Miscellaneous Moonbat

What’s noteworthy here is not that the news stories are different – there will always be differences from reporter to reporter & editor to editor, and we realize “news” is written for the benefit of the paper and for profitable ad revenues.  What’s most interesting, and somewhat fascinating, is the way some people can be so easily manipulated to homicidal hostility by an article that’s had no independent review. 

When a reader takes the time to send me an email that reads: 

Comment: “I’d F$#&ing shoot you in the head if I saw you in person. You filthy scumbag murderer of non-human life.” 

It’s a safe bet this person has been, and is completely unaware they have been, manipulated.  Remember, this person, armed with nothing more than an unverified story from a newspaper, has just suggested that he/she would commit murder to avenge the death of an animal that was legally hunted, humanely killed, and then consumed as food and preserved as a trophy.  

There were several others emails & postcards like this.  Not one of these windbags had the courage to identify themselves.  These are the morons with “Keep Abortion Legal” and “Meat is Murder” bumper stickers juxtaposed on the back of their Honda hybrids.  

You wonder, are people manipulated by the media?  I’d say alarmingly so, but I’ve put the stories below for your review.  You be the judge. We want to know what you think, please take a moment to comment after you read this! 

The story by the East Valley Tribune has been on our blog for more than a week.  You can see the blog post here:  East Valley Trib/Wildlife Callers Blog.  And you can see the full Tribune Article here:  EV Trib Article.  

The Tribune article had just a couple of small errors, and was written in a balanced manner.  The reporter and the editor didn’t go out of their way to make it an inflammatory, anger inciting piece.  We even asked our readers to thank the reporter Ed Taylor for his objective coverage of our story and the sport of predator hunting.  

From that article we received one – that’s right, just one lonely piece of hate mail.  That letter, albeit anti-hunting, contained no profanity.  The writer was most concerned that we were killing endangered animals and thought we should be ashamed of ourselves.   For the record, mountain lions are NOT endangered and with appropriate licenses are legal to hunt.  Furthermore, we are not not ashamed of ourselves.  

But then… 

The Arizona Republic released their version of the story.  I gave my interview to both reporters within a seven day time frame.  Nothing changed and I gave both reporters the same information.  Here is Republic reporter Astrid Galvan’s version:  Arizona Republic Article. 

Wow!  What a difference in content, and what a difference Astrid’s wording (and most likely the editor too) had over the readers.  We’ve enjoyed a slew of hate mail…er…uh…I mean Liberal Love Letters this week.  The inaccuracies in her article are many, but I’ll just point out three major errors.  

First:  

The Republic originally reported that I “invented” the Mighty Atom caller.  Someone must have called them out on that headline because that wording disappeared in a couple of days.  The Mighty Atom was invented by and is produced by Wildlife Technologies in Manchester, New Hampshire.  I NEVER said I invented the Mighty Atom – that headline was simply not true.  

Second:  

Galvan quotes me as saying,  “Mountain lions were just a new challenge,” Healy said. “They’re just trophies. The last lion I shot is now a mountain lion rug in my house.” 

Several of my thoughts and statements from the interview have been condensed to 24 total words and the word “just” is added twice, resulting in a sensational, callous statement.  I’d call this a mild case of Yellow Journalism.  Was it effective?  Yes!  The homicidal Liberal Love Letters poured in.  

If you’d care to read a more accurate depiction of what I said, read the Tribune article.   

Our company and hunters worldwide value and respect the animals we hunt, nature, the outdoors, and biodiversity that is managed for long term sustainability.  Modern game managers have learned from the excesses of the past (e.g. the American Bison slaughter) and hunters value harvest limits based on scientific research & data.  We at Wildlife Callers hunt ethically and within the game management harvest/kill objectives and laws of the areas we’re hunting.  

Third: 

Galvan states that I have called in 16 lions in a single year.  If only it were so easy!  

Let me be very clear:  In a period of 4.5 hunting seasons we have called in 16 lions that we’ve seen.  We do not count the lions that vocalize back at us and don’t come in, just the lions we actually see are counted.  Because of a combination of bad shooting (yeah…it happens) and lions being as elusive as they are, a mere 3 of them have been shot and killed.  It’s no shooting gallery out there.  

Of course, this misprint makes it seem very easy to call and kill lions and the easily swayed suckers, Che Guevara T-shirt crowd, and low-hanging mental fruit jumped all over it.  

A Final Note: 

To Galvan’s credit she did convey that the Mighty Atom callers will call a variety of animals, and that they specifically will call mountian lions.  She also conveyed that the ISE was hosting a predator calling panel at their Phoenix show.  That ISE show and panel were huge successes, and we thank her for that coverage.  

My knee-jerk reaction to this was to seek a retraction from the editor.  Then I realized, the editor has a job that goes beyond the story.  He must sell papers & drive web hits, or be without a job.  Traditional media is now competing with the new online world, The New York Times print edition hovers near extinction, and humans the world over  have been empowered by the blogosphere and social media.  Some clever wording creates strong emotion, emotion creates controversy, and controversy creates web hits.  As the beneficiary of some of these hits, I didn’t seek a retraction.  Wildlife Callers remains very busy and the mouth-breathing letter writers have most likely forgotten about us.  

As far as the Love Letter writers – we don’t respond to idiots and didn’t engage them.  These are the kind of self-proclaimed enlightened people that have a “humane bug release jar” in their house for safe kitchen cockroach removal and the carnage of ten million bugs on the grille & windshield of their sticker-covered Subaru.  We’d never have a sensible conversation with them. 

Anyone who would threaten my life over my passion for hunting, should become familiar with the work of Randall Eaton Ph.D.   True “diversity” requires education and knowledge beyond your own emotional opinions.  

Major Point!! 

There is a lesson here.  There are people who claim the mantles of diversity and freedom, who’d take away your right to hunt and fish tomorrow if they could.  And, they’d do it all on naked emotion.  We need to support groups like SCI, the NRA, and other organizations that keep these people at bay.  

Thank you again for reading our blog and supporting ethical hunting.  We would love to hear what you think on this,  go ahead and sound off in our comments section!

Subscriptions to the blog are free!  Just put your email in the SUBSCRIPTION section on the upper right side of this page. 

Good calling & hunting, 

Mark Healy 

mark@wildlifecallers.com

The Wildlife Callers' Crew - Marc Reindell, Dave Martens, and Mark Healy

This past weekend at the University of Phoenix Stadium, thousands of fishermen, hunters, and outdoor enthusiasts  from around Arizona and neighboring states turned out for the Phoenix International Sportsman’s Expo.  Three hundred vendors from around the world were on hand to show & sell their products, offer advice, and entertain the Expo guests with various breakout sessions.  Predator calling was a very popular breakout session and we’re hoping to offer it in future ISE events. 

The Predator Panel Members (from left) Rich Higgins, Mark Healy (standing), The "Beastmaster" Gerry Blair, Ron Day of AZ G&F, & Dr. Frank Turkowski

The world-renowned predator hunter, author, and calling veteran, Gerry Blair, was in good spirits and entertained the audience with his quick wit & humor.  When asked about scent control on a predator calling stand, he said hunters need to pay attention to their downwind side at all times and take a shower at least once every seven days.  Sage advice from an industry original!

Phoenix ISE & Wildlife Callers Predator Calling Panel

Steve Craig, who couldn’t make the show, was replaced at the last minute by the very knowledgeable and informative speaker, Dr. Frank Turkowski.  Dr. Turkowski, a US Navy Professor and the author of Coyotes, Trappers, Sheepherders, and Urbanites  fielded a host of questions from the audience and his lifetime of coyote research really showed.  Anyone interested in his book can find it here:

Biologist Ron Day was on hand from the Arizona Game & Fish Department to answer questions about predator behavior,  questions about hunting seasons, rules & regs, and methods of take.  One of the more interesting topics that he brought up for predator callers in Arizona is a possible change in using shotguns to legally harvest mountain lions.  If the change happens, Mr. Day said that shotguns shooting 00 buck would become a legal method of take and we can stop carrying two guns to every stand.  Keep your fingers crossed and stay tuned. 

Rich Higgins of Predator Professionals Forum, who was very instrumental in bringing this panel together, took questions about coyote calling and provided insight as to why coyotes respond to prey distress and varied coyote vocalizations.  Rich talked in detail about the seven triggers that make coyotes respond/come in and ways to address these triggers with sound on every stand.  Rich also spent the weekend with us at our Wildlife Callers’ booth, taking dozens of questions from Expo guests. 

Mark Healy of Wildlife Callers took several questions from the audience on mountain lion scouting procedures, calling using recorded cougar vocalizations, sound volume & sequences, and rifle caliber selection for hunting the big cats.  I also ended up with a question or two on stand selection and a few jokes about Scottsdale Cougars.  It was apparent the audience members were ready to call in their first lion. 

The questions were coming quick and we could have easily used another hour on stage.  When our hour was up we turned the stage over to the ISE Pro Fly Fishing Panel members and headed back to our booth to continue the predator hunting & calling discussions there.

John Kirk of the International Sportsman’s Expo did a great job putting this panel together and did our whole sport a huge favor in helping us present predator calling to an audience of outdoor enthusiasts with mixed interests.  Please take the time to thank him by sending an email here:  info@sportsexpos.com 

As always, thank you for reading and subscribing to Wildlife Callers’ Blog!

Questions & comments are always appreciated. 

Best regards and good calling,

Mark Healy

mark@wildlifecallers.com or 480-882-1210

You can view the entire article by clicking here

Wildlife Callers LLC, Mark Healy & The Wildlife Technologies Mighty Atom 21

The article was a mix of local event, sports, outdoors, business, and new product reporting.  With all of the negative reporting on hunting in general, and the fact that many reporters would have become fixated on the look of my rifle, we appreciate Mr. Taylor’s objective reporting on our sport. 

You can thank him via email at etaylor@aztrib.com or by clicking on his name at the top of the article.

Anyone interested in learning more about the Wildlife Technologies Mighty Atom 21 caller in the article can click here.

Thank you again for supporting Wildlife Callers and reading our blog.  And, a big thank you to Ed Taylor and the East Valley Tribune for covering this story. 

Comments & Questions are always welcome!

Good calling,

Mark Healy

mark@wildlifecallers.com

480-882-1210

All we ask is for you to answer a predator hunting trivia question!  The first 20 correct responses will be awarded one free ticket to the show, a value of $15.00, tickets will be good for any single day of the show!  Parking to the show is free and children 15 or younger are admitted free as well!

All answers need to be submitted to us by no later than February 19th, we will award the tickets to the first 20 correct responses we receive. 

Ok, so here is the trivia question:

In 1957 the first “World Varmint Calling Championship” was won by Jim Dougherty of California.

 Where was this event held?

1. Sacramento, California
2. Tulsa, Oklahoma
3. Chandler, Arizona
4. Kansas City, Missouri

Please send your responses to info@wildlifecallers.com no later than Feb.19th,  ticket winners will be notified by e-mail with details to pick up their tickets.

Good luck! We look forward to hearing from you and awarding 20 lucky readers their tickets!

Thanks!

Marc Reindell

info@wildlifecallers.com

Tickets cannot be exchanged for cash value – this contest is void where prohibited. 

Panel Showtime! Saturday Feb 27th at 1:30pm

As further evidence that the predator calling industry is growing, the ISE, the western United States largest and best hunting, fishing, outdoor sports, and adventure travel show will host an hour-long predator calling panel discussion.  Panel members include:

Gerry Blair

Gerry Blair – AKA The Beast Master, is an icon in the predator hunting industry.  Gerry is one of the most recognized speakers and authors on predator calling.  His retired Arizona Highway Patrolman straight-talk and “Blair-isms” are sure to add lots of humor to this informative calling discussion. 

Steve Craig

Steve Craig – “The Lion King” of Cottonwood, Arizona brings his cougar calling expertise to the panel.  Steve is one of the industry’s best teachers on all types of predator calling, and is recognized across the US for his uncanny ability to locate and bring mountain lions to his call. 

Rich Higgins

Rich Higgins – Do you speak coyote?  Rich Higgins, founder of Predator Professionals does and he’ll tell you how.  Rich brings decades of experience in coyote vocalizations & behavior expertise to this panel.  Rich will separate fact from fiction when it come to talking to coyotes and provide time & field-tested methods to bring more coyotes to your stands. 

Mark Healy

Mark Healy – Co-founder of Wildlife Callers Blog and professional speaker brings 23 years of predator calling experience to the panel.  Mark Healy and Dave Martens (the other founder of Wildlife Callers) scout and call specifically for mountain lions and have called 15 cougars in the past 4 hunting seasons. 

When:  February 27th, Saturday.  Panel time 1:30pm in the Adventure Theater. 

Where:  University of Phoenix Stadium (AZ Cardinals Stadium) - One Cardinals Drive, Glendale, AZ 85305

Parking:  Included with your paid admission! 

Admission:  $15 Adults (16yrs and older).  Kids 15yrs and younger are free with a paid adult!

Tickets:  Click Here

An ISE show is an outdoor recreation, fishing, and hunting event like no other.  Mark your calendars for Saturday February 27th and show your support for predator hunting & calling in Arizona and the western United States!

As the event date draws near we’ll make additional announcements and provide a specific time the panel will be on stage. 

Don’t forget that our blog updates are FREE – subscribe by putting your email in the Subscribe via Email area at the top right side of this page!

Thank you again for reading and supporting Wildlife Callers’ Blog.  Send your questions or comments to: 

 Mark@wildlifecallers.com

Good calling to everyone,

Mark Healy