150 Vie for Wild Turkey Calling Title

150 Vie for Wild Turkey Calling Title

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) - Gobbles, clucks and coos spill out of the grand ballrooms, but there are no live turkeys on the floor of the Opryland Convention Center. Instead, about 150 men, women and children are doing their best imitations at the championship of turkey calling, the annual Grand National Wild Turkey Calling championships.

The National Wild Turkey Federation Convention that began this week brings some 40,000 hunters and exhibitors from across the nation to Nashville, but the spotlight is on the turkey callers.

"When you get up on that stage, you're nervous," said three-time champion Jim Pollard from Heflin, Alabama. "Your hands are shaking, your palms are sweaty. It's hard to keep control."

Standing alone on a stage in front of a completely silent crowd, the competitors are at times visibly nervous, wiping sweat from brows and pacing back and forth.

A giant TV screen zooms in on hands and faces, as the callers are asked to perform four different sounds in four minutes.

The calls can be high-pitched whistles like the "kee-kee run," which is used by hunters to imitate a young turkey. One call - a "cluck and purr" - is much softer and competitors typically sit down on the stage to concentrate on the sound.

"I thought I had a beautiful run until the last call, which was a cluck and purr," Pollard said. "It's a finesse call - you've got to lighten up on everything and be real easy on it. I flubbed up on it and my scores showed it."

This year's championships feature a new category - friction calling - for callers who produce the turkey sounds by rubbing objects together, typically a slate or a metal box that is scraped with a stick.

"Friction calls are some of the most realistic calls there are," Pollard said.

When the National Wild Turkey Federation started in 1973, there were only about 1.3 million wild turkeys in North America. Today, the population stands close to 7 million birds.

Scott Vance, the federation's director of conservation partnerships, said the organization has helped revitalize turkey populations with trap and transfer programs and by working with government agencies to conserve turkey habitats.

Turkey hunting is "really a one-on-one situation where you have to mimic the calls to attract the animals to you," Vance said. "You really feel like you're connected."