From the time he could walk, Mike Irvine could be found in a duck blind near the Mississippi River with his father. The family hunting tradition led the Quincy, Illinois, native to a career in outdoor broadcasting as the host on Shooting USA’s Impossible Shots, where Mike reports the stories of legendary exhibition shooters and showman and welcomes Outdoor Channel’s largest audience each week.
But before he presented the speed shooting of revolver expert, Jerry Miculek, the Master of the Longbow, Byron Ferguson, and Cisko’s Western fast-draw; Mike worked as a television journalist in his hometown. At KHQA-TV, he reported local news stories, sports events, and even filled in as a part-time weather man./p>
It was a sports story at a national shooting competition in Quincy that would give Mike the opportunity to pursue what he loved most. An encounter with Shooting USA’s Jim Scoutten, who also covered the championship for the national gun sports show, became an invitation to join the Shooting USA team of reporters and producers. Mike continues in that role, reporting the national championships of a number of shooting disciplines, while adding the assignment of hosting Shooting USA’s Impossible Shots./p>
“The great shooters of Impossible Shots all started out as a kid with a gun and someone to teach them,” says Shooting USA’s Impossible Shots host, Mike Irvine. “So get out and show someone how to shoot today.”/p>
On those weekends when he’s not out on assignment, Mike continues his life-long passion for hunting. Some of his prized mounts are on display in the Shooting USA Gun Room.