CALEF HAS QUACK ATTACK THREE-TIME DUCK-CALLING CHAMP LOVES CRAFT; TO HOLD SEMINARS.

Byline: Keith Lair Staff Writer

One morning changed Barnie Calef's life.

Calef accepted an offer from a high school buddy to go duck hunting on a reservoir near his Coraville, Iowa, home. His father had taken him hunting for small game and turkey before but never waterfowl.

``A change in my life is exactly what happened,'' he recalled. ``I've never really looked at it that way, but that morning, I took on a sport that has dominated my life.''

Calef, a staff member with Hunter Specialties, last year became only the fourth person to win three World's Championship Duck Calling Contest titles. He will give a seminar at 6 p.m. at the Turner's Outdoorsman West Covina store, 357 N. Azusa Ave., on Friday. He will give the same seminar Saturday at Mike Raahauge Shooting Sports in Norco at 10 a.m. The event is free, but reservations are required. Reservations for the West Covina seminar can be made by calling [phone] and [phone] for the Norco show.

``I just loved it,'' Calef said of sitting in the Coraville marshlands as a 16-year-old. ``I loved watching the sun rise. I loved the sounds, I loved the smell of the marsh. What probably helped was that a flock of mallards came in right in front of us. At the time, I had no idea what that day has meant to me.''

Nowadays, the 42-year-old lives not too far from Coraville, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He will not miss a duck season and gives seminars throughout the U.S., although this will be his first in California.

``This is fun,'' he says. ``I'm definitely hooked on duck hunting and it is definitely an obsession. When the birds are flying, there are still nights before a hunt that I cannot get a wink of sleep.''

Entrants in the duck-calling contest must first win a state title before advancing to the world championships, held each year in Stuttgart, Ark. Calef won his first title in 1989 and did not win a second until 1999. He repeated in 2000 at the 65th annual contest. He joins three other champions who have won three titles and were forced to retire from the competition.

``The nice thing about it is that I don't have to practice anymore,'' he said.

He used a Buck Gardner custom hand-turned acrylic call to win the title last year. He said he likes the call because of its sharper sound and that it rarely changes with age.

``You have to have a rather healthy ego to compete in this,'' he said. ``I like the duck contest because unlike the goose and turkey championships, it is not diluted. There is only one main contest, the World's Championships. This is the Super Bowl of duck calling.''

Calef said he first began investigating duck calling and contests so that he could become a better hunter, something he says he hopes he can pass along at this week's seminars. In addition to his four titles, he has been in the world's top 10 eight times, won 13 state titles and won the 1999 K's Traditional Championship.

``Musically, you have to be perfect and let it flow,'' he says of the contest. ``Every competitor has won a championship. The contest is really competitive. I have a type-A personality and you certainly need it in that competition. You have to have a high level of expertise and you don't know what it is like to achieve that until you've done it.''

Calef admits that despite the necessity to practice 20 minutes each day, he did not practice before winning his final title last year. But the day before the championship he went to his garage and practiced.

``I was perfect the first time, so I quit and went back in the house.''

Calef says he expects to be asking as many questions as he answers this week.

``This will be a totally different experience for me,'' he said. ``You may have situations where I might have questions. I'm expecting to learn something.''

In addition to Calef, Department of Fish and Game, California Waterfowl Association and Federal ammunition representatives will be present. There will also be drawings for prizes.