Meet the Staff
Bob Fernald, President, Publisher and CEO
Bob, along with Ralph, Thierry, and Silvio Calabi, was part of the original team that acquired Shooting Sportsman in 1993. Initially responsible for managing back-office operations, he now serves as the magazine’s publisher and president of its parent company. Like Ralph, Bob is a Syracuse University alum, earning a degree in English, and he also holds an MBA from the University of Maine. A lifelong outdoorsman, Bob comes from a family with a rich history of hunting and fishing. Among his most prized possessions is the family Parker shotgun, a treasured heirloom. E-mail Bob at bob.fernald@downeast.com
Ralph Stuart, Editor in Chief
Ralph has been the Editor of Shooting Sportsman since the magazine was acquired by Down East Enterprise in 1993. That year he moved to Maine from New York, where he had been a Senior Editor at Outdoor Life. He graduated from Syracuse University with degrees in English and magazine editing and was able to combine his passion for hunting and fishing with his career. When he is told that he has “the best job in the world,” he doesn’t argue. E-mail Ralph at rstuart@shootingsportsman.com.
Thierry "Terry" Bombeke, Director of Wingshooting
Terry got his first bird dog when he was 13 and has spent much of his time since then chasing upland birds and waterfowl all over the globe. When stuck in the office he combines his marketing degree with 25 years of industry experience to help wingshooting-related businesses present their products and services to Shooting Sportsman readers. Terry’s favorite gamebird is wild quail. E-mail Thierry at tbombeke@shootingsportsman.com.
Hannah DiPasquale, Deputy Publisher
Hannah joined Shooting Sportsman in 2016, serving as both the circulation and production coordinator. Since then she has pitched in at every opportunity and become the unofficial backbone of the brand. Her expertise in subscription management, customer service, production, audience development, sales and marketing is rivaled only by her sunny disposition and can-do work ethic. Email Hannah at hannah@shootingsportsman.com.
Vic Venters, Senior Editor
Vic has been a contributor to Shooting Sportsman since 1989. He previously served as the magazine’s Gun Review Editor and currently writes the Gun Craft column. He is the author of Gun Craft: Fine Guns & Gunmakers in the 21st Century and is co-author (text) of The Best of British, with David Grant (photography). His views on fine guns as collectibles have been quoted in Worth Magazine and London’s Financial Times. Vic graduated from the University of North Carolina with a B.A. in history, and he completed two years of graduate studies at Louisiana State University in journalism and the history of the American South. He lives near Wilmington, North Carolina, with his wife and son.
Editors at Large
Reid Bryant, Editor at Large
Reid Bryant is an Editor at Large for Shooting Sportsman and since 2010 has been contributing to the magazine—sharing his expertise in upland hunting, gundogs and fine shotguns. In addition to contributing to a variety of other outdoor and sporting publications, he is the host of the "The Orvis Hunting and Shooting Podcast," the Senior Manager of Wingshooting Services at Orvis, and the author of publications including The Orvis Guide to Upland Hunting, The Incomparable Ponoi – A History and Training Bird Dogs with Ronnie Smith Kennels. Reid lives in southern Vermont with his wife, two daughters and an ever-changing assortment of critters, including a pair of English springers that he currently runs to moderate effect. Outside of the wingshooting space, Reid enjoys fly-fishing, playing soccer and attending to his small piece of Vermont hillside.
Silvio Calabi, Editor at Large
Silvio Calabi has been a widely traveled journalist, author, editor and publishing executive for more than 45 years. He's been sharing his expert knowledge of fine guns, wingshooting, driven game and safaris with Shooting Sportsman since 1993. He is the author of many books, the latest of which is the second edition of Hemingway’s Guns. Silvio is a Knight of the International Order of St. Hubertus and a member of Safari Club International and the International and New England Motor Press Associations. He was a member of the Namibian Professional Hunting Association, a director of the California Side By Side Society, and a co-founder of the Gold Medal Concours d’Elegance of Fine Guns. He divides his time between the Maine coast and the mountains of Colorado.
Ed Carroll, Editor at Large
Ed grew up in Massachusetts with his roots in Maine, where he came for an education in the outdoors and a journalism degree from the state university. Fishing since he was 3 and shooting since he was 12, he spent nine bachelor years in Alaska that provided the best hunting, fishing and outdoor adventuring that journalism pay could afford. Serving as SSM's Associate Editor from 2003 to 2018, Ed immersed himself in wingshooting culture—from travel and gunmaking to hunting-dog lines and shotshell ballistics. He currently is a freelance writer and newspaper editor in Midcoast Maine.
Tom Davis, Editor at Large
Tom Davis, one of Shooting Sportsman's longest-tenured contributors, has been writing about sporting dogs, upland bird hunting, sporting and wildlife art, sporting literature, and conservation for 35 years. His books include Lynn Bogue Hunt: Angler, Hunter, Artist; The Art of Remington Arms; and The Orvis Book of Dogs. In addition to upland bird hunting (ruffed grouse and woodcock, mostly) he enjoys fly-fishing for trout and smallmouth bass, cross-country skiing, bicycling, cooking, reading, watching classic movies and following the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay women's basketball team. Tom lives in Green Bay—"a drinking town with a football problem"—with his wife, Joan Robb, and their semi-crazy English cocker spaniel, Rumor.
Greggory Elliott, Editor at Large
Along with being a writer and gun enthusiast, Gregg is a bird hunter who lives outside of Boston with his wife and pointers. He grew up hunting ruffed grouse and woodcock in northern New Hampshire and these days hunts throughout New England. Gregg always has been interested in double guns and bird dogs. As a kid, he used to make his father take him to gunshops so he could look at side-by-sides and over/unders. He got his first hunting dog—a Brittany—when he was 12, and his first double was a 16-gauge Fox Model B.
Gary Kramer, Editor at Large
Gary Kramer, an Editor at Large for Shooting Sportsman, has been writing and photographing bird hunting and fishing for nearly five decades. His first article appeared in SSM in 1989. He has hunted, fished and photographed in 67 countries and is the magazine's go-to guy for images of worldwide bird hunting. A wildlife biologist by trade, he not only has contributed to magazines but also has written the text and provided photographs for six books—the most recent including Wingshooting the World and Game Birds. Gary lives in Willows, California, and you can visit his website at garykramer.net.
Clair Kofoed, Editor at Large
Clair Kofoed has been an Editor at Large for Shooting Sportsman since 2003. He grew up hunting and fishing in the West and has spent most of his life there working as a professional wildlife biologist, enhancing and creating blue-ribbon waterfowl and upland bird habitat. He enjoys writing about “best”-gun making and engraving and is an award-winning photographer. Besides magazine work, he has done several commissioned, private-hunting-estate books. Among other projects, he is working on his “new” old home and acreage, with plans to have his property “teeming” with California quail.
Douglas Tate, Editor at Large
Doug Tate is an Editor at Large for Shooting Sportsman with more than 350 articles published in the past 30 years. A British native, he attended the College of Art & Industrial Design, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and has a keen eye for aesthetics, from a well-turned sentence to a well-filed gun action. He has been a longtime contributor to The Field, in the UK, and is the author of the books Birmingham Gunmakers and British Gun Engraving. He now lives in the Pacific Northwest.
Contributing editors
Chris Batha, Shooting Editor
Chris Batha, Shooting Sportsman’s Shooting Editor, has more than 30 years' experience coaching, wingshooting and competing in clay shooting. He has written extensively on all aspects of bird hunting, clay shooting and shotguns. He is a member of the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers, a member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America, and is the National Director of The British Clay Pigeon Shooting Association. Each year Batha conducts shooting schools at some of the finest facilities in the US, Great Britain and Europe. Although the shooting schools, gun-fittings, writing and seminars take up a considerable amount of time, Chris continues to enjoy competitive shooting whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Greg Carpiniello, Gun Review Editor
Greg Carpiniello enjoyed his first career as a boarding-school teacher and dean for close to 30 years. Along the way, he developed a passion for hunting and trained a few setters. As his collection of guns grew, he decided to pursue a career that aligned with his passions, so in 2015 he took over as the manager of Orvis Shotguns in Manchester, Vermont, and Millbrook, New York. Since then he has availed himself of every opportunity to become immersed in the world of fine guns. He has a passion for researching and evaluating old guns and helping clients find the best shotguns for their needs and budgets. While he occasionally can be found on the clays course, his love of bird hunting is undeniable. As far as he’s concerned, a day afield beats any day at the office.
George Hickox, Hunting Dogs Editor
George is a full-time professional dog trainer and has been helping owners and their dogs for more than two decades. He conducts training clinics across the US. George spends his summers training dogs in North Dakota and winters in Thomasville, Georgia, where he trains, offers private consultations and hosts wild-quail hunts on a private plantation. He has a great office, indeed. For more information on the George Hickox School of Dog Training, visit www.georgehickox.com.
Tom Huggler, Contributing Editor
Tom Huggler is the author of more than 20 books, including Grouse of North America and A Fall of Woodcock, both of which have won national acclaim and are now collectible. He has been sharing his expertise in wingshooting travel, bird dogs, shotguns and conservation with Shooting Sportsman readers for more than 30 years. His list of state, regional and national awards includes the Outdoor Writers Association of America's Excellence in Craft Award, and in 2017 he was inducted into the Michigan Outdoor Hall of Fame. Tom lives in Sunfield, Michigan, where he raises bird dogs, and travels extensively for bird hunting adventures.
Tom Roster, Shot Talk Editor
Tom Roster is an independent ballistics consultant and author specializing in the design and testing of shotshells. He is a court-recognized shotshell/shotgun expert witness with patents on shotshell components, especially for nontoxic shot. Tom was formerly the Ballistics Research Director at the Oregon Institute of Technology, and then served as a Ballistics Specialist for the Dept. of the Interior. In these capacities he conducted empirical shotshell/shotgun-performance research and trained thousands of law-enforcement and wildlife personnel worldwide in shotshell exterior and terminal ballistics phenomena. Tom designed, administered and co-authored the peer-reviewed scientific reports of the world’s six most extensive lead-versus-nontoxic-shot duck-, goose-, pheasant- and dove-shooting tests ever conducted. He lives in Oregon with his wife, Jeanne, and their black Labs and enjoys fly-fishing in his spare time.