Hometown: Sandy Springs, Georgia 

Favorite O/U product and why: This is a tough one for me as I have literally had my hands on and been involved in nearly every single item we have produced over the last decade. I may have to leave this a little open ended and leave y’all with a bit of a cliffhanger. I say that because my favorite product is actually one that we haven’t released yet. This is something completely different for OVER UNDER, and it is one that has been in the works for years. It may not be a piece of gear, or an article of clothing that we sell a ton of volume in, but why I like it, and why I am so excited about it is that it will encompass so many aspects of our brand over the last decade into one big, bad ass package! 

Dream hunting / fishing excursion where, what, etc: New Zealand is definitely at the top of my list! have been fortunate enough to visit New Zealand and travel both islands immediately after college, but I wasn’t able to hunt. I did get to fly fish a little bit, but the entire time I was there traveling with some old college roommates all I wanted to do was grab a bow, a rifle, and a shotgun, and pursue anything with four legs or two wings. New Zealand is beyond beautiful, and nearly everywhere I traveled literally looked like a postcard. I think if I could bowhunt red stag, have the opportunity to shoot some waterfowl as well as fish a few of the many storied rivers that flow into Lake Taupo in the same trip that would be an amazing opportunity. If we are talking about dreams here… What would really be a dream come true is if I could do this with my wife, my four girls, and my pup, Lottie II. To share an amazing, raw and unfiltered outdoor excursion like that, but with my whole family…that’s a true dream trip! 

Favorite breed of dog: I’m going to give y’all a pretty vanilla answer here, but a lot of folks in the world love vanilla! I am fanatical about British labrador retrievers. I did not grow up with them, but in 2009 a British lab named Lottie Grace changed my life, and hence our logo and company was born. 

If you could share a duck blind or a boat for a day with anyone who would it be and why? I am a little bit of an amateur American history buff, so again this one is very tough to answer as there are so many real men of the past that I would love to have tell me stories in a duck blind! After much thought and consideration my answer is this…I would love to share both with Meriwether Lewis and William Clark…aka  “Lewis & Clark”. These 2 men accomplished the unthinkable. They saw and experienced first hand what is simply known as “the west”. They kept amazing journals and documented almost every day of their adventure seeing many animals of North America no white man had ever seen before. I think it would be awesome to watch the sunrise come up with these two and just let them tell stories of their expedition. I’m usually a bit of talker, but in this case I would love to just sit in a blind with these guys, and ask a bunch of questions while we hopefully drop the hammer on a few Greenheads. 

What Conservation Group/s are important to you and or which ones would you like to use your platform to raise more awareness to the gen public about? Conservation of land and wildlife is obviously a huge part of our mission at OVER UNDER. It has been something close to my heart as I was literally raised up going to Ducks Unlimited events as a young kid and still partake in many on an annual basis. It’s no secret that we at O/U participate in making monetary donations, numerous product donations as well as giving our personal time to as many worthy conservation groups across N. America as possible. That has always been a core principal of our “Giving Back Program” and it always will. Now that Over Under has over a decade under it’s belt with helping numerous conservation groups it has been wonderful to see over the last 12 years more and more groups rising up in the name of conservation. I was born and raised in the great state of Georgia, and it will always be my home. So with that being said, and knowing that I am a hunter first and an angler second, many of you are probably thinking my answer is going to be Quail Unlimited, QDMA, RMEF, Safari Club International or the ever popular Ducks Unlimited, NWTF or Delta Waterfowl. These are all awesome organizations and O/U definitely supports these, but these groups are fairly well known, so my answer is none of the above. Having now been a resident in N. Florida for over 16 years one group in particular that I would personally love to be more involved with as an individual and also using O/U to help raise funds, as well as national awareness to their cause  is; “Captains for Clean Water.” This particular conservation group has done a tremendous job just in the last few years of bringing awareness to the ongoing issues of man versus nature in the Florida  Everglades and trying to find that ever evolving balance, BUT we have a lot of work left to do. 

My favorite memory spent in the outdoors: Well, how long you got? Ha! In all honesty this is an easy one. Not a short one, but a fond story of mine to tell. My favorite memory in the outdoors is when my now wife (then girlfriend) shot her first deer. An 11 pt to boot, and off of my back, after belly crawling 150 yds through brush and briars on a middle Georgia power line, on a sub freezing morning after tent camping with me at “deer camp” while my buddies got a hotel room that night rather than “rough it with us” like real men…and women! 

It was almost the peak of the rut in November and the moon was nearly non-existent. My wife and I doubled checked my old .243 (the rifle I shot my first deer with) the day before when she put 3 100 grain shots in a 1.5” group at 100 yds. After looking at her grouping I told her, “You are good! No more shooting for you young lady!” I didn’t want her to use up all of her newly acquired sniper skills before we got in the deer-stand the next morning. We woke up to a hard freeze, made breakfast on some coals from the fire the night before under the still brightly shining stars, and set out to our designated spot. Not long after sunrise we spotted what looked like a shooter buck every bit of 550 yds away from us. This guy was big bodied and way on down the power line. I thought for sure by the time we tried to close the gap on foot he would wind us or move on to better cover vs exposing himself in the wide open planted green field. However, that thick food plot on a 24° morning kept his attention long enough for us to put a solid stalk on him. I remember my wife telling me, “I feel like we are kids again playing Army or Cowboys and Indians! This is SO MUCH FUN!" As we zig zagged through some planted pines on the north side of the power line trying to not draw attention to ourselves and stay out of the wide open all I could think about is how are we going to get close enough for a shot on this deer. We moved quick and quietly through the pines, but we were probably still 250 yds away (that’s still a long way off for some of us Ga hardwood bottom and swamp hunters) when I was able to really glass that deer and see his rack closely for the first time. That’s when it got real for me! I saw his wide 11 pt rack glistening in the sun as he was head down munching on some fall clover. I remember thinking at that point “we have a real shot at harvesting this animal.” That’s when my heart beat began to reach levels of some of my past sky dives. Although we had made up some serious ground, the 3-1/2 yr old buck was still a ways uphill from us at 250 yds and the wind was not in our favor. We snuck slowly out of the pines and into the center of the power line. Fortunately there was enough chest high cover for us to drop down low and slow crawl up the next rise to try and figure out our next move. I remember telling my wife to strap my old Remington 700 ADL bull barrel .243 over her shoulder on her back and just “sniper crawl” right behind me as I also had my hands full with my own Remington 7mm BDL and a camel back full of gear. This would be an easy crawl. It should be noted at this point that my wife did NOT grow up in the outdoors. She was the daughter of a then banker (now landowner and sportsman in his own right) and her weekends were spent being drug to the ball field watching whatever sport her older brother was playing, babysitting her 2 younger siblings, or practicing piano, art, drama and ballet. With that being said, it must also be noted that she’s absolutely tough as nails when she needs to be, a classy lady in every sense of the word, but always wanted to be part of any adventure the boys were undertaking. I think too many times growing up she was told “that’s only for boys! You can’t do that!” So, I learned very quickly in our dating relationship that she could absolutely hang with the guys in any setting if just given the chance. She was eager to do any and all things in the outdoors as long as we were together, and her appreciation for God’s creation was refreshing as I too sometimes feel the power of God’s hand and His Holy Spirit is stronger in the outdoors than inside the walls of a church. 

So where was I? Yes! Sniper crawling to get close enough for the shot! Ok, so Haley belly crawled through some heavy brush and briars, uphill behind me to not have us be 2 people wide and bring any more attention to our silhouettes as we approached the buck. Because he was at a much higher elevation than us it would be tough to slowly rise up on a knee to shoot without him seeing us or even us being able to see him. Haley slowly rose to a knee, but couldn’t get high enough to even see the deer to get a shot. We were at 100 yds. We would HAVE to get closer. Now this is when my heart was literally beating out of my chest. We slow crawled another 25 yds up the hill to where we literally were almost level with where he was still feeding. This would be tough. I didn’t want to even lift my head higher than ground level in fear of alerting this guy! That’s when my sweet, blonde, petite soon to be fiancé looked at me and sternly said to me as I was heavy breathing with my heart pumping and she said, “calm down and get your butt in front of me! Lay down, shut up and turn sideways so you can make your back a table for me to shoot off of!” “YES MA’AM!” I probably said in my head, and I did exactly as she said. My camel back backpack made the perfect rest for her and I slowly rose up to me knees while she did the same. The buck was now looking directly at us. Still feeding, but he was definitely on alert with his quick head checks as he knew something just wasn’t quite right. I remember keeping my head turned away from the deer with my face mask on, and I wanted to look so badly to see his rack! I said to Haley as she took aim, “Do you have him?” 

YES! Replied my wife in a tone similar to that of a Paris Island drill Sargent.

I said, “Are you sure? Just breath slow like we practiced and shoot him right in the center of the chest”

I thought to myself, “awe man! a brisket shot…not ideal.” Still, I was confident in Haley and my old rifle. As I asked one more time “Do you have him?” My then girlfriend, now wife said confidently, “Just shut up, and stop breathing so hard! I’ve got him”. I did my best to calm my breathing and at that point I can vividly remember hearing her exhale slowly and then….BOOM!! I quickly turned my head just in time to see my wife’s first deer drop like a 200 lb sack of salt! Not a kick, not a head jerk, not an ounce of suffering. Haley had taken her first deer and we did it together! That is my favorite memory spent in the outdoors!

Location of residence or Hometown: Flagler Beach, FL

Favorite O/U product and why: 

Three Season Ultralight Shirt- I love wearing our 3-season shirts when out on the water or when hitting the beach. I stay cool when wearing it, and get lots of compliments when rocking the duck camo pattern. 

Dream hunting / fishing excursion where, what species, etc 

I would love to be able to land an Osceola Turkey, and to be able to further explore their territory in my home state of Florida to achieve this feat. 

Favorite breed of dog:

German Shorthaired Pointer

If you could share a duck blind or a boat for a day with anyone who would it be and briefly why? 

I would love for the opportunity to share a blind with Governor Ron Desantis to talk about political courage and the pursuit of conservation for our wildlife and habitats in Florida. 

What Conservation Group/s are important to you and or which ones would you like to use your platform to raise more awareness to the gen public about? 

I am a fan of all the work being done by MANG as they preserve and build our mangroves to protect our coastal ecosystem, and help  shelter and cultivate habitats for fish to continue to thrive.

Your top/ favorite memory spent in the outdoors 

My favorite memories in the outdoors include wake surfing and floating down Black Creek in Middleburg, FL.

Location of residence or Hometown: Coral Springs, FL

Favorite O/U product and why: 

I love our crosscut flannel because it has a built-in microfiber glasses cloth stitched in, and I can keep my shades fog free. 

Dream hunting / fishing excursion where, what species, etc: 

I would love to hunt Moose in British Columbia.

Favorite breed of dog:

Australian Shepherd

If you could share a duck blind or a boat for a day with anyone who would it be and briefly why? 

I would love to share a duck blind with Matthew McConaughey because I would love to talk about his film career and to hear him say “Alright Alright Alright” after shooting some ducks. 

What Conservation Group/s are important to you and or which ones would you like to use your platform to raise more awareness to the gen public about? 

I am passionate about the North Florida Land Trust as they work to preserve the local Jacksonville community. 

Your top/ favorite memory spent in the outdoors: 

My favorite memory outdoors was hiking through Alaska, and getting to see the natural glaciers and rainforests.