The Day Job: Owners of Skold Cos.

As owners of Skold Cos., Steve and Susan Skold provide construction products and services, specializing in floors and doors, for owners and general contractors throughout the Midwest. There are four companies under the umbrella: Skold Commercial Contracting Inc., Skold Construction Services Inc., Skold Specialty Contracting LLC and Skold Door Co.

The Hobby: Big game hunting

Open the front door of Steve and Susan Skold’s house in West Des Moines, and you’ll immediately see why it was custom built. As you enter, you walk into their 30-by-30-foot trophy living room, which has approximately 33 mounted memories perched on the walls and tucked into every corner of the house.

The husband-and-wife duo are big game hunters, and their trophies are from their many expeditions to places such as Alaska, Canada and Zimbabwe.

“When you walk into a museum or a taxidermy or a trophy room, you have to look beyond the hide and the hair and the horns,” Steve says. “What is there is someone’s memories and experiences.”
Like Susan jumping over a rattlesnake, realizing they were being stalked by a bear, or the pair nearly getting washed away during a rainstorm in Alaska.

Among their collection are a moose, a black bear, a warthog, a mountain goat, a zebra and even a mountain lion. Steve has hunted his entire life, both with bows and with guns, and he began taking Susan on trips after they were married. Now Susan is just as dedicated to hunting as Steve – in fact, don’t even bother asking Steve who got the moose with the 55-inch antler span.

Steve does admit to having one goal he’d like to achieve now that his twin daughters are off at college: the North American 29. To attain this, he must harvest all 29 of the recognized big game animals from every corner of North America. He currently has 12, which leaves 17 more memories to be had.