Mike Harris was born and raised in southwest Missouri. He graduated from Seymour High School and went on to College of the Ozarks where he earned his business degree. He currently lives in Fordland with his wife, Beth, and three daughters, Carley, Lauren, and Michaela. Mike has spent the last 16 years earning his living in the outdoor industry. He got his start in sales where he made a name for himself specializing in selling wildlife products. In January 2010, he left the sales position to help start a wildlife seed company and was a co-host on a national hunting show, Buck Addiction TV. In August 2010, a severe tree stand accident ended this career and set the stage for CTO. Currently he owns his own custom food plot and land management company, Growing Ideas Land Service, where he helps landowners develop their wildlife habitat.

After the tree stand collapsed and returning home from a one month hospital stay, Mike met Kirk Bouse and was introduced to Cross Trail Outfitters. He jokes that since he had two broken legs and couldn’t get away, he listened. After a two and a half hour visit with Kirk, Mike began to get the vision of how God was going to use his passion for the Missouri outdoors to fulfill a new life purpose. Several months later Mike began to volunteer on many CTO outings and currently leads The Finley River Chapter on outings nearly every month of the year.