Two Varmint-Hunting Groups Take Pot Shots At Each Other

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho - Those who shoot varmints for fun shortly will have their choice of two warring magazines to read, both published in northern Idaho.

The quarreling varmint groups - or at least their principals - are exchanging fire across the countryside.

The International Varmint Association is a 6-year-old group that published the International Varmint Hunter, on what was an ostensibly quarterly basis. The now-defunct group was headed by Michael Comstock of Hayden Lake.

But a former assistant editor of the magazine and two former association members from Oklahoma have bolted, forming their own confederation. They accuse Comstock of mismanaging and misrepresenting the 2,300-member group and not accounting for a fund intended to buy habitat for varmints.

Comstock says the group merely wants his mailing list. He has dissolved his association but says he'll continue to publish a magazine.

The former editor, Eric Gala of Coeur d'Alene, contends Comstock has not accounted for the $18-a-year membership fees and habitat donations sent in to him and hasn't delivered the magazine on time.

"Occasionally a computer may go awry," Gala says, "but this seems to be massive incompetence. It's very badly mismanaged."

Comstock says he'd have gotten a magazine out if Gala hadn't swiped the layout, copy and art for the next issue.

If Gala and Comstock agree on one thing, it's that there's a market out there for a varmint-hunters' group and magazine. Both say hunters should be allowed to shoot coyotes, ground squirrels and other critters - as opposed to the government poisoning them.

Ned Kalbfleish, a Lone Star, Okla., varmint hunter, says he's found hundreds of disgruntled members of Comstock's group and wants a federal investigation into his activities.

"Untold tens of thousands of dollars have disappeared," he says. "If someone powerful enough can get into the records they'll prove it.

"People have made donations up to $100. I'm trying to bring sufficient pressure to bear that some government agency locks this money down. There are men still sending money in every week to this."

Comstock acknowledges he never registered his organization with the IRS as a nonprofit or foundation group but says that was for lack of funds. And, he says, his books are open.

After Kalbfleish and a friend, Christi Heller, also of Lone Grove, began seeking others in the IVA who shared their concerns, Comstock issued an Oct. 24 letter to members dissolving the association but promising to continue the magazine on an irregular basis.

He said his group has never been a for-profit group and never made a dime. In fact, Comstock wrote, the association owes him $6,000. He also admitted to promising that 10 percent of the dues collected would go into a habitat fund, but said that because the association never made any money, the fund never got above $600.

However, he said, he would add $2,600 to the fund to bring its balance to $3,200.

Kalbfleish, Heller and Gala plan to bring out their new publication, The Varmint Hunter Magazine, in February. They say they'll honor any membership or subscription obligations issued by Comstock's group but deny they are after his mailing list.

"I don't care anything at all in getting 2,300 names," Kalbfleish says. "I've invested $100,000 thus far in this, exclusive of a lawsuit, in starting an organization. I could buy his list a lot cheaper than that."