Coyote calling contest?

[pitw]

When you guys have coyote calling contest [to see who is the best caller] who does the judging.  We don't have any around here that I know of and am interested in finding out how this can be judged.  When i'm calling the only judges are the coyotes themselves and sometimes they only get one vote .  So I'm wondering how someone that isn't a coyote can judge such an event.

[Rich]

Judges are picked by choosing a few people who have been calling coyotes for a long time. These folks know what coyotes like to hear. Any sound that resembles a small critter in distress will call coyotes, but we trust the judges to decide who sounds the most realistic. Not a perfect method by any means, but beats a jab in the arse with a sharp stick.

[Todd Rahm]

When they judge these things Rich, are the judges or callers behind partitions or something? And does the judge not know who is calling for fairness, ya know like the caller has a random number, and the judges score the number not knowing who the caller is?


I'm sure its done this way or similiar, but not sure so I thougt I would ask.

[bigben]

when we were picking judges for our calling comp that ultimately decided the ppha calling champ.  we chose people that had been hunting predators for atleast 10 years.  all of our judges had been calling predators for atleast 15 or more.  most of em grew up around it.  the mike and steve dillion, pete haur, andrew lewand, and dave dunbar were our judges.  in the end it only does matter on what the critters liked.  I know our comp had some pretty tight competition.  ernie wilson was the winner and he got third I believe overall.  he represented us well. 

[Rich]

Todd,

The judges are placed behind a curtain, or other barrier so they can't see who is calling. Guys who have hunted together, or at least has HEARD certain contestants a few times, CAN often tell who they are hearing. The only calling contest I have seen were at trapping conventions back in the late 1980's and early 1990's. The late Willis Kent always started his series with a voice howl, so lots of us knew who was calling. The recent contest at the Expo in kansas city was split up into two categories I think. Distress screams in one catagory, coyote vocals in another. I don't think it is possible for a judge or two to NOT know when one of his buddies was blowing a call though. Everyone that I have heard blow a call, sounds different than the next guy if you know what I mean. I believe it was setup to be as fair as possible, and I wish that I could have been there. You and I both know that a CRONK call would knock the sox off from those toy class LATEX gizmo's. I'm sure that JD and KEE would agree.   :roflmao:

[NASA]

Rich, you are correct.  The judges at the Expo contest were not told who the contestants were.   Not all contestants were entered in both of the two catagories, either.  Not only were the judges curtained off from the callers, but there was a partition between each judge!   The callers were not more than 15 feet from the judges bench.   The callers had no amplification, other than their own lung power.

The MC announced each of the calls the contestant was to imitate.  The judges rated each of the calls on a scale of 1 to 20, for each caller.   I'm not certain of the method the scorer used to add/average/determine a value for the scores submitted by each of the judges.  But the top three of the determined scores were the win, place, and show.  This method was used for both the distress and vocalization contests.

For the final round, the World Championship, the top 5 scorers from the distress and vocalization contests were the contestants.  A sixth contestant (blind bogie) was added to the mix.  (His score was not counted.)  Each caller gave three calls.  Judging was the same as before. The single top scorer was declared World Champion.

You should have made the trip.  There were some "very interesting" things going on that you would have found amusing.   

[pitw]

Wow good replies to my question . 

[canine]

Rich, Your walkin on thin Ice    Don't make me break out a picture of that trophy 

Pit, theres nothin left to add, they nailed it 


JD

[Todd Rahm]

Thanks guys for the very infomative post.

[vvarmitr]

You and I both know that a CRONK call would knock the sox off from those toy class LATEX gizmo's. I'm sure that JD and KEE would agree.    :roflmao:

Rich, Your walkin on thin Ice    Don't make me break out a picture of that trophy  

I know you can howl Rich, but boy can you ever bait a World Champion Howler! 
:roflmao:  :roflmao:  :roflmao:

[Rich]

vvarmitr,

I have gotten to the point where I almost LIKE that JD feller, so I decided to stay home and let him win this time.  :roflmao:

Naw, just yanking a couple of chains here. JD deserves his title, and I am happy for him.

[Bopeye]

JD is lucky I wasn't there. That would have been just another person for him to tell everyone he beat.