When did you start focusing on becoming a better caller.  

After high school (2002) I started to get a lot more serious about waterfowl hunting.  Goose hunting in particular.  I just remember surrounding myself in as much information as I could find.  I remember watching the Whistling Wing series of videos and the Higdon Ultimate waterfowl videos.  Hearing guys like Fred Zink, Kelly Powers and Tim Grounds made me realize what these calls are capable of doing.  

What made you want to become a better caller:

When I get into something I tend to not really do anything half-assed.  I tend to want to be the best that I can be when I dive into something I'm passionate about.  At first I wanted to be better because I thought that it would lead to better hunts.  I saw what you could do to geese with decent calling, how they would react, and that just drove me from there.   A few years later is when I discovered contest calling.  It became a reason to practice, to become a better hunter.  Also honestly,  I practiced so much because I didn't want to embarrass myself on stage. 

How many years did you compete?

I mainly competed from 2006 to 2011 and I've blown in a few here and there since.  After I won my third state goose contest it forced me to retire from that.  That gave me the excuse to step away from it.  I loved competing after the fact,  but I also stressed out about it a lot before hand.  

What keeps you coming back to the contests, even now that you only judge?

I loved the concept of calling contests.  It was a way to extend hunting season through the whole year.  Contest calling led me to some of the best friends I have today and opened the door to some awesome opportunities.   I still wanted to be apart of the contests and give back any way that I could which led me to judging.  

If somebody wants to get into contest calling, What's a good starting point or them?

Nowadays there is so much information out there to learn from.  I learned off personal help from some great callers.  Also off some DVDs.   If you know somebody personally that can help that is a great way.  Otherwise there is a lot of great info online to learn from.  Check out Stage Grammar DVD by Scott Threinen. He goes over everything there is know about contests and putting together a routine.  There;s also a lot of great callers that are open to helping via social media, all you have to do is ask.  Kile Jones does a great job of that.

Enjoy the full episode bellow

Interview by Luke Clark of H41