Tag Archives: chester moore

Sharks, Seagrass & Sunny Florida

“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

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Email Chester at chester@chestermoore.com.

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

Hunters Nearly Killed By Feral Dogs!

A pack of feral dogs nearly killed a hunter in a recent, terrifying incident.

The man received nearly 300 puncture wounds and lacerations in an epic life and death struggle.Before his attack, a pair of hunters in Texas had to shoot their way through a pack of feral that was running in to attack them.

Feral dogs are becoming a major problem in this episode of Dark Outdoors we talk with these hunters and detail numerous terrifying tales of feral dogs pursuing hunters and other outdoors lovers.

You can listen by clicking here or listening via the player below.

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

@thechestermoore on Instagram

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Email Chester at chester@chestermoore.com.

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

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

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.

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Dark Secrets Of TX National Forest Revealed

This is the show I have been wanting to do.

Since I began this Dark Outdoors journey, I have been researching for this exact show. And now, we have it.

The Sam Houston National Forest near Houston has more than 40 missing people arounds its corridor and many bodies found over the years.

Now we have a verified serial killer in the area and put together a show that gives deep insight into what has been going on in the area.

Click here to listen or via the icon below.

I would love to hear your feedback on this episode and would love to hear your stories of the Sam Houston National Forest or other Dark Outdoors encounters you might have had.

I hope you have a great weekend!

Chester Moore

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

Email Chester at chester@chestermoore.com.

@thechestermoore on Instagram

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Bonefish and Permit In All The Wrong Places

Bonefish are the gateway drug to flats fishing. Once you catch one, you can’t get enough, and you want to go after permit and tarpon, and then you’re hooked.”

Those were the words of Dr. Aaron Adams, Conservation Director of the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust on an episode of my Higher Calling Wildlife podcast.

In an article called Chasing The Flats Slam in Texas Fish & Game I admitted to telling Adams after recently catching my first bonefish in Florida’s Biscayne Bay, that I had already booked a trip to catch permit, he said, “I told you so.”

Adam’s statement made perfect sense to me. I’ve never done a drug in my life and have always found the high of hooking into a big fish or calling in a turkey plenty for me.

The Flats Slam consists of the bonefish, tarpon, and permit, fish which spend some of their time in the deeper ocean but most of their life cycle in the flats.

Tarpon can be found in all states along the Gulf Coast in catchable numbers although the main fisheries are Florida, southern Texas and a small section of the Louisiana Coast.

What’s interesting is there seems to be evidence that with warming Gulf temperatures, more bonefish and permit are showing up in odd places.

Bonefish: Bonefish are arguably the fastest-moving, hardest-fighting pound-for-pound fish on the planet. They are the stuff of fly fishermen’s dreams as stalking them on the clear flats in places like Florida, Belize and The Bahamas is a mega challenge.

Did you know there are a few bonefish in Texas?

The author with the big bonefish he caught in Biscayne Bay in 2021 while fishing with Capt. Mo Estevez.

The state record weighed 3.77 pounds and was caught by angler C.W. Morris in 1977. The listing says “Gulf of Mexico” which probably means he caught it in the surf somewhere, but I have not been able to track down the exact location.

One of Capt. Brian Barerra’s clients caught a small bonefish in the South Padre area a few years ago. Capt. Joey Farrah told me one of his clients hung into one in the lower end of the Middle Coast.

In preparation for this article, I contacted Texas Parks & Wildlife Department’s coastal fisheries division and found out that since 1994, they have records of catching 16 bonefish in their net surveys. The catches were all in the Aransas Channel, Aransas Bay, Corpus Christi Bay, Upper Laguna Madre, and Lower Laguna Madre. They were all less than four inches in length.

They’re nowhere near a common catch, but they are present in Texas waters.

Permit: Quite a few anglers think they’ve caught a permit in Texas, but are disappointed to find out it was a southern pompano (a close relative) or even a jack crevalle (similar shape and colors).

Permit are stunning flats species that get big. They are said to be the moodiest of flats slam species and will often ignore the most perfectly placed lure or fly.

Permit are also present in Texas in small numbers.

permit in Texas

Jared Guinn caught the Texas state record in the Gulf of Mexico in 1993. It only weighed 1.50 pounds. I’ve heard anecdotal evidence of permit close to this size caught in the Galveston Bay complex in recent years, from very informed anglers.

Christy Real caught this permit while fishing at the Texas City Dike March 2023.

One of Capt. Brian Barerra’s young clients caught a permit in the South Padre area. It wasn’t a monster but in a very real way, it was the catch of a lifetime.

Have you caught a permit or a bonefish outside of Florida? If so, email your reports, pics and videos to chester@dchestermoore.com.

We would love to have the opportunity to use these photos to rasie awareness of these great fish.

Chester Moore

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

Email Chester at chester@chestermoore.com.

@thechestermoore on Instagram

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Great News For Higher Calling Wildlife!

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

“If You Support Me, Please Read This Post”

Greetings from Texas!

“If you support me, please read this post’.

I was struggling with the verbiage for this post and that is the most heartfelt, honest one I can come up with.

We have been given some incredible opportunities to invest in the lives of children in Colorado by including them in part of a special mission trip in June.

This young man got to join Chester on an expedition in 2022 in Colorado. He got to photograph bighorns, elk and the beautiful mountain scendry.

In fact, we’ve had the trip booked but just added two new families to two different parts of the trip.

Our mission is restore hope during a dark time in their lives by giving them amazing wildlife encounters. We’ve raised most of the funds for this trip which we believe is very important. But we haven’t raised it all yet.

I almost never use this blog for fundraising but I need your help.

We still need to raise about $3,000 with the addition of the new families we are helping and other expenses as the cost of some things has risen since we put this together.

This is the photo the young man above took. Can you help facilitate the next young person getting such an encoutner?

Any size donation is appreciated. We are excited our mission has expanded and we will be impacting more families but we do need your help.

A donation of any size is appreciated. You can makg tax-deductible donations by clicking here.

We are taking families to do wildlife photography in the Estes Park area as well as connecting with special wildlife encounters at two different zoos in the state.

All of it costs but the great news is these have proven to be life-changing experiences for the children and families. You have an opportunity to help us help hurting children and to see the goodness of Christ through wildlife expeditions.

The forthcoming expedition will also help some kids and their families get special wildlife encounters at zoos in Colorado.

My writings and broadcasts are important because they help spread the word of conservation. I very much appreciate you supporting them.

But these expeditions are far more important as they not only spread the word of conservation but help us help hurting children receive hope.

Can you make a donation? A donation of any size is greatly appreciated.

You can donate here.

Thank you so much!

In Christ,

Chester Moore

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

Email Chester at chester@chestermoore.com.

@thechestermoore on Instagram

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Law Enforcement Investigates Bizarre TX Cattle Mutilations

Just when you thought things couldn’t get stranger in the Texas wild, it gets strange.

Madison County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the death and mutilation of cattle along TX-OSR.

“Ranchers advised a 6-year-old longhorn-cross cow had been found lying on her side, deceased, and mutilated on their ranch.

A straight, clean cut, with apparent precision, had been made to remove the hide around the cow’s mouth on one side, leaving the meat under the removed hide untouched. The tongue was also completely removed from the body with no blood spill.

It was noted there were no signs of struggle and the grass around the cow was undisturbed. No footprints or tire tracks were noted in the area.”

To hear a take on this that you will likely hear nowhere else listen to the latest episode of Dark Outdoors by clicking here on on the icon below.

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Sheep Show Coming This Week!

The Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF) hosts its 46th annual Convention and Sporting Expo “The Sheep Show” Jan. 12-14 at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center and the Peppermill Resort Spa & Casino.

“Every year we bring the sporting community together to celebrate outdoor traditions and raise money for the conservation and management of wild sheep,” said WSF President & CEO Gray N. Thornton. “It’s the largest celebration of mountain game hunting and conservation in the U.S. This year we’ve expanded the Expo to include three halls filled wall to wall with exhibits featuring the finest guides, outfitters, gear, taxidermy, art, firearms, optics and other outdoor essentials from North America and around the world.”

Higher Calling Wildlife will have coverage of the show on our Facebook and Instagram and a wrap-up here next week.

The Show features hundreds of exhibitors, educational seminars, youth events, drawings, hunt giveaways, raffles, and banquets. Nightly auctions feature more than $3 million in outdoor adventure trips and more special conservation permits than any other convention or hunting expo.

Money raised is used to enhance wild sheep populations across North America and internationally through disease research, herd monitoring, habitat improvements and other initiatives.

The Sheep Show is open to the public Thursday through Saturday, Jan. 12-14, at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. Show hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. Daily admission is $25. Paid attendees are entered daily for floor credit drawings from $1,000-$5,000. Free seminars from experts on mountain hunting in North America, Europe, and Asia include topics such as wildlife conservation, travel, outdoor skills, backcountry fitness and nutrition, wild game preparation and cooking and hunter safety.

The Expo also features a free Youth Wildlife Conservation Experience open to the public at the convention center Saturday, Jan. 14, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The youth event offers fun educational activities focused on conservation, outdoor skills and nature. 

A complete schedule of events, pre-registration and other details are available at www.wildsheepfoundation.org.

Daily passes are available at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center on convention days. Five-dollar discount coupons are available at Sportsman’s Warehouse, Cabela’s, Scheels, Reno HUNTNHOUSE, Mark Fore & Strike (Reno), Bass Pro Shops (Sacramento), Gun World & Archery (Elko) and Honey Lake Firearms (Susanville).

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

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.

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