Paul Thompson, 34 - Marion, N.C.

When Paul Thompson was little, he didn’t have dreams of becoming a three-time champion of the Total Outdoorsman Challenge. He loved the outdoors like any other kid, but he really wanted to be a Major League Baseball player. Once he got to high school, however, he realized he might not be that great of a baseball player to make it too far, so he decided to get involved in wildlife.

“Your options start narrowing as time goes on,” Thompson says. “I’ve always enjoyed being outdoors. The curiosity of wildlife just took over.”

Flash forward to today. Thompson, now a wildlife technician, is a celebrity in the outdoors world, aiming for his fourth straight TOC title. He’s a May 2008 Field & Stream cover boy, but he’s as humble as ever. Thompson knows what to expect from this competition, but he also feels pressure to do well in all events. “You’re under a microscope and people are waiting to pounce on you,” he says.

An injured back—bulging disks from lifting—that put him out of work for three weeks doesn’t help. “But I’ll be there crawling if I have to,” Thompson says.

In his spare time, Thompson enjoys creating scrapboard artwork and acrylic paintings of wildlife portraits, such as a turkey strutting. “The whole family has been artistic,” Thompson says. “I kind of sketched and doodled through high school. I just recently decided to do some stuff seriously.”

Thompson sees archery and fly fishing as his strong points in the competition, and he’s also excelled at the ATV event in the past. But the thought of 11 competitors who didn’t participate in last year’s finals has him alert. “There are a lot of new guys,” Thompson says. “That could be good or that could be bad.”

— Lance Madden

Peter Mosby, 42 - Aurora, CO

This fall will mark Mosby’s first academic year as the new principal of Montbello High School in Denver. He’s been spending 60 to 70 hours per week preparing for his new job, so he hasn’t been able to find much time to get outdoors and prepare for the TOC. He recently drew a big-horn sheep tag after 12 years, but he won’t be able to spend a whole week hunting like he’d like to.

But Mosby, last year’s third-place overall finisher, isn’t too worried. He was able to squeeze in a quick vacation to Florida and Costa Rica and get in some fly fishing practice. “But fly fishing is never a problem,” he says.

Costa Rica is where Mosby lived until he was 6 before moving to the Philippines for two years, and then to Colorado. Mosby can still remember he and his father, who was in the air force, going fishing for needlefish when he was about 5 years old.

Growing up with four younger brothers and sisters kept Mosby competitive. Their father would give each of them one .22 bullet to hunt with. “If we came back with a squirrel or a rabbit, we got two more bullets,” Mosby says. “If we came back with nothing, he’d give us one more bullet. And it had to be a head or shoulder shot. Talk about not wasting a single shot.”

Competitions are still common in the family. Brothers, sisters, husband, and wives all line up and play a skeet-shooting game similar to “Knockout,” a basketball game. It keeps his shooting skills sharp and his family bond tight. And though Mosby says the people he competes in the TOC with are like his extended family, he’s determined to do better than he has against them in the past two years.

“I’m going to win this year,” Mosby says. “I don’t care if I haven’t practiced.”

— Lance Madden

Yamaha is very proactive in promoting safe and responsible OHV (off-highway vehicle) use. This not only means they are trying to keep guys like me from having those “watch this” moments, but also taking care of those beautiful places we all enjoy. A Yamaha Thunder Pack to the first correct answer that doesn’t come from a TOC Finalist. (Let’s spread the swag around.)

Scenario: You are 15 miles into an OHV trail, and you come to a creek crossing. The water is below your foot pegs and there is very little current. It is the designated crossing area for the trail and the streambed looks solid. Your Grizzly 550 is a 4x4, so you are sure it can handle the stream.

Question: Several reasons why you don’t go through the creek with the throttle pegged and the mullet flyin’ jump out at ya. The first being not wanting your melon cracked open by impact. The other two reasons are what I’m looking for: one environmental and the other personal safety.

—John Davis

John Sappington, 46 - Branson, Mo.

If there were ever such a thing as home-field advantage with outdoor sports, Sappington would have it. The only Missouri native in this year’s TOC finals resides in Branson—roughly 30 miles from the site of the competition at Dogwood Canyon.

But with all of Sappington’s experience, he shouldn’t need a home-field advantage anyway. He has competed in many different outdoor events, and has won archery, shotgun, fishing, and bench-rest tournaments. Sappington finished in the top 10 in FLW bass fishing competitions more than 10 times, and he won the Walmart FLW bass fishing tournament in 2002.

“I’ve always had the drive to be the best at what I’ve done,” Sappington says. “I just want to be the best that I can be.”

The fishing events are the strong points for the Independence Regional second-place finisher, who adds that he’s has been exercising more (and cutting back on his diet) to prepare for the endurance event. Though he doesn’t have to go far to compete, he wants to make sure he’s at the peak of his performance. “I’m pumped and ready to go!”

—Lance Madden