David Smith : Land and Wildlife

The outdoors has always been a true calling for David. He grew up in Eastern Oregon where he spent his youth exploring the mountains and rivers that surrounded him with his younger brother and cousins. He spent countless summers in Ukiah, Oregon where his grandparents lived and ranched. As he got older, if he was not hunting large game or upland birds you could find him on the rivers or ocean wetting a line. He enjoyed being on the water so much that he chose to pursue a Bachelor's Degree in Fisheries Biology. While attending the University of Idaho, he spent his summers in the mountains of Idaho, Washington and Oregon fighting fires for the forest service. After college, he decided to combine his love of the outdoors with his spirit of adventure and commitment to service and enlisted in the United States Coast Guard. He spent a career as a heavy weather coxswain conducting search and rescue and law enforcement missions throughout the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico before retiring after 21 years of service. Through his many travels, he has experienced hiking, camping, exploring, hunting and fishing in Guam, Hawaii, the Pacific Coast, Michigan, Louisiana, Florida, the Bahamas and Maine. However, he never felt like any of it truly compared to the beauty of home, so he and his wife chose to move their family to Walla Walla after he retired where his two children could grow up near family and experience the same appreciation of the outdoors he had as a child.