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Campfire Outfitter
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@ humdinger.....
"... As far as turkey gear....
I'm not a good caller and I fidget so I use decoys, a chair, and fence blind to help me post for my birds. My only upgrades seem to be cutting weight and bulk to ease the hike. I've actually have come back around to cheap foam decoys for that reason. Lord knows a person needs a avian X decoy.
Everyone has their wants and needs. I laugh when my broke ass deer hunting buddies are retiring early and they can't understand why I am planning to go until Medicare pays my premium. Its too expensive to not look ahead and run the numbers. ..."
I'm not ever going to win any turkey calling championships any time soon either! LOL!
My "go to" is the fact that my turkey spot is small enough, I can scout it all a day or two prior to season, figure out where birds come out and set up ambushes.
A little judicious calling occasionally to hopefully pull a curious tom in and that's about it. LOL! But I still love it!
As for the retirement thing....
Gonna tell you a story.
My dad had over 40 years service on the job. Just after his 60th birthday, he had a heart attack.
I asked him why he didn't retire?
"If I retire now, I pay 75% of Medicare and the company pays 25%. If I retire at 61, the company pays 75% and I only pay 25%."
His biggest retirement goal was to, "...wet a hook in every lake in Texas!"
He had a massive, fatal coronary a month and a half before his 61st birthday!
At that point, MY goal was the very first possible moment I could retire, I was out!
We each have our own wants, goals and desires for retirement.
My advice is don't give up to much of "right now" for a "future" that may not be there!
Remember, each day you have is a day closer to your death date.
Morbid? Yeah, but it's the cold, hard, honest truth! 😐 Side story: My father and mother had an insurance business and he worked until he was 70, but Alzheimer's had a tight grip on him. My mom didn't drive. My dad just wanted to go work on his oversized hobby farm in retirement. We lived in town and farm was in the country so the drivers license was for him to go out to his happy place 7 miles away. Unfortunately the day after he retired, his doctor had informed the state of his condition and the sheriff came to the door to revoke his license. It was a relief to the family he wasn't driving and the small town network made retirement living workable. So flash forward to me... I told my wife I want to retire at 62 because Alzheimer's may get me.. Well my 3 years younger wife said she wants to go out at the same time. That's a lot of years of paying two premiums until Medicare pays... so I think I will be working to 65.
Other than that, How was the show Mrs. Lincoln?
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 11,378
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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I don't even know why I wear a vest, about the only thing in it I use is a slate call and/or a box call. I couldn't live without a chair similar to this though. After 15 years of turkey hunting sitting on the ground leaned against a tree, tree roots poking your butt wrong, wet ground, tree leaning wrong so its uncomfortable, after buying one of these its comfortable to sit for hours if need be. ![[Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]](https://i.postimg.cc/kM8g2mpj/chair.jpg)
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Joined: Dec 2016
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Campfire Tracker
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OP
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Cheesy, I used to turkey hunt in MO by my cousins southwest of Jefferson City. I sit on the ground, but would have liked a chair like that cause I don't like snakes! Lol!
It isn't what happens to you that defines you, it's what you DO about what happens to you that defines you!
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Illinois State Rifle Association member
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Campfire Savant
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Cheesy, I used to turkey hunt in MO by my cousins southwest of Jefferson City. I sit on the ground, but would have liked a chair like that cause I don't like snakes! Lol! Ticks, rattle snakes, gotta have a chair
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I used to wear snake boots when I hunted turkeys until I realized I never saw a venomous snake while turkey hunting.
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Joined: Dec 2010
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Cheesy, I used to turkey hunt in MO by my cousins southwest of Jefferson City. I sit on the ground, but would have liked a chair like that cause I don't like snakes! Lol! Ticks, rattle snakes, gotta have a chair I can't figure why anybody'd want to live in Texas. Hotter than the hinges to the gates of hell 8 months of the year. Pay out the ass to hunt anything. Venomous snakes, scorpions, spiders and thorns on everything so thick you can't walk around. I'd have no interest even visiting the place.
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Campfire Tracker
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Hot, yes. I watched an interview with an old German man who had been taken prisoner in the north African desert in WWII and sent to a POW camp in Texas. He said he was treated well, but that it was still miserable because it was hotter than the north African desert where he had been serving.
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Joined: Aug 2005
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Campfire Outfitter
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I don't even know why I wear a vest, about the only thing in it I use is a slate call and/or a box call. I couldn't live without a chair similar to this though. After 15 years of turkey hunting sitting on the ground leaned against a tree, tree roots poking your butt wrong, wet ground, tree leaning wrong so its uncomfortable, after buying one of these its comfortable to sit for hours if need be. What is it that makes these chairs sooo nice? I have an Alps grandslam vest with a kick stand chair / seat back and a thick pad, but it doesn't compare. My vest lets you unhook the shoulder straps so it turns into a chair that you can get out of... But that vest just nails my lower back. Maybe bum knees and age are catching up to me.
Other than that, How was the show Mrs. Lincoln?
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 9,891
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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Cheesy, I used to turkey hunt in MO by my cousins southwest of Jefferson City. I sit on the ground, but would have liked a chair like that cause I don't like snakes! Lol! Ticks, rattle snakes, gotta have a chair I can't figure why anybody'd want to live in Texas. Hotter than the hinges to the gates of hell 8 months of the year. Pay out the ass to hunt anything. Venomous snakes, scorpions, spiders and thorns on everything so thick you can't walk around. I'd have no interest even visiting the place. You're the devil and you own Hell and Texas.... So you live in Hell and rent out Texas.
Other than that, How was the show Mrs. Lincoln?
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Joined: Nov 2020
Posts: 4,528
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Nov 2020
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I don't even know why I wear a vest, about the only thing in it I use is a slate call and/or a box call. I couldn't live without a chair similar to this though. After 15 years of turkey hunting sitting on the ground leaned against a tree, tree roots poking your butt wrong, wet ground, tree leaning wrong so its uncomfortable, after buying one of these its comfortable to sit for hours if need be. What is it that makes these chairs sooo nice? Get one, take it hunting, sit in it, and when you wake up you'll know.
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Joined: Dec 2016
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Campfire Tracker
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OP
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I have one, stays at home, don't like carrying it...
It isn't what happens to you that defines you, it's what you DO about what happens to you that defines you!
NRA life member
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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I really don't want anything. I need hearing that "Gobble" at the crack of dawn! I'm hooked on it. 
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I really don't want anything. I need hearing that "Gobble" at the crack of dawn! I'm hooked on it. AMEN !!!!!!!!!!!!
Wollen nicht krank dein feind. Planen es.
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Joined: Dec 2002
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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As far as the chair thing, I started keeping some camo boat cushions at a few spots around the farm for the duration of the season. A chair confines me to shooting in a fairly narrow arc. Where I am, I have to be ready for a lot of backdoor action.
As to the want/need issue, I spent my early years doing turkey hunting on the cheap. I only got a couple of mornings a year. I repurposed a lot of my deer gear for spring. I just never got in the habit of spending a lot of money on the sport. The other issue was weight. Weighing myself down with a lot of gear didn't make sense when I was chasing gobblers up and down the ridges.
Then I started having success. I'm not saying staying light made me successful, but having success with a light load enforced the feeling of confidence. I never "needed" a lot of stuff to be successful, so I ended up not wanting it.
My message for years to the uninitiated was: There is no way you can spend your way to success. There is nothing that comes on a pegboard that will make you a better turkey hunter.
That's one of the reasons I never got along well with the Turkey Hunting Industry.
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Campfire Member
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I have back trouble and it’s getting worse the older I get. One year I told the wife I was going to have to quit turkey hunting because I couldn’t sit up against a tree anymore without a bunch of pain. So I quit for 2 days until I got a gobbler lounger chair. I put a dog collar around the top to hold it shut and put a good gun sling on it to carry it. It’s a pain in the butt but I couldn’t hunt with out it. So the chair is a need for me!!
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Joined: Dec 2010
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Posts: 19,229 |
My turkey hunting outfit consists of a high density foam type camo hot seat hooked on my belt, a mix match of camo bought mostly at yard/garage sales for peanuts, camo jersey gloves, net type camo face mask, a small selection of diaphragm calls in my shirt pocket and the same old blue/wood Crown Grade Mossberg 500 12 gauge with 28" vent rib barrel that has been my main/most used shotgun for killing everything from squirrels to pheasants to predators to turkeys to deer since I bought it new for 229.00 with both slug and bird barrels from Dick's back in 1996. I've never felt the need or want for anything more for killing turkeys.
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Campfire Tracker
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@ Blackheart "... I can't figure why anybody'd want to live in Texas. Hotter than the hinges to the gates of hell 8 months of the year. Pay out the ass to hunt anything. Venomous snakes, scorpions, spiders and thorns on everything so thick you can't walk around. I'd have no interest even visiting the place. ..." Helps keep the "top waters" out! LOL! Generally, Texas is divided into 10 natural regions or ecoregions: the Piney Woods, the Gulf Prairies and marshes, the Post Oak Savanah, the Blackland Prairies, the Cross Timbers, the South Texas Plains, the Edwards Plateau, the Rolling Plains, the High Plains, and the Trans-Pecos. https://tpwd.texas.gov/education/hu...e/wildlife-conservation/texas-ecoregions
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Joined: Dec 2010
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Campfire Ranger
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I'm just going by the descriptions and complaints I hear from Texans on these forums.
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I can't figure why anybody'd want to live in Texas. Stand in a pecan-lined west Texas river bottom at gobble time listening to 30 gobbling Rios on the limb and you'll understand MY draw to the Lone Star state.
Wollen nicht krank dein feind. Planen es.
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