The 2024 Callmaker of the Year Is a Young Gun

Winning one of several top-honor achievements awarded at the Grand National Callmaking Contest is excellent. Winning two is incredible. Winning three is phenomenal, especially if the call maker is still young enough to compete as a youth. And that’s precisely what Caden Roberts did.

Caden won first place in Category 9 - Other Friction Call and Striker. His call faced stiff competition from many highly decorated, longstanding callmakers, including an entry from Caden’s dad, Grand National champion call maker Brad Roberts, whose call placed second (or runner-up) to Caden.

“My winning entry was a pot call made of canarywood, with an anodized aluminum calling surface and a bloodwood striker,” Caden explained. “When crafting it, I felt confident I could make something special, hopefully, a call amazing enough to beat my dad.”

Once Caden built the call, he ran various strikers to see which sounded best. His dad listened, too, but that was the only help he gave Caden.

“My Dad heard the turkey sounds coming from the call and only said one word, ‘Wow,’” Caden remembered. “At that moment, I knew I was holding a special call.”

Caden’s Category 9 win qualified the call to be judged for higher overall honors. Those rounds of judging led to Caden’s call winning Best of Class II; The D.D. Adams Award, where his call beat out all the winners from the five friction-call categories; and Call Maker of the Year; the Charley Burke Award, where his call was selected as Best-of-Show, meaning the No. 1 call chosen out of all the winners from 19 other categories.

“Patience, practice and determination,” said Caden when asked what his dad taught him about building turkey calls. “Patience: not every call you make is guaranteed to sound good. Practice: I’ve made a lot of calls, and now I have a rhythm of how to make each call the best that I can. Determination: setting a goal and striving to achieve it. If you don’t make your best effort, it will be difficult, if not impossible.”

Due to his age of 17, his call was also judged against all the other best youth entries, and he was awarded the high honor of Outstanding Youth Hunting Turkey Call Maker of the Year. Caden is now a three-time winner of this title. He also won it in 2021 and 2020.

Although outshined by his son in 2024, Brad had an outstanding year at Grand Nationals. He won first and second place in Category 10 - Double-Sided Pot Call and Striker. He also won first and second place in Category 21 - Grand National Champion of Champions Friction Call, a stand-alone category limited to past D.D. Adams Award Winners. Brad won that title in 2022.

“Caden and I were blown away when we discovered he had won,” Brad said. “I remember him with a big smile, hugging me, and saying, ‘I did it,’ which was about beating me.”

At the auction, Caden’s call raised $1,050 for the NWTF’s mission work. Dad purchased it.

“This call was very special to our family for many reasons, and I was determined it was going to come home with us,” Brad said.

Brad had also entered the Grand National Calling Championships Friction Division and ran Caden’s call on stage during the finals. He placed second overall out of nearly 45 qualified callers, making that canarywood aluminum pot call even more special.

“My son is my greatest joy,” Brad said. “You can’t live life for your children; you can only teach them and let them go. But one thing is certain: if you don’t sow the seed, it will never grow. I tell Caden to put God first and work hard, and the rest will fall into place. Go do big things!”

Caden is now in college, focusing on digital media, animation and 3D modeling. He plans to continue making calls as much as possible to keep the tradition going.