OUR TEAM
OUR BOARD
Founder/ Vice President / Director of Veteran Outreach & Affairs /Non- Profit Partnerships/ Hunting & Fishing Co-Director
Mike Cook is the co-creator of Cook Pigs and The Ranch with Krys. Mike grew up in the south and very connected to his food. His family grew most everything they ate or hunted for it. He grew up with a big understanding of his food system and great deal of respect for it.
Mike joined the Navy 20 years ago and serves still. He loves giving back to the veteran community and sharing his knowledge of hunting, the outdoors, food, and butchering with others. For Mike, hunting is his therapy. It’s his time to decompress and disconnect. Sharing this tool with others is one of his passions.
Mike designs and instructs many of our courses while he is home. He is an American bad ass and amazing father to 3. He is The Ranch.
Founder/ President / Director of programming/ Gold Star Director/ Womens Programs Director
Krys is the owner and founder of The Ranch. A mom of three, a military wife, and The Ranch in Julian creator…and that’s just to start.
Formally a marriage and family therapist & informally (now) an outdoor therapist. Krys has a Masters in MFT specializing in Art Therapy and found her own healing in the outdoors. She has created The Ranch in Julian, CA. to educate others on all things outdoors. Giving others the tools necessary to creat purpose, drive, and dedication to the missions at hand.
The focus of The Ranch is “teach people to live free”. That carries a different meaning for every individual. Having the education to be self-sustainable, and being able to provide for yourself/family gives you the right to be free of reliance on the “system”. The point of all that happens at The Ranch is to share with others what our ambassadors have found passion doing. It’s about giving back and being apart of their process. That is what Krys and her family created.
“I believe that hunting and being one with the outdoors is therapy. It’s something that I know for a fact, because it’s my therapy.” -Krys Cook
JEFF ASHER
Co-director of programming / Fishing Director/ Hunting Co-Director
Jeff’s father and grandparents are/were all outdoorsman. He was fortunate enough to go on his 1st backcountry pack in trip at the age of 10. It was this experience that provided the foundation for his love and passion for the high country and the solitude that it can provide. Jeff continues to be an advent outdoorsman, bow hunter and angler.
He loves sharing his experiences in the outdoors with others and being around positive and motivated people. His goal is to ensure the youth know what our countries public lands, oceans and streams have to offer so the future generations can enjoy the pristine outdoors our country has to offer.
Hunting Director/ The Ranch instructor/ Co-Programmer/ Veteran outreach coordinator
Michael (Mike) Herne is a lifelong outdoorsman, writer, veteran, and photographer. He is a die-hard bowhunter who strives to be the best. When his military obligations aren't at play, you will find him hunting, fishing, or training to hunt somewhere in the backcountry.
As he has progressed through his hunting career, he has developed a true passion for sharing his craft with others. He is a truly engaging teacher and a wide range of people enjoy learning his skills. His true definition of success is to bring the knowledge he has learned to a broad audience and help grow and preserve the sport of hunting.
Gold Star Family Director
Rebecca knew from a young age her passions in life. She loved the outdoors, architecture, fishing, hunting and being an athlete. In her early 20’s, she created her own company, Coastal Dwelling, a boutique Design & Build Firm, and works everyday doing what she loves. She is a creative and adventurous soul. Her late fiancé Remi and her would travel around the world pushing the extremes on outdoor activities. They would climb, hike, jump and explore. Remi was part of the Navy SEAL Leap Frogs and Rebecca lost him in a jumping accident in 2017. She continues to grow her business, carry on the passions of her and Remi and create new hobbies like bow shooting and hunting as she makes steps forward in her life.
Treasurer/ Financial Guru
Katie was born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil, the 4th largest city in the world. At any given chance she would drive hours to the nearest beach to escape the hustle and bustle of the busy routine. During law school, she traveled to California to learn English and immediately fell in love with the outdoor life in and around Southern California; she decided to move to the US and became a full time student at San Diego State University and switched to a Finance Major. She was hired by Merrill Lynch right after she graduated and there acquired her brokerage licenses “Series 7” and “Series 66”. She later on moved to JP Morgan where she was a key member of one of the highest producing teams that covered the Latin American Market. Katie is fluent in 3 languages, Portuguese, English and Spanish. She left the corporate world and became CFO of a start up beverage company, a position she holds today.
During her time in the world of finance, she met her now husband (Brian) who is an avid hunter both land and sea. Katie’s love for the outdoors grew as her husband introduced her to over-landing, scuba/free diving, archery, horseback riding and hunting.
Katie and Brian also share a love of service to the local and across the border underprivileged communities. Katie mentored middle school students at Nativity Prep Academy as well as volunteered her time to bring Cristo Rey High School to San Diego.
When Katie and her family are not traveling to remote places or she isn’t sharpening her outdoor skills, she can be found homeschooling their two girls (ages 4 & 6) in San Diego.
Business Advisor/ Program Creator/ Hunting & Fishing Co-Director
Brian was born and raised in the foothills of San Diego, CA where he was allowed to explore the outdoors year around. Growing up he spent much of his time bird hunting, camping, deep sea fishing, surfing, on horseback, or riding dirt bikes. Brian’s adventurous personality has brought him around the world in search of new off grid activities, from war zone documentary work in Northern Uganda to spear fishing off the Great Barrier Reef. Brian understands the mental health benefits of surrounding yourself in nature. Hunting has become a largerpart of Brians life and he tries to share that love with his wife and daughters (6 & 4). Bringing them along on hunting trips, having them help butcher animals and then sharing the in the preparation of a meal. He wants his children to understand the importance of being self sufficient and the value of hunting.
Brian has worked in real estate development and asset management for the last 17 years and supports his families foundation; which conducts grant writing and non profit work in some of the poorest communities around the world. He also sits on the board for Nativity Prep Academy (a middle school for underserved communities) and has worked intimately with Cristo Rey High School (a high school for an underserved communities), Water for Sudan, and The Barrio Logan College Institute to name a few.
Brian along with his wife Katie are raising their two daughters to be servant leaders within their community, as well as trying to instill a love and respect for the outdoors.
JEFF ASHER
Business Advisor
Jeff is a semi-retired structural engineer. He has spent over 40 years in the design and construction industry, and is the former President and Chairman of the Board of KPFF Consulting Engineers. KPFF is a 1,300 person civil and structural engineering consulting firm, with over 20 offices located throughout the US. He is still engaged part-time in structural engineering consulting work, primarily providing Expert Witness/litigation support services to selected clients. Jeff is also an Adjunct Professor in the Civil Engineering department of Boise State University, and teaches structural design classes on a part-time basis.
He currently lives in the Boise, Idaho area with Lynda. Jeff and Lynda have been married for 46 years, and have 3 adult kids (of which Krys is the eldest) and 9 grandkids. Both Jeff and Lynda have always loved the outdoors, and over the years have spent many hours of family time in fishing, skiing, hiking, beach-going, golfing, and all-things-outdoors with their kids and grandkids.
Both Jeff and Lynda are passionate about their support for The Ranch, its mission, and for their kids and grandkids in all things that they want to do and achieve.
THE RANCH COMMITTEES
Womens Programs Committee/ Co-Founder Womens Warrior Hunt Retreats / Hunting Committee/ Co-programmer
Dayna has had a love for the outdoors all her life. In her mid 20s, she discovered archery. She had a desire to procure her own meat with the cleanest form possible. She dove headfirst into learning everything she possibly could about bowhunting. She has learned from some of the best in the field and continues to seek out information.
Her path has led her to become the co-founder of the womens warrior hunt retreat to give other women the tools and information to start their hunting journey. This is near and dear to her heart!
Hunting & Fishing Committee/ NSW Veteran Outreach Coordinator
Andy was born and raised in the mountains in Northern Ca with a very outdoors family. Backpacking, camping, wilderness survival and rock climbing were a huge part of his life growing up.
From a young age he wanted to be in the SEAL Teams. After high school Andy joined the Navy and went to SEAL Training in 02. Knocking that out he checked into the SEAL teams early 2000’s. He then spent the next 10 years with the Teams operating in Iraq, S. East Asia as well as Afghanistan.
After getting out with 100% disability due to injuries he proceeded to work in the movie Industry advising and doing stunts. Working the Transformer movies, Turtles, Thirteen hours, Logan, The last ship and from 2017 to present working on the Avatar films.
Mid 2015 Andy started his journey into blades smithing with the goal of getting the right tools to my brothers within the SEAL Teams, and other SOF groups. He knew there was a need for purpose driven tools for those on a mission. Something different from than your everyday run of the mill tools but something truly built for you and for your walk-through life.
Also during this time, he started hunting and very soon got into bow hunting. Since then he has been hunting and fishing all over the states and some overseas. Andy is a huge believer in being self-sustaining and independent of the system. Learning to provide for himself while growing business to help others find this way of life.
Andy helps many foundations throughout the year such as American Warrior Association, Warriors Choice foundation, SEAL Future fund, Green Beret Foundation and many more to raise funds and awareness for our warfighters and also for those serving on the home front.
BO ROBERTSON
Therapeutic Outdoor Committee/ Mental Health Coordinator/ Veteran Outreach Team/ Co-Programmer
Bo was born and raised in Wisconsin and spent his childhood hunting whitetail in the north woods near his native American reservation, Lac Courte Oreilles. He is an avid rock climber and loves all things archery and bowhunting.
Bo enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2007 and served overseas in Iraq and Kuwait with 2D BN 3D Marines out of Kane'ohe Bay, Hawaii. Following his time in the Marines he began pursuing a Ph.D. in clinical health psychology. Following his Ph.D. training in San Diego, Bo went on to complete his clinical residency at Wright-Patterson Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio. He is now the sole active-duty psychologist at Space Base Delta 3/Space Systems Command in Los
Angeles.
Bo is board-certified in applied psychophysiology/biofeedback. He is engaged in clinical neurocognitive research with the Warfighter Performance Lab at the Navy Health Research Center. His primary focus is on the effects of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI; including blast injury) on the brain-body systems as they relate to operational performance. Bo believes the current approach to mental health is not relatable or applicable to most of our warfighters and he is driven to utilize his clinical, research, and combat experience to develop actionable
protocols to address many of the issues (sleep, trauma, mTBI/blast injury, autonomic dysregulation) operators deal with today.
Bo believes hunting, being outdoors, and being a part of a tribe are some of the essential features of being human, and it's time to get back to the
essentials.
PAMELA BARTSCH
Therapeutic Outdoor Committee/ Mental Health Coordinator/ Youth Program Advisor
Pam is originally from Southern California, she now resides in Idaho with her family. She is an MA & BCBA. She has over 12 years of experience working in the special education field working with children with profound disabilities as well as those with a mental health diagnosis. She is the clinical director of an early intervention ABA clinic in the greater Boise area. Pam has an extensive background working with families that have a child with a diagnosis of autism, with military families, as well as 12+ years working in the field of ABA.
Pam’s passion is not only educating families and giving them the tools to support their child’s needs, but watching the families and clients grow in ways they did not believe was possible.
When not at work you will find Pam in the outdoors or on the sidelines of her kids sporting events! Pam has found her passion in the outdoors and loves being on the boat and camping in the summer, and playing in the snow in the winter.
NICK BOONE
Big Game Fishing Committee
Nick was born and raised in San Diego with a passion for fishing, boating and practically anything to do with the ocean. His dad first took him fishing at a very young age and he has spent his entire life on the water ever since. From a young age he's been navigating the waters off Southern California in search of pelagic species and the endless pursuit of understanding their patterns and habits. After getting his captains license in 2019, Nick began running charters to share his passion with others. Four years later he continues to build on that passion while helping educate others on the sustainability that fishing can bring to your dinner table.
Womens Programs Committee/ Co-Founder Womens Warrior Retreats
Nichole has always dedicated herself to the pursuit of “better”.
A better body, a better mind, a better way of impacting (or not impacting) the world around her.
Driven by her love of animals, the land we call home, and the desire for optimal health and performance she realized that she needed to become a hunter.
Hunting allows her to be able to participate much less in the commercial meat industry while simultaneously providing ourselves with the most optimal and ethical, sources of meat.
Being a hunter also means becoming better advocates and stewards of our beautiful, wild places which we must protect from becoming a diminishing resource.
It is a give and take. Not just a take.
As a life long lover of the outdoors, Nichole believes that we were meant to live in harmony with nature and not at war with it.
Nichole is a big part of the veteran community, is married to a bad ass veteran, and works with many non-profits to help veterans.
Bird Hunting Committee/ Resident Chef
Chef Victoria ‘Tori’ Loomis, a Louisiana native, found her passion for cooking as a small child at the heels of her father. As a young adult she continued to develop her appreciation for nature and created deep-seeded memories connecting the land or lake, directly to the table. She honors the effort it takes to bring a meal from harvest to the plate, and that respect is evident in every meal she prepares. She has a deep rooted appreciation for bringing people together, to gather, and to eat good food!
She is an accomplished bird hunter and conservationist. Hunting and the outdoors is her life and her own therapy.
Media Committee/ Photographer/ Marketing
Lucianna is a passionate Travel & Commercial Lifestyle photographer based in California. Through her travels, she seeks out enriching experiences, great food and cherishes the friendships made along the way. She’s a visual storyteller that's driven by the beauty this world has to offer.
Long Range Rifle Committee/ Medic instructor / Veteran outreach
Nikki was born overseas at an Air Force base during one of her father’s overseas tours. She then moved to several different cities throughout the US until her dad finally retired in Las Vegas, NV where she spent the rest of her childhood.
After graduating high school, Nikki joined the US Navy. She served ten years enlisted as a Navy Search and Rescue Corpsman. She then commissioned as an officer in the Navy Nurse Corps where she served another 13.5 years, deploying to many regions around the world in support of the Navy and Marine Corps. Nikki served as a critical care and flight nurse during her deployments to Haiti, various regions in the Middle East, and Afghanistan. In addition to her critical care qualification, she is also qualified in oncology and emergency medicine nursing.
Upon retirement in 2019, Nikki worked for the military’s Joint Trauma System as part of the quality improvement team. She also instructed trauma and critical care medicine to special operations medics in prolong field care (austere) environments. Nikki also volunteered with as part as a medical team to develop and teach an advance life support curriculum to the Kurdish Military and their medical support teams.
Nikki became interested in hunting when she realized and wanted to know where her food was coming from. The ability to provide food for her family is the most empowering feeling!
Snowboarding Committee
Whether it’s herding cattle over 100,000 acres on a dirt bike, drifting flies in a mountain stream or riding big lines in the Tetons, Mark Carter is an outdoorsman in every sense of the word. A working man’s snowboarder, Mark is a third-generation rancher in Ten Sleep, Wyoming who credits the grit and gratitude he’s gained through ranching for shaping his career as a snowboarder. Known for his fast and powerful style, Mark is comfortable riding big lines and navigating complex terrain like he’s done in nine film appearances since 2008.
Mark learned to ski at Big Horn Ski Area and got his first snowboard as a Christmas present from his mom when he was 10. On Fridays, if he had good enough grades, he could get $3 lift tickets and a school bus ride to the hill. In middle school, he attended summer camp at Mt. Hood and won a halfpipe contest, but football soon took over. After graduating from Ten Sleep High School, Mark went to college on a scholarship to play middle linebacker. He realized he hated football and decided he was a better snowboarder than student. Mark moved to Bozeman, where he snowboarded and lived on ramen noodles. He finally made it to Jackson, where the Wyoming native snowboarded Jackson Hole Mountain Resort for the first time. He found a job on the park and pipe crew and before Mark knew it, Travis Rice was vouching for him and Teton Gravity Research was inviting him to film in Japan. He went on to win a stop on The North Face Masters big mountain series and placed second to Rice in a contest called “Natural Selection”.
Since then, Mark has starred in major snowboard films and shared unique projects with the snowboarding world, like his foot-powered trip through Montana’s Crazy Mountains with Jeremy Jones and Robin Van Gyn and his motorcycle trip through the Canadian Rockies to the Columbia Icefields with Callum Pettit.
In the summer Mark helps his dad Richard on their ranch in Ten Sleep.
Full Send 3D Shoot Fundraising Committee / 3D Course Engineer
Travis has been hunting since 1980, and big game hunting since 1984. He started bowhunting in 2015, and immediately started volunteering at the local archery ranges, where he was maintaining targets, and helping to set up the monthly 3D archery shoots.
In 2017, he harvested his dream buck with a rifle, and hasn’t hunted with a rifle since. In 2018, he started San Diego Muleys, and really started to get involved with the local hunting community.
In July of 2018, he had an idea to set a 3D course, that would bridge the gap between a typical 3D shoot and actual hunting situations. “The Season Opener” was the first shoot of this type, set by Travis alone, and since has become the staple of San Diego Muleys.
Travis is currently setting up the monthly 3D courses for The San Diego Archers at Balboa Park, setting up his signature Outlaw Shoots, and helping to design and set courses with Krys and Mike Cook at The Ranch/ Full Send shoots.
Media Committee/ Videographer/photographer
Spencer is a content creator based out of Southern California. He has a strong passion for the outdoor industry with an emphasis on hunting, fishing and camping and when he is not behind the lens you can typically find him spending time in nature with his family.