John Meacham has been a hunter and fisherman for most of his 58 years. He grew up pursuing rabbits, squirrels and pheasants and angling for bluegills, catfish, carp and bass in Central Illinois. After earning a degree in journalism from Southern Illinois University, he worked as a reporter, photographer and editor on newspapers in Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Meacham's first outdoor-related humor story, about Dub "Lordnose" Nelson's mounted frog-gigging misadventure, was published in Southern Illinois Outdoors in 1990. Meacham later became editor of that magazine after it became River Country Outdoors. He is a regular columnist for several Midwest regional publications and his stories and articles appear frequently in national publications such as Buckmasters Whitetail Magazine, Petersen's Bowhunting, Turkey Call and the Illinois and Missouri Game & Fish magazines.

"I'm proud that my writing has won a few awards," Meacham says.

"'Fergie Foreman and the Big Boss's Gobbler' won Best of Open in the 2004 Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers Awards-in-Craft contest and 'Henry Johnson and the High-Tech Hunter' won that award in 2005. 'Honey, He Shrunk My Head!' placed second in the 1998 Outdoor Writers Association of America humor contest and was included in 'The Very Best of American Fishing & Hunting Humor,' published by Willow Creek Press."