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New Members

Rob Breeding teaches journalism at Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming. He also serves as the faculty adviser of the Northwest Trail, the weekly student newspaper at the community college. Breeding writes the weekly column “Out of Bounds” for the Flathead Beacon newspaper in Kalipsell, Montana. He has worked for newspapers and magazines in Montana, Idaho, Arizona and California.
Matthew Dickerson is a fishing and outdoors writer from Vermont, a professor at Middlebury College and for 12 years directed the New England Young Writers Conference at Bread Loaf. His most recent book is titled “Downstream: Reflections on Brook Trout, Fly Fishing, and the Waters of Appalachia” (http://wipfandstock.com/store/Downstream_Reflections_on_Brook_Trout_Fly_Fishing_and_the_Waters_of_Appalachia). He has lived most of his 51 years in small-town New England fishing its trout streams and small bass ponds — and sometimes its big lakes and rivers. In addition to the fishing page at his personal website (www.matthewdickerson.net/Fly-Fishing/Fly-Fishing.html) he also maintains “Trout Downstream” (www.troutdownstream.net/). Dickerson has written for several print and online magazines, and for 17 years wrote a biweekly column in the Addison County Independent. He has published two historical novels and has three forthcoming fantasy novels. So far, he has caught trout on a fly in 25 states.
Dennis Guldan has published Bird Dog & Retriever News since 1992. For about 20 years the publication came out in print, but is currently reinventing itself online. You can read back issues online at www.BDarn.com, where it’s archived about 20,000 pages. Guldan comes from an electrical engineering background. He’s not qualified to be a writer and publisher, but that doesn’t seem to bother readers. Bird Dog & Retriever News is a news/how-to publication about the upland, waterfowl and dog marketplace. It features calendars of events for gun and dog shows, in addition to field trials and hunt tests. It also feature new products and books, regional and industry news and great articles. It is always looking for new contributors. Guldan is originally from Marshfield, Wisconsin and now lives in Minnesota.
A resident of New Jersey for many years, Bruce Edward Litton has been active in the outdoors all his life and began his writing career at the age of 16, getting published in a number of outdoor magazines and newspapers, including the world’s most widely circulated fishing magazine at the time, Fishing World. He is currently a contributing writer for The Fisherman, a biweekly syndicated fishing columnist for Recorder Newspapers, and a blogger at www.littonsfishinglines.blogspot.com. He also writes on non-outdoor related topics in publications like The New Jersey Monthly. In addition to freelance writing, he is an avid photographer and at work on a book about why fishing matters, inspired by his son, Matt, who got him fishing seriously again 10 years ago and back to writing about it.
John McAdams was born and raised in Houston, Texas, where he started hunting at an early age with his father and grandfather. Since then, he has hunted all over the United States as well as in Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. A 2007 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, McAdams served in the Army from 2007 until 2014 and had combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. His passion for the outdoors led him to create TheBigGameHuntingBlog.com in November 2012. Additionally, he writes for WideOpenSpaces.com. As a strong supporter of conservation as well as gun rights, McAdams is a member of Safari Club International, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and the National Rifle Association. McAdams currently lives in Washington with his wife where they both enjoy taking advantage of all the outdoor opportunities available in the Pacific Northwest.
Taylor Pardue came to hunting later in life. No one in his family hunted, so when he turned 16 he took it on himself to get his hunting license and learn to shoot and hunt. He attended North Carolina State University and graduated with a degree in wildlife biology. He is now finishing a second degree in communication studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He worked as a newspaper reporter for Civitas Media between his first and second college degrees. He worked as a reporter and photographer for two papers simultaneously, has written and worked with the Quality Deer Management Association, and is an avid waterfowl and small game hunter. Pardue currently works as a freelance writer and photographer. He is a frequent contributor to North Carolina Sportsman magazine and writes short-story fiction on the side.
Bernard Williams was born and raised in Mississippi with a farm pond in the backyard. He bass fished for 20 years and fell in love with crappie fishing. He’s a software engineer by trade and a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi and Jackson State University with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science. He hated technical writing during college years but his career choice made it necessary to enhance his writing skills. In other words, writing technical documents is his job. He started writing about his fishing techniques and it ballooned into a part-time job. He had no idea eight years ago he would be getting paid to write outdoor articles. He’s written numerous outdoor articles about all aspects of crappie fishing. He’s a field tester for Pure Fishing, Minn Kota, Garmin and others. He loves testing and writing about new and improved  products. He’s a staff writer for Crappie Angler & Crappie World and also writes a blog for the Clarion Ledger newspaper.
Brad Zahar looks forward to working with OWAA and meeting many of its members. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he’s spent the last few years working as a sportscaster in local television in Alabama, West Virginia and Virginia. During that time his desire to write and provide stories about the outdoors has grown exponentially. An avid bowhunter and fisherman, Zahar has recently taken up fly-fishing, along with pheasant hunting, while working to train and hunt with his family’s German shorthaired pointer. He’s also hoping to start doing some freelance writing and video production this winter with hunting and fishing for his blog, BradZahar.com which he hoped to have fully up and running by the end of October.
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New Members

John Bigbie is an active duty U.S. Air Force officer stationed at Aviano Air Base in Italy. Bigbie grew up in Sumter, South Carolina, and has strong family ties to Clay County, Georgia. As an up-and-coming freelance writer, he maintains an extensive network of highly regarded outdoor artists, custom knife and rifle makers, bird dog breeders and upland game experts who enable him to construct distinctive articles and feature stories. His latest piece, “Old Thump,” appears in the summer 2014 issue of the Upland Almanac. Bigbie is currently conducting research for an article about the late knifemaker George Herron.
Writer and photographer Ben Duchesney is the web editor of Kayak Angler magazine and has been published in a variety of magazines, such as Field & Stream, The Flyfish Journal and Bassin’ Magazine, as well as on numerous websites and in newspapers. He’s been writing since before he was old enough to spell and picked up a camera in college. Duchesney was born and raised on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and earned his bachelor’s degree in communication and print journalism at Suffolk University in Boston. If he’s not on the water fly-fishing or paddling, he’s most likely running around the country on assignment or taking photographs of motorcycles — even while riding on his own. Constantly reading novels, (many by Jim Harrison, or Fyodor Dostoyevsky), Duchesney plans to soon write his own; along with multiple non-fiction books on fishing, motorcycles and photography already in the works.
Jason Duncan is a regular contributor to the International Federation of Fly Fishers’ Flyfisher magazine, as well as the illustrator for his articles. He also writes the satirical fishing blog Fly Fishing, Et Cetera (www.flyfishingetcetera.blogspot.com). He lives with his wife, daughter and Welsh terrier in New York City.
Lou Dzierzak has been a full-time freelance writer since 1997. Much of his writing focuses on the business side of outdoor recreation. Editorial experience includes serving as manager editor of Outdoor Business, Hunting Business, Outdoor Insight and Running Insight. He’s an ongoing contributor to Gun Trade World and Tackle Trade World. He’s published hundreds of articles on marketing trends, product design innovations, environmental sustainability initiatives and retail operations. He’s also written for Silent Sports, Paddler, Canoe & Kayak magazine, Running Times magazine, Trail Runner magazine, Backpacker Magazine and Scientific American. An avid winter sports enthusiast, he has been the managing editor of Cross Country Skier magazine since 2000. Author of several books including a two-volume Boundary Waters Canoe Area guidebook. As managing editor, he is working with Rootsrated.com, an online resource providing detailed outdoor destination profiles.
Ruth Hoyt discovered her passion for photography in 1989 and evolved into a full-time nature photographer and writer. She teaches classes and private instruction, leads workshops and tours, performs ranch photography consultation work and more. Hoyt is a charter member of the North American Nature Photography Association, a certified interpretive guide and certified Texas master naturalist. Her work has been exhibited in locations such as the Smithsonian Institution and Missouri Botanical Garden and hangs on permanent display in various states. Credits include National Geographic books, The Nature Conservancy, Birder’s World, Texas Wildlife Association, AAA’s Home & Away, Valley Land Fund and more. Hoyt has won major awards in significant photo competitions including the international contest Natures Best, Valley Land Fund and first grand prize with partner and teammate John Pickles in the Coastal Bend Wildlife Photo Contest.
Dave Veldman is an avid outdoorsmen from southeast Michigan, who spends many of his weekends in the northern parts of the state hunting, fishing, camping, running his dog and shooting his Canon. He has been a student of photography for almost 20 years and now primarily focuses on hunting dogs and upland hunting photography. Veldman has been shooting professionally for the past two years under the name Sport Dog Photography. His work has been
featured in Ruffed Grouse magazine where he writes articles, provides images and works closely with the organization in its conservation efforts. He has also worked with other conservation organizations around Michigan, providing images and video of their efforts. Veldman runs and maintains an outdoor blog that focuses on Michigan camping and recreational opportunities. An avid camper, hiker, paddler and trail runner, he has enjoyed introducing the beauty of Midwestern forests to his four children.
Marianna Treviño Wright grew up in the Rio Grande Valley, where her childhood days involved catching Texas horned toads, fostering skunks and chasing snakes off the patio with her grandfather. Flocks of green parrots and families of armadillos inhabited the 12 acres on the outskirts of town, where her parents kept a few horses and cattle, along with her mother’s pet donkey, Frankie, and the pig her father received for Father’s Day. At the ranch she’d see Texas tortoise, diamondback rattlesnakes and Bobwhite quail, along with coyotes, deer and javelina, which her brothers dressed in the yard. This wild and magical upbringing, full of close encounters and where her natural curiosity was rarely the subject of parental supervision, fueled her love for the outdoors and appreciation for every manner of wildlife. Today, she writes primarily of lessons from the natural world and strives to use her voice for conservation, education and preservation.
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New Members

Christine Carbo has a bachelor’s degree in communication arts and a master’s degree in English and linguistics from the University of Montana. She taught writing, linguistics and literature courses at the college level for more than a
decade and has worked as a professional technical writer for various companies. She currently teaches in a different realm as the owner of a Pilates studio. When she’s not teaching, she’s writing and plotting her next psychological mystery or enjoying the Montana wilderness and lifestyle. Carbo’s first psychological mystery featuring a lead detective from the Department of the Interior was recently purchased by Atria Books with Simon and Schuster and is scheduled to come out in 2015. Currently, she is working on her second mystery also set in stunning and haunting Glacier National Park.
Sam Finden hails from Townsend, Montana, by way of Colorado, Texas, Arizona and Minnesota. An avid hunter and horseman, his lifelong enthusiasm for outdoor pursuits has provided ample inspiration for his fiction works and content for his blog, www.SamFinden.com. His first book, a young adult novel entitled “Saddle My Good Horse: The Cowboy Kids of Mirror Valley,” was self-published in paperback and as an e-book in 2013. Finden submits work upon request and hopes to expand his audience through OWAA. He intends to provide both print and online editors with informative and thought-provoking text, video and photographic content.
A proud member of OWAA effective May 1, Joe Lunkas looks forward to actively working with OWAA and productively interfacing with its many distinguished members. Throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was a prolific freelance outdoor writer for a number of national publications. He also was on the archery and hunting seminar circuit throughout his home state of Michigan. In 1985, he put his writing career on hold while continuing a challenging and rewarding 40-plus year career with General Motors. “Retiring” in 2007, he resumed his passion for outdoor writing. He began freelancing again and wrote and published the “Fifty Years of Lessons Learned of a Michigan Outdoorsman” book trilogy with SBPRA. He continues to be an avid gathering, fishing and hunter outdoorsman with a lot to pass on to current and future outdoors-persons who will one day inherit his great wild outdoors.
Linda Water Nelson is a freelance writer and editor who also serves as sport vehicle editor for Texas Fish & Game Magazine and for its website at fishgame.com. She comes to outdoor writing via her vehicle background and is a current member and former board member for the Texas Auto Writers Association, a current member of the Midwest Automotive Media Association and is an active member of the Texas Outdoor Writers Association. She writes vehicle reviews, skills, trends and vehicle launch coverage. She also writes about the relationships between trucks, SUVs and other passenger vehicles, ATVs and RVs, and the quality of life of their owners and users — particularly as it relates to active lifestyles and the outdoors. She is the owner of bucket-list-guide.com, which will launch in mid-2014 with an emphasis on vehicles, adventures and ideas about the outdoor life.
Writer and photographer David Sikes grew up in Louisiana. He has been a full time columnist for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times since 1998. He earned a journalism degree from the University of Houston. He’s written about fishing or hunting in Alaska, Colorado, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico, Louisiana, Arkansas, Idaho, Mexico, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, as well as Texas. His freelance writing has appeared in a variety of Scripps newspapers and magazines. He is a past president of the Texas Outdoor Writers Association and currently serves as TOWA chairman of the board. Sikes is a board member of the Wildlife in Focus conservation and education nonprofit. He’s received the
Ducks Unlimited Wetland Conservation Achievement Award, the Charley McTee Media Award from the Texas Wildlife Association and was named the Harvey Weil Foundation Professional Conservationist of the year. He lives on North Padre Island in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Jeff Woleslagle is the section chief of communications for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Forestry. He holds a bachelor’s degree in wildlife and fisheries science from Penn State University. Prior to joining DCNR, Woleslagle worked on various research projects for the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, University of Montana, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Pennsylvania Game Commission. In addition to his communication duties with department, he has written for the Pennsylvania Outdoor News, Voice of the Wild, Pennsylvania Forestry Association magazine, Pennsylvania Afield, Pennsylvania Game News and the Pennsylvania Angler & Boater magazine. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writer’s Association and the Pennsylvania Forestry Association. He is an avid whitetail deer hunter and enjoys all types of fishing. He resides in Duncannon, Pennsylvania, with his wife Jodi and their two children, Alayna and Nathan.
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New Members

Bob Bramblet is the founder and a past president of the Southwest Florida Kayak Angler’s Association. Visit its website at www.swfkaa.com. Bramblet writes kayak fishing articles and reviews for several online resources and kayak fishing magazines such as Florida Sportsman magazine, YakAngler, KFC Tournament Trail Magazine and Kayak Angler Magazine. He can usually be found fishing his home-waters of Estero Bay or Pine Island Sound in Florida, where he has been fishing for over 20 years. Bramblet is a member of the Hobie Fishing Team, and is on the pro staff of Estero River Outfitters, Bending Branches and Columbia Sportswear.
A proud native of Charlottesville, Virginia, Matthew Copeland served a six year corporate sentence in Major Metro USA before finding his way home to Wyoming. He met, married and made a son with his wife in that open country and it’s got its claws in him. He worked for many years in outdoor education at The National Outdoor Leadership School and now spends most of his days fighting for the places we hunt, fish and recreate as an organizer for the National Wildlife Federation. Copeland co-produces StalkingTheSeam.com, a critically acclaimed digital outlet exploring the balance between parenting, happy home lives and passionate outdoor pursuits. His writing has appeared in Gray’s Sporting Journal, the Drake magazine, the Casper Star-Tribune and elsewhere. He’s a curious writer with eclectic interests who’s tackled a diverse collection of topics over the years, including the recurring themes of hunting, fishing and kids in nature.
Erin Merrill is a born and raised Mainer who got her first taste of hunting when she was 20 and rattled in a buck during deer season. After being interviewed by a fellow outdoor writer about being a 20-something woman getting into hunting, she decided to launch her website, www.andastrongcupofcoffee.com, and focus on writing about the challenges outdoor women face, her adventures learning the do’s and dont’s of hunting white-tailed deer, black bear, moose and turkey and issues that impact Maine and its hunting heritage. Merrill also writes for Northwoods Sporting Journal and Wide Open Spaces. She is on the board of Friends of Becoming an Outdoors-Woman in Maine, which aims to get more women out of their comfort zone and trying new outdoor activities. She is active on Twitter and Google+ and is thrilled to join the OWAA community.
Born and raised on Long Island, New York, Chris Paparo has been exploring the wilds of the island for over 30 years. As a wildlife photographer, writer and lecturer, he enjoys bringing public awareness to the wildlife that calls the island home. His passion for coastal ecology, fishing and the outdoors led him to obtain a degree in marine science from Southampton College of Long Island University. He manages the Marine Sciences Center at Stony Brook University. In addition to freelance writing for several fishing and wildlife related publications, Paparo writes the monthly Naturalist’s Logbook column for the New York and New Jersey edition of On The Water magazine. Although his work tends to focus on marine life, everything in the natural world is fair game. Paparo is a licensed general class falconer, currently flying a female red-tailed hawk named Emmy. To follow Paparo’s adventures, follow him on Facebook and Twitter at Fish Guy Photos or by visiting his website at www.fishguyphotos.com.
Communications specialist Ryan Roberts serves at the communications coordinator for the National Fish Habitat Partnership. He is employed by the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies in Washington, D.C. as a liaison for several committees and work groups related to fisheries and ocean policy as well as angler and boating participation. Born in Pennsylvania, Roberts is an avid fly-fisherman and grew up near some of the best eastern U.S. waters, including Spruce Creek and the Little Juniata River. Roberts helped launch the “10 Waters to Watch” campaign that highlights restoration projects implemented through the National Fish Habitat Partnership. Roberts also developed social media platforms for the partnership and manages day-to-day communications for the vast network of growing partnerships. Because of his communication efforts, partnership projects have been featured in several magazines and newspapers,
both locally and across the country.
Stephanie M. Salinas was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and moved to the Texas Hill Country in the fall of 2011 to finish her bachelor’s degree in journalism at Texas State University- San Marcos. In the summer of 2012, she began interning with the news and information branch of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. After graduating in August 2013, she was hired full-time at the department. Her writing has been featured in several issues of Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine. She also writes news releases and news briefs regularly and helps manage the department’s Facebook and Twitter pages. In her spare time, Salinas can be often found trying new activities and visiting new parks with her family and her 5-year-old Jack Russell terrier mix, Norma Jean. Her long-term goal is to visit every park in the state.
Brad Smith has been an avid outdoorsman all of his life. As a child, he fished on the banks of the Eel and Tippecanoe rivers in Northern Indiana chasing muskies and other game fish all over the Midwest. During the winter, he
spends every possible moment in a tree stand. Come spring, he is in the woods listening for far off gobbles. His passion for hunting and fishing has led him to a life of being a lure designer, tournament angler, and an active writer providing content for several outdoor publications and various websites such as Midwest Outdoors magazine, Wide Open Spaces, Angler and Hunter, Average Outdoorsman and The Outdoor Shopper. Smith is also pretty handy in the kitchen. He specializes in quick and easy wild game recipes that would make even the pickiest of eaters go back for seconds. These days Smith still spends every moment he can lost in the woods or somewhere on the water writing about his adventures and sharing his experiences on his blog StreamtoPond.com.
Terry R. Thomas is a naturalist with a masters’s degree in wildlife management from Montana State University. He has worked for Idaho Department of Fish and Game for 27 years a s a conservation officer, wildlife biologist, habitat biologist and habitat manager. When he is not working he is exploring the backcountry of Idaho and traveling to national parks and other points of interest. Thomas writes a weekly nature column for the Idaho Falls Post Register and recently published a book, “The Best of Nature,” with over 100 of his most popular columns from the past 17 years. He is a board member of Friends of Camas National Wildlife Refuge. He recently started a website, www.nature-track.com
intended to become premier site on nature. He and his wife Cathy love to travel, photograph, hike, canoe, garden, hunt and fish.
Matt Smythe decided that hunting and gathering for his family’s table would be a far better way to make a living than grinding out a nine-to-five. An upstate New York native, avid bowhunter and fly-fisherman, Smythe now splits his time between freelance writing (marketing and editorial), spending time in the woods and on the water with his three kids, and writing his blog, fishingpoet.com. Additionally, Smythe is the writer/co-producer of the film “A Deliberate Life,” which toured with the International Fly Fishing Film Festival in 2013. Smythe believes that the conservation of our woods, water and wildlife helps us pay much closer attention to the larger natural world that surrounds the places we find them — the wild places that he knows his kids will explore, both locally and beyond.
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New Members

Jesse Bussard is a cowgirl who grew up in south central Pennsylvania. After completing two agricultural degrees at land grant universities back East, she followed her dreams westward in the fall of 2012, finding herself most at home in the Rocky Mountain front of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Currently based in Bozeman, Mont., she provides writing, editing and digital media and marketing solutions to individuals and small businesses in the ranching, agricultural, food, and outdoors sporting communities, through her company, Cowpunch Creative. Her writing has appeared in many agricultural and American Western lifestyle publications including Beef Producer, Progressive Forage Grower, and American Cowboy. Bussard is working on expanding her outdoors writing portfolio in the realm of fly-fishing and recently joined the blogging team of DryftFishing.com. In addition, she is in the beginning stages of a book project focused on the culture and spirit of entrepreneurial women in the American West.
Drew Chicone is an author, outdoor writer, fly designer, photographer, lecturer, and materials expert whose passion for teaching the art of fly-tying has inspired numerous how-to articles and detailed instructional guides. His innovative patterns are sold in fly shops all over the world and his a rticles and photographs appear frequently in magazines and online publications such as Fly Fishing in Salt Waters Magazine, Fly Fisherman Magazine, Hatch Magazine, Fly & Light Tackle Angler and Florida Sportsman. Chicone partnered with Stackpole Books in 2013 to publish his fourth book; “Feather Brain: Developing, Testing & Improving Saltwater Fly Patterns.” His other titles include, “Snook Flies,” “Essential Bonefish Flies” and “Andros & Essential Permit Patterns.” He is the creator of the popular blog and website www.saltyflytying.com and he is widely known for his willingness to help fly-tiers young and old improve their skills at the vise.
Scott Morrison is the founder and president of Morrison Creative Company, Inc., a Cody, Wyo., based creative agency specializing in the design of advertising and marketing materials for the outdoor industry. Morrison is editor and designer of Wild Sheep and Gunwerk’s Long Range magazines. Morrison Creative also designs The Black Powder Cartridge News and The Counter Terrorist Magazine, in addition to serving its many design clients in the firearms, fishing and travel industry on a national and international basis. A fifth-generation Montanan, Morrison has worked as a big game hunting and fly-fishing guide, a fly-casting and fly-tying instructor, a competitive shooter, artist, photographer, designer, writer and illustrator and in many other occupations too numerous (and perhaps too scandalous) to mention. He is a father of two and resides with his wife, Gina, in Wyoming — and whenever possible — Belize. Visit his website at www.morrisoncreative.com.
Andrew J. Pegman is a tenured assistant professor of English at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio. He recently accepted an administrative position as director of teaching, learning and professional academic development at the college. Pegman received his bachelor’s in English from John Carroll University, his master’s in English from Cleveland State University, and a certificate in college teaching from Kent State University. He is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in community college leadership through National American University. In the past, he worked as a staff writer for Sun News. His work has appeared in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sun News, Ohio Outdoor News, The Pedestal Magazine and other publications. He was recently accepted to Outdoor Writers of Ohio. He enjoys reading, writing, fishing, hiking and birding. He lives in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, with his wife Amy and corgi, Olive.
Johnny Sain can trace his love of outdoor writing back 30 years, to the days when his outdoor magazine collection numbered more than 2500 issues and sneaking copies of Field & Stream into algebra class was an everyday occurrence. A native of the Arkansas River Valley and southern Ozark Mountains of west Arkansas, Sain is a freelance writer, editor and photographer specializing in rural and natural heritage. Sain began his writing career in 2010 and decided to return to college that same year pursuing a degree in journalism, complemented by a minor in biology and an associate degree in Ozark culture studies. His website, aviewfromthebackroads.com, has won two Realtree Horizons awards. Sain has also written award winning magazine features. He lives in Dover, Ark., with his wife Christine and daughters Madison and Mackenzie.
Tom Seamons was raised near Soda Springs, Idaho, hunting, trapping, fishing and exploring the history-rich area located on the Oregon Trail. He started trapping muskrat and mink at age 10 and hunting at age 12. Unfortunately, the only camera available was a little box-like Brownie. After high school, he moved to St. Anthony, Idaho for summer work, attended Boise State University in the winter months and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He took several photography classes at ISU after returning to southeastern Idaho, and had opportunity to accompany a professional photographer to Australia and Papua New Guinea in 1990. His wife Kris introduced him to riding Missouri Fox Trotters eight years ago. This has opened up a new way to explore the magnificent Yellowstone, Teton, and Island Park country. He looks forward to sharing his photography and perhaps even an occasional story to go along with the images.
Kristen Schmitt writes articles on hunting, wildlife, nutrition, the environment and sustainable agriculture from her home in Vermont where she raises chickens, gardens and hopes to create a completely sustainable lifestyle. She writes for National Geographic and Deer & Deer Hunting magazine and her articles have also appeared in Mother Earth News, Utne Reader, Vermont’s Local Banquet and Urban Times. She has interviewed many leaders within the farming, food, sustainable agriculture, and hunting communities and completes her master’s degree in sustainable food systems from Green Mountain College in December 2014. Her next project will document learning archery and discuss female empowerment in relation to archery and bowhunting.
Joanie Straub has been working in marketing and communications for more than 18 years. Since April 2012, she has worked for the Missouri Department of Conservation as a regional media specialist, covering central and northeast Missouri. Raised in southwest Missouri with an appreciation of the outdoors, Straub is discovering nature on a fresh and exciting level as she gets up-close and personal and learns more about Missouri’s various animals, trees, plants, landscapes, etc. Her work for the department appears in local television, print and radio programs. Hiking, skiing, camping and canoeing are her favorite outdoor pursuits. Straub has a duel bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism and history from the University of Missouri and a master’s degree in technical communications from Colorado State University. Straub lives in Columbia, Mo., with her husband and two young sons.
Emily Stone was born to naturalist parents in the rolling hills and limestone bluffs of northeast Iowa. She devoured books as a kid, but ventured outdoors in college — majoring in outdoor education-natural history at Northland College in Ashland, Wis. From there, she traveled seasonally to naturalist jobs in Canyonlands National Park, Acadia National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Sandstone, Minn., and the redwoods of California. The poet Mary Oliver asks: “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Teaching kids of all ages about nature in beautiful places is Stone’s answer. After completing the field naturalist master’s program at the University of Vermont, Stone brought her enthusiasm for nature and education back to the Midwest. She is currently the naturalist/educator at the Cable Natural History Museum in Cable, Wis., where she writes a weekly natural connections column for several area newspapers.
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New Members

Judy Benson covers health and the environment at The Day in New London, Conn., a foundation-owned independent daily newspaper. In 2013 she received the Publick Occurrences Award from the New England Newspaper and Press Association and was named Journalist of the Year in 2006 by the New England Press Association. She has won numerous other awards. She attended a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship on  medical evidence at MIT and the New York Times Institute on Environmental Reporting, and is a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists and the Association of Health Care Journalists. Currently she is enrolled as a part-time student in a master’s degree program in natural resources and water resources at the University of Connecticut. When not working or studying, she enjoys hiking and kayaking.
John Paul Harris Jr. (“Jack” to most people) is the author of the book and video “Beyond My Wildest Dreams.” He was a videographer long before he ever thought about writing his book. The video proves that the book is more than words on paper. He always reached for his dreams and he hopes to leave the world a better place because he lived. He is now trying to make that happen in many ways, including writing conservation oriented poetry, writing the song “America and Peace,” creating his Team Earth initiative and Jack’s International Litter-up Hiker’s Bag. You can see more on his website http://www.jackswildlifedreams.com.
From a very early age, Josh Honeycutt was involved in hunting and fishing. He often spends long hours a field chasing whitetails, turkeys and other game. A resident of Glasgow, Ky., Honeycutt lives in the outdoors. Honeycutt is majoring in journalism at Western Kentucky University and pursuing a lasting profession in the outdoor industry. As an outdoor writer and photographer since 2011, he has been published in 20 outdoor related magazines and websites. Some of these include: North American Whitetail, Whitetail Journal, JAKES Country magazine, Game & Fish, Antler Geeks, MidWest Outdoors magazine, Wiredtohunt.com and Realtree.com. Honeycutt is also a member of the Kentucky Outdoor Press Association, Southeastern Outdoor Press Association and Professional Outdoor Media Association. His goals are to graduate from WKU, continue working in the outdoor industry, inspire in others what the outdoors has inspired in him and to promote godliness in his words and actions while doing so.
Jeffrey Isenhart was born and raised in the farmlands, north woods, rivers and lakes of northwest Michigan. He is a service-connected disabled veteran and a full-time student at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Ill. He is studying Earth science and creative writing. He is a semi-finalist for the Norman Mailer Community College Creative Non-Fiction Writing Award Competition for his creative writing memoir “Serenity from Night.” He served as a paratrooper in the 82nd and as a light infantry soldier and advisor in Central and South America. He is an avid outdoorsman, hiking, canoeing, fishing, hunting, or camping. He lives in Ingleside, Ill., nestled around the land o’lakes area of northern Illinois.
Michael A. Kallok is an editor at Minnesota Conservation Volunteer magazine, the official publication of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, where he crafts stories about environmental issues, natural resource management, and outdoor recreation. Kallok previously was a staff writer at Minnesota Outdoor News and editor of the Mille Lacs Messenger, a weekly newspaper in central Minnesota near the famed walleye, muskie, and smallmouth bass waters of Lake Mille Lacs. Kallok enjoys paddling rivers with his wife, Kelly, casting flies on Driftless area trout streams, and following his setter through the north woods in search of ruffed grouse.
Robert (Rob) F. Kay began his journalism career with the San Francisco Chronicle Foreign Service in 1975. He has worked as a radio journalist in California and has written award winning adventure travel guides on Fiji and Tahiti for the Lonely Planet series. A past contributor to newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Newsday, San Jose Mercury and Los Angeles Times, he is currently editor of On Target Hawaii, a regular series on firearms in the Hawaii Reporter, Hawaii’s leading online news journal. Kay manages a three-person staff which turns out news and reviews on all manner of guns and accessories. His topics include handguns, rifles, optics, cleaning equipment, storage gear and other topics germane to the AR 15 and AK platforms. An avid bullseye competitor, Kay began shooting at the age of 12 during family outings in the Sierra Nevada. He resides in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Stephen Kirkpatrick has been chased by grizzly bears, attacked by alligators, and nibbled by piranha. In the process, he’s captured some of the world’s most beautiful and exciting nature and wildlife photography. Kirkpatrick’s work has appeared in hundreds of books and magazines worldwide. He has also published 11 solo pictorial coffee table books. Kirkpatrick’s work has earned international acclaim, including the “Writer’s Digest” International Self-Published Book Award, the National Outdoor Book Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, and three Southeastern Outdoor Press Association Book of the Year Awards. He has twice been named a winner in the prestigious International Wildlife Photographer of the Year and speaks at national conferences and conventions. He has appeared on televisions shows, including ABC’s “Shark Tank,” the Christian Broadcasting Network’s “The 700 Club.” To see Kirkpatrick’s work, visit www.kirkpatrickwildlife.com.
Vivian Wagner is a writer and photographer who lives in New Concord, Ohio. An avid rafter, kayaker, hiker, and sailor, she has published work in a number of magazines and literary journals, including Blue Water Sailing magazine, Caribbean Compass, O, The Oprah Magazine, American Profile, American Way, TechNewsWorld, The Kenyon Review, Zone 3, and many others. She is also the author of “Fiddle: One Woman, Four Strings, and 8,000 Miles of Music,” and she teaches writing, literature, and journalism at Muskingum University. For more information about her, visit her website at www.vivianwagner.net.
A full-time police officer for more than 25 years, Brent Wheat is also an award-winning freelance writer, photographer and Web developer based in Lebanon, Ind. With more than 1,000 published stories to his credit, he has experience with virtually every form of print and electronic media ranging from the local newspaper to ABC News. Having served as a police sniper, diver, canine handler and police department spokesperson during his career, he specializes in tactical shooting, law enforcement and personal safety topics and has been on the editorial staff of SWAT Magazine for the past decade. Away from the keyboard, he works as a defensive shooting instructor and lectures on a variety of outdoor and personal safety subjects. When not on duty or facing a deadline, Brent enjoys pestering smallmouth bass in local streams, a sip of Kentucky Holy Water, a good cigar and tinkering with his orchid collection.
A former editor and reporter for the Casper Star-Tribune in Wyoming, Nadia White’s writing focuses on outdoor adventure, environmental policy and journalism education. She lives in Missoula, Mont., where she hunts, fishes, canoes and trail runs when she’s not teaching reporting at The University of Montana School of Journalism. Her work has appeared in many daily newspapers as well as magazines including, recently, High Country News and Headwall.
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New Members

Born in the heart of New York, Bob Amendola grew up in the South Bronx. He first developed his interest in writing at a school that Hollywood portrayed as the toughest school in the country in the movie, “The Blackboard Jungle.” Attending Pace University for a year, Amendola taught martial arts after receiving his second black belt, formed the Pace Athletic Club and edited the college newspaper. Serving in the U.S. Army as a Green Beret “A Team Member,” Amendola refused a medical discharge after being wounded in Vietnam and went on to teach STS members precision archery upon joining the U.S. Air Force. After leaving government service with two honorable discharges, Amendola settled in Southeast Missouri and just published his first book, “Today’s Deer Hunting Handbook, The Complete Illustrated Guide for New and Experienced Hunters,” and is currently working on his next book. Amendola is an archery
expert, professional hunter, lecturer and writer and can be reached by his website, www.bobamendola.com.
Writer and ecologist Kirk Mantay was born and raised near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in southeastern Virginia. An angler since age 5 and a hunter since age 17, Mantay relentlessly pursued greater knowledge and understanding of the American outdoors. He holds a master’s degree in environmental planning from Appalachian State University, and bachelor’s degrees in wildlife management and geography from Virginia Tech. Mantay wrote his first conservation press release as a wildlife technician in 1997, and writes regularly as a nonprofit conservation manager and college professor in Annapolis, Md. His outdoor-focused blog, “River Mud,” has been online since 2007, and features more than 600 posts on topics as diverse as waterfowl hunting, children in the outdoors, and urban gardening.
Trampas Swanson is originally from eastern North Carolina, where he served as a deputy sheriff and in a SWAT sniper unit. Swanson and his photographer wife Candace relocated to Jacksonville, Fla., in 2011, where he now works as a gunsmith, shooting instructor and writer, reviewing firearms, gear and ammo for magazines and websites. As a long-time hunter, like his father and grandfather, Trampas includes a lot of personal experiences in his writing, combining humor, history and family values. Being married to a chapter leader for The Well Armed Woman organization, Trampas spends a lot of his free time helping his wife educate and empower women in the shooting sports world through safety and marksmanship programs.
Steve Zakur lives and fishes in western Connecticut. Zakur writes about fly-fishing and related matters at sippingemergers.com and in short-form on Twitter. You can also find his essays and short-fiction in The Drake, The Flyfish Journal and the upcoming volume of Pulp Fly. Zakur is a recovering trout snob, whose mind has been poisoned by steelhead, stripers and kvichak rainbows, not to mention largemouth, smallmouth and bluegills. When not fishing he’s usually writing about the people, places and sport of fishing. He’s the spouse of the lovely, intelligent, and tolerant Ann, the father of two above-average boys and an executive for a large technology company during his spare time.
Rod Hamilton was raised in Beaverton, Ore., where his passion for fly-fishing began at the age of 12. After graduating from Oregon State University with a bachelor of science degree, he moved to British Columbia in 1976, ultimately creating and operating companies nationally recognized in the financial services industry. “Retired,” he is now able to focus his energies traveling and writing about his obsession with catching bonefish, permit and tarpon on the fly. His love for fly-fishing has led to a website, various magazine articles and the soon to be published book, “Do It Yourself Bonefishing.” Residing in Vancouver for 30 years, he and his wife recently moved to Vancouver Island, British Columbia where the pace may be a little slower, but is significantly closer to fly-fishing’s summer quarry of trout, salmon and steelhead.
Twenty years ago Richard Minich began a quest to catch the great musky. After accomplishing that goal, he still fishes and has interesting results — he recently caught a rare blue walleye. He has written three non-fiction books about musky fishing, available at www.richardminich.com. Switching to fiction, Minich created Joe Gaspe, a wild musky fisherman who knows everybody. He contracted Joe to the Department of Homeland Security. Chafing under the supervision of Radleigh Loonch, a young female intern, Joe and his eclectic network prevent bombings, rescue enslaved women, and save New York state in three novels: “Fireships and Brimstone,” “Girls Before Swine” and “Dread Upon the Waters.” Two newer books, “The Sollie Drake Story: Unsurpassed Among Men,” a fictional biography of the greatest musky guide in Wisconsin, and “Vengeance is Thine,” the fourth Joe Gaspe book, are featured in serial form on his website, www.richardminichwriter.com.
Bryce Bekar was born and raised in Canada’s arctic. Bekard was born in Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories of Canada and raised in “The Polar Bear Capital of the World” — Churchill, Manitoba, which presented many opportunities for outdoor adventures that are sometimes beyond belief. Being a lifetime Northerner has given Bekar the freedom to hunt, fish and spend time in a place people pay tens of thousands of dollars to visit. Bekar started hunting when he was 5 years old and is raising his daughters with the same love of the outdoors. They enjoy most activities as a family in the Yukon now, and represent a dwindling breed of people that feel it is more important than ever to get our children involved with the outdoors.
After nearly 10 years in the world of Fortune 500 corporate America, a lifelong passion for wildlife conservation finally brought Lynda Lambert to the Arizona Game and Fish Department where she swears she could not have written a more perfect job description for herself. She serves as the public information officer responsible for promoting endangered species conservation, wildlife research, safe wildlife-human interactions and nearly all other public relations involving nongame wildlife species. Raised in Michigan, she has been writing about the great species of the Southwest since 2006. She has a bachelor’s degree in natural resource management and a master’s degree in risk communication from Michigan State University that comes in handy during her work with endangered species and negative wildlife-human encounters. Married to an avid fly-fisherman, she and her husband enjoy living the motto “get outdoors” with their two young children and are always searching for their next outdoor learning adventure.
Judith Kohler is the public lands communications manager for the National Wildlife Federation based in Boulder, Colo. She is also part of the communications team for Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development, a coalition led by National Wildlife Federation, Trout Unlimited and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. Before joining the National Wildlife Federation in August 2011, Kohler was a reporter with The Associated Press for 21 years in Colorado and Wyoming, where she covered politics, energy and the environment. She wrote about the lead-up to the restoration of the gray wolf to the Northern Rockies; grazing reforms on public lands; the natural gas boom in western Colorado; sportsmen’s concerns about energy development; and the restoration of lynx to Colorado. Before that, she was a reporter and editor on weekly and daily newspapers in Colorado and Nebraska. The Deadwood, S.D., native earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder.
Marie Majarov, a freelance photographer, writer and Virginia master naturalist, lives in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley on the edge of a historic woodland. There, she and her husband enjoy nature — especially gardening with native plants for butterflies and other pollinators, birding, hawk watching, and fishing when time permits. She’s passionate about lecturing and writing to increase awareness of the plight of the monarch butterfly, facilitated by her knowledge and appreciation of monarch biology and her in-depth photography of this majestic creature. Majarov studied with acclaimed photographers, biologists and naturalists Rob and Ann Simpson. Her features and photographs are seen regularly in Virginia Wildlife Magazine and have appeared in Zoogoer, a Smithsonian publication, BlueRidge Country, Hobby Farms’ Beekeeping, and various regional publications. Majarov is president of the Virginia Outdoor Writers Association and on the board of directors for the Mason Dixon Outdoor Writers Association.
Whitney Clark graduated from Virginia Tech in May 2013 with a degree in natural resource conservation and a minor in forestry. After graduation, she moved to Berkeley, Calif., to pursue a career in environmental resource conservation
in the Bay Area. She loves exploring the natural world around her through traveling, hiking, camping and especially wildlife watching as she’s always enjoyed being around animals. One of her favorite things is sharing her excitement about the outdoors with those around her by telling stories of all her adventures. Besides that, she enjoys reading, fishing, gardening, walking dogs, and is an avid NFL football fan.
Michael Hamilton is as passionate about writing and voice acting as he is about fly-fishing. He’s been doing all for more than 30 years. He frequently publishes in print and online for national and international fly-fishing, lifestyle and travel magazines. He is an active member of the Northwest Outdoor Writers Association. Prior to careers in freelance writing and voice acting, Hamilton spent 18 years in television and radio as reporter, anchor, editor, producer and news director. His career in broadcast took him from Vietnam to New York and back to Seattle. His awards include Associated Press and United Press International Reporter of the Year, and he is a three-time recipient of the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Broadcasting. Hamilton lives with his wife, public artist Pam Beyette, and his two cats, Cooper and Mini-Cooper, in Seattle. Please visit his website www.troutdogs.com.
Rick Fowler taught English in a Northern Michigan high school for 34 years before retiring in 2012. He has been a freelance outdoor writer for the past 23 years. He is currently a field editor for Hooks and Bullets magazine and a Michigan editor for Midwest Outdoors. He is a regular contributor to Woods ‘n Water, The Mackinaw Journal and The Good Life. He has won two Writer of the Year awards from Midwest Outdoors and a Michigan Outdoor Writers Association writing award from his peers. Fowler gleans numerous story ideas for articles on bird hunting and fishing at his residence in Northwest Michigan and his cottage on South Manistique Lake in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He and his wife Sue are proud parents of two children who have also pursued educational careers.
Eva Shockey knows what it means to be part of the outdoor industry. Growing up with professional hunter and television personality Jim Shockey as her father, Eva Shockey was brought outdoors and in front of the camera at an early age. With a combined passion for conservation and adventure, Shockey is now a full-fledged Outdoor Channel and Wild TV personality and is quickly making a name for herself within the industry as a proud outdoors-woman. She spends more than 250 days per year traveling the world to co-host “Jim Shockey’s Hunting Adventures,” as well as representing the Outdoor Channel as host for various TV specials and red carpet events. Shockey is linked with various well-known outdoor brands like Crosman, Mossy Oak and HunterCourse, writes for various magazines and publications and makes guest appearances at trade shows and fundraisers across Canada and the USA. Shockey has found a way to balance hunting, travel and family into what she calls the “best lifestyle in the world.”
Based in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York, writer, photographer, and licensed guide Ed Kanze writes about the birds and the bees — which is to say he writes about nature, and the swirl of activity that makes the wild world go round. Kanze has published five books: “Notes From New Zealand,” “The World of John Burroughs,” “Wild Life,” “Kangaroo Dreaming: An Australian Wildlife Odyssey,” and “Over the Mountain and Home Again.” His latest book, an Adirondack Mountain memoir interwoven with family history and natural history, will be published in 2014. Kanze’s newspaper column, “All Things Natural,” has been published weekly since 1987. He also writes a column for the Adirondack Explorer and is a contributing editor at Bird Watcher’s Digest. Kanze has won the prestigious John Burroughs Association award for Outstanding Published Natural History Essay of 2004 and a gold medal at the International Regional Magazine Awards. Kanze is a former national park ranger and lives with his wife and two children.
John Allen, born and raised in south-central Pennsylvania, has been an outdoor writer and photographer since 2005. He has had a passion for the outdoors from a young age and has always enjoyed communicating it to anyone that would listen. He regularly appears in the Pennsylvania Angler & Boater magazine and Pennsylvania Outdoor News. His specialties are freshwater fishing, kayaking, white-tailed deer hunting and wild turkey hunting. Other interests include long-distance running, wild edible gathering, and vegetable gardening. He currently serves as the treasurer of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association. On a full-time basis, Allen is a certified public accountant with a regional accounting firm in south-central Pennsylvania. He resides in Carlisle, Pa., with his wife Maribeth and their dog, Remy.
Jessica McGlothlin is a freelance photojournalist and writer. Montana is home but she is a wanderer at heart; her most recent adventure took her above the Arctic Circle on the Kola Peninsula in Russia for six weeks. After a summer of documentary work on Montana’s Missouri River, she’s now in the greater Puget Sound area while researching her next adventure. She has written for a selection of publications in the U.S. and abroad, including American Cowboy,
Cowboys & Indians, Fly Fisherman, Fly Fusion, American Angler and The Big Sky Journal. She is on the team at Chi Wulff and grew up around the fly-fishing lifestyle. She is a member of the National Press Photographer’s Association and Lightstalkers, and was recently invited to spend a week with the U.S. military for a journalism training program. McGlothlin is working on relocating overseas in pursuit of new subjects to photograph. While her goal in journalism is to cover conflict, the outdoor world has provided some unexpected — and fascinating — adventures.
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