Pennsylvania Game News - March 2022 - 25

front, is that in this shop, we do a lot of
ripping on one another, " Wagner said. " It's
not the place for tender feelings. We laugh
every day, but you've got to be able to take
it and you've got to be able to give it back.
" But I told him I also want you to realize
there's no such thing as a handicapped
person that's going to be working here. If
you come here to work, you're going to
be part of our team. And he certainly has
turned out to be that. "
Mike started with Top Calls in August
2020. He puts in 30 hours a week, sometimes
more.
He was originally tasked with making
lanyards using a hand press; he's done
more than 50,000 so far. But he now also
sands grunt tubes and other deer calls,
assembles turkey box calls and fills in
wherever he can.
That's helped tremendously, Wagner
said, since the company is growing. Top
Calls produces more than 200,000 mouth
calls alone each year and continues to
add staff.
" He's such a good worker, " Wagner
said. " You put him at a job and he keeps
at it. I've got a good team here, and he's a
big part of that. He's a valuable employee.
With his sight, without his sight, he's a
valuable employee. "
Mike finds the work as rewarding as
anything he's done since being shot.
" Russ took a big chance on me, " he
said. " It seems to be working out, at least
for me it is. It fills my day up, so I love it.
" It's kind of ironic, I got shot hunting
turkeys and now I'm helping make turkey
calls. It's kind of neat, though. "
The job also got him back in the woods.
" My sons had asked him to go out
hunting, probably a year or two after
his accident, " Terry said. " But he wasn't
ready. They kept asking him, year after
year, but he wasn't ready. "
MARCH 2022
" They always wanted me to just go
out and sit with them, " Mike said. " And
I always thought I'd just be in the way,
and maybe chase something away from
them. "
Things were different by this past
October. Wagner found a device that
attaches to the front of a rifle scope. A
wire connects it to a smartphone, allowing
someone else to look over his shoulder,
see the scope's crosshairs and direct him
where to aim and hold. Such devices are
legal to use, provided the hunter gets a
free permit from the Game Commission.
Through practice, Mike consistently
hit the bull's-eye at 50 yards. Then,
they took to the woods of Susquehanna
County, hunting the first Monday of the
October muzzleloader deer season.
Old recollections returned.
" We were out before daylight and you
start hearing things, the woods waking
up, " Mike said. " I remembered that. That
was neat. "
His heart raced in that old familiar
way when deer started showing up, too.
A number of does came by early on, but
none stood still to offer a shot. A spike
teasingly wandered by later.
Then, mid-afternoon, a large doe
appeared, 20 yards from their blind.
" Our two words were ready and fire, "
Mike said. " So when Russ said there was
a doe, I thought, this might happen. And
when he said 'ready' I thought, oh, it is
going to happen. "
At the word " fire, " Mike pulled the
trigger and the deer dropped immediately.
It weighed 109 pounds dressed.
" It was fun. Just a thrill, " Mike said.
" It's a good memory, a real good memory
to have. "
One that was a long time coming.
Sitting in the blind, Mike determined
it had been 11 years, five months and 17
25
Pennsylvania Game News - March 2022

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