OUR TEAM
Founder/ Vice President / Director of Veteran Outreach & Affairs
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
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
Bowhunting ambassador/ 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.
Co-Founder Womens Warrior Hunt Retreats / Hunting Ambassador/ 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!
Secretary/ Co-Founder Womens Warrior Retreats/ Camping & Backpacking Ambassador/ Co-Programmer
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 Ambassador/ 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.
JEFF ASHER
Co-director of programming / Hunting & Fishing Ambassador
Jeff’s father and grandparents are/were all outdoorsman. He was fortunate enough to go on his 1st backcounty 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
Photographer/ Marketing/ Media
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.
Bow Tech/ Bowhunting Ambassador
He has been shooting archery and hunting mule deer since he was 6 years old. He has always been going to the archery shop with his dad, and archery has been a huge part of of his life ever since. 6 years of bow tech experience right after high school and 10+ years in the hunting industry alongside his dad.
Within those 6 years of learning archery he has researched and learned everything there is about building bows, arrows and anything that there is to archery. Then he was able to clean his game up with John Dudley of Nock On Custom Archery. Isaac is School Of Nock certified. He loves teaching archery and helping others succeed in that space. This is what he is truly passionate about.
His connection with The Ranch is with Cook family. Isaac met Krys for the first time at one of the total archery challenges and instantly we hit off just talking about hunting and archery. Isaac Jr. & Isaac Sr. are both integrated into The Ranch educational programs and help with programming.
Hunting Ambassador / Instructor / Co- programmer / Veteran outreach specialist
WPM Founder Jeremiah Wilber’s earliest memories are of his mother testifying in court to save abused Indian children from a foster home. A Mescalero Apache, she was one of the strongest women warriors to dedicate her life to fighting the cycle of abuse experienced by women and children in tribal communities across America. He would spend his childhood helping her rescue women from domestic violence and children from sexual abuse. Raised in Montana, he became an avid hunter, fisherman, honing his cowboying skills.
He enlisted in the US Army after graduating high school, attending the Military Police School at Fort Leonard Wood. As an MP, he served two combat tours, completed the Sapper Leader Course and Army Ranger Course, and subsequently attended Special Forces Assessment and Selection (SFAS). He was selected for the elite Green Berets, where he served in 3rd Special Forces Group as a Special Forces Communications Sergeant and in 10th Special Forces Group as a Special Forces Operations (Team) Sergeant with multiple combat rotations to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Africa.
Throughout his service, Jeremiah was more than aware that, no matter the location or level of warfare, those impacted most were children. While his own children sacrificed time with their father while he served, he was horrified by the level of abuse leveled against children in war zones. In his post-military career, Jeremiah worked with the NGO's to rescue children from sex trafficking, slavery, and sacrifice around the world.
Knowing that hundreds of thousands of American women and children are trafficked and abused every year, he started leveraging his platform to raise awareness of how to end this crisis. Through his upbringing, training, and experience, Jeremiah has dedicated every moment to alleviating the suffering of others, and passing on his knowledge to all he comes into contact with.
In the developing world, WPM funds and carries out operations to rescue women and children from their captors and abusers. Nationally, our warriors work with at-risk youth from all poverty-stricken regions to provide them with transferable skills, knowledge, and opportunities outside of their norm. WPM intends to grow enough capital (knowledge, financial, and more) to provide a hand-up, not a hand-out, and fundamentally change the way women and children are treated around the world.
Medic instructor / Long range shooting Ambassador / 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 Ambassador
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.
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.
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.
Videographer/photographer/social media manager
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.
Fieldcraft Survival Instructor/ Womens Warrior Ambassador
Amber is the face behind the Amber Elle brand and serves as the Director of Family Preparedness for Fieldcraft Survival, a Utah based and veteran owned survival company. where she teaches families through online social channels, in person trainings, and as a keynote speaker on how to empower themselves to live more self reliant lifestyles. She is a mother to three adventurous children and leads their home education journey through living and rich experiences. Amber holds a Bachelor of Science in nursing from McNeese State University. She highlights her days with family while homesteading, hunting, and being true to her southern roots.
Fieldcraft Survival Instructor
Nate Jones is the Fieldcraft Survival Director of Medicine. He has served as a Combat Medic in the United States Army since 2007. Serving in combat arms units, on ambulances, in emergency rooms and inside health clinics he has gained a wide insight to first responder medicine. Nate spent years teaching and re-certifying Combat Medics, distilling concepts for teaching and gathering experiences from all across the Army. He is an avid outdoorsman, hunter, surfer and lifelong learner. Married with five children, he is passionate about educating his family. Through sharing his experience, he hopes to aid others in doing the same.
Business Advisor/ Program Creator/ Hunting & Fishing Ambassador
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.
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 overlanding, 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.