Under Wild Skies

[Fixfire]

The bills for the leather shooting gloves really added up..."UNDER WILD SKIES...." i can still hear that. lol It was a costly production. There are others...but you can even watch past episodes of wild skies on their website, if not Youtube.

Ha!! Tony sure was the dapper hunter!!

 

[C.W. Richter]

"Under Wild Accounting Practices..." lol

When the sponsors and benefactors look at you like you owe them money! -RR

 

[Safari1]

Tony and Johan may have worn Botswana elephant hunting/shooting a little thin on the general hunting public. The show went down when Botswana closed.

 

[Rubberhead]

Under Wild Skies was nicely produced - I miss it.

 

[Fixfire]

The bills for the leather shooting gloves really added up..."UNDER WILD SKIES...." i can still hear that. lol It was a costly production. There are others...but you can even watch past episodes of wild skies on their website, if not Youtube.

Ha!! Tony sure was the dapper hunter!!

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

Tracks across Africa has some of the better PH’s and truly wild areas. I struggle to watch shows where the hosts and PH’s are not people I would hunt with.

Exactly! I used to record anything and everything that had to do with Africa. Now I’m much more selective

 

[John Telford]

Sorry if this is old news - I’m starving for African Hunting on tv. What ever happened to Tony Makris and Under Wild Skies?? This was absolutely my favorite. Of course Tracks Across African is also outstanding!!

Johan Calitz told me it was canned when Discovery channel bought ESPN .
lots of other good shows- check out Andy Buchanan on TIA or this is Africa and my fav that crazy J Alain Smith.

 

[PerH]

Johan Calitz told me it was canned when Discovery channel bought ESPN .
lots of other good shows- check out Andy Buchanan on TIA or this is Africa and my fav that crazy J Alain Smith.

Difficult for Disc's producers to script the bush adventures and " hire actors" in the shows,all while breaching a few international laws in the process of making the program.

 

[outwestidaho]

Sorry if this is old news - I’m starving for African Hunting on tv. What ever happened to Tony Makris and Under Wild Skies?? This was absolutely my favorite. Of course Tracks Across African is also outstanding!!

I talk to him at SCI most every year. I did not see him this year. If he was there I couldn't find him nor could find any one who knew if he was there or not. If you ever get a chance, sit down and talk to him. He has zero EGO and is a true pleasure to talk with. Even after his over a hundred hunts in Africa. I was going to ask him about the show and what happened but couldnt find him. He is a true star of Africa hunting. Miss his show also.

 

[C.W. Richter]

Johan Calitz told me it was canned when Discovery channel bought ESPN .
lots of other good shows- check out Andy Buchanan on TIA or this is Africa and my fav that crazy J Alain Smith.

J. Alaaaaaaaainnnn (Alan) Smith's videos are all on Youtube Channel (some never seen before on cable TV.) That man knows how to cash in, with his Elvis-like skills.

 

[C.W. Richter]

Difficult for Disc's producers to script the bush adventures and " hire actors" in the shows,all while breaching a few international laws in the process of making the program.

Andy Buchannon's programs on Youtube TV are amongst the finest. You will not be disappointed. Also an Africa Sun video series, if memory serves me correctly.

 

[C.W. Richter]

There's a lot of pressure in producing expensive hunting shows. If my memory serves me correctly, Tony made quite a bunch of misses or bad shots in the end, and that doesn't make for a good Hollyweird-type production for Commercial TV. 'Guessing he was out of practice or his eyes were going South, or the vapors from all that expensive leather were causing blurred vision. Being a bit younger, I've become conscious of it (always correcting with changed prescriptions, first focal plane scopes to keep the reticle from fading, proper hydration, nutrition, etc. The orders to the dr are to keep sheep and cop cars crisp and clear miles away (which causes the close range vision-including looking through open sights or second focal plane scopes-most, to suffer!) Perhaps he was stressed from those bounced checks, compliments of Wayne LaPierre and Ollie North (we're talking $100,000,000.00+ of your dollars wasted here.) Don't shoot the messenger. And yes, yachts and trips to the Islands were included with your fund drive donations. LOL I always said SCI was better for Hunting and Wildlife Conservation. Not an NRA member. 'Could smell that crap from states away. Effective lobbying? Yes. Wasting your $? Yes! (they could've just lobbied and charged you 1/2.) Where there's a lucrative scandal involving guns, count Ollie North IN! (all things considered, he was invited to the bad party quite late-he is not entirely to blame.) In his honor, I have Fawn Hall shred all NRA documents received.

 

[Red Leg]

Difficult for Disc's producers to script the bush adventures and " hire actors" in the shows,all while breaching a few international laws in the process of making the program.

Since you seem to be so informed, do you care to elaborate on that?

Tony has been a friend for twenty years. He has never suffered fools very well - whether at a network or an advocacy organization. Neither of us are particularly patient with anonymous assertions penned on a website.

Under Wild Skies was always produced to the highest standards. Tony is well read, and he always gave a nod to Safari’s history. He took pride in being the opposite of the all too prevalent “Bubba Goes to Africa” genre. He had the privilege of calling Charlton Heston a friend - a voice that graced the opening of the show for years. His circle includes a large array of outdoorsmen who would be known through their work in other fields to most of you.

Unlike many in the business, Tony has been extremely successful in his day job. Under Wild Skies was designed to pay for itself during six-weeks of hunting every year. Nice work if you have the ability to create it. Few do.

We all get older, and our health eventually isn’t what it once was. Even Johan Calitz has largely turned his business over to his very able son.

 

[C.W. Richter]

NRA had "fund drives," and "banquets"-you had to pay to participate and lay money down on auctioned items-and They TOOK more of your $ and did a lot of NOTHING for you! That is the sad truth. Now, the L. James lawsuit/charges against the NRA, that was primarily DEM Motivation, 'same as in the case of the last President. When some good-ole-boy would ring me up on the phone, asking for $, i couldn't help but feel like the Jehovah Witnesses just showed up on my phone. Nothing to do w/ the peon calling (nice fellows,) everything to do w/ the corrupt minds at the helm of the ship they were sinking...

 

[C.W. Richter]

No different than Unions these days, anything MSM, or Tax Exempt 501c "charitable organizations." It's very smart for the people in-charge, just not so good for the grantors or grantees....

 

[C.W. Richter]

I still wanna know why the Simon & Simon guys don't hunt on tv anymore! LOL We should pitch-in and hire 'em to investigate That!

 

[Red Leg]

I still wanna know why the Simon & Simon guys don't hunt on tv anymore! LOL We should pitch-in and hire 'em to investigate That!

Gerald Mcraney, a national treasure, has battled cancer in recent years. He killed his leopard with Nick Nolte close to twenty years ago. You will still hear his voice on a number of outdoor shows and is still acting. Jameson Parker, also an outdoorsman, was shot in an altercation with a neighbor. He recovered and the neighbor went to prison. However, he hasn't really performed since. He is a fine writer. His stories pop up in the better outdoor magazines occasionally, and his autobiography, An Accidental Cowboy is a superb read.

 

[C.W. Richter]

Gerald Mcraney, a national treasure, has battled cancer in recent years. He killed his leopard with Nick Nolte close to twenty years ago. You will still hear his voice on a number of outdoor shows and is still acting. Jameson Parker, also outdoorsman, was shot in an altercation with a neighbor. He recovered and the neighbor went to prison. However, he hasn't really performed since. He is fine writer. His stories pop up in the better outdoor magazines occasionally, and his autobiography, An Accidental Cowboy is a superb read.

I recall both of them hunting together, thus the memory! Very sad indeed for both!!! If Stephen King's neighbor had a gun (same story!)...smh.

 

[PerH]

Since you seem to be so informed, do you care to elaborate on that?

Tony has been a friend for twenty years. He has never suffered fools very well - whether at a network or an advocacy organization. Neither of us are particularly patient with anonymous assertions penned on a website.

Under Wild Skies was always produced to the highest standards. Tony is well read, and he always gave a nod to Safari’s history. He took pride in being the opposite of the all too prevalent “Bubba Goes to Africa” genre. He had the privilege of calling Charlton Heston a friend - a voice that graced the opening of the show for years. His circle includes a large array of outdoorsmen who would be known through their work in other fields to most of you.

Unlike many in the business, Tony has been extremely successful in his day job. Under Wild Skies was designed to pay for itself during six-weeks of hunting every year. Nice work if you have the ability to create it. Few do.

We all get older, and our health eventually isn’t what it once was. Even Johan Calitz has largely turned his business over to his very able son.

It was not his program i was meaning. It was another program that went on Disc earlier where it was lot of commotions when things were found out.
" Treasure Quest Snake Island " . Totally scripted and producers turned it into a quagmire that was best left undone.


Sorry if people thought i meant Tony and his program.

 

[Hunt anything]

A little off thread but it’s kinda ironic that Discovery channel mentioned and National Geographic not mentioned have shows that show people killing animals. People commercially fishing blue fin tuna or people running around naked with rocks and sticks bludgeoning animals to death. They say they do it to survive but condem legal regulated hunting. I choose to hunt and fish to feed my family, what’s the difference?