tbyrd

I plan on calling in my first turkey calling contest this year, and I was wondering if any of you have every called in one of these contest and could tell me a little about them. Also does anyone know of any soundfiles of contest callersI could listen to.

Thanks

RDHunter

I participate in the annual calling contest at Cabela's in Dundee every year.
You just sign up , draw a number out of a hat then wait for your number to be called .
When it's your trun , you get on the stage and do your redention of a tree yelp , a cluck and your favroite call.
You can use any type of call your used too , like a box call , mouth call or a slate.
As for the sound files , here's a link to the National Wild Turkey Federation web site they have a page on calling tips.
( http://www.nwtf.org/calling_tips.html ) make sure you have your speakers on .

Mr. Longbeard

I would think if your going to enter a contest you would be past that point by now

tkycaller

Try to listen to real turkeys for your sounds and rythyms. As far as listening to contest callers you can get an idea of what a routine should consist of and how long to run each series of calls. But you should always try to sound like a real turkey and not your favorite caller.
I started out taking videos of every contest I entered just to see about the routines.
There is a lot of practice put into a good contest calling routine.
Remember you are calling to impress judges not to kill a gobbler. Good luck....

tbyrd

I guess my main question is, do you perform a routine or just the calls the MC calls out? Or does it just depend on the contest itself? And if you just perform the call the MC calls out, then are you allowed to incorporate other sounds into that call, say like a purr and a cluck or adding a purr in with your tree call? It seems to me that this adds more realism.

RDHunter

In most contest ,it's what the M C calls out .
When he / she ask you to do a yelp , then you go yelp... yelp .... yelp , when they ask for a cluck you go cluck ... cluck ... cluck.
Only when they ask you to do your rendention of your favroite call is when you can make any call you like and add some realism to it.
Thats the way they hold the contest at Cabela's for the last five years , remember your trying to impress the judge's ,good luck.

fshafly2

I have called in contests in VA and MD, and judged a few local contests in MD - but it's been several years, so my knowledge is a bit dated.

Listen to tapes/turkeys to get the rhythms & pitchright. Far better is to get a veteran contestant to mentor you. For example, a coach could quickly tell you that your tree yelps may be either too raspy or too loud - something that you may have a hard time figuring out by yourself. Remember what tkycaller posted: you are calling to (biased) judges, not to turkeys. It's been oft repeated that a hen turkey could have a hard time competing in a contest...

Although most contests will allow you use the caller of your choice - master the mouth call: while you may do a very good rendition of a yelp with a box call,you might not score as well as the next guy who can do the same with a mouth call.My primaryturkey-hunting calleris a tube call - although itsounds "authentic" - it causes problems for some judges (imho) and I quickly learned to not use it in contests.

I recommend that you perform each call without adding any extra"frills" unless it makes sense to include them... (I would get irritated (= lower score) to hearpurrs added to a "plain yelp" - but that wasme).Istill remember this one caller (nervous?, but otherwise competent), giving usonly purrswhen he was asked for lost yelps... a zero.

But do not let me scare you off - calling contests add another dimension to the sport and are enjoyable events once you understand their underpinnings (marketing calls to the unwashed masses). Don't let low scores get you down, but seek to improve. While you may think being a "better" caller could only help you in the woods, it does not make necessarily make you a better turkey hunter -- I was sure prone to excessive calling in those days, lol. Live, learn, enjoy...
-fsh

tbyrd

Are you allowed to switch calls?For instance, ifI am using a raspy sounding mouth call and the MC ask for a tree call, am I allowed to put in another mouth call, that I feel does a better tree call, or do I have to perform all the calls with the mouth call I began with?

Thanks for all the info guys.

fshafly2

Yes, you can switch calls to suit the task at hand - it is quite normal to do so.
-fsh

RDHunter

Yea ... you can switch to whatever call you wanna use , I'll use a diaphram for one and switch to a box for another.