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Champion Duck Caller Slayton Gearin travels to
Canada this month for a waterfowl hunting excursion
with his dad, Tim, and friends. |
Slayton Gearin can't get enough of sports. The Gleason
teenager's room reflects a passion for his two favorites,
with autographed baseballs and other baseball memorabilia
interspersed with a wall full of plaques recognizing him
as a champion duck caller alongside a cabinet that neatly
houses his collection of guns and calls.
Bright-eyed and eager, sixteen-year-old Slayton is more
than ready for the upcoming hunting season. He's been
hunting with Dad, Tim Gearin, since he can remember. "I
started out with Dad taking me when I was little before I
could ever hunt, but I started out shooting a gun when I
was nine," he says, recalling the 20-gauge shotgun
delivered quite a kick for a youngster. "I was a little
bitty guy back then," he grins.
Slayton's first successful hunt was the following year,
when at ten years old he killed a five-point buck the
first weekend of deer season. As time went on, he branched
from deer hunting into goose and duck hunting.
"I do lots of fishing, too," he says, his repertoire of
pursuits setting him out as a well-rounded, all-year
sportsman. He figures he has been fishing since he was
around five years old, but was out on bank and boat with
his father well before that.
Last year, Slayton counted 548-550 fish caught on various
fishing trips with high school friends Hunter Hames, Aaron
Vaughn and Kurt Lehmkuhl, and adult buddies Michael McPeak,
Jeremy Washburn, Andy Weaver, and P.J. Leach.
Still, it's hunting that brings the greatest excitement,
with deer season just an appetizer toward the ultimate
thrill of duck and goose hunting.
"I deer hunt 'til duck season and then I hunt every day I
can - well, every day Mom (Kathy) lets me," he says, his
dark eyes gleaming with excitement as he recalls hunting
"every day of Christmas break but three or four."
He credits his uncle, Gene Gearin, and cousins Ben Gearin
and Andy Weaver, with introducing him and his father to
duck and goose hunting, a much-favored alternative from
cold, solitary mornings in the deer stand.
In the duck blinds, Slayton explains, hunters are free to
move around, talk and cook. "It's a little bit more fun
than sitting still in a tree stand for hours, and not near
as cold either, because we've got heaters in the blinds,"
he says.
Another reason he prefers duck and goose hunting is the
added dimension of sportsmanship in calling the birds in,
a skill he has been practicing since he was eleven years
old. "I just like working the birds in and getting them in
where you can kill them," says Slayton, alluding to his
duck-calling expertise.
The first time Slayton tried his hand at duck calling was
in November 1997, when he accompanied Keith and Kerry
Arnold to the Wings Over The Prairie Festival in
Stuttgart, Arkansas, which, he shares, is the "rice and
duck capital of the world." Slayton finished seventh in
the Junior World competition, but he gained a taste for
"blowing" that carried over to the next year when, the
first weekend of August, he attended the Kentucky Lake
Open and Big Sandy Duck Blind drawing. "I finished second
in that," says Slayton, whose luck was just beginning.
At Reelfoot Lake's Waterfowl Festival the following week,
duck call designer Jim King asked Slayton if he knew "a
routine". Jim's query was characteristic of the festivals
during which veteran sportsmen go out of their way to
share their knowledge and skills with new generations of
outdoorsmen, both boys and girls.
"He taught me my routine on Saturday and I won the first
two contests on Sunday," says Slayton, "The next weekend
at Reelfoot I won the Junior Duck and Junior Metal Reed
contests."
The "routine" consists of a series of different types of
duck calls, reflecting a combination of skills used in the
field. "You start off with a highball," Slayton says, a
call he describes as a "duck's attention-getter at long
distance."
He continues, "Then you come down to greeting call, start
in with a feed call, then a come-back call - like the
ducks left and you're calling them back - then come back
in with greeting call, go back into the feed, and then
finish off with lonesome duck; that's what a duck does
when it's sitting on the water."
"It took me awhile to remember it," says the successful
caller. Slayton started his calling career using the
"Special Purpose" calls fashioned by locals Randy Stewart
and Frank Trevathan, who have since stopped making the
calls.
Now, in addition to listening to tapes, he travels to
Fulton, Kentucky to visit Jim King once every month and a
half for calling lessons and generally picks up a new King
call each year.
As his skills increase, Slayton enters more competitive
arenas, this year placing fourth among 29 contestants
ranging in age from 14 to 60 at Reelfoot Lake's Grand
American Novice. He placed third in the 2002 West
Tennessee Men's "Meat" Calling Contest at the Obion Co.
Fair and missed first place by just two points at the 2002
Kentucky Lake Open Duck Call Championship in the Men's
Division.
So far, says Slayton, "I have won over $500 cash and
prizes this year and $3,500 cash and prizes since I've
been calling." That's $4,000 in addition to incredible
prizes from top names in hunting goods.
Slayton's normal duck-hunting grounds include the "Gleason
Bottom, Crockett Bottom, McKenzie/Trezevant Bottom (Harts
Mill Bottom), Gerald Switch Bottom, and Bean Switch
Bottom" but in two weeks, Slayton is heading to Canada for
more hunting excitement. This will be Slayton's second
goose and duck hunting venture in the Saskatchewan
Province.
Also headed north on the trip are Slayton's dad Tim,
Hunter Hames, Jeremy Washburn, Richard Raymer, and Andy
Weaver. The group's itinerary is pure hunting: Rise at
3:30 a.m., arrive at the blinds and get set up in the
field before shooting time. By 10:00, the morning's
hunting done, the hunters head back to the hotel to eat
and rest, then take off at 2:00 p.m. to go scouting for
the next day's hunt.
Scouting, Slayton explains, consists of driving around
until they see the geese "getting up off the water to go
feed." Once it has been determined where the geese are
eating, the group requests permission to hunt that field
the following morning.
"If you lose them, you just wait 'til the next group flies
over," Slayton explains, backtracking to say that before
starting the scout, "You wait 'til at least three groups
get up or you end up following one little group all over
the country."
Not a hunter to kill just for sport, Slayton says the
birds are cooked year round at his house. His preferred
method of cooking geese or ducks is to marinate them in
soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce, wrap them in bacon,
and grill them. However, he says, he does most of the
cleaning while others do the cooking.
Slayton loves hunting so much, he's decided he wants to
guide for a living when he's older, though he confesses,
"I might have to move to Southern Illinois, Arkansas, or
Mississippi to do it. There's not as many good spots
around here; well, there are, but they are already taken
or inherited, and they have better (bag) limits in other
states."
With the gumption he has shown so far in learning the
skills and tricks of the trade, Slayton's dreams don't
sound far-fetched at all. And really, maybe Slayton's
routine is a wise one for everyone to follow when pursuing
their own dreams: call them in, greet them and feed them
and if you find them fading, call them back again. Then,
don't be content with the lonesome duck call; practice
'til perfection and aim for the sky.
Slayton is a sophomore at Gleason High School. His sister
is Stacy Connor of Henderson.
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