Call of the wild | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

He can hear him a half-mile away while he's still driving down the highway. And it's not because 20-year-old Teddy Hoover is driving a beater with a bad muffler, or cranking the stereo.

The Anne Arundel Community College student has simply been getting in game shape - practicing his duck and goose calls for today's Maryland State Duck and Goose Calling Championship.

"I can hear him coming down Route 50," said Mr. Carrell, flashing a smile. "I know it's him, (but) I'm sure the neighbors aren't happy about it."

Mr. Hoover and some of his friends are expected to be among a number of contestants at the the Maryland State Duck and Goose Calling Contest at Arundel Mills mall today, part of Waterfowl Festival Weekend at the BassPro Shop.

Events started yesterday with the release of the Federal Duck Stamp and remarks by Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorn and H. Dale Hall, head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Mr. Hoover has used duck calls since he was a boy growing up in Pasadena. Now living in Easton, he only has been competing for a year, saying "stage fright" kept him from trying it sooner.

"It's fun and you meet a lot of people," Mr. Hoover said.

Many competitive callers got their start just like him, and are still avid hunters. The contests, they said, give them something to do after hunting season.

"It's not the same (as hunting), but it's a good way to get out there with the guys," said Justin Downs of Lothian.

To emphasize the connection, he keeps his calling devices on a lanyard that's covered with metal bands from the birds he's bagged.

Mr. Downs, 21, also serves as the East Coast representative for an Illinois company that manufactures calls. Mr. Hoover represents a Maryland company and trains with the founder, John Taylor. Cory Dukehart, 23, of Glen Burnie, is on the staff of a Tennessee company.

Although there aren't many competitive callers in the county, the Eastern Shore is a hotbed for the activity, and the world championships are held in Easton every year. "Anybody can pick up a call and try it, but to be successful takes a lot of dedication and hard work," said Mr. Downs, who practices every day.

His girlfriend, Chele Turner, also of Lothian, admits the constant calling can be a bit loud, but she said she doesn't mind it. If they get married, she joked that their home will have to have a soundproof room for Mr. Downs to practice in.

"I just love it so much," Mr. Downs said. "I couldn't see myself doing anything else, to be honest."

Heeding the call

The calls themselves are typically made of plastic, have a reed and soundboard inside just like an instrument, and look like large kazoos. They come in a variety of colors and have colorful names like "Shore Thing," "Fowlmouth" and "Canada Hammer."

Generally, duck calls quack and goose calls honk, just like the animals they're made to mimic, but there are innumerable ways to personalize the output for competition by altering breathing, how the device is held and what sounds the caller himself makes while blowing into he device.

"There's so many things that have to be right - your hands, your air, your tongue," Mr. Downs said. "It's like blowing a clarinet and a flute."

Mr. Hoover compares competition calling to "singing a song," and others use the same musical analogy to describe the sound of the birds themselves. "Listening to a large flock of Canada geese is like a symphony to us," said champion caller and call maker Sean Mann, who lives in Trappe.

The contests themselves mostly take place indoors, and participants are judged on 60- or 90-second performances.

"You've just got to feel it," said Mr. Dukehart, who has been competing since 2006. "You practice a routine over and over again so when you get up on stage, you know when to take a breath."

Although calling has its roots in hunting, competitions are a very different animal, so to speak.

Mr. Taylor, a champion caller from Quantico whose company is called Bay Country Calls, explained that it's a lot easier to sway ducks and geese than judges, who sit behind a curtain and don't see the callers. "Ducks and geese, you don't have to impress them," he said. "You see how they respond. But you can't see the judges ... and you don't know what they want."

Mr. Hoover and the others, though, have a pretty good idea what they have to work on to improve. They'll videotape their routines so they can go over fine points, and sometimes ask the judges about their impressions after a contest. Mr. Dukehart said he actually tries to envision a flock of birds flying overhead during contests for an extra shot of realism and incentive.

Although they enjoy the camaraderie of the contests, the events are competitive, the callers said, and can be a bit nerve-wracking, too. The judges may not see you, but the audience does, explained Mr. Hoover, who sometimes practices up to two hours a day.

"Getting on that stage is intimidating," he said. "(But) there's an adrenaline rush. If I didn't have that, I wouldn't do it."

Registration begins at 9 a.m. today at Bass Pro, with competition open only to Maryland residents. Competition includes a variety of categories, including duck, goose and youth contests.