Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Tennessean captures duck-calling title
STUTTGART — Inspired by one of the greatest duck callers of all time, Seth Fields brought the World’s Championship Duck Calling Contest trophy back to Tennessee on Saturday.
Fields, of Ramer, Tenn., is originally from Huntington, Tenn., home of the late Mike McLemore, three-time world champion and winner of the Champion of Champions competition. McLemore taught Fields to work a turkey call, but Fields said he never considered entering a duck calling contest. He was an avid duck hunter, but high school sports didn’t leave him enough time for competitive duck calling.
That changed in 2014, with an assist from Fields’s father Jason.
“Mike McLemore passed away,” Fields said. “My dad said there was a contest not far from home. He said he would pay the entry fee if I would give it a try. It was so fun being up on stage with so many cool guys that I looked up to. I got the bug.”
Fields embraced his dream fully, taxing the relationships of everybody within earshot.
“It’s [blowing a duck call] not always the most peaceful sound,” Fields said. “It doesn’t matter who you upset at the house or at a college campus. Ninety percent of people don’t know what a duck call is, but I didn’t care what it took. I was going to do it.”
In 2015, Fields qualified for the World’s Championship Duck Calling Contest. He laughed when he recalled. At the time, he thought he sounded pretty good.
“I’ve got a video. How interesting my first ‘Main Street’ contest was,” Fields said. “I thought my first contest was very good. I’ve gone back and listened to it. I’ve laughed and cried. I can’t believe I thought that was good.”
He thought he was good Saturday, too, but this time he knew it was true.
“There’s a feeling you get whenever you walk onstage, but this was different,” Fields said. “When you know there’s nothing else you could have done better, there’s no feeling like it.”
A lot of great callers were on the Main Street stage Saturday, including Haiden Richard of Erath, La., the 2021 World’s champion, and Jody Niccum of Osawatomie, Kan., the 2007 World’s champion.
Richard finished second and Niccum finished 10th. Blane Fields, Seth’s little brother, finished eighth. His brother’s success gave Seth immense satisfaction.
Fields said it takes a lot of practice and dedication to have a chance to win, but to win, everything has to go right.
“It’s kind of cliche, but one thing I always say is that hard work pays off,” Fields said. “You never know when it’s going to pay off. Fifty-two guys qualified this year, and every single one of them that made that third round put in the work. They’ve been doing it a long time, but I really dedicated myself to it. I kept telling myself that this year is going be my year unless judges say it’s not. I put my entire being into it.”
Self-actualization is a big part of success, Fields said. He said he envisioned himself blowing a championship routine, and he envisioned himself hoisting the trophy.
“Thinking back to where I’ve been, all the people that I upset [practicing], but all along I knew I was going to have to work hard,” Fields said. “At times it would be hard. There would be times I would make a small mistake and not make it to the third round, or finish sixth.
“I don’t know if I’ll win it again,” Fields added, “but I don’t have to win it again this year.”