Welcome New PKC Youth Director Chris Freiberger

For those who don't know me, my name is Chris Freiberger. I was born and raised in a small farming community in central Missouri. Beaufort is just a small spot on the map that you will pass through traveling from St. Louis to the Lake of the Ozarks. If you blink, you would miss it, not even so much as a stop light exists. This is where my wife Mandi of 16 years and I call home. We operate a small family farm that has been with the Freibergers for over 120-years and is still going strong raising registered Black Hereford cattle seedstock, and retail beef.

I did not grow up a coon hunter like most. It wasn’t until 1993 when I met my long-time friend and hunting buddy Jason Love and when we started 9th grade together that I was introduced to the sport. He took me on my first hunt and I was hooked the first time out, and I’m pretty sure we didn’t even tree a coon until about the 5th time we went. Just when I thought I couldn’t love anything more than pleasure hunting, I went to my first competition hunt in 1994 and the rest is all history.

My biggest, and most memorable win to this day is placing PCH Dempsey’s Whiz Bang second in the Spring Super Stakes in 2020. The year most would like to forget due to Covid, happened to be the best year for myself and two partners/best friends Jermey Burns and Zane Allen. We have a great partnership and a better friendship, and are just waiting patiently for our next big win.

I first got involved with the PKC youth association in early 2015 when Amy Thomas came to me and said PKC was putting together a committee to help better the youth program, and I was her pick if I would do it. Of course me knowing Amy since I was a kid (Amy and her dad Ray took me to my first squirrel hunt with dogs), I knew she was someone who would not take no for an answer, when she puts her mind to something, so I got on board.

Through this committee, I truly believe we have done a lot of great things for this program. We started off with the Tri-State Youth Championship, and with help from great sponsors it was a great success and the reason that several youth qualified for the world hunt, but most of all, it really made me appreciate what the PKC organization really does for the future of our sport. We also worked to add in another day of qualifying for our Youth World Championship.  I have really enjoyed being a part of the youth committee, and would like to give a huge thank you to Amy for having the faith in me to help make the PKC youth program what it is today. I also have met a lot of great people along the way and have made several new friends.

 I am looking forward to working with the youth committee of Amy, Shane Patton and PKC in the coming years for the betterment of our GREAT youth program. We are always brainstorming on ways to bring more attention to our youth program, and I encourage our PKC members to reach out to any of us with any ideas they may have.