For some the Dog Days of Summer are boring with tough fishing, and nothing but the fall hunting seasons to look forward too. Around our place the sounds of Spring only seem to quiet for a month or so. By the half way point of Summer vacation on any given day you’ll hear the yelp of hens and kee kee’s of young lost poults. You’ll also hear an occasional gobble, and some very excited yelping and cutting from time to time. Sounds like we live in a turkey hunters heaven right? We’ll it isn’t real turkeys but rather a really determined young man and a pile of calls. For around an hour each evening he puts in time practicing his craft, making sure each and every call is just right.
By the middle of August the Summer calling circuit had begun and Manchester, Iowa was the first stop. The Iowa State contest was being held there and even though it was a long haul we made the trip down. The Little Guy did well and held his own taking a First in the Intermediates after running a super fast routine in the Poult’s Division. Even though he almost started his box calls on fire by going so fast he finished second place in that division, and was only 2 points behind the winner.
Second in the Jakes.
First in Intermediate.
A good day.
The very next weekend Kanabec Sportsman Club had a contest up in Mora and he chose to call only in the upper age group. His younger sister called in the under 10 group and he called in the 10-19 age group although he was only 8. This was the Inaugural Contest and they had a very high turnout of around 18 youth callers. When it was over, he ended up walking away with First Place honors.
Connor 10-19 age group winner, with the under 10 winner.
The last contest of the season was the King Kaller held last weekend in conjunction with Worthington’s King Turkey Days. It by far has the highest payouts of any contest in the Upper Midwest, and has been a pretty well run contest in the past. He called up into the Hunter/Amateur Division and also called in both the youth divisions. The day started with the Hunter, and he had a super clean run, with no mistakes, and perfect cadence. He followed that up in the next division with a second near perfect routine for the Poult’s. His sister also called in that division, but he held nothing back. He drew #1 and had to call twice in the Jakes. He had a good run on the first go, but had a small mistake that cost him on the second run and of course thats the one that counted. Overall they both had a good day.
His sister took 3rd, and he took 1st in the Poults. 
Jakes division he took a Second place.
A supper clean routine in the Hunter’s yielded a First place Trophy and one of them huge checks that the bank won’t cash.
With four and a half months before we head to Nashville for Nationals, we’ll have plenty of time for fishing and grousing before hitting it hard again.
CW
