Professional Trapper & Wildlife Manager

I was raised on an East Tennessee farm, where we grew tobacco and raised Poll Hereford cattle. After graduating high school, I left home for college. I graduated from East Tennessee State University, where I received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice. I am also a graduate of Walters State Community College where I received an Associate of Science Degree in Law Enforcement and Biology.

I have been employed as a wildlife officer (game warden) for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) for 31 years. As part of my job, I perform wildlife management duties, and have taken an active role in the restoration and/or management of white-tailed deer, black bear, wild boar, wild turkey and river otter across East Tennessee. I have spent hundreds of manhours studying beaver and predator behavior in the field. I also survey and evaluate damage caused by beaver and predators and initiate effective control techniques, which usually include trapping. I have been an avid furbearer trapper since 1977. In 2005, the Shikar Safari Club International selected me as wildlife officer of the year for the State of Tennessee. This award was largely due to my work in the fields of furbearer management, education and public relations.

I am a certified trapping education instructor, hunter education instructor, boating education instructor and police firearms instructor. I also instruct classes on trapping and furbearer management for other TWRA employees and assist in teaching an annual furbearer management program for the University of Tennessee’s wildlife management department. I am a 1996 graduate of the Fur Takers of America (FTA) Trappers College, which is administered by Purdue University's wildlife management department and located in northeast Indiana. For the past four years I have served as an instructor at the FTA Trappers College. I have also been selected as an instructor for the newly instituted FTA Trappers College in Louisiana, which will hold its first class in April 2009. In addition to trapping techniques and furbearer management, I also teach map reading and Global Positioning System (GPS) technology at the Trappers College.

I spend the months of January and February trapping. I do professional trapping on the 26,000-acre Glasscock Island private hunting preserve on the Mississippi River south of Vidalia, Louisiana, the 39,000 acre Angelina Plantation in Monterey, Louisiana, and the 18,600-acre Ames Plantation in West Tennessee. I trap furbearing predators, as well as beavers, nutria, and armadillos.

I am an active member of the Tennessee Fur Harvester’s Association, the Fur Takers of America, and the National Trappers Association.