Knight & Hale Puts Stamp on NWTF Grand National Calling Contest
Knight & Hale Game Calls pro staffers posted excellent results in this year’s “Super Bowl” of turkey calling, the National Wild Turkey Federation’s Grand National Turkey Calling Contest held in Atlanta, Ga., Feb. 22-24. Knight & Hale caller Kerry Terrell won the Champion of Champions contest in which only past winners of the Senior, Friction of Team Championship contest are eligible, and fellow Knight & Hale caller Mark Prudhomme took second. Terrell and Prudhomme paired up to win the Team Competition, and Prudhomme again won the Owl Calling Competition. With Chris Parrish taking second place in the Senior Division, Knight & Hale put its stamp on the entire weekend.
“Our pro staff is a direct reflection of what we do and how we do it,” said Knight & Hale General Manager Ronnie Conerly. “For our pros to have a good showing at the Grand Nationals is important because they lead by example and set high standards for Knight & Hale. They are not only great callers, they’re designers, field testers and innovators and play a vital role in our operation.”
Parrish, who won the Grand Senior Division in 2000 and 2001, this year posted a total score of 463, only one point behind the winner. His showing is made more incredible considering that he called while suffering from a serious sinus infection. “It affects you because you can’t hear very well,” Parrish said. “But I know by feel how the call is performing. It’s no different than talking with a sinus infection -- your voice may be different but you know how to talk.”
Parrish is in charge of production for Knight & Hale’s turkey calls, and made all but one of his calls on a Knight & Hale KH064 Triple Beard diaphragm call, which is built with a heavy .4000 top reed and two thin prophylactic reeds underneath with a specialty V-cutter cut. The only time he changed calls was when kee-keeing, which he performed with a Kee Kee Special call that will be available from Knight & Hale this fall.
Parrish is well known in calling contest circles, having placed in the top five in every major contest. He won the U.S. Open two years in a row, and won the NWTF’s Champion of Champions Contest an unprecedented five years in a row starting in the year 2002.
“We are extremely lucky to have a man like Chris in charge of our call production,” Conerly said. “He uses all of his call-making experience along with his critical judgment to make sure every call he makes is the best it can be.”
Knight & Hale’s Kerry Terrell claimed this year’s Champion of Champions contest. “I really wanted that one,” he said. “I told someone the other day that I wished I could keep up with the amount of time I’ve practiced.”
Terrell’s practice consists of videoing himself calling, then reviewing the footage and critiquing it.
“I live on the edge of a swamp in Georgia, and just about every night I go out to the edge of the property and set up the camera. That swamp provides great acoustics,” he said. “Then I go inside and compare my calling to real hens.”
His practice paid off with winning dividends, which continued with the Team competition with partner Mark Prudhomme. The pair has teamed up before and always is a crowd favorite for the accessory animal sounds they create, but decided this year to eliminate a lot of the extra sounds.
“I judged that contest several years and learned a lot,” Terrell said, noting that the extra sounds don’t always translate to more points.
In the Team Competition, teams are given three scenarios (this year they were: early spring, daybreak, gobbler with hens; late spring, late morning, lone gobbler; and fall, daybreak, mixed flock with jakes and hens) and the team is to make certain calls to mimic the sounds of that scenario. Following the scenario is important.
“On the third scenario the instructions said that the flock was already busted up,” Terrell said, “and some of the teams made the sounds of busting the flock. We didn’t. We only won by two points, so every little bit helps.”
“We kept it strictly turkey sounds this year,” Prudhomme said. “Kerry and I just work well together. We know each other’s calls and every year we’ve teamed up we’ve been in the top three (winning in 2004). Kerry’s a great caller and he’s got strengths that cover my weaknesses and vice versa.”
Prudhomme is a great all-around caller, placing seventh in this year’s Senior Division, but has made an indelible mark on the world of owl calling. He has become known as one of the best owl hooters of all time, having won the World Hooting Championship three times and the U.S. Open Hooting Championship two times, and both of these examples are consecutive wins. In short, Prudhomme is on a hooting tear.
“I was using a new hooter that I designed for Knight & Hale,” Prudhomme said. “It’s the best owl hooter I’ve ever used. It’s got the volume and realistic tones and will do any of the calls – screams, laughs – just everything.
“It was a good weekend. I felt like I was calling very well in everything and I gave it all I had. I’m tickled with it.”
For young callers, Prudhomme suggests starting with the best call available, then listening to a lot of owls. “Going to the Grand Hooting Championship is a good way to hear all of the competitors, and there are a lot of good ones out there.”
When asked about general turkey calling advice, each of these champions suggested that listening to live birds is the single most important factor to their success.
“Get a CD or DVD of live wild turkeys and listen on a daily basis,” said Parrish. “Listen to the different pitches, tones and rhythms and mimic that. Everybody has a different voice and so do turkeys. Pick out a certain hen and try to carefully mimic that one.”
Other Knight & Hale pro staffers who called in the Grand National Turkey Calling Contest, Senior Division, were Mitchell Johnston, Steve Stoltz, Rod Pettit, Keith Wahlig and Jessie Martin. Lance Hanger placed second in the Intermediate Division.