Master of the duck call

Mankato man is nat’l duck calling champion, four-time state champ

By Scott Thoma

Anderson has been hunting ducks since he was 8 years old. He and his youngest son, Hunter, had a successful hunting trip last year. Contributed photos

A duck call given to him by his father as a youth eventually turned into Mike Anderson of Mankato becoming a world champion duck caller.

“A duck call is very much like a woodwind instrument,” Anderson said. “You have to practice a lot to get good at it.”

Anderson, also a four-time state duck calling champion, grew up in Brainerd in northern Minnesota and has always been an outdoor enthusiast. He started hunting ducks at age eight. A year after graduating from Brainerd High School, Anderson and a buddy were watching a VHS tape of the 2000 World Duck Calling Championship and felt confident that he could compete with a little practice.

He purchased an acrylic duck call for $130 and watched the VHS tape with his buddy “until we wore the tape out.”

In 2001, he entered a state competition at Swan Lake in Nicollet, but the results weren’t what he expected.

Mike Anderson competing at the World Duck Calling Championship in 2009 in Stuttgart, AK. Contributed photo

“I was terrible,” Anderson admitted. “I got one of the low scores and knew I needed to practice a lot more.”

In 2009, Anderson won the Illinois River Regional and qualified for the world tournament in Stuttgart, Arkansas, where he finished first out of 67 competitors from across the country. That achievement made him the first caller from Minnesota to become world duck calling champion, a mark that still stands today.

For his win, Anderson received $8,000 in cash, a duck boat, a world champion diamond ring, a trophy, and other prizes. The total package value was around $20,000.

The next year as defending world champion, Anderson had another impressing performance, finishing 10th overall.

Anderson and his wife, Jill, have three children — Ben, 25; Anna, 19; and Hunter, 10. When Ben started getting active in traveling baseball in the summer, his father took a 10-year hiatus from competitive duck calling.

Mike Anderson, his wife Jill, and their youngest son Hunter, share a moment together on stage after he placed sixth in the World Duck Calling Championship in November 2025 in Stuttgart. Contributed photos

Upon returning, he seemingly picked up right where he left off, finishing an impressive sixth among 65 others last November in the World Duck Calling championships in Stuttgart, a town in which duck calling is paramount.

“Now that I’m one of the old guys, it’s harder to compete against younger guys, so I was pleased with how I did last year,” said Anderson 46, a third-generation elevator mechanic in Mankato for the past 27 years, as well as the New Ulm varsity baseball coach the past two seasons.

The duck calling competition is scored by five judges who are seated behind a panel so they’re unable to view the competitors.

Scoring is determined from a 90-second routine by each of the callers, first calling the ducks from a distance, then a feed call, then a retreat call as if the ducks have flown off, and then a greeting call.

A competitor is allowed to warm up first, then gives a quick nod when he is ready to start and the timer begins.

“It’s a 90-second routine that I’ve practiced so many times I know exactly when it’s 87 seconds,” Anderson said. “You try to execute what you practice, note by note, because you get disqualified if you go over 90 seconds.”

The high and low scores are thrown out and after each round, a predetermined number of callers are eliminated until there are 11 remaining. Awards are then given to 10 places, plus the overall champion.

“When we first start, we draw numbers to see what order you will call in,” said Anderson. “We sit in a bullpen area. I try to relax by drinking some water. When I’m about the third or fourth one coming up, I get in line. I always say a prayer to keep me focused and to blow clean.”

Anderson on stage with the other finalists from the 2009 World Duck Calling Championship in Stuttgart, Arkansas. Contributed photos

After the three rounds are completed, callers making the finals gather on stage for the awards ceremony.

“I was thrilled just to be in the finals,” said Anderson. “After each name was called, I kept wondering if I had a chance.”

When it came down to the final two, Anderson put his head on the other finalist’s shoulder — Tyler Merritt of Arkansas — and tears welled up in his eyes.  The name of the first runner-up was then called, leaving Anderson as the champion. Family and friends immediately rushed up on stage and mobbed him.

In all, Anderson has qualified for the World Duck Calling Championships several times through state or regional competition.

“It never gets old,” he said. “Last year, I probably practiced two hours a day for three weeks leading up to the tournament. I’m already excited for next year.”