While many were busy searching for deals and running to the store this Black Friday, Seth Fields was winning the World Championship Cutdown Contest. He soon followed it up with a World Live Duck and World Championship Duck win on Saturday, becoming the first ever to win all three in a single season. In 2024. That’s THIS YEAR alone: Seth won the World Live Duck, World Championship Duck, World Team Cutdown, World Cutdown, National Amateur Call Maker of the Year, Callapalooza Team Call Makers Champions, and many more.
Trust me, the list goes on, but as 29-year-old Seth Fields quite humbly tells me, he “only started (competitive calling) in 2014 and has 96 wins total so far.” He thinks, and I’m the one who asked, the all-time ‘most competitive calling wins’ stands at 102. My math says that’s only six separating the young Tennessean from becoming the winningest caller in history. Six. At 29. But it’s what he wrote next that shows just what type of man Fields is. “I hope,” he told me, “to be the first person to win four world individual duck calling contests three times (each) and then retire and help others achieve their goals.”
It’s a busy time of year for the young call maker, career nurse (his wife, Julie, is also a nurse), and father of three-year-old Jed Thomas, who will, come the next warmer sunny day, get out into the blind for his first duck hunt. Fields did slow down long enough to talk with Split Reed about calls, competitive calling, and what the future might hold for this incredibly talented young man.
Split Reed: Seth, thank you for taking the time to sit down with us. Can you tell us who you are and what you do?
Fields: “I’m just another guy who’s passionate about our sport, whether we’re hunting or contest calling. I’ve had a history of competition my whole life, whether it was baseball, football, or golf. But there was a lot to learn and a big difference between calling to birds and calling to people. A fellow competitor who loves a challenge. I’m a follower of Christ, number one. He’s the one who’s blessed me with the talent to do what I love.”
Split Reed: Do you remember your first duck hunt and how you got started?
Fields: “The first duck that I ever called in – the only person calling and then the only person to shoot – was around 2003, I guess. In Huntington, Tennessee, at a place called MegaBucks Duck Club. It was a bull sprig pintail. I was seven or eight years old at the time. Have it mounted in my house still today. I called him into about 20 yards, and … funny thing. We had just had some Canada geese pass by, and I had changed my shells out to 3-1/2” BBBs. I put two rounds of BBBs into the pintail at 20 yards. It’s not the prettiest mount, but I still have it.”
Split Reed: The World Live Duck. The World Duck Calling Championship. The World Cutdown. What does winning all three of those in a single year mean to you?
Fields: “It’s a dream that still seems unreachable. One of my goals from several years ago was that I’m going to win every world championship duck calling contest there is. This year, I decided to kick it into high gear. Told myself I’m going to try to win the World Live Duck again. You can’t win all three if you don’t win the first one. So setting goals. I took the Live Duck and went on to the next one. It still blows my mind when I think about it. It’s just pretty awesome. Knowing where I started and setting those goals 10 years ago. It’s just crazy.”
Split Reed: Tell me about your competition at the recent World Cutdown contest in Stuttgart.
Fields: “The competition in every (contest) this year, and especially in the Cutdown contest is just getting better and better. They’re learning and progressing. Everyone wants to win. We’re all competitive. But in the World Cutdown, we had 34 of the world’s best cutdown callers. With that contest, they don’t limit you. there’s no three-and-out rule. So we had a three-time world champion (Drake Levey) back there. Forrest Carvajal was there; he won the World Cutdown in 2023. So many up-and-comers who are super talented. They have so much potential. It’s hard to imagine you can come out on top when you’re back there with that much talent.”
Split Reed: Why is there a rise in the popularity of cutdown style calling now, not only in the Southeast and the timber where it’s traditional but coast to coast?
Fields: “Many people think you use a cutdown call in the flooded timber in Arkansas. That’s where you use it. But that’s not true. You can use a cutdown call in any situation that you’re faced with in duck calling because if you can call ducks in the timber, you can call ducks in a field with the same call. Sure, you’ll have other techniques. It may not be the exact (same) style, but it’s going to work. I think the number one thing, though, over the past five years has been social media and marketing. People hear something they’ve never used in the field, and they think – ‘I wonder how that would work here?’ If everyone is making the same noises, why not try something different.”
Split Reed: What would you tell a duck hunter looking to try his or her hand at a cutdown call?
Fields: “My best advice is to get several cutdown calls. There are so many cutdown calls out there from so many different brands. It’s a bit of an investment because what works for me might not work for you. So, get a couple of calls. Find one you feel comfortable with. Practice with it. Build that control and consistency. Get that sound, and then go on out there and give it a try. It might work phenomenally for you. It might not. You need to test it out over several hunts. Different wind. Different barometric pressure. How’s the sun? What’s the temperature? You just have to get out there, push that call, and see. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you just can’t make that decision if it works or doesn’t work in one hunt.”
Split Reed: The late Mike McLemore was your mentor. What did he leave with you, both as a caller and as a person?
Fields: “I didn’t have the opportunity to learn a ton about duck calling from Mike, but what I did learn is how to be a human being. There are not many men who are like Mike around anymore. He was so nice. So humble. You could sit down with Mike in one of our little hometown hunting stores, and you could sit there for three hours talking about hunting or baseball. And if you didn’t know it, you’d never know he even blew in a duck calling contest, was really good, and had his own call line. He was just another guy. Another hunter. A man passionate about God and his family. He left that with me and with so many others.”
Split Reed: Is it possible for Seth Fields to leave the stage and competition behind when you and your wife go ‘fun hunt?’
Fields: “Oh yeah. One hundred percent. If someone’s learned how and when to blow a duck call, I can put my calls in a bag, eat a good breakfast, giggle, and point out birds. One hundred percent, I can sit there and have fun. I’ve hunted with a bunch of people who are asking – ‘Why aren’t you blowing your calls?’ – and I tell ‘em I don’t need to. Y’all are doing just fine. But we (Julie and I) have a lot of fun, and if the weather gets somewhat nice, I’m hopefully going to take my son out this year. He’s three, and he’s all about it! He watches the videos on YouTube, and he’s all fired up.”
Split Reed: Where does Seth Fields go from here?
Fields: “Well, I’m going to keep on working. Putting the time in. Now that I’ve won one Cutdown, I’d love to win two. I’ve won two of the World Live Duck (contests), and you can only win three, and you’re retired. I’ve won two of the World Main Streets. I’ll just be in the shop, making duck and speckle belly calls, being a nurse, and practicing. I’ve been practicing every day since the World’s and will continue to do so ‘cause there is still unfinished business. I have the goal to win both of those World contests three times, and I still have work to do to make that happen. So I’m going to work on that. Work on being a good Dad to my little man and a good husband to my wife, and keep on keep’n on. And if the stars align and I can win next year, I’ll come back and offer to judge and help other callers be successful.”
