Does Any One Know

[strutnrut]

I will say this then just read (MAYBE) but I know for a fact that Bill was one pissed off puppy Thursday afternoon when I seen him. So IMO he does care. Take it for what it is a FACT...

[GR8CALLS]

Ernie

Not saying it was right! Charlie Burke made that call, not a judge!

Bill

[purr-master]

Like the old saying goes. No sense crying over spilled milk.But they are to stupid to realize if guys quit sending calls to them they are going to loose money. By the way bill you have a nice little scratch box. Ernie

[GR8CALLS]

The judges were not to smart. They were as bad as the people who put the calls in the different divisions. I sent a Jordon trumpet. Marked it a Jordon and they placed in in the decorative cat.   If the judges were that smart they should have picked this up. I sent a decorative trumpet and they placed in in the Jordon.    I mean these judges have been around long enough that they should have known the difference between the two. But what do they care. They didn't put all the work and time into making the calls. And spending the money to entering them. All you got out of the people there was that they were sorry, there was nothing they could do that they were already judged. I am not saying that I would have done  better. It was the idea what they done. It was the older judges that should have picked this up. Ernie

 They lost a wing bone that I sent before the contest and lost my paper work that was sent with the check. They did find the check though....  I contacted them and was reinbursed for the calls value. I simply don't have any desire to enter any calls in the contest anymore.

KP

Sorry to hear that they lost your call. That stuff happens way to often. About 8 years ago I purchased the D.D. Adams winner and it was stolen right off the table. Only judges and call makers were allowed behind the tables. All I received was the striker.



Bill

[GR8CALLS]

Like the old saying goes. No sense crying over spilled milk.But they are to stupid to realize if guys quit sending calls to them they are going to loose money. By the way bill you have a nice little scratch box. Ernie

Ernie

Unfortunately, they make their money on the decorative side.

Thanks Ernie! I put some time in the design. I won sixth place which I didn't expect. That division had its problems too.

Bill

[purr-master]

Bill I am not saying anything bad toward you. As far as I am concerned you are a good friend and a fair judge. I was just pissed for what took place. Ernie

[KPcalls]

The judges were not to smart. They were as bad as the people who put the calls in the different divisions. I sent a Jordon trumpet. Marked it a Jordon and they placed in in the decorative cat.   If the judges were that smart they should have picked this up. I sent a decorative trumpet and they placed in in the Jordon.    I mean these judges have been around long enough that they should have known the difference between the two. But what do they care. They didn't put all the work and time into making the calls. And spending the money to entering them. All you got out of the people there was that they were sorry, there was nothing they could do that they were already judged. I am not saying that I would have done  better. It was the idea what they done. It was the older judges that should have picked this up. Ernie

 They lost a wing bone that I sent before the contest and lost my paper work that was sent with the check. They did find the check though....  I contacted them and was reinbursed for the calls value. I simply don't have any desire to enter any calls in the contest anymore.

KP

Sorry to hear that they lost your call. That stuff happens way to often. About 8 years ago I purchased the D.D. Adams winner and it was stolen right off the table. Only judges and call makers were allowed behind the tables. All I received was the striker.



Bill

 That was about seven years ago....

[mmclain]

I hope most call makers understand  that personal conviction not recognition is the greatist reward....

Matt

[yankee gobbler]

I was  chairman for several years of the Nationals and the Midwest competition and also judged for many years.
I took my own responsibility to find quality judges and was never a problem until the "chiefs" wanted to do it. After all the friction and animosity, I retired. I did add/replace SOME judges each year to get a new/fresh non-bias group. SOMEONE ELSE HAD BETTER IDEAS. It wasn't worth the BS and my expenses. I have since offered to be a judge in the hunting call division, but they have never excepted my offer.

Regarding this years trumpet winner, Brian Mero, He has earned top award at the Midwest, a few years consecutive; also past winner for the Jordan award, earning both 1st and 2nd and the Turpin Award. This year he earned top honors and 3rd. Must be a legitimate reason. I have hunted with, played hundreds of yelpers and the best of the best do win awards, except for Billy Buice, and maybe Rev. Zach who do not enter..

We can NOT downplay everyones effort for your callmaking ability. To earn an award, you need to be remembering that ease of play, and tone are tops in my judging, not who made it or who the maker is. Mr Burke was wrong in not being bl to recruit great judges among the thousands that , as well as attending  the convention , own and play and hunt using yelpers. As far as putting calls in a different division, .
Complaining here may get read by the right people and maybe they will take note in the future. I apologize for any hard feelings, and maybe someday, judges will again not care who made the call, etc. and return to honesty, integrity and proper people judging that can play a call. I had each judge play the calls from the division before they would be excepted as a judge. Many did not pas that test. Bill, and Scott and beyond them I am not aware of the others, were utilized when I was around. They are great judges. I question if one of the current chairs and staff even can play calls to the ability to run the show.

I SAY AMEN!

[KPcalls]

 All this ease of play talk pertaining to trumpets and wing bone calls. What does this mean to you..?  I've been thinking about this all night...
 To me, a call will have to play softly with one hand and as loud as I want it to with both both hands and sound good ( like a turkey) at those points and  everywhere in between. One of the few factors that I can think of that fall anywhere near ease of play would be an angled mouth piece. I personally don't like an angled mouth piece and never found them easy to play, but some folks do. A call without a lip stop to me would not be easy to play, but I'm guessing all entered have those. What does ease of play mean to you as a trumpet player are judge.

[icdedturkes]

 And I don't think tube calls, should be called (classified as) locator calls either.

Bill

That is a joke right there, there can be 3 categories for suction yelpers which maybe what .0000001 percent of the population actually carries but tube calls are delegated with locator calls.. SMDH   With that being how do you judge a tube, construction and design IMO is the LEAST important part of a tube call.. A film canister could win..

As For Judging With the lack of folks qualified to run the things why not split the judging up kinda like a above.. Have 2 qualified players run the trumpets and they score only in the section for ease of play and than have the rest of the panel be blind and judge on sound alone..

[merocustomcalls]

I'll speak a little about ease of play regarding trumpets.  

I have never been a judge in any call making competition, only a competitor.  I agree that there should be competent judges but the weather in Nashville seems to have been some blame this year.  What we probably need is a very dedicated core group of good callers to choose from.  Your guess is as good as mine as to how exactly this could be achieved.  I very much appreciate the judges who are competent and attend every year out of their own good will and funded by their own wallets.

But to me ease of play is how easy it is for anyone to pick up a call and run it at least good enough to be successful in the woods.  With regard to trumpets I like it when I can get the lipstop set right and be able to get a nice roll over yelp within the first yelp or two.  On some yelpers I have to move around and take a few extra yelps to "get on it".  

[Old Geezer]

I have been judging the decorative calls for some years so I will only speak to what I see as problems that need to be solved in that division.  I will say Charlie Burk has my respect, he is working with the resources the NWTF gives him.  It is a thankless job!  What I saw during the judging was mass confusion with the scoring program, computers and printers, with the IT guy running from one to another.  I have not arrived to the welcome dinner before 8PM the last three times I judged due to computer problems, and this year we started an hour earlier.

Ernie,  I saw your Jordan there and questioned why it was placed in the decorative division.  The answer was "that's where we placed it".  not the first time for the same answer.  Brings to mine the old saying " A card laid is a card played" Tough to deal with when some one else is laying down your cards.  I had my problems too over the years with entries.  Once $800 was copied onto the silent bid sheet as $500, at least a friend got a steal.  This year it was the text on my tube call's description card, that the NWTF stresses you put with your call, had the last and an important sentence left off in the premier auction program.  

Hope some one can explain the following to me:
  
The decorative rules are written thus; to judge the 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each class, the 1st in class is chosen, then it is pulled out and the second place call from that category replaces it. The calls are then rescored for 2nd best in class and so on for 3rd.  When I asked why the places are not chosen from all the 1st place category winners, I got, "That's the way the computer program is set up."  So if the 1st and 2nd class winners are chosen from the same category, and you came in 3rd in that category you might have a shot at a class 3rd place, beating out 1st place category winners in the same class.  Sound confusing?  Am I right?  Read the rules and set me straight if I am not.

Some needed corrections at the Premier Auction;

All category winners should be auctioned off first, then class winners, special awards winners and finally best in show.  Auction them off in the order that they were judged.  Not too difficult.  This will keep bidders in the room and interest up until the auction ends.  This year bidders left the room after the some of the special awards winners and best in show bidding was complete leaving some of the category winners chosen to go up to the auction to pick up left over $$.  Poor business practice.  The NWTF lost revenue for themselves and the call maker on this one.

Calls at the auction need to be placed, smaller calls in front, larger behind them.  That's just common sense.   Some of the smaller calls were partially hidden by larger ones especially if they were behind one of the presentation sets.

I have already vented myself verbally to those in charge and will follow up with a letter.  This year's convention has past.  Hope things improve next year.  

Make your voices heard!!

Ralph

[savduck]

I can run any call you lay in front of me with a pretty high level of skill...and do it blind folded so i cant see who the call maker is. Be judged totally on sound and ease of play.


Ill be glad to judge, just need to ask.

[nitro]

I would like to nominate Patrick Gamble to be a judge.........