About Jim

When Outdoor Life offered him a full-time job as an editor/writer he resigned his government job and went to work for the magazine. He said the magazine offered half of what he was making on his government job, and  there were no perks such as pension and health insurance. Despite these shortcomings he never looked back and walked away whistling from his federal career.  He started off as western editor, then editor-at-large and then Hunting Editor. He had a 30 year tenure with Outdoor Life. During those years he wrote hundreds of articles for non- competitive magazines.

Jim has written 23 books – 18 on hunting big game in North America (7 of those on elk hunting) and 2 on fishing,  as well as two on venison recipes and one that he co-authored with his wife, Madonna. He also wrote some 2500  articles for all the major outdoor magazines and  some travel publications, and has had more than 3,000 photos published. He authored 3 outdoor columns for 3 different newspapers.

Jim has appeared as a guest on several networks and hosted two of his own shows on venison cooking (The Wild Gourmet) and Jim Zumbo Outdoors. He produced 151 episodes for the latter. His shows took him to several continents but his favorite hunts were horseback adventures in remote  areas. He hunted in many mountain ranges in the west and western Canada as well as Alaska.

Seminars were a big part of Jim’s career. He spent more than 30 years at podiums in more than 90 US towns giving presentations on big game hunting in the west, especially elk hunting. For years he contracted with two major western EXPO companies and gave seminars from January through March, as well as seminars in other cities during the rest of the year.

Jim has received many awards throughout his career. He has been inducted into the Wyoming Outdoor Hall of Fame, the Legends of the Outdoors National Hall of Fame, and the Paul Smiths College Hall of Fame. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation gave him their highest award:  the Wallace Fennel Pate Award. He received the Communicator of the Year Award from the National Wild Turkey Federation. The Outdoor Channel presented him with the Lifetime Achievement of the Year Award,  the Circle of Honor Award, and the Teddy Award. He received the Grits Gresham Award from the National Sports Shooting Foundation. American Outdoor News gave him the Lifetime Achievement Award.