Meet The Field Experts and Pro Staff

Outside of sports, no other passion in life bring together people like hunting and fishing. A bond only understood by sportsmen and their family members who share the outdoor experiences. With outdoor traditions spanning from New England, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina, Indiana, Georgia and Delaware, field experts, pro staff and avid sportsmen with skills ranging from hunting, fishing, shotgun, rifle & handgun shooting, wild game cooking, habitat management and restoration come to share their experiences. Throughout the year, come review articles, hints, tips, recipes and experiences at PurnsleyOutdoors.

Name: Michael Sobieraj, Pro-Staff

Outdoor Experience: 18 years
Profession:  Mechanical Design Engineer
Outdoor Skills: Salt & Fresh Water Fishing, Whitetail, Wild Boar, Turkey and Waterfowl

 

Short Bio: Michael Sobieraj was raised to be an outdoorsman. The first 18 years of his life were spent living in Florida. The whitetail hunting there was tough to say the least but the pig and turkey hunting　were outstanding for Michael. Michael's father introduced him to hunting and doing everything outdoors.　 He later got into filming when he was a freshman in high school and spent a great deal of time　fishing for nearly everything that can be caught in fresh and salt water.　 After high school, Michael made the decision to attend college in Indiana where he stepped up his hunting game.　

 

Michael works in Northeastern Indiana as a mechanical design engineer.　 His job is only　five minutes away from　his house　and all the properties are right around home as well.　Michael plans to be in the deer woods EVERY single afternoon of the season. Being a newbie when it comes to hunting in the Midwest,　Michael is　always learning. Being only 25 years old, he is still considered a youngin’ when it comes to being an outdoorsman, but in just 6 years of hunting in the Midwest, he has been able to harvest 13 bucks all scoring over 140 inches and doing so with mostly archery equipment! Nearly all of Michael's hunting is done on private grounds where permission to hunt these properties is gained by knocking on doors. Michael is also a prostaff for the show Midwest Whitetail that is featured both online and on the sportsman channel and just recently was in the latest edition of Hoyt and Fuse archery’s product catalog. Whitetails are not the only animals that Michael hunts. Virtually anything that is legal to hunt is not safe. The activities that he enjoys the most is to waterfowl hunting with his yellow lab, Hoyt, turkey hunting and enjoys going out fishing for anything that bites. So if he isn’t writing an article for us, you can be sure that Michael is out somewhere in the field hunting or fishing. [Info: To contact the Michael refer to; outdoorlife@ymail.com]

Name: Denny Corriveau, Field Expert

Outdoor Experience: 35 years
Profession:  Game Chef, Game Spice Manufacturer, Speaker, Wild Game Culinary Author & Instructor
Outdoor Skills: Master Game Chef/National Authority on "Best Practice" for Game, Whitetail, Bear, Moose, Wild Boar, Upland Birds & Rabbit

 

Short Bio:      Over the past 25 years New England's WildCheff - Denny Corriveau has honed his skills as an avid hunter, private chef, and motivational speaker that has spent countless hours developing wild game culinary experience; as an owner of a successful wild game catering business, game consultant to restaurants, cooking columnist, cookbook author, and game chef for countless game dinners, private dinner parties that feature game, hunting camps, gun clubs and special events; Denny has evolved as a recognized National Authority on how to successfully take your game from field to table.

Denny, affectionately known as the WildCheff, is additionally the Founder/Instructor of the WildCheff Cooking Academy - which was established in 1995. Denny conducts his WildCheff - Wild Game Cooking Clinics to audiences of game enthusiasts, and individuals that seek to learn about "Best Practices" for cooking their fish and game. With roots in Bordeaux & Cognac region of France, born and raised from a large French-Canadian family, Denny has enjoyed cooking all his life. He learned various cooking styles by his broad cultural experiences in Canada, New England, Texas and the Southwest. [Info: To contact the Wildcheff refer to; http://www.wildcheff.com]

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Name:  Tony Rivers, Field Expert
Outdoor Experience: 28 years
Profession:  Natural Resource Professional (Soil Scientist), Fire Management Officer, Hunter Education Instructor, Outdoor Writer
Outdoor Skills:  Whitetail, Waterfowl and Small Game

Short Bio: Tony Rivers is an avid Sportsman that resides in Louisiana. He is employed professionally as a Natural Resource Professional on the Kisatchie National Forest, with his specific field of expertise being Fire Management. Tony served as a Soil Scientist for 15 years in Mississippi before moving to Louisiana. Tony spends his time on the Football Field each fall where he serves as a High School Football Official. Tony has been an Outdoor Writer for 8 years and continues to pursue his interest as a Writer and articles for Outdoor Magazines that allow him to share his outdoor experiences, along with “How To” Articles to assist others during their outdoor pursuits.
 
Tony’s first calling has always been hunting and he spends numerous hours in the field each year in pursuit of Whitetail, Waterfowl, and Small Game of all types. With roots and hunting skills fined tuned on the Louisiana Bayous, Tony has had the opportunity to hunt in numerous states across the Southeastern U.S. and several Western States. [Info: To contact Tony refer to; rtony8080@aol.com]

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Name:  Rick Dillard, Field Expert
Outdoor Experience: 28 years
Profession:  Fish and Wildlife Biologist, Outdoor Writer, private lands consultant
Outdoor Skills: White-tailed deer hunting, small game hunting, fishing small lakes and ponds

 

Short Bio: Rick Dillard is a Biologist for the U.S. Forest Service and currently serves as Fish and Wildlife Program Manager for the National Forests in Mississippi, providing oversight and coordination for the management of 1.2 million acres of wildlife habitat and over 75 public fishing lakes on six national forests in the state. He grew up hunting and fishing in north Mississippi and by his own admission is personally responsible for overfishing numerous farm ponds during his childhood. He received his B.S. and M.S degrees in Fisheries Management from Mississippi State University. He is also a deer hunting fanatic with a great interest in recognizing the numerous trophy deer harvested across the state. This interest led to the creation of the Magnolia White-tailed Deer Records Program, which serves to recognize trophy deer on a county-by-county basis. He is a member of the Mississippi Wildlife Federation and serves as on the board of directors as 1st Vice-President. Lastly, he is an Official Measurer for the Boone & Crockett Club, qualified to measure over 30 species of North American Big Game.
 
Rick has written articles for Mississippi Game & Fish magazine, Mississippi Woods & Waters magazine as well as numerous newspapers. He has been featured in North American Whitetail and Outdoor Life magazines. His television and video experience includes being featured in “Mossy Oaks Hunting the Country”, “Mossy Oak Classics”, and Mega Bucks 7. He has a blogsite on the Clarion Ledger newspaper’s outdoor section

 http://www.clarionledger.com/misc/blogs/outdoors/rdillard/rdillardblog.html [Info: To contact Rick refer to; rdillard@msn.com]

Prostaff Wanted

PurnsleyOutdoors.Com is looking for individuals who have expertise or ambition in photography, hunting, fishing, sporting clays,  archery  or dog training. If you have a passion for the outdoors, enjoy passing down the fishing and hunting traditions then click the button below and contact us.