About the Author

Richard P. Smith is an award winning outdoor writer and photographer living in the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) of Michigan who has been hunting whitetail deer and black bear for almost 50 years. The author/photographer is a recognized expert on whitetail deer and black bear behavior and biology as well as hunting these popular big game animals. He has interviewed the top bear biologists in the country and accompanied them in the field on their research. A number of the books he's written and DVDs he's produced have been about deer and black bear.Over the past year, Smith has spent countless hours filming whitetail deer behavior with a high definition video camera and has captured some unique clips of deer eating mushrooms, a doe nursing her fawn, velvet shedding, bucks fighting, buck and doe breeding activity, the reaction of a buck losing his antlers and much, much more.Richard's book,the 4th Edition of Deer Hunting, won the first place award in the book division from the Michigan Outdoor Writers Association in 2013.One of his more prestigious honors was receipt of the coveted Ben East Prize for 1997 from the Michigan United Conservation Clubs for conservation journalism about bear management. He also received the Outdoor Journalist of the Year Award from the Flint, Michigan Chapter of Safari Club International the same year.Smith is a nationally recognized writer, photographer and speaker who has written 26 books and thousands of magazine articles, specializing in all types of wildlife, but especially whitetail deer and black bear. He contributes regularly to Michigan Sportsman Magazine, Woods-N-Water News and Michigan Outdoor News. He's a field editor for Bear Hunters Online, Bear Hunting Magazine and Michigan Hooks & Bullets. His writing and photography appear regularly in national magazines including Deer & Deer Hunting, Buckmasters, North American Whitetail, Outdoor Life, Bowhunter and National Wildlife.During recent years, the videographer has completed two popular DVDs. One is titled Field Judging Black Bears, a subject he's an expert on, and the second is Walking With Whitetails, both of which are available from Amazon.During the spring of 2002, Richard bagged a huge black bear in Saskatchewan with a .45 caliber Knight Super Disc Muzzleloader that is the second highest scoring black bear in national muzzleloading records maintained by the Longhunter Society. The bruin's skull officially measures 21 14/16, also qualifying for a spot in Boone and Crockett Records. He was hunting out of Lone Wolf Camp operated by Brian and Shelly MacDonald when he got the trophy bear. A full mount of the animal is on display at a Cabela's Store in Hamburg, Pennsylvania that opened in 2003.Richard's biggest whitetail bucks have been bagged in Saskatchewan, too, while hunting with Proudfoot Creek Outfitters. He shot a 13-point nontypical that had a gross score of 171 3/8 while hunting out of that camp during the fall of 2010.He is t

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