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(truck driving)
[Gerald Stewart] Well one of the things you want to do is ease
on to the area as quiet as you can. Take all the precautions you can to minimize the amount
of noise you make. That’s just a general good rule of thumb to be as quiet as you can.
[narrator] Animal calling is an art that has been practiced
for centuries.
[Gerald Stewart] Get out here and pick a good spot, look for
a tree that has fairly open limbs. What you want to do is make it as convenient as possible
for the little owl to land close to you.
[narrator] And on this mid-summers night, in the sparse
brush of a West Texas plain, Gerald Stewart is trying to call a wild screech owl.
(truck stopping)
(screech owl call)
[narrator] Gerald is a professional animal caller. Armed
with an audio cassette of a screech owl call, his ability to attract wild animals is nearly
flawless.
[Gerald Stewart] He's right in the middle of the light. This
is incredible.
(owl call)
[Gerald] He's getting nervous.
[narrator] Many nocturnal animals don't see the color
red very well at night. So Gerald uses this to his advantage by using a red light once
the animals have responded to the calls. Then, if they stay around, he gradually removes
the color.
(owl call)
[Gerald] During the nesting session, the male screech
owl retrieves and brings a bug back to the mother and the fledgling on the average of
every 30 seconds. Can you imagine the amount of work he's got to do in a night catching
bugs for the momma and babies.
[narrator] There's no magic, no special talents, just
the good use of a few sounds, and a lot of time recording them.
(walking through brush)
[narrator] Gerald Stewart is president and resident recording
expert of Johnny Stewart Game Calls in Waco, Texas. He's the second generation of Stewarts
to produce recordings of animals and birds, giving anyone the chance to get a little closer
to nature.
[Gerald} Early on Dad thought he had a unique idea.
He did a lot of hard work, and he is generally recognized as one of the founding fathers
of the industry.
(recording of bird sounds)
[narrator] In his recording studio, Gerald becomes a
"Doctor Doolittle" of sorts, trying to figure exactly what combinations of sounds will work
best to talk to the animals.
(recording of bird sounds)
[Gerald S] We will never know exactly why animals respond
the way that they do, because we can't talk to animals. I wish I knew why a coyote would
come to a sound that he has probably never heard before. I like to believe that he came
out of curiosity, just simple curiosity. I wish I could have asked him that. I wish one
of them would say “Well yeah, I came because I thought you were a tasty meal.
(walking through brush, birds chirping)
[narrator] Modern gadgets and animal sounds in hand,
Gerald is making his way to a rocky hilltop which has all the makings for a home of a
gray-fox.
[Gerald] It's simply an enjoyment of the outdoors,
another way of enjoying the outdoors. It's not like you go out and sit down and call
up something every time you try. I've gone out many a times and Mother Nature beat me.
I have tried my best sounds in the best way I knew how and still came up empty.
(recorded animal sounds)
[Gerald S] I have felt the presence of animals before
I saw them. You know maybe it's something that if you are out there and you do it enough
times you realize the way other animals react. That's something that I hope everybody could
experience.
(recorded animal sounds)
[Gerald] There's a fox.
(recorded animal calls)
[narrator] Not one, but three gray fox, what appears
to be a family.
(foxes barking)
[Gerald S] The sound I like to use the most to attract
gray fox with is the gray fox pup. It's the frightened squeals of a young fox we used
to have as a pet. And it’s quiet effective in getting the gray fox to respond.
(recorded fox sounds, foxes barking)
[narrator] The older foxes get suspicious and leave.
But the young fox is too curious and wants to know what that sound is.
[Gerald} It's interesting how some animals react differently
than others. Some you get just seem to be as stupid as they can be and hang around forever
you can’t hardly drive em away with a stick. Others come in, they see something, hear something
and zoom they’re gone, they are out of there in a flash.
(fox barking, recorded fox squeals)
[Gerald] It's really interesting to watch the body
language of an animal, particularly the gray fox. The gray fox is a fairly animated animal
that will occasionally yawn, and sometimes sit down. If he comes in expecting to find
something and he doesn’t find it he’s is confused, he will literally sit down and
look around. I have seen them stretch, and do all different kinds of stuff when they
are trying to figure out what's happening.
(fox barking, recorded fox calls)
[narrator] Finally, the young fox becomes bored, and
leaves. Because of Gerald's work and his father's
before him, people of all ages can enjoy nature. With the use of electronic animal calls, anyone
can talk to the animals.
[Gerald] Just virtually anybody can call wildlife of
some kind, and have a great deal of fun doing it.
(owl & bird calls)