EDITOR’S NOTES by Chester Moore – November/December 2020

PIKE ON THE EDGE by Doug Pike – November/December 2020
October 26, 2020
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR – November/December 2020
October 26, 2020

The Stand

THE STAND IS an iconic book written by one of the world’s greatest selling authors, Stephen King.

It’s about a constantly changing antigen called “Captain Trips” that kills the vast majority of humanity and the surviving humans who make a stand for humanity.

COVID-19 has by the grace of God proved to be nothing like the fictional Captain Trips, but it has forced humanity to make a stand. Every person has had to evaluate where they are, where they want to go and what life really means in this world.

No matter what your opinions about where we find ourselves, the COVID-19 situation has changed everything. Texas Fish & Game has made a stand. We have decided to increase the depth of our weekly e-newsletter. Now instead of getting a total of eight stories a week, you are getting 16.

We figured if 2020 meant double trouble for many, the least we could do is give you double coverage. Yes, we are currently going bi-monthly, but we believe we are more than making up for that with our online coverage.

We offer stories about the COVID-19 impact on the outdoor world, the mysterious horse killings throughout Texas as well as web features on everything from bonefish in Texas to cutting-edge studies on giant bass. We’re covering it all.

On a personal level, my wife and I decided to make a more powerful stand on behalf of wildlife conservation and young people facing great challenges. We have founded a new project called “Higher Calling Wildlife.” The mission of Higher Calling Wildlife is to raise awareness about the conservation of mountain and forest wildlife and stream fisheries through investigative journalism and cutting-edge educational outreach.

You can join for free at www.highercallingwildlife.com and receive a bi-monthly emag and monthly updates.

This outreach is done in great part by young people from our Wild Wishes program. Wild Wishes grants wildlife encounters to children with a critical illness or loss of a parent or sibling. Teens in the program with an interest in conservation are being guided in investigations by yours truly. They are writing articles as well as doing artwork for the publication.

The idea is for them to eventually do about 75 percent of the work, with me doing only the deepest of investigative pieces and guiding the educational side of things.

Our stand for youth was not to just check things off a publication relations list—you know, like you see in some realms of the industry.

• Photo of Senator with Inner City Kids Planting a Tree (Check)

• Stories of wanting to help the “next generation” get involved in the outdoors, but no commitment to things like mentoring that will make that work. (Check)

• Promoting hunting and fishing camps for rich kids only. (Check)

Wait? What did I just say, you ask?

Yes, hunting and fishing camps created for rich kids only.

Part of my and Lisa’s stand was thinking back to a writer’s event we attended about 15 years ago where someone was there promoting a camp that was for rich kids only.

He said that we needed a camp that was for rich kids because the kids who go on orphan’s hunts and those things will “never go hunting again.” He wanted a camp for rich kids because “they can be senators when they grow up who help hunting and fishing.”

I don’t care whether a kid is rich, poor or in the middle. If they face a challenge in life, such as a critical illness, we will work with them. We don’t look at socio-economic data for that.

I take offense about the idea that a kid who goes on an amazing event such as Operation Orphan (which has gone on for many years in the Texas Hill Country) can’t be a senator one day. Although America ain’t what she used to be, great opportunity still exists here. The boy on that hunt can grow up to be a senator or whatever he chooses to be.

The young lady in the foster system who goes on a stream fishing trip can become a great entrepreneur who contributes big money to wildlife conservation.

What these kids need is people willing to serve and mentor them. They need these opportunities to see they can do great things. They don’t need people excluding them because they’re not rich.

The kids from affluent families don’t need to be targeted in such a way either. They need to be seen as who they are, not by the size of their family’s pocketbook.

That’s our stand at Higher Calling Wildlife. We give the young people who society puts at the back of the line a chance to be in the front.

Our first two e-mags are out. In total they have five articles and an incredible piece of artwork done by young people in these categories. We are giving them opportunities and allowing them to be an inspirational voice for mountain and forest wildlife and stream fisheries.

For 28 years, through the leadership of Roy and Ardia Neves, Texas Fish & Game magazine has been giving free copies to high school wildlife classes around the state to inspire students and to promote wildlife, fishing and hunting.

Their teachers get free lesson plans sent to them weekly to teach them about conservation through these stories.

Guess what, no one has ever sponsored this program.

Not once has anyone stepped up to sponsor the teacher’s newsletter. In the history of giving out the magazines to students, only one company has sponsored it, yet TF&G does it anyway.

Maybe we should have said it was for rich kids only, and someone would have stepped forward.

I say that with sarcasm but it’s probably true.

I’m proud to bring Higher Calling Wildlife to you for free. Go to highercallingwildlife.com to join or email me at chester@chestermoore.com.

I’m proud to start this new project and work with Texas Fish & Game, a company that does more for young people and wildlife than just photo ops and platitudes.

That’s a stand I can make.

 

Email Chester Moore at cmoore@fishgame.com

 

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