Chase Gartner is the youngest at 19 years old and the most enthusiastic member of our Pro Staff here at Montana Test. Chase’s father is a Pro Staff member. Barely wet behind the ears Chase was a constant companion of this Dad, hunting and fishing at every opportunity and took his first Duck at four years old. Currently Chase spends all his free time Bow hunting, Duck hunting, Turkey hunting, chasing Upland game, and is an accomplished trapper. Hunting deer with bow and Waterfowl hunting are his two favorites on the hunting side. Deer, ducks, pheasant, quail, doves, rabbits, squirrels, turkeys, prairie chickens, any legal game you can hunt in Northeast Nebraska you will find Chase is in the bushes. Another favorite activity is walleye fishing with his Dad or friends during the spring and summer months. Chase is a serious Outdoorsman, if it involves hunting, fishing, or trapping you will find him testing product. A Business Marketing Major at UNL Chase plans to graduate in the spring of 2013, if his Dad can keep him from moving to Montana.

Christopher Stinson is the son of Pat and Jane Stinson. Chris begins his fourth year as a full time Fly-Fishing and Upland game guide on the Big Horn River. Standing at 6’4” and 250 lb Chris is tough on all equipment we test and review. Chris discovered his passion for the Outdoors where most sons find it, with his Dad at the tender age of three years old on his first ice-fishing trip. Chris continues to hone his fly-fishing and hunting skills, spending over 200 days on the water or in the field. Chris second passion is hunting the wily ring neck pheasant all over Montana. Chris does not limit himself to upland game; you can find him as well as all our testers hunting Deer, Elk, Antelope, ducks, geese, and coyotes when the leaves turn and North winds blow. If manufacturers want the ultimate test on there product Chris will oblige, and it had better be ready

Dan Hunter grew up in the Lake District in the Northwest of England and spent most of his youth climbing, hiking, and camping through English National Parks, the Scottish Highlands, and Snowdonia National Park. Dan acquired excellent map reading and wilderness survival skills through his adventures. Dan is an outstanding cross-country runner and successfully competed in many of the English fell running competitions.
Dan is quickly becoming a skilled and knowledgeable hunter and Fly angler. Dan and wife Sarah will test and review tents, stoves, sleeping bags, hiking shoes and boots along with running and cross training footwear. Dan and his wife Sarah currently live in Bozeman, Mt.

Don Gartner is our first from the Cornhusker state to join Montana Test. Raised in Norfolk, Nebraska, Don is a life long Nebraskan. Don’s father started him early taking him to the duck blind, a few miles south of Norfolk, for the first time, at the age of four. On that first duck hunt, Don was able to stand on his tiptoes and lay the barrel of his .410 over the blind and tip over a Ruddy Duck as it swam through the decoys. Waterfowl hunting has been in Don’s blood ever since. Hunting and fishing has always been a huge part of Don’s life and as a father of a teenage son, Chase, Don taught his son the importance of conservation along with hunting and fishing.

In addition to lifetime spent in the Outdoors, Don spent ten years serving as a National Director of a Habitat organization for Pheasants Forever. His strength in this 150,000-member organization focused on Youth Education as well as habitat programs. In 1985 Don was a Board Director for the first PF Chapter in the state of Nebraska, which now has over 65 Chapters across the state. Don’s wide variety of hunting includes Archery for White Tails along the Elkhorn River, Walleye fishing or Duck and Goose hunting on the Missouri River System, or Grouse hunting in the Sand Hills of Nebraska. Don is a great addition to the Pro Staff at Montana Test, watch for his reviews.

Gabe Lapito is a member of Montana Test. Gabe is a recent Graduate of Creighton University with an MBA in business. Gabe was a four-year starter on the BlueJay baseball team, earning Academic All-America honors. He comes to Montana Test with an impressive educational, and an equally impressive Outdoor resume. Gabe and his father Leo have hunted and Fly fished all over Montana. Gabe hunts all big game species, waterfowl, and upland game, and is an accomplished Fly Fisherman. He will be testing all products for Montana Test. Gabe is truly an outstanding young man and we are thrilled to have him on the Montana Test team.

Jane is the Queen of Montana Test. Her love of the outdoors started years ago with her nine brothers and sisters. Jane?s father was an avid hunter and angler and would bring along the whole family with him camping and fishing. Jane discovered fly-fishing and spends hours on the water with her husband Pat, son Chris, fishing for large trout on the Big Horn, Stillwater and the Yellowstone and any other body of water that?s holds fish. One of Jane?s many talents is camp cooking, and camping product. Jane spends hours searching for the best camping product. Sleeping bags, tents, pads, cookware, all the ancillary products that make a family fishing and camping trip the most comfortable.

Like many former Montanans, Jim moved back to The Big Sky Country to be closer to its great outdoors. In 1989 and 1990, he helped develop and produced the first year of "Fly Fishing the World" (ESPN). Today, instead of waiting for the opportunity, he makes the time to visit his favorite Montana places and to find new favorites. Never a true "gear-junkie," Jim is currently headed down that precipitous path with a unique perspective on what works.

Montana based Writer/Director Jim Abel has more than twenty years experience and is the founder of Out in the Cold Productions. He works primarily in the Rocky Mountain West but has taken crews to Argentina, England, Mexico, Belize, Yugoslavia, the Bahamas, and New Zealand as well nearly half of the United States. Jim has received more than 150 Awards of Excellence for his work, has served on The Montana Film and Television Advisory Council, The Billings (Montana) Police Foundation Board of Directors, and chaired The Billings Area Chamber of Commerce Film Liaison Council.

Television credits include: ABC, A&E, CBS, COURT TV, CNN, Discovery, E!TV, ESPN, FOX, HBO, The History Channel, Lifetime, MSNBC, NBC, Nickelodeon, OLN, Starz, Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Brothers.

Commercial credits include The AB-Belt, Adventure Cycling, Ageless RX, Bridgestone/Firestone, Disney, FoodSaver, Helen of Troy, Hewlett Packard, Kampgrounds of America, Montana Silversmiths, Northwestern Energy, Oster, Toppik, VioLight, Viper Grip, Voom Satellite Network, Westwood College, and The U.S. Navy.

Corporate/Industrial credits include Anheuser-Busch, Apple Computers, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, ConocoPhillips, Harley Davidson, Home Depot, Intel, John Deere & Company, Johnson & Johnson, National Education Association, Pennsylvania Power and Light, U.S. Census Bureau, Veterans Administration, Wells Fargo Banks, Warner Brothers Home Video and Yellowstone National Park.

Joe Stein is a Creative Director/Broadcast Producer at Wendt Integrated Communications, an advertising and public relations agency in Great Falls, MT. Joe is one of our newest Pro Staff members. Joe’s day job requires maintaining high creative standards and guiding the development of targeted, award-winning advertising and marketing materials. He also coordinates all aspects of production for audio/visual programs, television in addition, radio commercials. With 33 years of experience in the industry, Joe’s television, and design, work profiled in Adweek, Ad Age, Print, and Communication Arts magazines, along with garnering numerous local, regional, and national awards. His love for the outdoors came early in life with his family camping, fishing (summer and winter), or hunting almost every weekend. When he and his family had the opportunity to relocate in Montana, an outdoor enthusiasts’ Mecca, it was a no-brainer. When he is not in front of a studio monitor editing, or a computer monitor designing, Joe is likely on a riverbank in search of brown trout, hunting big game, or hiking a scenic trail with family and friends.

Leo Lapito is another member to the Montana Test Team. Leo is the father of Gabe Lapito another new member. Leo arrives at Montana Test with a long and rich resume in Fly Fishing, and Hunting. Leo took Pat Stinson the owner of Montana Test under his wing over 10 years ago and taught him about the finer points of Fly Fishing and that mentoring continues. Leo is unquestionably an outstanding Fly Fisherman, Upland Bird, and Big game hunter. We are proud to have Leo as a member of the Team, his enthusiasm and generosity of sprit is contagious. Look for Leo's reviews in the coming weeks and months.

Patrick Stinson is the owner and founder of Montana Test. Born and raised in Norfolk Nebraska, Pat?spent?his youth combing the rolling hills of Northeast Nebraska after Pheasants, Quail, and spending many an early fall morning in a Duck and Goose Blind. Today, he is a Free Lance writer and the Outdoor Editor for The Billings Outpost, a weekly Newspaper in Billings, MT. www.billingsnews.com Pat?was the President and Founder for both of the first Pheasant Forever chapters in the state of Nebraska and Billings MT. He has hosted an outdoor talk program BaseCamp America from 1998 to 2001 heard Coast to Coast on the Radio America network based in Washington DC. BaseCamp America was broadcasted Sunday morning live for two hours from Billings.?

Pat was also the host of a Local Talk show "Up Front" from 1993 to 1998. Besides his extensive background in the outdoors, Pat and his wife Jane have owned and operated Stinson Investment and Insurance Services since 1985.

Sarah Stinson Hunter has been camping, hiking, cross-country skiing and fishing from the time, she could walk. Sarah took her first backpacking trip at the tender age of 12 into the Beartooth Mountains of Montana. Sarah continued her enthusiasm for the outdoors through high school and college, camping and backpacking in Montana, Catskill, and Shawangunk Mountains of New York State. Sarah and her husband live in Bozeman, Mt. testing, and reviewing tents, sleeping bags, hiking shoes and boots. The Montana landscape offer an excellent opportunity to test camping product, and the Hunters will be bringing all the results enabling the camper, angler, and hunter to find and purchase the best possible product.

Steve McManaman from Norfolk Nebraska is one of the newest to join our Pro Staff team. After attended the University of Nebraska and graduated in 1977 with a bachelors of Science degree in agronomy. Steve was also a member of the Cornhusker baseball team, all Big-8 conference 2 years running and drafted in 1977 in the 13th round by the Minnesota twins. Steve played 4 years minor league and was a member of the team that won the California league championship in 1978.

Steve has his wife Gwen his high school sweetheart have been married for 33 years, has two sons John 27 and Travis 26, and is proud Grandparents. Steve brings an impressive resume to Montana Test with over 100 Turkeys taken from ground blinds to Boone and Crocket Whitetails with bow and gun. Steve is our Bow tester and Black Powder expert.
Fly fishing and Walleye hunting is just one more facet of Steve’s impressive list of outdoor expertise and will be testing and reviewing Walleye and Salmon gear. We are thrilled to have an Outdoorsman like Steve join Montana Test.

Tom Ruud is another new Pro Staff member to Montana Test. Tom is a native Minnesotan and now resides in Lincoln; NE. Tom brings a wealth of Outdoor experience as a Waterfowl hunter along the Platte River or chasing Turkeys or Pheasants throughout Nebraska. Tom will be testing Upland game gear, hunting footwear, waders, decoys, anything, and everything that the premier Upland or Waterfowler will use. Along with his Hunting, Tom is an avid Walleye and Fly Fisherman and looks forward to wetting a line with the latest equipment.

Tom is a former Cornhusker graduating in 1975 with a Degree in Business and a member of the Big Red football team. Tom spent 5 years in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengal’s. Tom is a proud parent of three children, Barrett, Bo, and Kimi. All of us at Montana Test are excited to have Tom join the Pro Staff and we look forward to his testing and reviews.