I was there in Stuttgart when Jim Ronquest blew that routine in the first sound bite I posted up. And yes, it is a blast. Stuttgart is to duck hunters what Mecca is to Muslims. I wasn't competing though. The World's Duck (buzz term) is not open to general competition. You have to qualify at a state or regional contest. For the 2007 year, I placed fourth in the state... the winner of that contest went to Stuttgart. Its sort of like the US Open is in golf, or NASCAR racing.. yes, anyone can participate, but you have to win your way there, or be a returning world champion.

No and yes. Its not hard to do, it just takes the right call. Not all calls will produce a real contest quality high ball. If you are a going to seriously compete, you are going to need to have a contest call made for you. They run from about $125 "up". I've seen them sell for as much as $180, but who knows you could probably spend more if you tried to. Mainstreet calls are MUCH louder than hunting calls are. Its not a requirement though, ironically I won fourth in the state this past year.... blowing a Timber style call. This might not make a lot of sense to you now, but any contest caller who reeds this will think I was off my meds or something.


That's the same website I referenced in my first post on this thread. The mainpage is called callingducks.com. They have a master data base, free online instruction..... its about as good as it gets short of having your own personal mentor (which I highly recommend... I have a three time state champ, Chesapeake Bay Regional Champ, four time world's qualifier mentoring me.... and just in the two months we've been in the garage calling.... I've improved a ton).

Here is the link to the main database, it can be tricky to find from the mainpage:

http://www.callingducks.com/calling_clip_search.aspx


Thats the best way to be. My fiancee and I hunt together. She's a bigtime waterfowl hunter, and was even before I met her (that kinda sealed the deal though, she asked me for my phone number to take her hunting and the morning we were supposed to go she overslept...I'll never let her forget it either!) But we have done a pile of hunting together. Some of the prostaffers I call and hunt with have tried like heck to get Rebecca into contest calling. She tells me she has been practicing, but she is too shy even to call in front of me. I don't know what the deal is.... the girl has been a tournament director for Billfishing tournaments in the Bahamas... yet won't blow a duck call infront of her husband to be....

I have seen grown men come to pieces on the contest stage. The first contest I ever did I was probably as scared/nervous as I have ever been. I think I would of rather put on a tu-tu and blown the national anthem through a kazoo. A friend of mine convinced me to do compete at a NWTF banquet that previous spring. All he said was... "Look man, nobody anywhere can say sh*t to you, except the other thirty or so guys in the bullpen with you. Remember that everybody else who didn't have the guts to get on stage, you already beat by default." He was right. Mike (my friend) took second in the state goose contest in 2007. He calls for John Taylor, the owner of Bay Country Calls and the 1998 World Goose Calling Champion.

Thanks for the compliment. All I can do is say what my grandpa said about knowing things:

"Judgement comes from experience..... experience comes from poor judgement."



I do like comp calling, but I think you'll find that its still all about one thing..... and that nothing will get the blood going like a group of 25 honkers whistling over your head to circle around down-wind. Rebecca (fiancee) had never been goose hunting before, but she'd been duck hunting for several years when we met. I finally took her goose hunting with some friends of ours in September. I think she would tell you she still likes dove hunting more (which was another thing I introduced her too), but field hunting for geese is a close second for her.