be able to put food on the table and pay the rent. To see more of his work visit www.drewrushphotography.com.

Lowell Strauss is a biologist and geographer by training, wildlife conservation scientist by profession and an outdoorsman by choice – he has a passion for all things wild. Strauss is a photographer and technical writer, and as a student member of OWAA, he hopes to learn the business of outdoor writing. He lives in the heart of the central flyway in Saskatchewan, Canada. When not hunting birds or big game, trapping or fishing, he enjoys teaching outdoor skills to youths. He is a competitive target shooter and range officer with a strong interest in handloading and ballistics. More information about Strauss and his work can be found at www.lowellstrauss.com.

Chris Walls is the director of public relations for Warner Law Offices in Charleston, W.Va. In this role, he works as director of Beyond The Backyard, a Bobby Warner Charitable Youth Foundation. Beyond The Backyard’s mission is to increase the number of West Virginia children who participate in the great outdoors. Walls earned both bachelor’s and master’s of science degrees in journalism from West Virginia University. He is a three-time National Wild Turkey Federation grand national turkey-calling champion. An accomplished videographer, Walls loves shooting freelance video of his outdoor adventures across the United States. To learn more about Beyond The Backyard visit its Web site at www.beyondthebackyard.org.

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