Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting Avoid the vest?

My hunting style is not Run & Gun so I never bought a vest, but I'm considering it. I'm a transient drifter.

Currently I take one of my big canoe trip packs and throw in the chair that fits my rainy day blind or my collapsible fence blind and decoys and lunch. I tend to sit long and only move when I must. I'm fidgety at times so having cover helps me get birds.

So whats your non-vest only set up to see if its more light and mobile than mine. Or do I cave and get a vest...

I haven't used a vest in going on 20 years.

What I use is a "messenger bag" or, most recently, a "tactical bag." That carries my calls and my ammo and my license and tags. I attach a butt pad to it. It's light, and it does not weigh me down. When I wore a vest, I always felt like I was dragging the kitchen sink along. I probably was.

When I need more, I use a musette bag and carry it on the opposite shoulder. I can stuff my sweater or rain gear in it along with a thermos of coffee for cold mornings.

Most importantly both bags have the ability to be sloughed off easily. A lot of times, if I'm up moving around, and I find myself in close with a turkey, I don't want all that stuff hanging off of me. Both bags have buckles that allow them to drop off with no muss or fuss.

My dad carries a couple of calls and a small pillow as a seat cushion with a length of cord tied to it for a sling.

Also carries one of those slip over shotgun slings to pack his bird out, one loop over the feet and the other over the neck, pretty convenient way to pack one out.

Shotgun and a bottle of water.

Calls in one pocket of shirt jac and sling/water in the other.

Avoid the vest, Dinger.

It would offer some weather protection for you, but by the time you get done reachin and grabbin and unzippin and rezippin, lookin for what you want, youll be warmed up anyway.

Get a decent size camo waterproof bag, sling it over your shoulder and fill it up. Whatever yoire lookin for is in one of two zippered holes in that bag.

Vests always made me feel like the stay puft marchmallow man. Chit stuck all over em.

Gotta stay swift. Lean.

good point.

The zest I was looking at had just enough room for my two bigger decoys (primos gob stopper? sized somewhere in between cheap foam and bulky avion X) and it seems like you have to take the vest off anyways to get the decoys out.

Maybe a woman who can unsnap her bra while its on can get those decoys out... but not me.


My mid-april turkey hunts also start out cold in the morning either on snow or frst and then warm up so I'm packing a extra layer of clothing too.

Mine has a large pouch in the back that allows me to pack bagged turkey back to the truck. The vest is worth it to me for that feature!

I ditched the vest a decade or more ago.

Went to a small belt pack (fanny pack if you're gay and turn it 180 degrees) that holds a box call, a slate call and striker, a pack of wet butt wipes, a pen a couple zip ties, my license, 3 shotgun shells, a small piece of chalk, a mini tape measure and a square of ScotchBrite and sandpaper. What I actually carry is likely about 1/2 the size of what you are picturing in your mind right now. I hunt super light and portable.

I'm with you. I hunt large blocks of public ground. I may kill a bird 1/4 mile from the truck or it may be 4 miles cross rough steep country from the truck. Putting the gobbler in the vest leaves both hands open for climbing and descending steep hills and bluffs. I have room in the vest for water, venison snack sticks, a place to stow a shed layer when it warms up, map and compass, calls, comfy seat cushion, ect. A good vest definitely makes my hunts more comfortable.

Chest rig, and a pack if I am carrying more than one decoy.

I have a Haley Strategic chest rig, and another one I made from Condor pieces. In my chest rig, I carry a box call, a pot call, usually two strikers, a couple of mouth calls, rangefinder, a few spare shells, a .22 pistol, and a trauma kit with tourniquet, compression bandage, and Quik Clot. The chest rig is so easy...everything within immediate grasp, don't have to take it off and put it on when moving, and it can go over or under any sort of clothing. Easily one of the best things I have ever bought for turkey and predator hunting.

I have come to prefer the cheap Cherokee inflatable decoys. If I am feeling like a lone hen or jake kind of day, I will just throw a rolled up decoy in my pocket with the stake. If I need a tom, or a multiple bird spread, I will carry a small day pack with decoys and stakes. I have gone full circle on seats, from a cushion, to a low slung turkey chair, and back to a cushion now. Just easier to carry.

No vest for me- I use a camo fanny pack, which carries everything I need, including calls, knife, cord, bottle of water, and a couple of extra shells.

I cover alot of ground while turkey hunting and wouldn't dream of not having a vest. It works best for me.

This setup is near perfection for Turkey, Pigs, and Coyotes for me...Not me in the pic, I am not that cool.

Haley DC3R

I should clarify..........

I do own a vest. If I'm hunting where I think I may have to carry a bird out for miles, I'll wear it. But otherwise, it's been relegated to a hanger in the closet.

I almost went the chest rig route when i dismissed the vest. Back when the only chest rigs I could find where fly fishing ones.

Never took the plunge cause I was concerned about overly sweaty and shouldering interference.

May be time for reevsl in future.

I wear my chest rig a little low, about solar plexus level. It does not interfere at all with strong or weak hand shouldering issues, and so far sweat had been no issue.

those chest rigs look pretty handy. it would have to be low, but high enough to let my gut roll up.

If I can remember, I will try to get a photo of my rigged up for turkey, on and off.

I've started using my rigid frame back pack a lot more than a vest.

Collapsible fence blind? Is that any thing like an umbrella?

Its that blind material you buy in a roll about 3 foot tall and 12 foot long, but it has 5 collapsible tent poles in it to stake it in the ground and adjust the height. it rolls up to about 4 inch diameter and 20 inches long.

I can hide behind it, eat, run my box call, and read a book, because the turkeys cant see over it. It helps to be uphill of the decoys to so they dont see into you.

Here a link for it at Menards, but you can buy them at many places:

https://www.menards.com/main/outdoo...tid=1699516607050717966&&ipos=15

Looking forward to it