Hindman answers a calling to win

There's a difference in calling a turkey to kill and calling a turkey to win. Jake Hindman can do both -- very well, in fact.

Hindman, 18, a turkey caller from Egypt Mills, has been calling to attract turkeys into his shooting range for six years after picking up the hobby from his dad.

"My dad is a big hunter, so I kind of caught on through him," Hindman said. "He took me with him for the first time, and I was excited about it. Before I knew it, I was obsessed."

Hindman's devotion to the sport is evident. He's spent hours at time in his lawn practicing and perfecting the craft. It earned him a spot on the H.S. Strut Turkey Calling Team -- a national group -- in the past week.

Hindman became interested in competition calling a year ago and within the past year he has taken big steps to establish himself as one of the elite in the area.

"Its a sport you don't hear about much," he said. "But once I heard about, it became addicting. It really did. I've loved it every since the first time I set foot on that stage."

Hindman says the calling he does on stage is nothing close to the style of calling he does in the wild.

"On stage everything is based on rhythm. It has to be flawless," he said. "In the wild, you can sound terrible and still call up a turkey. On stage, it's a whole different story. The judges want everything crisp and clean. I haven't heard many hens that make that good of a sound."

In competition

Competitors usually are given five different calls to perform while in competition. Each call is rated on a scale of one to 20, and Hindman regularly gets scores upwards of 15.

His scoring was good enough to win his first competition, the Illinois State Championship, in October 2002. Since then, Hindman has landed nine other trophies through five competitions.

Hindman, a member of the National Wild Turkey Federation, has finished first in every competition he has entered except for the Mid-America Open this year in St. Louis, a competition in which he tied for seventh. The Open actually was one of his proudest finishes, he says, considering it was one of the largest tournaments in the world.

"This thing was no little deal. It was huge. Everybody up there has on their big name sponsor shirts on, and I sit up there with my little white T-shirt," he said. "Man, I was nervous."

Hindman uses a diaphragm-style call on stage -- it's "a musical instrument," as he puts it, and has a high and low pitch. The call is made of tape, latex and a wooden frame.

"These things aren't easy to use," he said. "It took a long time to get comfortable with one. I started going out and calling up turkeys with them. The next thing I knew I was getting better and better. I was practicing hours every week at one point just to get comfortable with it."

Although the call wins him the tournaments, he can still go back to his natural voice when out in the wild to bring in the prey.

"I like going out into the wild still. In competition everything has to be perfect. When I'm in the wild, it's not like that at all," Hindman said. "On stage, you get to take your time. They give you a cup of water and you get one chance. Out there, it's nothing. A hen doesn't sound perfect at all. They actually like it when you screw up."