Duck callers struggled in contest

For reasons unknown, competitors had a tough time with pitch and tone Saturday at the 86th World’s Championship Duck Calling Contest at Stuttgart.

I listened during the first and second rounds. I never heard so many squawks and squeals. Some calls sounded hollow when they needed fullness, and callers hit a lot of flat notes, especially in the descending progressions. The bottoms fell out near the ends.

You know a caller is in for a bad time when his call squeals and squawks during the warmup routine. Official judging does not occur during the warmup, but sour notes surely put judges on alert.

I texted a video of a competitor in an early round to a friend in California to whom the idea of a duck calling contest is exotic. The fact that there is a considerable cash prize involved intrigued her even more. The fact that the City of Stuttgart actually has a permanent stage on the town square for this one annual event fascinated her.

“This guy is not going to advance,” I texted. “His tone is bad.”

It happened a lot. A representative for one of the vendors noticed it, too. While watching the Alabama-Auburn football game in a side tent, we debated about whether humidity might have been the culprit.

“Could be,” he said. “The way the wind blows across that stage can throw you off.”

After the contest, one of the judges concurred.

“I’ve never heard so many bad notes in this contest ever,” he said. “I don’t know what it was. Usually, that hurts you, but it happened so much that we didn’t count it against them as bad as we usually would. You really can’t when everybody’s doing it.”

He mentioned one caller whom he said was on his way to winning the championship when his call inexplicably froze during a feed call at the end of his routine.

“I didn’t know who it was at the time, but it killed him,” the judge said.

The caller was Michael Steinmeyer of Jackson, Mo., winner of the 2019 World’s Championship. Steinmeyer talked about his mishap in vivid detail during our interview with Haiden Richard, the 2021 champion. Steinmeyer’s call indeed froze during the feed call at the end of his routine.

“I tried to get a note out, but it wouldn’t budge,” Steinmeyer said. “I finally got it to make one little quack to finish my routine.

“I don’t know if anyone noticed,” Steinmeyer continued. “I figured I was either going to win or finish middle of the pack.”

“Oh, yeah, they noticed,” Richard said. “We all noticed.”

Richard and his entourage praised Steinmeyer for deftly glossing over the mistake. I’ve seen many competitors simply walk off stage without finishing their routines when they make mistakes.

Steinmeyer atoned for his error heroically. After the World’s Championship, he won the Champion of Champions contest. It is held every five years and is open only to winners of the World’s Champions. Only Champion of Champion winners judge the contest, truly a battle of the best judged by the best.

Steinmeyer won $5,000, a trophy, ring and additional prizes. Unfortunately, the winner of the Champion of Champions contest cannot compete in the World’s Championship again.

“I don’t know if I even want to enter this,” Steinmeyer said before the contest. “If I win it, I’m done.”

A caller must also retire if he or she wins the World’s Championship three times.

Richard was the most emotional World’s Champion we have covered. He choked up and fought back tears throughout our interview. He was extremely gracious to everybody that contributed to his success. Mostly, he was grateful and proud to bring a World’s Championship Duck Calling Contest home to Louisiana for the first time since 1953.

There was considerable debate about that, as well. Phil Green lived in Louisiana when he won the World’s Championship in 2016, but he now resides in Weiner, as does his trophy. Richard argued adamantly that Green is technically an Arkansan.

So, Richard is the only person currently living in Louisiana to have won the World’s Championship since 1953, unless, of course, a winner from another state has since moved to Louisiana.

Bill Daniels, owner of Richland Calls in Hayes, La., helped Richard build his championship call.

“That trophy gonna look real nice in your house,” Daniels said in a thick, south Louisiana accent.

“It ain’t going to my house,” Richard said. “You better call your carpenter because it’s going to your shop.”

This pleased Daniels immensely.