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David grew up in the small northern Minnesota town of Grand Rapids and started hunting ruffed grouse when he was eleven years old. “Having first successfully hunted grouse, they remain my favorite today,” he says. This early pursuit of small game eventually led to hunting woodcock, ducks, geese and deer, and trapping mink, muskrat, beaver and raccoon, which in turn led to a recognition of the need for habitat conservation and the preservation of wild places and wide open spaces in general.
After completing high school, David was offered an Air Force ROTC scholarship at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and went on to graduate with a BA in political science and second lieutenant bars. He completed four years of military service as an Air Force missile launch officer while also completing a master’s of science in administration. After completing his service commitment and another undergraduate degree, David accepted another government job and moved to Colorado.
David is currently the volunteer co-chair of BHA's Colorado chapter, the founder and co-chair of the Minnesota BHA chapter, and he's a life member of both the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association (MDHA) and Trout Unlimited (TU). In addition, David has climbed all 54 of Colorado's fourteeners (peaks over 14,000 feet), six of the Seven Summits (the highest peaks on each continent), and has set foot on each the fifty state highpoints, in thirty countries, and on all seven continents.
During the spring of 2006, David tackled the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest, and climbed to over 25,000 feet on the north/Tibet side of this cloud-piercing peak. You can read about David’s climbs, travels, and other adventures in 4/44/14 I (Four Years and Forty-Four Fourteeners): First Fourteeners, published by Outskirts Press in 2010 (http://outskirtspress.com/44414/), 4/44/14 II: Nemesis, published in 2011 (http://outskirtspress.com/44414_II), and Age-Old Quests: Hunting, Climbing & Trekking, published in 2012 (http://outskirtspress.com/ageoldquests/).
David currently resides in Colorado Springs and works as a financial institution examiner for the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), an independent financial regulatory agency of the Federal government responsible for chartering, supervising, examining, and insuring Federal credit unions.
About Caitlin Thompson