Crump recognized for duck calling

Published 12:06 pm Monday, July 13, 2015

An Eva man was recently recognized for his job skills and his duck calling abilities.

Judson Crump, a sophomore at Wallace State, competed at the 51^st annual SkillsUSA National Competition in Louisville, Ky., after placing first in the state dial calpers competition. Despite his success, though, Crump’s true passion is duck calling.

“Duck hunting has always been my first love,” Crump said. “I was 5 years old when I first went duck hunting with my dad, so I’ve always been interested in duck calls. When I was about 15 or 16, I got aggravated that I wasn’t calling ducks very well, so one day I got on the computer and sat on YouTube for hours looking up stuff. I started practicing more and probably drove everyone crazy.”

According to Wallace state Tool and Die Instructor Jonathan Minyard, Crump, a machine tools student, has continued to be extremely dedicated to duck calling.

“It’s unusual if Judson isn’t toting a duck call with him,” Minyard said. “He’s the first student I’ve had who came here and told us that his plan is to make duck calls. That’s what he came here to do. You can see how passionate he is about things just by the professional competitions he enters.”

Crump has entered several duck-calling events at hunting and fishing expositions in Huntsville. He once placed in the top five, and he recently received first place at a competitions in Rainsville. Crump explained how a duck calling competition works.

“There is a time limit,” he said. “They usually judge you by your skill set, how well your routine is and how clean your note is. I’ve learned a lot at each one I’ve entered.”

Even though Crump is more interested in duck calling than machine tools, he stated that he believes that his machine tools degree is eventually going to enable him to pursue his passion through creating and manufacturing duck calls.

“I came to Wallace State just to make a duck call,” Crump said. “I was at the point where I didn’t know if I wanted to go to college, but I knew I didn’t want to work 70 plus hours a week in a chicken house. I watched a video of a guy making a duck call on YouTube and thought I could do that in machining. I saw a lot of opportunity. I still want to work in the machining field, get experience and learn stuff, but my goal is still to say I learned how to write the program on a CNC machine to design a duck call.”

Minyard believes that Crump’s dream is within his grasp.

“Judson has a good attitude and is a hard worker,” Minyard said. “He’s got a willingness about him to try anything we ask, and that will make him successful. If he’s rich one day from his duck calls, I hope he remembers us.”