Category Archives: Higher Calling Wildlife

Higher Calling Wildlife

Sharks, Seagrass & Sunny Florida

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“Bad To The Bone”.

That was the theme of our 2023 Higher Calling Wildlife expedition to southern Florida.

The mission was to take 14-year-old Jerry Gibson on a conservation/fishing/photography adventure and to highlight the importance of seagrass flats that produce world-class sportfish like bonefish.

“Bad To The Bone”.

Get it?

With a donation from the Coastal Conservation Association and the help of Capt. Mo Estevez of Miami Bonefishing, we made a huge impact on Jerry and the mission at hand.

Biscayne Bay is the stunningly beautiful ecosystem in the shadow of Miami. Jerry told me his dream was to catch a shark so Capt. Mo took us out on the Atlantic side of the bay in the same location I caught my first bonefish with him in 2021.

Jerry loved watching the sunrise over Biscayne Bay.

It didn’t take long to connect with sharks in the beautiful clear waters. Jerry fought a bulldog-like nurse shark for about 10 minutes and achieved his ultimate angling dream.

Jerry’s dream came true catching this nurse shark with Capt. Mo Estevez. Bajio Sunglasses provided him with a pair that allowed him to see into the water in a way that he has never experienced. He was impressed Bajio is working to save seagrass flats.

He ended up catching another, slightly smaller nurse shark and marveled at seeing other nurse sharks, a bonnethead and a large southern stingray swimming around the boat.

Bajio graciously provided Jerry with a pair of sunglasses that were a real trip highlight for him. He told me he loved how they allowed him to see things in the water he never dreamed of being able to see.

Capt. Mo talked with him about the bonefish, permit and tarpon anglers come to pursue there and he left the bay with a feeling of achievement and inspiration.

We went down to Marathon Key and took a helicopter tour that showed the seagrass flats from a whole other perspective. He got to see the prop scarring from boats and saw two manatees, some dolphins, a couple of massive stingrays and an even more massive loggerhead sea turtle.

A helicopter tour at Marathon Key gave an awesome perspective of seagrass.
Look close enough and you might see a manatee here.

Higher Calling Wildlife seeks to mentor teens facing special challenges to become wildlife conservationists. Photography was a big part of our trip that we will cover in another post and Jerry has committed to using photography to aid conservation awareness.

We will be sharing more from this trip soon including Jerry’s photography from The Everglades and Big Pine Key.

Would you like to help other teens have experience like this? We will be doing expeditions in Colorado and Tennessee this fall and are already planning Florida for 2024.

You can make a tax-deductible donation here.

We believe that we are creating a NOW generation of conservationists and letting them know despite challenges great things can happen in their lives.

Chester Moore

Follow Chester Moore and Higher Calling Wildlife® on the following social media platforms

@thechestermoore on Instagram

Higher Calling Wildlife on Facebook

Email Chester at chester@chestermoore.com.

Subscribe to the Dark Outdoors and Higher Calling Wildlife podcasts on all major podcasting platforms.

Higher Calling Wildlife

Amazing Wildlife Photos (From A Voice In The Wilderness Expedition)

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Greetings!

I would normally say it’s great to be back after an expedition but I honestly wish I was still in stunningly beautiful Colorado.

Hey, don’t hate on me-fellow Texans! The heat index was 108 today.

We had a great time working with young people in our Wild Wishes program and other young people we are working with in a mentoring setting.

I’ll have a video recap next week but for now here are some of the photos the young people took on the trip.

Wild Wishes girl Kamille took this shot of a mule deer doe in Colorado Springs.
Our Wild Wishes girl Juno takes a great photo of a bull elk. You’ll see it in the next shot.
Juno’s elk photo turned out great!
Thirteen-year-old Delilah captured a beautiful moment between a cow moose and her young calf near Estes Park, CO.
Speaking of calves, Amber Borel got this great shot of a elk cow and calf. Many of the elk in the Estes Park area have collars to help track movements.
My daughter Faith got this great shot of a big bull elk.

We’ll be posting a video and more photos soon.

The mission fo what we do is to bring children facing special challenges to wild places and mentor them in conservation. We are teaching them to use photography to raise awarness of wildlife and the issues they face.

And we need your help as we have more expeditions planned.

Take a moment to think about your dark moments as a child and what it would’ve meant if you got to do something like this.

A tax-deductible donation of any size can be made by clicking here. You can also donate @kingdomzoo on Venmo.

We truly appreciate any size donation. Thank you for supporting what we do.

And if you know of a. young person we could help on an expedition like this or a wildlife encounter, please email chester@chestermoore.com.

Chester Moore

Follow Chester Moore and Higher Calling Wildlife® on the following social media platforms

Email Chester at chester@chestermoore.com.

Follow the Dark Outdoors podcast on all major podcasting platforms to learn about true crime in the great outdoors.

@thechestermoore on Instagram

Higher Calling Wildlife on Facebook

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Higher Calling Wildlife

Great News For Higher Calling Wildlife!

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Higher Calling Wildlife-the blog (the one you’re reading) was honored last weekend by the Press Club of Southeast Texas.

It took first place in the blog category, for the second time in three years.

Chester Moore also won in four other categories.

Moore and his wife Lisa at the Press Club awards.

Dark Outdoors-the podcast won for “Overall Excellence? category for podcasts and for investigative program.

His “Moore Outdoors”on Newstalk AM 560 KLVI radio program won best talk show and he also took first in social media for his Instagram.

“It’s great to be honored by such a prestigious media organization. I’m both humbled and inspired to keep working on top-quality content,” Moore said.

Hog Origins And How Long It Takes Domestics to Go Wild

Check out this fascinating episode of Higher Calling Wildlife-the podcast where Chester talks with top hog expert Dr. Jack Mayer about feral hog origins.

We even get to hear how big hogs can REALLY get in the wild. Click here on the icon below to listen.

Dark Outdoors

And don’t forget to check out the latest episode of Dark Outdoors.

Have you ever seen the cult classic Southern Comfort featuring Powers Boothe and Keith Carradine? We have a real life story on this week’s episode just as scary. Click here to listen or via all major podcasting platforms.

Next week we talk about the dark side of the Sam Houston National Forest.

Follow Chester Moore and Higher Calling Wildlife® on the following social media platforms

Email Chester at chester@chestermoore.com.

@thechestermoore on Instagram

Higher Calling Wildlife on Facebook

To subscribe to this blog and get weekly cutting edge wildlife news and commentary, enter your email at the prompt on the top right of the page

Higher Calling Wildlife

Higher Calling Wildlife Is Back!

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Greetings from Texas!

After a two-month hiatus, Higher Calling Wildlife, the media platform is back! There are some great things already completed that will debut soon and lots of things in the works for 2023.

Higher Calling Wildlife-the podcast makes its 2023 return with a new format Jan. 10. We’ll be putting a a weekly 10 minute episode on intriguing wildlife news and investigations and doing a monthly hourlong deep-dive.

And while we’re on the subject of the podcast, in 2022, we moved into a different network. We greatly appreciate the opportunity but the format didn’t work for how I needed to produce the program.

Now I’m back with my old host where I kept archives of the program and was blown away with how many people downloaded the archives in 2022. When I got the 50,000 downloads badge notification I was pleasantly surprised. I can’t wait to see the numbers we do with an active program on the podbean nework!

There will be much more audio and video content coming. I’m also doing a lot of freelance work on top of my main gig as Editor-In-Chief of Texas Fish & Game.

I’m motivated, more focused than normal (which is a lot) and ready to have an inspirational year of content creation and investigative wildlife journalism.

Chester Moore

Follow Chester Moore and Higher Calling Wildlife® on the following social media platforms

@thechestermoore on Instagram

Higher Calling Wildlife on Facebook

To subscribe to this blog and get weekly cutting edge wildlife news and commentary, enter your email at the prompt on the top right of the page

Higher Calling Wildlife

Meet Chester Moore Tomorrow! (Help Higher Calling Wildlife Expeditions)

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Chester Moore and young artist Chanah Haley will host a book and poster signing Saturday Oct. 8 from 11 a.m. till 1 p.m. at Rambo Outdoors 2335 MacArthur Dr, Orange, TX 77630.

Chester will be signing his hunting and fishing books and Chana will debut a special poster of a red sheep she drew after taking part in one of Chester’s Higher Calling Wildlife expeditions.

“I’ll be there to talk with everyone and sign books to raise funds for our ministry work. It’s really about Chanah and her work. She went on our expedition, photographed a red sheep and then went and did the artwork. This shows her she can use her art for good and raise awareness to conservation. We will donate a portion of the proceeds to wild sheep conservation as well,” Moore said.

Above you see Chana taking photos in Kerr County, TX on a Higher Calling Wildlife expedition in May 2022. Here you see the art she did from one of of her photos. Order this poser and help other kids go on special expeditions.

You can order a print to be a limited to 40 signed and numbered to be shipped to you for only $25. Order here and clicking on the Higher Calling Wildlife fund.

Order here.

Come out to meet Chester, get a cool, limited art print and help the cause. You can also have a rare chance to talk one on one with Chester about wildlife, Dark Outdoors and other topics.

Follow Chester Moore and Higher Calling Wildlife® on the following social media platforms

@thechestermoore on Instagram

Higher Calling Wildlife on Facebook

To subscribe to this blog and get weekly cutting edge wildlife news and commentary, enter your email at the prompt on the top right of the page