Spent his early years playing in the woods and canyons around his home, and when he was old enough to help with cattle drives, he did so on foot
Relying on hunting for his family's meat supply as a child, had a love of the wildlife that led him to focus on raising cattle and running the farm
Is considered a master mechanic and machinist on the Discovery Channel's hit TV show "Alaska: The Last Frontier," collecting broken down machinery and fixing it by hand
Was part of the first expedition to successfully cross the Harding Icefield in 1968