Chuck Adams admits with a smile that, yes, he probably is the black sheep of his family.

While the rest of the clan spends its hunting season toting rifles, Adams sneaks around the woods and fields with a bow.

And the thousands who have benefited from this veteran archer's advice would have to agree he made a wise choice.

Yes, the man with the ordinary surname has turned the love for this sport into an extraordinary career.

His instruction is seen on national television shows, videos, books and outdoors shows across the country, such as the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, where Adams has become a fixture in recent years.

"My family was the reason I got into hunting to begin with. Both my grandfathers and my father were serious gun hunters. I took up bowhunting because they taught me too well," he said with a grin after a recent seminar.

He said the spots in which they put him were so good that he was filling his deer tags too early.

"I wanted to hunt more and kill less, so I could enjoy the sport more, and that's why I took up bowhunting," said Adams, who began archery hunting at age 13 and took his first deer with a bow at 16.

But the native of northern California didn't plan a career as a television personality and author nor did he immediately pursue such a vocation.

First, he tried the real world.

Adams, who no longer shoots competitively, was a member of his college archery team at California State University in Chico and continued to compete in tournaments for a number of years and later became a college professor.

He taught English for a couple of years at his alma mater "until I decided I didn't like the fact that hunting season and college started at the same time, and then I went and did what I wanted to do."

What he wanted to do was hunt. And, as a self-employed writer and photographer for 34 years, that is what he has been able to do. In addition to his books, Adams also writes and does photo shoots for outdoor magazines.

"I shot tournaments in northern Califormian, but I loved hunting so much I decided many years ago that I was going to concentrate on that," he said. "I've got a closet full of trophies from the old tournament days, and that was fun, but I like hunting more, so that's what I concentrate on."

Adams lives in Wyoming, but he hunts in many parts of the country and Canada. In the last year, in addition to Wyoming, he hunted in Alaska, Montana and Alberta (Canada).