Ralph Blackwelder has been an avid outdoorsman and bowhunter for over forty-five years. He started shooting recurve bows as a teenager, changed to compounds with the Jennings TStar, then started shooting and building his own longbows in 1983. Ralph won many trophies on the 3D competition archery range before focusing on deer and turkey hunting. His accomplishments include inventing the first of its kind tree climbing step system called "Fas-steps" - marketed, at the time, by Warren & Sweat Tree Stands. His bowhunting stories have been published in numerous archery and bowhunting magazines. In 2009 he harvested the P & Y record buck for Columbia County, Georgia. Ralph is retired from the US Army, and is presently a community college Professor of Business and Computer Information Systems.