Three Times a Champ at the World Turkey Calling Championships

Wayne Dozier won his third all-around turkey calling championship in five years during the National Wild Turkey Federation sanctioned 2024 World Turkey Calling Championships, held June 7-8 in Mobile, Alabama.

The champion from Dickinson, Alabama won the World Open Championship as the best all-around turkey caller at the event. To win this competition, entrants must make several specific calls assigned by the event staff as a panel of judges sequestered behind a curtain scores the calling. Dozier previously won the competition in 2019 and 2022. Event officials cancelled the 2020 competition because of the pandemic.

“I’m very blessed,” Dozier said humbly. “The Good Lord has been good to me throughout my turkey calling career. I’m just blessed to be here with good friends and having a good time competing and trying to sound like a turkey.”

In an incredibly tight competition for the Open championship, just two points separated the top five callers. Dozier scored 470.5 points out of a possible 500, just a step ahead of Jared Lowe of Gadsden, Alabama with 470 points.

“We had some extremely close scores,” reported Kenny Weiss, the event organizer. “We had several ties that had to go into multiple tiebreakers. Sometimes, the competitors tied again in the call-off and had to go again.”

The next three callers all tied at 468.5 points. After a “call off” where the competitors had to repeat their calling sets to break the tie, Matthew Presley took third with 466.5 points, followed by Mitchell Johnston with 461.5 and Brad Holmes with 458.5 points.

“We gave away more than $18,000 in prize money to the top callers this year,” Weiss said. “Preston Pittman, one of our judges, donated 10 turkey calls, which sold for $200 apiece. Part of that money went to pay for the trophies and prize money this year for the champions. We’re getting bigger and better every year.”

After winning previous world championships, Dozier picked up some sponsors, including Dead End Game Calls of Boone, North Carolina. Besides turkey calls, Dead End makes scent elimination products for deer hunting as well as deer, waterfowl and predator calls among other products.

Johnston, founder of Dead End Game Calls (deadendgamecalls.com), won the Gobbling World Championship with 238.5 points. In another close contest, Josh Pruitt took second with 237.5 pounds, followed by Jon Miller with 237. Nick Wilson and Tyler Presley tied for fourth, but Wilson won the tiebreaker.

“It’s an awesome feeling to be a world champion,” Johnston remarked. “Wayne is blessed to win another world championship. We work so hard at this stuff and practice trying to imitate a wild turkey the best we can. To see that pay off is a wonderful feeling. The second and third place finishers were also from North Carolina. We compete against each other regularly.”

Johnston, an evangelist, previously won a Friction world championship and another Gobbling world championship as well as the Two-Man Team Challenge twice. In the team competition, two callers must work together as if they were turkeys to act out specific scenarios assigned by event staff. This year, Dozier teamed with Lowe to win the team competition with 486.5 points. Johnston and Jon Miller took second with 481.

“It feels great to win,” Lowe said. “This is our third year in a row to win this event. We try to get our scenarios put together the best we can. We just try to sound like turkeys.”

Jason Conrad won the Friction world championship with 477 points. In another very close competition, Michael Strawn followed closely behind with 476.5. Dustin Jones scored 476 points.

“This is really two world championships in one event, plus multiple other competitions for various skill and age levels,” Weiss advised. “The Mobile County Wildlife and Conservation Association owns the World Open Championship. I lease it from them. I also run the World Championship Friction Calling contest, which is owned by Quaker Boy game calls.”

Another Tarheel, Brandon “Tater” Rich of Pfafftown, North Carolina won the Owling competition with 236 points. One point behind, Hudson McGarity came in second, followed by James Harrison with 234.

“It feels amazing to win this championship,” Rich commented. “I placed in this event a couple times, but never won it. It’s been one of my favorite contests for years. I’ve competed in this contest every year since 2019. It’s one of the contests that I practice the most for and enjoy the most.”

In other competitions, McGarity won the Amateur Division with 214.5 points. In the Intermediate Division for callers 16 to 20 years old, Chase Roberts successfully defended his 2023 title with 218 points. With 230.5 points, Bo Bartlebaugh won the Junior Division for youths between the ages of 11 and 15 years old with 230.5 points. In the Poults, youngest division for those 10 years old or younger, Levi Pruitt emerged victorious with 165.5 points.

“We had 127 competitors calling in different positions, but some of the competitors competed in multiple contests,” Weiss said. “That was up more than 40 from 2023. The number of competitors in each division went up from 2023. The number of competitors in the Amateur Division more than doubled from last year. We had 25 competitors in the Friction competition. We had competitors coming from about 20 states as far away as Iowa. It’s growing every year.”

During the competition on June 8, the Alabama Turkey Hunters Hall of Fame inducted the first six people into its inaugural Hall of Fame class. These included Eddie “the Turkey Man” Salter with Eddie Salter Game Calls (theturkeyman.com) of Evergreen, Ala., a former world champion. Others making the list included Lynn Boykin, Tom Kelly, Ben Rogers Lee, Billy Macoy and Fred Stimpson, who won the first world championship. For information about the HOF, call Doug Max at 251-282-6256.

For more information about the World Turkey Calling Championship, call Weiss at 251-605-6077.

World Open Championship

1. Wayne Dozier 470.5 Points
2. Jared Lowe 470
3. Matthew Presley 468.5*
4. Mitchell Johnston 468.5
5. Brad Holmes 468.5
   *In the tie-breaker call-off, Presley scored 466.5, Johnston 461.5 and Holmes 458.5

World Gobbling Championship

1. Mitchell Johnston 238.5 Points
2. Josh Pruitt 237.5
3. Jon Miller 237
4. Nick Wilson 236*
5. Tyler Presley 236
   *In the tie-breaker call-off, Wilson scored 239 to Presley’s 238

World Friction Championship

1. Jason Conrad 477 Points
2. Michael Strawn 476.5
3. Dustin Jones 476
4. Phillip Bryant 475.5
5. Matthew Presley 474.5

Owling

1. Brandon Rich 236 Points
2. Hudson McGarity 235
3. James Harrison 234
4. Matthew Presley 233*
5. Jason Conrad 233
   *In the tie-breaker call-off, Presley scored 238.5 and Conrad 237

Two-Person Team Challenge

1. Wayne Dozier, Jared Lowe 486.5 Points
2. Mitchell Johnston, Jon Miller 481
3. Matthew Presley, Shane Martinez 472.5
4. Nick Wilson, Easton Phillips 471
5. Kenneth Weiss, Jr., Tyler Presley 470

Amateur Division

1. Hudson McGarity 214.5 Points
2. Rayce Lamb 211
3. Jeremy Phillips 209
4. Jaxson Wale 208
5. William Ridgley 207.5

Intermediate Division (16 to 20 years old)

1. Chase Roberts 218 Points (2023 Champion)
2. Rett Stonebraker 212
3. Tristen Hargreaves 206
4. Jacob Mole 203

Junior Division (11 to 15 years old)

1. Bo Bartlebaugh 230.5 Points
2. Lane Cathey 228.5
3. Ethan Jones 227
4. Hudson McGarity 222
5. 5Willow Pruitt 215.5

Poult Division (10 years old or younger)

1. Levi Pruitt 165.5 Points
2. Easton Phillips 165
3. Mason Johnston 163
4. Jaxon Wale 162.5
5. Sawyer DeBord 160.5

For complete results, look up World Championship Turkey Calling Contest on Facebook