Well it’s that time of year, the start of Calling Contest Season. First up for me was the Wisconsin State & Open Calling Championships but this year there was something a little different. The calls would be asked for in a new and different way. At first I wasn’t sure how this would work, the more I thought about it, I liked the idea, after experiencing it I loved the idea. See instead of asking for a call like “Plain Hen Yelp” the calls where asked for in more of a scenario. Such as, Excited Spring Hen or Young Lost Jake. Most seasoned contest callers try to build a scenario in the judge’s mind anyway so it wasn’t really that new. I will say what was new and fun to watch, was how each caller approached each scenario in a different way. In my mind the caller is the artist and they are painting a picture for the judges. That made it much more enjoyable to watch. That is key, if you have ever been to a contest to know that watching 10 guys go up and do the same thing over and over, for a few hours, gets very boring. Yes even for me a contest caller of over ten years. Below you will find results and a video of the open division.
BIG THANK YOU to all the judges, score keepers and helpers that volunteered their time, the emcee Jeff Fredrick for putting together a challenging list of calls and an expert panel of judges!
The video that starts with my run, feel free to watch the whole thing if you like.
2015 Wisconsin State Calling Contest – Results
Open Division: 1st Tony Meyers, 2nd Scott Wilhelm, 3rd Mike Longnecker, 4th Tracy Pedretti, 5th Shane Simpson
State Division: 1st Tony Meyers, 2nd Scott Wilhelm, 3rd Mike Longnecker
Friction Division: 1st Mike Longnecker, 2nd Scott Wilhelm, 3rd Tracy Pedretti
Hunter Division: 1st Connor Wall, 2nd Randy Hembrook, 3rd Caleb Meggitt
Xtreme JAKES Division: 1st Connor Wall, 2nd Austin Stankowski, 3rd Caleb Meggitt
JAKES Division: 1st Connor Wall, 2nd Caleb Meggitt, 3rd Brooke Simpson
Photo Credit: Howard’s Custom calls Video Credit: Shane Simpson of CallingAllTurkey.com
