Pro Staff

Mike Ford is a 5th generation Texan from Red River County, Texas. He is a ranch owner, the RioRojoRancho, and former All- Southwest Conference Quarterback from SMU in Dallas, as he led the NCAA Division I in total yards in 1978. Having grown up in Mesquite, Texas and playing for the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cincinnati Bengals, he later in life, with his wife Lori, moved back to Red River County onto property his family has owned since 1909. His family (both sides ) settled in the area in the mid 1800's and first leased 100 acres in 1880, eventually buying the property in 1909. With additional acreage added through the years, the ranch now encompasses some 600 + acres, that is a hunting ranch as well as a Breeding Ranch for Whitetail Deer. With a lifelong passion for the Great Outdoors and a strong interest in Wildlife Management, Mike has traveled all over North America from Northern Canada to South of the border in Mexico in pursuit of the Whitetail Deer and other wildlife in those areas. He truly has a passion for teaching the young and old alike all he can about hunting, fishing and the great outdoors in general. With a lot of help, he has been instrumental in forming the Red River Eastern Turkey Co-Op, a land owner driven wildlife co-op, with goals of education and awareness of all wildlife native to Texas, with emphasis on the Eastern Turkey.

Outdoors writer/radio host/book author Luke Clayton has been addicted to everything outdoors related since his childhood when he grew up hunting and fishing in rural northeast Texas. Luke pens a weekly newspaper column that appears in over fifty newspapers and freelances for several outdoor magazines. Everything from bowhunting for deer, to drift fishing for catfish, to gigging bull frogs perks his interest. Luke is on the pro staff of Mathews Bows, Inverter Broadheads, Tree Talon and Carbon Express Arrows. Follow his columns and listen to his weekly radio show throughout the year and you’ll surely get exposed to many facets of the outdoor life.

Bob Hood Former outdoor editor for Fort Worth Star-Telegram (1968-2008). Currently Hunting Editor for Texas Fish and Game Magazine and contributing writer for Texas Sportsman Magazine, Texas Sporting Journal, Texas Parks and Wildlife Outdoor Annual, Lone Star Outdoor News and others. Past president of Texas Outdoor Writers Association. Has hunted numerous times in 10 western, central and southern U.S. states as well as Mexico and Canada for elk, mule deer, whitetail deer, turkey, waterfowl, pheasants and many other game and non-game species.

Larry Large grew up in the Pacific Northwest on a cattle ranch, spending his formative years in the outdoors, hunting and fishing. He hung up his rifle about 30 years ago and became a rabid bowhuter. For the past 15 years, Larrry has guided elk hunters in New Mexico and Colorado and is currently in the process of beginning his own elk outfitting business.In the off season, Larry spends a lot of time hunting exotics and hogs in Texas, where he guides for black bass at Lake Fork during the spring and summer months.

Mark Balette is a lifelong bow hunter with a passion for hunting whitetails. Mark grew up in the wilds of eastern Texas on his family’s 2,500 acre cattle/hunting ranch. He was one of the first to offer bow hunts for wild hogs in this part of the state, almost 20 years ago. Today, Mark’s B&C Outfitters, situated in Trinity County near Groveton, Tx., offers hunts for many species of exotic animals as well as hogs and whitetails. Mark enjoys hunting from the ground and has this to say about GhostBlind: “I really enjoy the portability and effectiveness of the blinds. We like to take our hunters to where they have the best opportunity of harvesting game and that often is not from a box blind overlooking a corn feeder. What an innovative idea! It’s reinvented the way we will be hunting on the ranch.”