A 15-year-old from Batesville has made duck-calling history.
Batesville High School sophomore Hayes Kibe became the youngest winner in the 90-year history of the World’s Championship Duck Calling Contest, capturing the overall title Saturday in Stuttgart after first winning the Intermediate World Championship (ages 14–16) the day before.
Kibe’s weekend sweep marked another milestone in a competitive career that began well before his 2025 victories. Last year, as a ninth-grader at Batesville High School Charter, he secured his fourth consecutive first-place finish in his division at the 89th annual world contest, continuing a streak that started in 2021.
The World’s Championship Duck Calling Contest, held each Thanksgiving weekend in Stuttgart — long known as the “Duck Hunting Capital of the World” — began in 1936 and draws callers from across the country.
Echo Calls, which sponsors competitive callers, congratulated Kibe on social media for what it called a history-making performance.
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