About Jim

James L. Huckabay was born five days after Pearl Harbor during a practice blackout in Tacoma, Washington. Surviving that, he grew up as much outdoors as possible in East Wenatchee and Yakima, Washington, and Boise, Idaho.

Whenever he became a restless kid, his parents would open the door, hand him his fishing, hunting or camping gear and send him out. After graduation from Boise High School, and a stint in the U.S. Air Force, Jim landed in Denver, Colorado, where he worked in broadcasting and attended a couple campuses of the University of Colorado. After a few years of study and outdoor time at the University of Kansas, he taught at the University of Colorado at Denver for several years and then started an environmental consulting business. Through the ’70s and ’80s he also worked with wildlife and sportsmen’s organizations, actively lobbying legislators, the Colorado Division of Wildlife, Department of Natural Resources and various federal agencies.

For a number of years, he was a radio/TV weatherman, had a weekly radio program and syndicated a daily three-minute radio program in nine western states. Jim has written well over a thousand newspaper columns, wildlife features, brochures and publications. His book, WILD WINDS and Other Tales of Growing Up in the Outdoor West is in its third printing, and The Zeb Chronicles–Conversations with an Old Mountain Man is taking shape at Reecer Creek Publishing in Ellensburg, Washington, a small business owned by Jim and his wife Diane.

His award-winning newspaper column “Inside the Outdoors” has appeared in Colorado and Washington.