Rick Sapp inherited fire from his father, son of a long line of southern farmers and rebels, and ice from his mother, descended from northern miners, gangsters, and factory workers. Born near Chicago in 1946, Rick believes he was reading and writing before birth, but his ignorance of hunting was manifest until a group of biologists with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service opened a door to the outdoors. Since that time, Rick has hunted with bow and gun across North America and Africa. Rick dropped out of the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1967 because his faulty un-aided eyesight prohibited him from piloting jet fighters.

He joined the Army as a paratrooper and worked as an intelligence officer in Europe. Returning to the U.S., he completed a PhD in Social Anthropology at Catholic University and the University of Florida (1976). Eschewing the classroom and the Foreign Service, he worked for radio stations, newspapers, magazines, and as public relations director of Bear Archery. Rick owned his own Media Consulting firm until 9/11 when he realized life was fragile. That day, he began freelancing full time and has since authored over 25 books about guns and hunting, camping, bicycle touring, urban redevelopment, and history as well as hundreds, perhaps thousands, of non-fiction articles, short stories, and poetry. His first novel was published in 2013 under the pen name Dick Wayne.