Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting What do you carry ???

It's a Killer

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I try to travel light
gun
shells
few mouth calls
gloves
face mask
TP
bino's
locator call
water or soft drink
Pack of peanut butter and crackers

Carry everything in a vest in the cooler start of the season, switch to a belt type vest when it gets hot.
Both have a padded seat on them

About like me except I don't need the toilet paper or snacks. Turkey huntin is a half day affair here { legal huntin ends at noon} and I don't usually eat anything till lunch time anyway. Thankfully I'm also very regular and unless I'm sick only need to shyt once a day. Dump a load right after my morning coffee and I'm good to go.

Still using the Mossy Oak vest I got about 40 years ago, been stitched up and repaired multiple times. In its pockets I carry my gloves, good ol steel handled pruners (keep breaking the handles on the ratcheting pruners), a smaller folding tree saw, my mouth calls, a knife and some Snickers bars. In the game carrier back part of the vest, a couple bottles of water, TP and a mesh bag with a shoulder strap to use carrying a bird out. The vest has a pad on it that swings down when you unsnap the top. Most of the time I use green Army pants and the big leg pockets might hold a PBJ samich or two... Shells are just the 3 in the gun, an 870 20ga.

Turkey vest with padded seat
Extra shells 4-6 or so
Pot call
Box call
Couple diaphragm calls
Binoculars sometimes
Granola or some bar/snack
Water sometimes
Tp
License/tags
Twist tie for tag
Gloves
Facemask
Knife in my pocket always, hunting or not
Phone
Small light or headlight
Chalk/scratch paper

Pretty basic. I've carried a second pot call at times, but not in recent years. Gave up on locator calls and gobble shakers years back too.

An old vest with a pouch on the back that can carry binos & rangefider which I take out and lay by my side when I sit down. In the vest a couple of calls of course, chalk, Nab or cookie, a homemade handle with cord attached to vest for carry of bird, mask & gloves on pockets of pants, 3 extra shells, a 4lb chair on by shoulder, a pair of snips for trimming, small bottle water….that is about it. Gun is a 20 ga Fieldmaster 870 new this year…TSS handloads # 9. Have been traveling light as I can past few years and always looking for ways to go lighter. Most of calling is done with diaphragm so no movement if he getting close. My grandson has finally learned to use one pretty good and he ready this year. Got his first last year sitting by himself.

Here's my load-out:

Mossberg 500 12 GA w. Carlson's Dead Coyote choke
6 rounds of Federal 12 GA 3-inch 2 OZ #4

I gave up on a vest 20 years ago. I was taking too much. I carry a messenger bag over one shoulder and a musette bag on the other.

In the Messenger bag:

Calls:

1 Box call
2 Scratch pots w. 4-6 strikers
1 Push Pin
up to 6 mouth calls

Non-call stuff:

Ammo
Emergency Whistle
Lockback knife
License, tags, and pen for filling out same.
Pin-on compass
Flashlight, 3 AA cell, with change of batteries
2 small foam pads– 1 for back, 1 for butt, attached to bag with carabiners

In the musette bag:
Digital Audio Recorder
Sweater
poncho
walkie talkie– I switch to a cellphone when I’m all alone
Toilet Paper
4×6 leaf-cut camo blind –2sided camo (brown/green)
coffee thermos
a snack-- usually peanuts

Here's how it all looked after I took my last gobbler.



I keep that boat cushion out there all season. I have several that I pre-position in my favorite haunts.

Oh I knew I was forgetting something, I also carry a Gobbler Lounger chair. I cut the little factory strap off and put a rifle sling on it. That makes a world of difference in how it carries.

Yeah............ I just re-read my list.

Forgot my rangefinder. Case goes on my belt. Helps to make you NOT the guy who "underestimated the distance".

And, I carry my phone.

I carry one of these sometimes, too. HS Strut seat with folding legs. The peg les will sink into soft ground up to the horizontal tubes between the legs then it will stabilize. The factory strap is jut plain akward and I ct mine off and replaced it with a piece of nylon rope.

https://www.hsstrut.com/product/strut-seat/

Last year I bought one of these that was on sale for cheap. It's a little heavy but it's very comfortable.

https://www.amazon.com/ALPS-OutdoorZ-Vanish-Chair/dp/B0B72GBWHX

I always forget something anymore! Add my binos in a chest rig (just the elastic straps, not a pouch) and my phone for the camera. I consider it a win lately when I walk into a room and remember why I went into it! Lol!

You ain't alone, brother !!!

Main thing is toilet paper

Varies.

This year, it’s gonna be less as over the holiday I gave my decoys and fancy-azz turkey vest to my grandson. I picked up a cushion that has backpack straps and will hold a few things like a water bottle, or rain jacket.

No more hunting loaded down like a coolie.

FORTUNATELY.....I think.....the places I hunt I've hunted enough to "know" ranges from my favorite ambush sites.
Due to old injuries, I don't (can't) "run & gun". I just set up an ambush and call.
I'll go in preseason and scout where the birds are coming from. Turkeys are "relatively" predictable.

I had a 20 gauge with the Choatte stock like this and it was cool. I kept a survival kit in the back and carried it on my ATV.

The shotgun sucked so I sold it and wish I could have kept the stock.

Reading this, I carry too much stuff because I start out cold in the morning and stay out all day. It's MN weather so you dress for winter / spring / and summer and need somewhere to ditch layers.

Pack a lunch too.

I tried a kick stand vest and hated pulling the rug out from under my azz when getting up. Also hated reaching around for items in the pack.

Now I have a separate chair and my BWCA food barrel pack I flop down. It leaves me plenty of room to pack out a bird.

Add a book, fence style blind, and decoy and I'm a pinch point poster who occasionally moves.

Pinch Point Poster. Good description. That’s how I spent opening day last year. Alas, the two gobblers I saw stayed up above the pinch.

One other thing I carry is a Zoleo satellite tracker, my leash as the wife calls it, so they know where to find the body…..

Pinch point is about right. I hunt a lot of waterfowl production a waterfowl production areas (WPA) so you get a thin edge of trees by sloughs so the birds get funneled there.

I've done the morning sit and move to only hear a bird gobble at my old spot.

The areas also get enough pressure that they really don't respond to owl or crow calls so running and gunning isn't real effective for me.