2005 Avery WorldWide Goose Calling Championship

Tight Scoring Makes for Tight Stomachs on Colorado’s Front Range
Loveland Colorado, January 16, 2005
By Bill Cooksey, Media Relations Director

The 2005 Avery WorldWide Goose Calling Championship is in the books, and the WorldWide Champion is $15,000 richer. After researching past game calling contests of all kinds, it was determined that no calling contest had ever awarded over $12,500 to the winning contestant, and helped us decide on the pot. Most calling contests require that the caller show up, pay an entry fee and call well in order to win, but the Avery WorldWide was different.

Kelley Powers
2005 Avery® WorldWide Goose Calling
contest Champion!

The callers who lined up against each other on Saturday night have been slugging it out across the country for the last year. Some only wanted to qualify for the Avery WorldWide, but many were interested in being named the 2005 Greenhead Gear Cup Champion for amassing the highest point total in the past 12 months.

An anxious crowd awaits the results
of the 2005 Avery® WorldWide
in Loveland, Colorado.

On Saturday night in Loveland, Colorado, before a crowd of over three-hundred people, Hunter Grounds was awarded $2,500 and the Greenhead Gear Cup. His points total of 47.5 was comprised of six wins, three second, two third, one fourth and one fifth place awards. Hunter held the lead from June until the cutoff immediately following the Avery sponsored World Goose Calling Championship on November 13 in Easton, Maryland.

Avery® Pro-Staffer
Field Hudnall (1st Runner Up)
tearing it up at
the 2005 Avery WorldWide.

In the end, Grounds edged second place finisher Kelley Powers by 7.5 points, and Powers edged third place finisher and Avery Pro-Staff member Field Hudnall. After awarding the Greenhead Gear Cup, the callers were summoned backstage, numbers were drawn and the contest began in earnest. In the first round, only eight points separated the leaders from the bottom of the pack. Hunter Grounds and Avery Pro-Staff member Sean Hammock were tied for the lead, but Powers was lurking just one point behind while Hudnall trailed by two. Due to the tight scoring, sixteen callers returned for the second round. Again the callers performed, and again the judges were forced to keep scoring tight, but the standings changed. At the conclusion of the round, Field Hudnall had assumed the lead with a combined score of 489. Trailing closely, with a score of 488 was Rusty Heron followed by a 487 point tie between Hunter Grounds and Kelley Powers.

2005 Avery® WorldWide
2nd Runner Up Rusy Heron
does some sweet talking
for the judges.

Close scoring and lead changes were the rule in rounds one and two, and round three proved to be just as exciting. During this final stretch, the top ten callers were separated by only six points, and even the three round totals only provided a 12 point deficit between first and tenth! Since the third round scores are not shown to the audience, suspense rose once again when a tie was announced. Four callers were coming back, and the crowd had no idea what place was involved in the tie. Hudnall and Hammock (the leaders from round one and two), Heron (second in round two) and Avery Associate Pro-Staff member Chad Belding (who had never been more than four points from the lead) all appeared on stage, putting the audience in even more suspense. It is unusual in a contest for there to be so much doubt about the final outcome following the third round, but this was no common contest.

Hunter Grounds (3rd Runner Up)
doing what he does best
at the 2005 Avery® WorldWide.

As the callers appeared in front of the stage, names were read for placement beginning with Ninth Runner Up. When Belding was announced as Fifth Runner Up things began to take shape. Sean Hammock came next at Fourth Runner Up, but another wrench was thrown into the mix when Hunter Grounds was brought in at Third Runner Up. But, when Second Runner Up was announced, it was obvious to all who the final champion would be.

Avery® Pro-Staffer
Sean Hammock (4th Runner Up)
lays down some notes for the
judges at the Avery® WorldWide.

Field Hudnall was brought to the stage for First Runner Up, and now only one man was left standing. Applause rang through the building as Kelley Powers name was called to claim the 2005 Avery WorldWide Goose Calling Championship Title. This exceptional top five was held on the stage for over an hour as television news crews, newspaper reporters and outdoor writers snapped thousands of photos, and performed interviews. In retrospect, the theory that began the Avery WorldWide and Greenhead Gear Cup seems to have proven out. Three of the top four callers in the Avery WorldWide were indeed the three leaders in the Greenhead Gear race, and two others in the Avery WorldWide finished in the top ten in Greenhead Gear Cup points. Final standings were as follows:

Greenhead Gear Cup Champion-Hunter Grounds ($2,500)

Placement Name Points Purse

Champion Kelley Powers 778 $15,000

First Runner Up Field Hudnall 777/291 $2,500

Second Runner Up Rusty Heron 777/288 $1,000

Third Runner Up Hunter Grounds 776 $750

Fourth Runner Up Sean Hammock 774/289 $500

Fifth Runner Up Chad Belding 774/287 $300

Sixth Runner Up Chuck Williamson 771 $300

Seventh Runner Up Tim Grounds 769 $300

Eighth Runner Up Kyle Rinella 768 $300

Ninth Runner Up Jeff Foiles 768 $300