Posted on: October 26th, 2009 Pro Staff
Meet the Back 40 Pro Staff
Jerod Fink
Co-founder of Back 40 Outdoors, Jerod’s immense passion for the outdoors began at an early age. Growing up on a Western Wisconsin farm, he has had infinite opportunities to explore all things wild. This passion was put on hold for a bit for Jerod to pursue his other love, wrestling. Since finishing up his wrestling career, Jerod’s passion for the outdoors has returned ten-fold. He has been able to transfer his preparation for the mat to his preparation for the outdoors both physically and mentally.
Kevin Biermeier
Co-founder of Back 40 Outdoors, Kevin has been active in the outdoors for as long as he can remember. Going after whitetails, turkeys, and western game with archery equipment is Kevin’s main interest. But when the snow flies, look out as he’ll be all over the countryside chasing bunnies with his beagle. Aside from hunting, Kevin also enjoys coaching wrestling, 3-D archery, and his new obsession- bowfishing.
Jake Oravetz
Jake is a whitetail and long beard fanatic. He loves everything that has to do with the outdoors and Archery. He currently lives in a small town called Maple Lake, MN with his wife Ashley. Jake tries to stay as involved with the Archery industry as he can and still work his regular consrtuction job. Jake is very excited about being part of Back 40 Outdoors. Wrestling competively for 18 years Jake has learned to push himself to the limit everytime whether its in the gym or on a hunt in the backcountry.
Collin Cottrell
Former college football player and a lifetime outdoorsman, Collin has been hunting since he was a kid. It all started when he would tag along with his father squirrel hunting and deer hunting in the thick woods of central Minnesota. Once Collin turned 12 and was old enough to legally pursue whitetail’s with a rifle, he was in the woods every November. Until about 3 years ago Collin had only hunted deer with his rifle, he was then introduced to bowhunting by his father. With his introduction to archery, Collin realized he would have more of an opportunity to hunt and it would be a greater challenge.
Collin currently owns his own Design and Internet Marketing company that is focused on the outdoor industry, Cottrell Design, which is located in Bozeman, Montana.
Ryan McKittrick
Like the rest of us, Ryan has been hunting for as long as he’s been able. He persues mainly deer and turkeys in our home state of Wisconsin. Ryan recently found his calling as a videographer, as he is very good behind the camera. He hopes to bring some quality footage to the website. Ryan’s interests outside of hunting include fishing and coaching wrestling, team.
Scott Sprenger
Scott is one of the most accomplished hunters on the Back 40 Pro Staff. Over his hunting career he has racked up over 150 big game animals. Many of these have qualified for Pope and Young, but he is still looking for that ever elusive Booner. Scott’s main passion is pursuing western big game with his bow. Hunting 4-5 different states or provinces in Canada a year are par for the course with Scott. Outside of hunting, his other interests are competitive archery and fishing.
Marc Alberto
Marc has been pursuing whitetails in his home state of New York since he was 16 years old. He began hunting whitetails with a shotgun, but one arrow from a bow was all it took to get him addicted to bowhunting. During his college years, Marc rowed for the Marist Crew team helping his boat capture several medals while competing at the MAAC Conference, ECAC Regional Championships, and IRA National Championships. When he’s not bowhunting whitetails, Marc can be found fishing, backpacking, kayaking, wakeboarding or snowboarding. Marc is also a freelance outdoor writer and staff shooter for Posten Stabilization. His philosophy is simple – Accept the Challenge. Never Give Up.
Chad Baart
Chad is the founder of Hunters Journey Magazine which is partnered with Back 40 Outdoors, he has spent many hours in the back country and beyond. With his roots tracing back to the Northeast hardwoods, his feet have taken him to the backbone of America, the Rocky Mountains. With the backing of many top name companies, Chad has taken animals across America while putting his body and equipment to the ultimate test. Not only has Chad lay claim to ISB State Archery Champion, you may have also seen him in Eastman’s Hunting Journal, Western Hunter Magazine, and also the former Idaho Hunter Magazine.
Richard Besendorfer
It all began when I was around 5 years old growing up on a homestead in desert in SW Idaho, miles from the nearest neighbor. I would sit out front of the shack we called home and shoot coyotes with Dads 30.06. I was immediately hooked on hunting and the love for being outdoors. Growing up on the heals of my father who was an avid outdoorsman, life as I understood it meant I was to get my chores done as efficiently as possible to maximize the time I could spend trapping, fishing, camping and my favorite, hunting. I grew up and gun hunter as my father was but fell in love with archery in the mid 90’s. I have trouble trying to decide which species of big game is my favorite as I enjoy so much the experience each and every trip brings. The harvest becomes relatively insignificant in the end. A new joy has been added to my experiences as of last fall. My son is now 12 and shares most if not all of my passions. Watching him as he harvest several animals in his first season has rekindled the fire of my youth.
Trevon Stoltzfus
A former collegiate and freestyle wrestler and professional bull rider – was born and raised in southern New Mexico, where he had the privilege of working as an elk, mule Deer, and antelope guide. From an early age the love of hunting, fishing, and the outdoors was instilled in him by a heritage passed down through his grandfather, uncles, and older cousins. Having taken numerous trophy big game animals, he now desires to pass that passion for the outdoors on to others through the written word, outdoor seminars, television, and videos.
Trevon has had the pleasure of working for Eastmans Hunting Journal as the research editor and was the archery co-host for the television show The Best of the West. He continues to work with multiple outdoor television shows and is passionate about capturing the thrill of the hunt on video. As a freelance writer, Trevon writes for many national hunting and bowhunting magazines and serves on multiple outdoor industry promotional staffs. Check out Trev’s website www.westernbiggamehunter.com
Kirk Edgerton
Kirk grew up chasing whitetails in the hardwoods and bottoms of Eastern Tennessee, but now call Northern California Home. This gives me unique access to many Western States where my travels take me deep into numerous Wilderness areas chasing big bucks, bulls, and bears. I truly feel that a dedicated year round fitness program is a huge key to success in the backcountry. By training year round and competing on my mountain bike and thru trail running in the local foothills, my goal is to be as fit as I can be leaving the truck and heading up the trail to a distant ridge top.
I also volunteer my time as an official Pope and Young and CBH (California Archery Record Book) measurer, this helps keeps skulls, antlers, and hunting constantly in my mind and in my hands. Currently living in Sacramento, Kirk is excited to be part of the Back 40 Pro Staff.
Chris Eberhart
A lifelong bowhunter and former collegiate distance runner. He grew up chasing whitetails in Michigan. He is a whitetail fanatic who hunts in up to six states each fall, entirely DIY from his trademark minivan. He has hunted in Canada and Europe as well. Chris is a freelance writer and the author of three whitetail bowhunting books, Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails, Precision Bowhunting, and Whitetail Access. He also writes regularly for several national bowhunting magazines, including Deer & Deer Hunting and Bow & Arrow Hunting. He currently writes a regular bowhunting column for a German hunting magazine. He is co-producer of an instructional whitetail bowhunting DVD series, Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails. Chris has also appeared on several episodes of American Archer with Tom Nelson. His website is www.eberhartsbowhunting.com
Brock Boldt
Brock has a very strong passion for archery and everything to do with archery. I guess you could say he is a bit of an archery fanatic. He got that first bow in his hands at the young age of 8 and never looked back. Growing up in west central Wisconsin he grew up chasing big whitetails and long beards. He also enjoys heading out west for other big game animals. “I thank my Dad every day for getting me into the world of archery”. Aside from hunting big game Brock enjoys bow fishing and planting food plots.