 |
Home | Search | Browse | About IPO | Staff | Links |
|
Home | Search | Browse | About IPO | Staff | Links |
|
Happy Hunter Grounds
STORY BY GARY THOMAS
Hunter Grounds is making a name for himself. Just 13 years old, he already can brag of winning a number of world championships.
With the given name of "Hunter," you might guess these championships would be related to the sport of hunting. And you'd be right. Hunter Grounds is a calling champion, and the year 2000 was a good one for him. He won the World Junior Goose Calling Championship in Easton, Md., on Nov.11, then two weeks later traveled to Stuttgart, Ark., where he won the World Junior Duck Calling Championship. It's a feat that calling competitors dream about. No one— in either the junior or senior competition—had ever won both championships. Hunter did it in the same year. It was a very good month. Hunter took home a gun, camouflage clothing, decoys and $500 cash for winning the goose championship. At Stuttgart, there were 21 prizes in all for winning first place, including a large trophy and $1,000 in cash. Hunter is no stranger to calling competition. The 8th grade student
Hunter Grounds, holder of three world championships at age 13, and
Hunter Grounds spends most winter weekends guiding hunters from Johnston City also won the World Junior Goose Calling Championship the previous year, and he's won three Winchester World Open junior division titles. Those are his junior achievements. He also competes against senior callers. And while the crowd might have a hard time seeing him behind the stage blind built for taller competitors, the judges apparently like what they hear. Calling against the best senior goose callers in the world at Easton, he finished in fifth place in 1999 and ninth place in 2000. Competing in these type of events takes a lot of nerve. You see competitors trying all kinds of things to get rid of the jitters or to keep from hyperventilating. "I get nervous as can be before a calling event," Hunter said. "But that ends when I hit my first note. It's like I'm in a rhythm then. When I get going, there's no time to think about nerves. I just blow my routine." He said he was a lot more nervous calling in the duck competition than the goose. "Duck calling is a lot harder for me than goose calling," Hunter said. "If you scratch a little bit when you're goose calling you can get away with it. But not during duck competition. I haven't done as much duck calling as I have goose calling, and there were a lot of really good young callers at the Arkansas event. Those kids down there are born with duck calls in their mouth." While Hunter wasn't born with a call in his mouth, he might have used one for a pacifier. His dad is Tim Grounds, someone who knows a little about goose calling. His dad has won more than 50 goose calling championships, including three World titles at Easton, Md., and two Winchester World Open events. Hunter was only 2 when his dad took him on a goose hunt—young enough that he also had to bring along a diaper bag. Hunter was learning to shoot when he was just 4, began entering calling contests when he was 5 or 6, and began hunting with his own gun when he was 7. Today, Hunter hunts every chance he gets, and spends many of his weekends guiding hunters at his dad's goose hunting club. In addition to operating his club in Williamson County, the older Grounds manufactures goose, duck and coyote calls, and sells shirts, hats, videos, cassettes and CDs. Grounds' calls and other items are available at www.timgrounds.com or by calling (618) 983-5649. "If you're interested in goose calling, competition is something you should get into," Tim said. "When I started doing this, you couldn't make much money at it, but today a lot of the calling contests are paying up in the thousands of dollars. That can make it very worthwhile. It's also something you can do for years. There are some strong callers that are in their 50s, so if you can stay focused, you can be competitive for years." And winning calls can be good for business, according to Tim. "If a caller wins using one of your calls, you'll start getting some phone calls and make some sales as a result."
He should know. Three of his calls—the HG007, Super Magnum and Guides Best—have been used to win national events. Tim began entering goose calling events when he was just 14 years old, and he's still at it 27 years later. He credits Carterville's Abe Lewis for teaching him how to tune calls and change the sounds, and Keith Hess of Henderson, Ky., for showing him how to blow the short reed call for competition purposes. Hunter said his dad taught him the basics of calling and gave him pointers. He picked up most of what he knows from just being around his dad and other goose callers in southern Illinois. He wasn't pushed into calling contests; they were just something he had been around since he was born. Hunter formerly used one of his dad's HG007 calls (named for him) for competition, but now has switched to a Super Magnum for calling in contests. The young man said he only practices 15 to 20 minutes a day, but points out that it is a year-round activity. There aren't many days when he doesn't pick up a call and practice.
"There are lots of different sequences you can use for goose calling, and different ways to do the calls and routines," Hunter said. "So I work on those things. I also listen to tapes and CDs of duck calling, but I don't do that very often for geese. I hear enough geese and goose calling here in southern Illinois." He credits Stuttgart resident Butch Richenback for teaching him how to call ducks competitively. "He took the time to work with me and show me what I had to do to win at duck calling events," Hunter said. "I can't thank him enough for that. I use his Rich-N-Tone call for competition. I think it is the best duck call there is." He lists baseball and football as other sports he plans to compete in next year when he gets to high school. But it is the calling contests that are his top priority. "There are lots of things I want to do in the future," he said. "I want to go back and call in the World Championship event in Easton next year at the senior level, and my immediate goal is to win a state, regional or world title in a senior event so I can qualify for the Avery International Calling Contest." That could be very interesting. The Avery is one of the few events his dad hasn't won. If Hunter qualified, it would pit father against son. Even if he doesn't make it next year, it's just a matter of time. He's already proven that he can compete against the best callers, and he's not yet reached his prime. He'll likely be around for years to come. "I really enjoy the competition," he said. "I plan to call in events as long as I live."
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
