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The following is reprinted from the entry application for the NWTF's Grand National Hunting Call Competition, and explains what it means and takes to become one of the proud and the few in the call making industry.
"Already in its 6th year, the NWTF Grand National Hunting Call Competition was first conceived as an idea in the early 1990s. Quick to follow the lead of those who competed in the highly-successful Decorative Turkey Call Competition, a small group of members approached the NWTF with the idea for a competition that would feature some of the best custom-made turkey calls that could actually be used in the field.
"The basis for this competition was simple and evolved around how NWTF sanctioned calling contests are organized and run; however it would have two major differences. First, each call would be judged by its own stand-alone merit by a panel of judges who would determine how well a call performs in the hands of a hunter. Secondly, this was not to be a conetest to determine or select a person who can best play a hunting call, therefore avoiding what is, in a sense, a calling contest.
"Criteria for determining and selecting the best call placed equal emphasis on sound quality, tone and pitch, ease-of-use and its ability in attaining what is commonly referred to as a break over or the point at which the pitch of the call drops, just as a turkey's yelp does. The contest has evolved much differently today from its humble beginnings at the 1999 NWTF Grand Nationals in Charlotte, N.C.
"Today's judging criteria are based on the following four categories: turkey-like sounds, sound quality, ease-of-use and break over or roll over. As with the NWTF Grand National Calling championships, a panel of five veteran turkey hunters is selected as judges to individually judge each call. Scores of each call are totaled following the removal of the high and low score with the winner of each category being determined by the highest cumulative score.
"While it is expected that call makers can run their own calls with precision, the question for most hunters is: How simple or easy is the turkey call to use and how much does it sound like a turkey? In selecting the best hunting call each year, the NWTF strives to ensure fairness and impartiality without prejudice towards commercial or custom call makers or with respect to the design of any call entered in the hunting call competition."
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