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Born a city boy, from non-hunting parents, Frans got his first exposure
to hunting at age 6, trying not to be in the way as his uncle conducted his annual driven shoot for pheasants and hares. He
cut his hunting teeth keeping the local sparrow population out of his uncles fruit trees, with a pellet gun.
Half
way through his University study (Frans holds a PhD in Chemistry) the Horn of the Hunter sounded again. He took the mandatory
hunting course and got his first license at age 21. From that moment on all his spare time went into hunting his uncle's leases
for ducks, geese, pheasants, rabbits, doves and hare. As his relatives took up leases in Belgium, he got the opportunity to
hunt roe and red deer, wild boar and fox. Later, Frans travelled extensively in Eastern Europe for his job, offering him the
opportunity to hunt with the locals in countries like Poland, Slovakia and Estonia.
His life changed indefinitely
when he joined up with an Australian friend, and began his career as a hunting consultant. Together they explored, designed
and marketed many extraordinary hunting trips, mainly in the South Pacific region.
Slowly though, it began to dawn
that his home country The Netherlands was getting more and more crowded and that the hunting opportunities in Western Europe
were not improving. In 2003, Frans moved his family to Alberta, Canada, to enjoy the outdoors and the great hunting and fishing
this province offers.
He's been catching up for lost time ever since. In 2003, his first spring in Alberta, Frans
succeeded in stalking up to, and killing a giant wolf. In 2004 after spending over 20 days in the wilderness, he succeeded
in shooting a bighorn ram, the fulfillment of a life long dream!
His career as an outdoor writer has only just started,
but already Frans' stories have been published in four languages, and six countries (United States, Canada, Germany,
Australia, The Netherlands, and Spain).
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