Bill Heavey

Editor-at-Large

Bill Heavey’s first published article was about teaching children to write poetry, and it has been downhill ever since. A friend gave him a spinning rod for his 21st birthday, setting off a period of irresponsible behavior that continues to this day. He started writing for Field & Stream in 1990s and slowly faked his way into an editor-at-large title. He has written four books about the outdoors, including If You Didn’t Bring Jerky, What Did I Just Eat?

Highlights

Has written the magazine’s back-page column for 20 years
Is basically the resident doofus for Field & Stream

Experience

Field & Stream is staffed with superbly skilled outdoorsmen and women, people who can shoot the eyes out of a running chipmunk at 300 yards or tie a fly out of their pocket lint and some tinfoil and go catch a tarpon on it. Heavey is not one of them. He lives by the watchwords, “Enthusiasm trumps skill” and “Hunting and fishing are too much fun to leave to the experts.” Heavey was once approached by a fan with no job, no health insurance, a bad limp, and no teeth. Upon meeting Heavey, the man said, “Bill, sometimes I read your stuff, and I just feel so sorry for you.”