Welcome And Small Town Origins

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Hello, Dr. John McCall. Welcome to the podcast. How are you doing today, sir? George, I'm doing fine. Thank you for having me. Man, it's a pleasure to have you. I'm excited to talk about stealth vision, your optics line, all the amazing things you got going on, the shooting systems. But man, before that, I really want to kind of rewind back and let people know a little bit about you. Tell me where you were born and raised, how you got into going forward to being an eye doctor, eye surgeon, and then you know, we'll thread this through and how you created these amazing optical systems and we'll go from there, man.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Thank you, George. I was uh uh I live in Crockett, Texas. Actually, I was born in Crockett. My favorite saying is uh I was born in Crockett, uh, I'm former mayor of Crockett, I'm more Crockett than Davy. He just stopped on the way to the Alamo. This is real this is really my town right here. So uh I've been here my whole life. So my dad was a uh was an optometrist, and uh so he kind of maneuvered me when I went to college in that direction. Um opened the practice here in 1950, so this is our 76th year in practice. So I um I went I went that direction. I knew I was gonna go into uh optometry is heavy optics, so uh my bachelor's science is in geometrical and physiological optics, and I went to optometry school and then later uh became an eye surgeon and started doing laser surgery for uh uh glaucoma. And uh uh I patented a procedure that is now the number one procedure for glaucoma in the world, I just thought was common sense, just nobody thought of it. Nice. Hey, it's good to be the first to the table to patent the idea, right? Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Well, I mean, that kind of background is prime for being able to really think about optics in a way that maybe other people and other manufacturers don't. So when you decided that you wanted to create stealth vision, walk me through this process of what that was like for you and how you kind of viewed uh no pun intended, going forward and creating this and what it was that you know you wanted to do to set yourself apart. Because I mean, there's a lot of different scope manufacturers out there, right? And some of them Dimer doesn't, some are really high-end. But for someone like you who really I think cares about big time detail and making sure something is really worth putting out there, there's a lot of thought and that goes behind that. So I just wanted to kind of

From Optometry To Stealth Vision

SPEAKER_01 2:30

know when that click and decision happened, what was it that kind of rolled forward with with your mind and wanting to create this and how you you ended up doing this?

SPEAKER_00 2:38

Well, George, uh, I'm I'm I'm a big hunter, as most of us are that are watching this. I've I've I've been adding them all about 40 plus worldwide safari, he's been to Africa nine times and got all the dangerous game and all, and and I've used a a myriad of different scopes from a dangerous game scope to a more of a long-range uh scope, some uh some of the better optics like Swarski to uh some of the scopes that everybody else has used. And uh I had noticed that on some of the the lesser scopes, I I like the idea that they had a adjustable turret that you could actually dial in. Uh, I looked at some of the upper range of optics, and they didn't really have that. Uh at least when I started this, they didn't. So I'm you know, my idea was why why why can't I bring all of this together? I have the background in geometrical optics, and that's what uh that's what this is all about. So uh I set out to uh to develop this. Of course, with my background, you know, I thought it would it take me about three months. It took three years uh to uh get the first product out there because we um my my my glass uh the two places in the world that make the best glass is Germany and Japan. And now I know Swarski uh comes from Austria, but that's the double first cousin of Germany because it's right there close. So I consider that all you know pretty much the same. That's where your best optics come from. So I ended up uh, you know, through a friend of a friend uh having an introduction to light optical works out of Japan. And so uh I flew over there and and sat down and met with them and told them about my concept and realized that y'all make most of the they're the largest scope manufacturer in the world, uh, make all the major brands. And so, uh, or at least make the optics of

The Eye Science Behind Cant

SPEAKER_00 4:25

all the major brands. Right. So I told him, I said, Let's, you know, I I wanna I want to talk to you about this. And that's what I had uh integrated into the scope was also my ideal for an anti-cant, because everybody knows I can tell you from an eye doctor standpoint, the reason you can't is when you tilt your head over to see through the scope. You cannot look straight through it. Uh, you'll notice that uh really good ski shooters will try to mount that gun in tight. That that puts them looking right down the barrel. Well, it's the same way with a uh with a rifle, but you're limited because you can't get it, you can't get your head right where the sock is, so you have to lean your head over. That puts the eyeball in a torqued position, and that's where the eyeball does its least performance is in a torque position. It does pretty good up, down, left, right. There's six muscles on each eye, 12 altogether. But when you're leaning your head over, the eye tries to cyclo-rotate. It tries to get uh it tries to get right uh upright again, but you have six muscles that restrain that, and they only allow about a maybe a degree, a degree and a half. So here's the physiological problem that you have is you have an eyeball out of position, torquing to get straight again, sending signals to the brain. And the George are really, really bad signals. And so your brain is telling you what is vertical and horizontal based on incoming signals. We call that the proprioception of the brain. And your proprioception can only interpret it's only as good as the signals coming in. So that's why everybody can't one way or the other, is because when your brain tells you it's straight, it's lying to you. It's uh the average can is five degrees. Five degrees, a hundred yards is negligible. At a thousand yards, we're talking 36 inches off target, so it's big.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

I was gonna say that's really when you kind of start to see that, especially the precision long-range shooting or long-range shooting when you're going for maybe big game out in the mountains and you're having that long distance shot. That's a hit or a miss or a wounded animal. That's a year of preparation and then now devastation. So it does make a difference.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

You're you're exactly right. And uh on some of my previous rifles, I had a uh just a clip-on level because you have to get level, have to uh uh you have to correct your can't because you're not gonna be able to do it yourself. And then so I I I had

The Green Light Anti Cant System

SPEAKER_00 6:50

the ideal that the at the lower part of the reticle, the south end of the reticle, to put a bubble level inside the scope. This has been done before, that's not my patent. Uh, the reason that I found out it's not being done very often, it's hard to see down there. You've got a clear fluid, clear bubble. So then I thought, well, how about if I put a luminous fluid in there and a clear bubble so it gives you some contrast? That worked really, really well. So then my brain kind of kept working. So I thought, well, how about a reinforcement? So uh my scope is hooked to a microprocessor. So when that when that scope is perfectly level, the green light is at or or the bubbles at the bottom, it illuminates green, George. And then when you tilt it or can it one degree right or one degree left, the green light cuts off. So in our world, green means go. So if you see green, you're within one degree of perfection, which will hold you to the kill shot or the kill zone all the way on any animal in North America, all the way out to a thousand yards. So I have four patents that uh that protect that.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Well, and and I ended up testing out the extreme SVX, it's the five uh five thirty by fifty-six scope, and saw that first hand. And I just thought that that was amazing to be able to because you know there there are, you know, for for people who are trying to, you know, visualize this as you're maybe listening to this podcast, there are different rifle manufacturers out there that they have a level right at the bottom of their rail, but you're not going to move your head down to look at this level to then bring it back up to you know your reticle that you have inside your scope there. It doesn't make any sense. And you're it's you're not going to be able to get it perfect. So when you're able to have something and you are targeting whether it's an animal or whether you're you're a target that you're shooting, uh paper or metal, whatever it may be downrange, for you to be able to have that sense of that green that pops up in the bottom of the scope, you don't you just know right then, okay, I'm level and I'm ready to take a shot, which was a really fun thing to be able to see. I had never seen anything like that before. And I really enjoyed uh using that and my friends too, as we were passing that around when we were on the range. So yeah, it was something that was just I had never had that light bulb moment of having that boom show up and you're like, okay, cool, you know, you don't have to lose track of what you're looking at down the medical, uh, you know, on target to be able to know, am I level? You know you are.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

Right. And the more you use it, uh George, the the the more comfortable that you get with it. Where I'm down here in East Texas, the hogs are tearing my ranch up all the time. I mean, it's it's terrible. I I the other day I spent seven hours on a tractor pulling a tiller, and uh, you know, two days later, 20% of what I just tilled was tore up by the hogs again. So when we see a hog, we hammer down on them. So I'm right-handed, but I'm left-eye dominant, so I shoot left-handed. Luckily, my dad caught me at an early age with a BB gun trying to shoot right-handed, but using my left eye, and he went, whoa, whoa, whoa, come here, come here. So he switched me over. Uh, my son and and daughters are the same way. So I can't to the right just as a left-handed shooter. So, what I have, I have shot so many uh East Texas boar running out across the field. So when I throw that up on a run, if I don't see green, I know I'm caned to the right. So I just start tilting to the left till I see green, put it on his nose, and pull the trigger. It just takes that little bit out of there. So you you don't have time to look at the bubble. You're just looking for the green. So this this uh this patented scope we've got is for the hunter. It's for it can always it can always be done for the the marksman, uh competitive shooter. It works really, really good for that. But for somebody in a situation like that right there, you just need to see green and you'll be in that kill zone.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

I think that's very important, you know, and especially if you have something like that, running animals, uh coyotes, you know, hogs, the ones that come to mind, uh, you know, that I I've taken running shots on to be able to know that that's especially at a distance, you know, they're sometimes out there 500 yards at the back of a field, man, they're coming. But I don't want to let them leave the property. I want them right down there. So uh, you know, I'll be using that, I'm sure, a lot as we go forward. You know, and and you know, we I just mentioned that the extreme scope, but you also have the long-range SVL, the tactical SVT, um, you know, the 520-56 and then the 318 uh 44. You know, which one of these scopes did you design first as far as with this technology,

Designing Scopes With Premium Glass

SPEAKER_01 11:15

or did you kind of have this and implement it in all three?

SPEAKER_00 11:18

I actually did the big one first, uh, the the 5x30 by 56. The reason I did that is when you start uh coming up with your eye relief. Again, this is where my background and geometrical optics, when you tie the two together, you say you geometrical and physiological, what is that? Well, geometrical is the science of light. That that's the scope. The physiological optics is what happens when you try to look through that scope. So that's how's the eye torquing what what's happening to make you can't. So the two come together. So I guess I'm kind of uniquely educated to develop this scope because my brain is wired to think that way. And so that that's exactly what we were doing through geometrical. So um when you start coming up with the eye relief or the eye box, how how far can you go? The higher the magnification, the lower, uh the more critical it is to have your eye in the right position. I wanted the most eye relief that I could possibly get. So therefore, I wanted to start with the most powerful scope I thought I would put out. Not that we won't go any more powerful than that, but uh, but with a but certainly with 30 power, uh 56 uh millimeter objective to gather that light, uh you you've got a lot going on there. So then what are the variables? Well, obviously, we want extra low dispersion glass, we want the best um coatings to increase the transmissibility of light as it comes through. You have a you have a double inverted uh image that comes through there. So you've got the size of the tube, the eyepiece, uh, the objective, then it becomes the length of this. Uh, how can you get the optimum uh eye relief to come out of there and and enhance the great optics? Everybody brags about their lens or glass, and they should if they've got the best glass. It goes beyond that. It goes beyond now. It's the design of where is that glass actually bringing that focus back to you, to the eyeball and eventually to the brain. So when I sat down with Light Optical Works in front of a bunch of engineers, I told them, I said, I know you make the upper range of a lot of the best scopes in the world. I want you to forget everything you've ever learned. We're gonna design a scope from scratch, and it's gonna be my scope, my design, and my my intellectual property. So we together put put the whole thing together. Uh before I even started, I had them sign a NDAA, which is a non-disclosure agreement with assignment, because before I did this, I wanted to assign all intellectual property back over to me, which they did. So this truly is a unique optical system. It's a unique patented uh anti-cant device, and we're I feel like we're kind of reinventing scope, making it making it simple but accurate and very clear.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Wow, man. And I mean, you've you've done the rival scopes, you have three uh you know award-winning scopes here, and then you've also created bino's, uh the range finding bino's, a lot of different accessories, spotting scopes as well. Why don't we kind of just uh you know give listeners a little bit of uh idea of what you have and and what range? Now I've tested out the 12 by 50 UHD Binos and absolutely incredible. Uh really, really shines in low light conditions, the very beginning of the day, the end of the night. You know, there's certain binos or even scopes and anything you're looking through these optics, you know, you can tell the different degrees of how quality they are by those last you know little bits of light and clarity. And uh these were just at the top of the line there, too. So I I'd I'd love for you to kind of you know just walk us through the different options you have. Uh let's start with binoculars,

Binoculars And Spotting Scope Breakthroughs

SPEAKER_01 15:00

if you will.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

Well, uh perfectly then, because actually the very first thing I created was a 10x42 bino. And where that came from is when uh again, it goes back to geometrical optics. Geometrical optics, everything is comparative anatomy to a telescope. So you have to make it like a telescope if you're gonna if you're gonna create optics at work. So, in the case of binoculars, let's say a 10 by 42, you've got an eyepiece here, objective here, and that's as far apart as it is, right there. That's not far enough to create a telescopic experience for the eye. So you have a roof prism mirror up there that will bounce that image off and basically make it three times as long virtually. So that's how all binoculars are. They either have a roof prism mirror, or that's pretty much all the style now. But you remember some of them used to come down and go out like this, and those were your side mirror, but you have to have a mirror to reflect that surface back and forth. Well uh back to this uh lens that I created for glaucoma. It's a it's it's an SLT lens. It's a it's a big name. We'll just call it SLT right now because it reflects light into the area that the fluid is draining out at the the cornea, base of the base of uh of your blue eyes or your brown eyes. And you can clean that out with a laser, but the mirrored surface is called a total reflective ocular surface. It's the most reflective surface on earth, and it's what I use in my mirrored lens that I designed. It's also used in all operating microscopes. So I was telling the manufacturer, why don't we use that mirror, the most reflective surface on earth, only used in medical microscopes and in my lens and some things like this. Why don't we use that as a roof prism mirror to uh in the binoculars? And their comment was, I've never heard of this before. And I said, Well, I'll get folk optical makes my lens, I'll get them in touch with the technology. So my first pair of binoculars I ever made, uh, we tested against Swarski and we came out about three or four percent better than Swarski. So I consider them the best optics in the world. And when I say that, no disrespect to Swarski, I still consider them some of the best optics in the world. But when you can come into a class, and and I can tell you the human eye it has a hard time with three or four percent as far as better. But when you come in a little bit better than that, and what really shows up is in our spotting scopes. I mean, you that that 4% makes a difference. Uh you can you can tell the difference side by side with the Swarski. So that's the secret sauce in spotting scopes. And uh obviously we have the best glass, but I'm telling you, I have the best reflective surface that if you wasn't an eye doctor, you wouldn't even know to reach for this on how to construct this. So again, we have intellectual property that uh that that that we have protected on that. So we really have a unique set of optics. So we have three sets of uh binoculars, uh a 10 by 40 to a 12 by 50, and a big boy, a 15 by 56, uh, two pairs of range finding binoculars, a little 8x40, and then the 12 by 50 range finding binoculars, three spotting scopes. Uh, we're developing right now a um a dangerous game scope, probably a uh uh maybe a one and a half to eight, something like that, that that you can you it that you just need to be able to hit the charging animal as he's coming to you. So there's uh a I've got kind of a unique background with my my optics background, my eye doctor background, but also my hunting background. And I and I have I've hunted all the dangerous game of Africa and I I shot my light at about 15 steps, and I didn't want to be 15 steps. He just came out of a ravine like that. And when you do that, you're not worried about a candid bubble, you just worry about where the crosshairs are. But and at that distance, it really doesn't, it really doesn't matter. But long range and precision. This is this is something if you take your East Texas hunter, your Alabama hunters, or your Georgia hunters, they say, well, I can't even see a thousand yards out here. Well, no, but at 200 yards, you might be shooting between the fork of a tree to hit the kill zone, and that can't is just enough to have you hit the tree, the bark, or the kill zone. So precision up close and then uh long range accuracy is where we fall in.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Well, and especially when you get into like Western game hunting, which is usually out in open areas or it's in mountains that these things are a little large. I mean, in Texas, you know, some people think like long range, maybe in that 300 yards, and maybe it is to some people. But again, this makes a difference at the at it at variables when you get a little bit further out there. Like you said, maybe not at 100, but at 2, at 3, at 4, and anything beyond, it does. So um, no, I think it's uh it's something that people need to to check out. It's once you see it, it just makes sense. And once you actually are able to shoot behind, you're like, oh, okay, cool. I mean, it's it's such a great feature, John. I I I was just blown away by it. It was fun to shoot my friends too, and they're like, I don't see, oh, I see it. And then it's you know, it's it's a it's just kind of a recognizing moment there. You're like, wow, okay, this is something that's unique. Never had anything like that before. So uh that was really fun to kind of look through. You know, you mentioned the spotting scopes. Let's talk about those lineups there too, and uh what you offer as well on that.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

Yeah, we've got uh we just for purposes, we call it small, medium, and large. We call our our small one, which is as close as you can get to to straight because you the smaller one, we call it the backpacker. For a backpacker or something like this, you're gonna want to uh carry that around with you. In in the optics of a uh of a spotting scope, you're either gonna have a prism or a mirrored surface. We use obviously a mirrored surface, so that I can use mine. You cannot, you can use my total reflective ocular surgery lens in there. You cannot get the clarity out of a prism that you can get out of a mirrored surface, especially when it's one of this quality. So um we've got uh a very large one with an uh with an 80 millimeter objective, then a 60 objective, and then the smaller one, which is more like a uh 45 uh objective. Uh all of them are in incredible clarity. We were we were at a good friend of mine's uh ranch uh this last year, uh Tom Hammond, he's a former Weatherby Award winner down in South Texas, and um we were setting up the spotting scope, and the guy said, Well, I've got my Sawarski, let's send them up side by side. I said, I'd love for you to. So there was a uh uh there was a water tower that was sitting on top of a hill uh two miles away. And he was looking back and forth and back and forth, and he said, I just want you to know, Doc, with the Sawarski, I can clearly see the water tower. With stealth vision, I can read all the numbers on the side of it. And uh, because everyone's got to be numbered out there. And I said, I said, and of course, you know, I said, Really? Let me look. Yeah, because you don't, you know, when you're out that that's where you have to get to really see the quality of of where you are, is that extreme distance, and that's where you can get it with a spot and scope. Well we're really happy about where we are.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

That's great, man. And that's it really it's a side-by-side analysis, too. It it really it's hard. You know, you can look at it through a pair of Binos or a rival scope. Oh, hey, it looks good. And man, there's a lot of high-end scopes that I've used, I've tested, and it's really great, but you can really see the difference in the quality and like you said, too, the technology that's behind it and what you've you know, what you've invented too, and you're able to put those side by side and really get analysis. So that's cool in the real world setting. You're able to see that and be like, yep, okay, cool. It does the trick. It's got exactly what you want.

SPEAKER_00 22:31

Now, really go ahead. Now, I was gonna say, somebody

Legacy Plans And New Gear

SPEAKER_00 22:35

asked me the other day, says, you know, well, Doc, wait, where wait, where are you gonna uh go with this company? And I said, Well, I, you know, I'm just having fun right now. I mean, we're we're getting noticed. I mean, we just blew it out at SEI, absolutely blew it out. And um, and uh some and I said, Well, I said, I'm uh I'm actually creating a legacy here because my son, Matthew McCall, just graduated from Kentucky um uh Pikeville, Kentucky Optometry School, and he got the outstanding laser surgeon uh of the year award of his class, and he's coming back into my practice. Uh, he's here now, he'll start in in about six weeks when he gets all his credentialing done, and he'll start in there. So he's got the same training that I've got. And so now I told him, I said, you're gonna be a doctor for a while, you're gonna get down at that clinic, so I can get down there and do this. But eventually I feel like he's gonna want to come into the space. And so we we're creating a legacy of products and optics.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

That's amazing, man. It's really great to be able to keep with the family. I have, you know, I work with my father there too, and it's it's wonderful. And then just be able to create something and continue to put out amazing products like you do and have that be a legacy company, man. That's that's amazing. I'm really glad to hear that. You know, uh when I was thinking about this too, you know, we we talked about your optical line there too, and I know you got some other accessories, but one thing I I wanted to point out too while we're chatting is the vision supplements that you've created for hunters and shooters. Why don't you tell me a little bit about that lineup and when did this come about? How long have you been doing that? And uh, you know, what's kind of been the reaction as that's continued to have success in the market?

SPEAKER_00 24:13

Well, George, and in in my medical practice, we do a lot of retina, a lot of glaucoma. Uh glaucoma is kind of what I do, but we we see a lot of macular degeneration, uh, both dry, wet, and all stages, uh, and and very early stages. And what uh we use a supplement uh called uh MacUhealth. And it's got three carotenoids in it. Two of those you can get through diet, through uh uh leafy green vegetables. You know, not the carrots we were told we were growing up, but really leafy green vegetables. And you're not gonna eat enough spinach and turnips to get that much in there. Sure. And uh, and then the third one is produced uh endogenously by the body from the other two. So you got lutein, zeoxanthemine, and then mesozeanthemine, and that was isolated by this company. And uh Frederick Joey out of Detroit, Michigan, good friend of mine, he owns the rights to that into the United States. So he put the formula together, and I've seen what that does uh for my patients, and and it it really, really helps them um uh stabilize uh this I don't know what we would call it a disease or just an aging process. It's really just an aging process, but it stabilizes that. Then he started producing one uh called uh uh vision edge, and it was tested by the New York Yankees uh because it we found out that if you have this carotenoid, and we can now measure that a little uh uh it's uh a correlation to your skin, because you have carotenoids in your skin, you also have it uh in the back of the eye. The thicker that is, the better you are, because the your cones, you have 750,000 cones, and think of that like a honeycomb, just sitting there absorbing light that comes in. That gives you your 2020, 2015. Rare, rarely you'll get 2010 vision out of that. That hat that means the honeycombs are coming, they're they're they're exactly parallel. So they're picking up all the light coming in. Some of this is anatomical, but what is anatomical is when the basement membrane gets weak with age and it will, it they start diverging because it pooches out a little bit like this, and now you're not getting light coming straight down the cones. First thing you're not losing your 2020, you're losing your color, you're losing your night vision, and your ability to pick up movement fast, which is sort of what we do as hunters. We eat early, late, color, uh, uh intensity of light, all of this comes into play and and certainly movement in that. So the New York Yankees are now using this this supplement because if that batter can pick up that ball just uh uh a thousandth of a second sooner, that's a tremendous edge for a batter. So we started uh so I talked to Frederick and said, why don't we bring this into the outdoor world um and and and create a product? And so we use stealth vision because we're developing a name very, very quickly with stealth vision. And it's basically the same formula, but the other formula that he's got is the the carrier sun uh uh uh sunflower oil. And we are using omega-3 because you have to take omega-3 with it. So I said, you know, why don't we develop ours with omega-3 already in it? So it is a unique product, and uh we sell that under the Stealth Vision brand. Uh later in life, it's gonna help you immaculate degeneration, but right now it's gonna help you uh see better. Uh, you'll really notice it trap shooters, skeet shooters, uh, but low light hunters, you'll see that motion a lot better. So that's why that's why we're bringing that up.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

Well, and I've talked to a few people who do long distance uh, you know, PRL matches and stuff, and they've actually talked about using that. So that's something that um I've I've heard in the space that they really love your supplements the most for that. Um and you know, I I just want to make note that you I hope you have the super stealth vision ones for the the Houston Astros, right? I mean we gotta keep we gotta keep our local boys supplied with the best, right? You kind of have the watered down version for the Yankees, I hope, right?

SPEAKER_00 28:28

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll we'll soup it up for the Astros. And right about now, I think they might need it.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

I think so as well, too, man.

Texas Parks And Wildlife Commission

SPEAKER_01 28:35

Well, you know, I I was thinking about too, uh about a year ago now, as we're recording in in early June last year, you got a phone call message from Governor Abbott to step up and join the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission. And I'd love for people to hear about what that entails and you know how that came to be. And I know that's a it's an honored position, man. And I and I know that uh for all that you've done in the state of Texas and for wildlife, and I I know you as a you know very conservation-minded person, and and I think you're the right person for one of these positions, of which there are nine, if if I if I'm not uh mistaken. But I'd love for you to kind of talk about how that came to be. And was that kind of out of the blue when that first came? Is this something that you had an interest of and and kind of walk me through the process of that?

SPEAKER_00 29:25

Well, it it is an interesting story. I uh because of my background, uh that's a very coveted position. That is considered the governor's top choice. Um, his top three positions is Park and Wildlife, uh, board uh board of regents of uh University of Texas, Board of Regents of Uh uh AM, and then fourth is uh kind of a ties U of H and uh Texas Tech. And those are his top appointments. So I all the way back to Rick Perry when he was governor, I was throwing my hat in the ring, but it wasn't getting selected out of there. And then Governor Abbott came along and uh I talked to him a little bit about it, and uh uh uh U of H came up about this same time, and I'm uh that's where I got my degree from, and uh uh two of my degrees. And so I told him, I said, I I would be interested in in U of H. So he did, appointed me to U of H and I worked my way up, been on there five and a half years. Uh my last three years I was Secretary Treasury, chairman of the board, uh vice chairman, and then chairman of the board. So I just become chairman of the board, and uh uh and it is Christmas party. Uh I was joking with the governor talking to him. I said, you know, Governor Abbott, you remember I used to I used to wear your ass out about being on parks and wildlife. Well, I appreciate you putting me on here and U of H is where I need to be. He said, uh Dr. McCall, I'll give you anything you want. You want you want Parks Wildlife, you got it. You want U of H, you got it. And at that time, that was just past December. I said, Well, uh, I said, Well, Governor, I said, I think that's that's passed me by. I said, U of H is where now I'm chairman of the board, doing the NIL crime contracts, NIL, and I said, you know, I like what I'm doing. I said, I'll just stay here. He said, You got it. Well, June the 2nd, I got a I got a text from the governor, and he said, Dr. Cobb, you got a chance, you know, give me a call. So um I called him and and he said, uh, I need a favor. I thought I was kind of lobbying to be the the permanent chair there at U of H. And he said, uh, I need you on Parks and Wildlife. Well, I'd been chairman, George, for 28 days. You know, it doesn't matter what you do, when you get to the top, you kind of enjoy it for a minute, right? Yeah, and you hope, yeah. Yeah, so so I said, really? And I said, Well, let me tell you what I got going on at U of H and you make the decision. So I told him, I said, I have a lot of things going on that are uniquely my ideas, and uh they the changes I can make there will be generational for the next uh several generations. And he he thought for a minute and then he said, Well, Dr. McCall, if if if you'll take this appointment on Texas Parks and Wildlife, I will consider this a personal favor. He said, You know wildlife, you know ranching, and you know politics. You're my first choice. I don't have a second choice, and I I need you. And I he said, I know it's a lot to process. You can you can take tonight to think about it. And I said, No, sir. If you're asking me for a personal favor, I don't need to think about that. I'm just proud to serve on your team. So I said, My term is up in um August. I'm assuming that's when we'll make the change. He said, I'd like to make the announcement tomorrow. And I said, I need to make some phone calls.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:33

Athletic director, chancellor, president of U of H and say, Hey, you know, tomorrow I'm out of here. But I I my last 24 hours, I I did make sure I had the best seats at U of H basketball, the best seats on the football, and because I have one day to do it in Georgia. Sure. So now I've been on this uh commission for about a year. Matter of fact, uh, two hours ago I just did my briefing because uh uh next week we have our two-day commission meeting up there. And when you get up against, I mean, honestly, we it's a coveted position. We have some people on there that you you wonder what are you really bringing to the table? And everybody on my commission is extremely intelligent. They they're really good at what they're doing. Uh I grew up on the Trinity River hunting, fishing, uh, frog gigging. Uh that's what I did. I ran up and down that river. We were hunting uh alligator gar and alligators up and down that river. I mean, that's what we were doing. And I and I've hunted all over the world, and I found out through osmosis, you I learned a lot. And and now when we start talking about invasive species, and I'm a big duck hunter and what it can do to water, I found out I I do bring a lot to the table. So I'm enjoying it. I'm uh uh building up some esteem with my with my commission members, and it's it's the place I should have been.

SPEAKER_01 33:54

Well, I'm I'm glad you're there, and it sounds like a perfect fit, you know. And this is like we mentioned earlier, it's a nine-member uh governing body. You guys are setting policies, adopting regulation, improving budgets, Texas Parks and Wildlife. It's a very important position. And for someone who has the experience that you do too, you bring a lot to the table from both sides of that, you know, and so I think that's a it's it's an important uh position. And I'm sure U of H misses you, and I'm sure it was tough after 28 days to make those series of phone calls. But uh, you know, I'm I'm glad you are where you are now.

SPEAKER_00 34:25

And one of the coolest things about it is uh what I didn't realize, I mean, we have parks and wildlife in Texas is arguably the biggest one in the United States. We have 3,200 employees, we're over, as you mentioned, hunting regulations, we're over fisheries, boating, offshore fisheries, inshore fisheries, and uh all the 500 game wardens uh roll up to their respective captains, which rolls up to a lieutenant who rolls up to us. So we get a badge. So, you know, hey, uh you watch Yellowstone, you got John Dutton, you come to Texas, you got John McCall. Same thing.

SPEAKER_01 35:02

Oh, the spinoff. Taylor Sheridan, are you listening? It's time. It's time. We'll be able to feature the stealth vision optics in the works in the show. Okay, I don't know. We got to figure out the name of this, but I like it. I like it. I like where it's going. I was here when we had this idea. So you gotta I I can play a character. You need a bald, uh, you know, salt and pepper bearded

Ordering Help And Setup Basics

SPEAKER_01 35:20

guy who who shoots your your rifles. I'm in, you know. So no, that's great, man. Well, Dr. John, thank you so much for joining me today. Um, you know, I'd I'd love for people to be able to uh, you know, I'll have all the show notes down below and some direct links, but for those who are listening who just want to know right now where they can go, why don't you uh tell them your socials, your websites so they can kind of learn a little bit more and get some orders placed.

SPEAKER_00 35:41

Right. We have uh our website's uh www.stealthvision.com, and most of our emails are are uh dot stealthvision.com. Uh Joe Cunningham works with me when we a lot of people like to send their rifles to us so that we can put a scope on it. My ranch is a 400-acre ranch, which is just 10 miles from my house, and we have a 1200-yard range out there, every hundred yards all the way out there. So we can develop that ballistic curve all the way out there. And uh Joe is the most meticulous person I've ever seen. So uh if you ever need to buy something, you want to go direct, uh you can reach out to uh Joe at stealthvision.com and he will he will he will be on that like a dog on a bone.

SPEAKER_01 36:27

Well, that's a great thing to be able to do. Now, being like when when people are trying to envision that, you guys are creating the dope, the doubt on previous experience. You're going out and you're letting everybody know from you know if you're you know zeroing at 100 yards what this is going to do on out to 1200, so that you'd be able to have that rifle and be able to know, hey, at you know, a thousand yards and maybe this amount of wind, this is what I need to dial it to be able to get as close to the bull's eye. And then green light, you know you're ready to shoot and you got it level to go. So that's uh that's a huge uh uh ability for people to be able to send in a rifle and do that. Not a lot of people offer that. So that is a huge thing I think people should take advantage of.

SPEAKER_00 37:06

And we have a data card, George, and my my instruction booklet, which just happens to be right here in front of me. And I wrote that, and that was one of the hardest things I did. And we have a lot of QR codes that tell how to do things. So if you don't want to read it, you can watch a little professionally done movie, us telling you how to do it. And if you will get us certain data points, every scope comes with a custom turret, and that's included. If you'll get us the data points, we'll tell you how to mount that. Or you side it in, for example, 200 yards, you want to shoot for 775, you dial to 775, get the green light, and pull the trigger. It is a complete shooting system, most accurate, simple one out there.

SPEAKER_01 37:45

Well, and and I I do want to piggyback that idea too. Whenever I got the instruction manual with that scope, looking through that and be able to set everything up the right way, a lot of different manufacturers don't have the kind of detail that you had, which I was just very impressed with of hey, if someone is coming to this and brand new, here's what you do. Here's the the diopter, right? Isn't that the the first setting there? And so, like all the different things that you're putting together to be able to make sure that you have the system and then the QR code. Hey, you got a question on this? I I loved that that was interactive and that you had that ability. I just thought it was a very thorough uh instruction manual that you know it kind of went above and beyond uh many others I found.

SPEAKER_00 38:27

I did we try to I try to explain parallax because it's a very misunderstood thing that can kind of throw you off a little bit. And uh starts with the eyepiece, and then and then you have to get your eyepiece, the reticle, and uh the target on the same focal plane. It's very simple to do. Most people don't know how to do it. And we explained that very well on how to do that. So you only have to set the eyepiece once, then after that, just you're you're ready to go.

SPEAKER_01 38:55

No, and I that was something that I I had a buddy of mine, and he was like, What exactly is parallax? What is this when I'm out of parallax? And I I remember we were I was sending them some links, and then whenever I opened up that instruction manual, I was like, took some screenshots. I was like, here, read this, digest this. This is the best explanation that I found there, too. So uh again, I just thought that that was a a lot of care that you put into that aspect of it, and just making, you know, world-class glass. So uh, you know, again, I'd I'd encourage everyone to go check it out. Uh, you've had a lot of videos you put out there too. They're on the website. There's a really cool blog feature, too, on the website. Uh, articles you guys uh that are maybe not necessarily about like your scope, but just some hunting 101 stuff that's you know, some really good questions and some in deep, uh in-depth uh discussions about uh different you know aspects of hunting too. So I'd love that as well, man. I thought that was a a really fun treat to kind of go through the blog post and see that too.

SPEAKER_00 39:46

Yeah, and and that's a good point because we're hunters. And so we developed a shooting system where we have uh uh most all of our rifles have a uh rail on the bottom. So we have we we have a fine machine machined bipod that's adjustable on the bottom, and then a bag made by Armageddon that goes under the bag, we co-band with them. So you if you can get that stability literally on the side of a mountain like this to where you can make that seven, eight hundred yard shot, just like you're replicating a shooting batch. So we teach you how to do that in the field.

SPEAKER_01 40:19

That's great. Well, a lot of resources there. I know it's a lot to absorb everyone. Come back, listen to this, share with your friend. Make sure you go to the show notes below and follow the links to learn a little bit more. And Dr. John, once again, thank you so much for joining me, man. It's been a pleasure.

SPEAKER_00 40:32

George, thank you so much for having me. Cheers. You take care, man. Thank you.