2012 WI State Calling Contest (Friction Class)

[WillowRidgeCalls]

This is our states calling competition. A lot of the big named callers were there from Kight & Hale, Hooks, Woodhaven. It is fun to compete against those boys just to see how well you stand against some of the top names in calling competition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6e09ouMdPs

[Fan Club]

Great stuff, Scott...thanks for sharing!

Nice to see our fellow forum member Scott Ellis there. Having been to the Grand Nationals many times, recognized Parrish and Stoltz right away...as they said, getting a tune up for Nashville.

Also interesting how the Hooks guys hold their pots right up next to their faces. I've never seen that before but it looks like a team concept for them.

Were you caller #6?

[kygobbler]

That was awesome Scott, thanks for posting it.

I wasn't able to watch all of it (YET because of rolling eyes from wife ) but I know I can learn alot from it.

Is it normal for callers to use differen calls and strikers to make the different sounds in competitions?

[WillowRidgeCalls]

Yes Jeff, I was caller 6. I'm not quite sure just were I finished in the competition, but I do know that I end up right behind Steve Sholtz.

Yes kg a lot of the callers will switch calls for each call they have to run that gives them the best sounds. It's some what of a shame that, that is how it's done these days, because that really doesn't show the true skill level of the callers any more, and has changed the calling contest in to some what of a manufactures contest. If you were only allowed to use one call and you had to make that calls sound right in all of the calling series it would show how much talent you had in running a call instead of how well that particular call sounds. It would show exactly how much talent that caller has in how to run a call and not just how good they sound running a special designed call. You really notice that in the putt n purr call, for someone to run a normal pot call against that putt n purr pot and make it sound anything like it, is very hard to do.

[Steve_In]

RE mutiple calls
I would guess the logic is that many folks carry more than 1 call into the woods, so you can use however many you want. It is probably like any other competion in that the equipment tends to be specialized to the event.
I have attended one contest, as an observer, and found it interesting. The only thing I did not really care for was when the calls were brought up on stage in tackle boxes, not vest.

[kenturkey89]

Congratulations, Scott, you sounded great up there. IMO you can hang with the big boys from Woodhaven, Hooks, K&H and whoever else any day of the week!!

[Bobbyparks]

Congratulations to everyone up there....some very good calling for sure

Just think if we all HAD to sound that good to kill a turkey......just how many turkeys we would not kill...lol

Yea hats off to you for getting up there with those boys....and congratulations to Scott Elliot as well

It's been my experience as a judge that the kee kee and cluck and purr seem to be the calls that make the difference and separate the top guys from the rest.....most of the field can yelp, and cutt and do fly down cackles....but the kee kee is difficult and the cluck and purr is one that you can do okay or really stand out and pick up an extra point..although in this one there was a pretty good spread from first to second...not saying any are easy at this level but that often seems to be where the difference is in scoring outside of slips

It's a lot of pressure to get up there and hit each required call...and not slip..and yet impress..on every call


Again some awesome calling by these guys

And yes they use different calls for each like kee kee or cluck and purr and others because you see just how good and competitive these guys are and I have seen a three way call off before so it can be tight

[WillowRidgeCalls]

Thanks guys, it has been a couple years since I've done any competition calling, and it was fun to get back into it again. It's a whole different ball game calling on stage than it is in the woods. Turkeys are a lot easier to call to than a judge is they don't care how you sound as long as you have the right rhythm and cadence. The reason I went there this year is because Scoot12 wanted to try it out and see what it was all about, so I went mostly just to coach him. He did fine in his class (Hunter Class) he took 2nd. Had to laugh when he said "I was cussin you out for getting me into this under my breath" cuz he did get a little stage fright about being up there . This year everybody seemed to be off just a bit. The last time I competed there was only about 30 points between all 10 callers, but this year it was close to a 100 points, so I think everybody was haven't a hard day up there.

[scott ellis1974]

It takes talent to run any of the calls the callers ran that day. I dont feel talent is diminished because callers are switching calls. We're simply using the call that produces the most realistic sound that will pull the most points. I can peform most any turkey sound including the kee kee and cluck & purr, on a Woodhaven Vision Crystal(which I use for yelping), but it is not quite what I'm looking for with all sounds needed to win. As Bobby stated the kee kee and cluck & purr can sometimes seperate the field. As you can see from the vid, my kee disc was giving me a fit that day, I believe which was due to the "in and out" of sub freezing temperatures. That aluminum is very finicky and sometimes hard to run, so you take the good with the bad when trying to attain the best sound.

se