When different gear/equipment is talked about for the use of turkey hunting, no doubt "want" far exceeds "need". I "want" a certain gun, because you sure don't "need" a modern shotgun to kill a turkey and anything that takes a shell is a modern gun. I "want" camo, I "want" decoys, I "want" a portable ground blind, I "want" a stool or chair to sit on, I "want" a satchel instead of a vest, I don't "want" expensive shells... you get the idea. About the only thing I think you "need" is a valid tag/license.

So, every post about any certain type of gear/equipment, there's always the you don't "need" that crowd. Please remember, just about all of this is "want". And especially the crowd that says, or infers, that if you don't use what they do, there's something wrong with you. The beauty in all of this, is that you can make it what you "want". Go as far as you "want" it to.

I "want" to post the imogy of the guy winking his eye and the thumbs up imogy, but I don't "need" to, so I won't.

Did I "need" to be an ass about this? No, but I "wanted" to.

So... flame on! If you feel you "need" to!

I need everything I want. NEED!

Want vs need is something most can't differentiate these days. That's why you find people think they need a 3000 sq. ft. house with only 2-4 people living in it and the electric/heat bills to go with it, new cars and smart phones for everyone, a TV in every room with a 60 incher in the den, 6 freezers, a new gun every time they buy a loaf of bread etc. etc.... Then they'll bitch that they can't afford to retire till they're 78.5 years old. I thank God my dad raised me to be frugal and practical. Course he knew all about being frugal and practical with six of us living in a 1500 sq. ft. house in a singe income household. Funny thing I never felt cramped and we always had what we needed if not everything we wanted.

About 6 years ago, I pared down a 15 pound turkey hunting vest to about 8 pounds.
Until I started through it, I had no idea just how much "crap" I was hauling around.
Out in my storage shed, there is a nearly brand new set of "Pretty Boy/Pretty Girl" Knight & Hale turkey decoys!
I ain't hauling that stuff around anymore! 😐

But I've also gotten to the age where "want" isn't as important as it used to be and "need" is beginning to turn into "necessity"! LOL!

P.S. - I STILL have lot's of wants, not all of them connected to chasing "thunder chickens"! LOL!

I hear you there MS! Lol!

Blacheart, I grew up, 5 of us, in an 1,100 sq ft house with 1 bathroom. We didn't have a whole lot of wants, but just about had everything we needed! Both my parents were depression era survivors, I was very content with my third time hand me downs. Thought I was king of the world when my grandpa got me a banana seat for my bycicle, lol. Wouldn't trade my upbringing for anything!

I don't begrudge anyone anything, unless my money paid for it. Like some lazy ass collecting welfare when they can work, or paying someone's student loan. But if someone wants to spend that last nickel they earn and not save a penny for retirement, more power to them. Me? I've been blessed that I can do both, save for needs and wants. If my circumstances ever change, I'll make adjustments. Until then, I'll buy what I want that I can afford without incurring any debt and that's that. Nobody's business but mine.

I hang out on both ends of that spectrum.

Spent 17 years in a for-schidt 1100 ft, 8-room farmhouse and swore that when the day came I left it, I'd never, EVER be cramped again. So, me and Momma and 2 teenagers now reside in a 3200 ft ranch and I haven't had to pull my elbows in to get anywhere in over 4 years. I don't care WHAT the heating or electric bills are.

My daily driver, however...............is a 190K mile Silverado and until 4000 pounds of spruce tree broke off in a wind storm and crushed the bed........... I was hoping for ANOTHER 190K miles. Now, I'm kinda in a pickle of "need".

As far as my turkey hunting goes................. I'm a box call addict. Probably not in my best interest here to say how many I have accumulated. But, I've told my wife that if I croak before her, she'll LOVE my auction. 97% of them have never seen the woods, nor will they. My turkey gun for the last 5 years (with ZERO plans to change, going forward, EVER) cost me about $150. All my prior dedicated turkey guns (5 or 6 or 7 of them) are still in the safe.............maybe to go out a day somewhere as a nostalgia thing. What I take to the woods on any given hunt is only what I need. My belt pack doesn't total a pound, fully loaded. My stool goes down over the barrel of my slung shotgun. And my shooting stick doubles as a walking stick. I wear a good pair of quality boots and my camo is a name-brand pattern on quality garments....... but nothing special.

Sounds like we grew up similarly. I'm most thankful that I grew up in the country with a few thousand acres to hunt, fish and trap right out the back door and had the freedom to do it.

good post

I couldn't agree with you more on this!!!

HS 58

That's why we turned out normal.

I used to get up at 3:30 AM and put 3-4 miles on the farm tractor (I was 2-3 years too young for a driver's license) running fox and coon traps.

Builds character.

I too had a vest I hauled around that was weighted down with crap. Most of the time now I carry a face mask, gloves, call, and maybe 2 or 3 extra shells, and a pair of bino's.
Oh and a zip tie to attach my tag with.
I have a LOT of crap that needs to go as it is just taking up space in my basement, but I NEEDED it at the time.....

Oh, I do carry an chair and pad sometimes because I "want it" not because I "need it". I can tell you my butt sure is much happier when I carry them....

Well I didn't have a tractor but I got up a couple hours early to go check traps before school. My parents didn't buy me any guns or ammo when I was kid but fur money did.

Yep.

At 11 years old I was the richest kid in my class. My entire sporting year revolved around my fur check. When XXL coon are $25-$30 ........gray fox are $45 and reds are $50-$70, a kid who knew how to work steel could make SERIOUS bank for the 1970's standards.

Bought a brand new Savage 99C and Redfield 3-9 with my own money at 12 years old and a brand new Winchester 1200 the next fall.

The first one I bought was a Marlin model 989M2 semi auto .22. Got it from the hardware store in town for 59.95. Next was a Mossberg 500 12 gauge with bird and slug barrels. Killed my first legal buck and a shytload of small game and birds with that one. The following year I bought a Winchester 94 .30-30 for my first deer rifle, then an Ithaca 49 .22magnum and a Remington 591 5mm rimfire mag. for woodchucks. I still have the Marlin 989M2. It still shoots good and I use it frequently for small game to this day.

IIRC............ the Redfield Widefield 3-9 was $139. And that was either $10 more or $10 less than the Savage 99C at that time.

P.S. I've got a pair of 5mm's. LOVE them !!!!!!

I put a 2-7x Tasco on my 5mm and had a Weaver D4 on the .22 some of the time { Liked it for squirrels but took it off for rabbits in front of my beagle, yes I could kill them on the run with it}. Beyond that I couldn't figure why anybody'd need a scope to shoot a great big critter like a deer. Probably killed 50 or 60 of them, a few at well over 200 yards with the iron sighted .30-30 and slug gun {we lived close to the rifle/shotgun zone line and I hunted both sides of it} before I ever shot one with a scoped rifle. I still use a .30-30 as my main woods rifle for deer but today it's a Marlin with 1-4x20 Leupold. The eyes just ain't what they used to be.

I've gone through several estates lately and finally In process of doing my mom's farm. Every time I would be up there cleaning clutter (tools, household stuff... not really hoarding) I come back and purge stuff in my place.

But I am a gear junky and design type person so I am optimizing all the time. I part with gear to my deer shack kids so they can enjoy it and I am keeping what I use. Going on the retirement ramp down even if I have several years to go.

The worst want... We split the family farm up and I didn't want the portion I bought, but I did it so my brother could afford his. At least its an investment.

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.

@ 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.

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.

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 used to wear snake boots when I hunted turkeys until I realized I never saw a venomous snake while turkey hunting.

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.

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.

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.

You're the devil and you own Hell and Texas....

So you live in Hell and rent out Texas.

Get one, take it hunting, sit in it, and when you wake up you'll know.

I have one, stays at home, don't like carrying it...

They are heavy.

I really don't want anything. I need hearing that "Gobble" at the crack of dawn! I'm hooked on it.

AMEN !!!!!!!!!!!!

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.

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!!

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.

@ 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

I'm just going by the descriptions and complaints I hear from Texans on these forums.

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.

Only time I've been to Texas, was driving on I40 out to Arizona for some desert mule deer bowhunting. And that stretch of I40 through Texas in January, is nothing to see! It was cold and the wind was blowing! And yes, I kept singing "Amarillo By Morning..." Lol!

What was the temperature, how many poisonous critters do you have to dodge and how much do you have to pay to hunt ?

I think I'd pay to do that at least once Yoder...

Spending several thousand dollars a year on lease fee's and deer feed just to sit in a box blind and shoot a few deer and pigs doesn't sound the least bit appealing to me but apparently Texans don't mind it.

Not what I'm talking about Blackheart. But if that's what someone "wants" to do....

I knew it wasn't what you were talking about. Just a general statement. I don't think most Texans feel they have much choice if they want to hunt though. It's pay for those exorbitant lease fee's and feed or don't hunt.

Several years ago, I went scouting for turkeys.
In an Oklahoma pecan grove bottom, I watched 6 toms in a sparring match. What a racket!
The bird in my avatar was one of the six.
I saw where the birds came into the field and figured, "Opening day, I'll be set up in that little draw over there!"

Opening day rolls around and I'm all hunched up next to a willow tree with my shotgun over a dead cottonwood.

I sit in the dark and wait, and I wait, and I wait! Nothing!
Way off in the distance, I finally hear a gobble!
Then all hell breaks loose!
Yikes! I've set up "UNDER" their roost and there had to be at least 10 to 12 gobblers!

BTW! My avatar IS NOT a Merriam's, it's a Rio backlit by the sun!
I call it my "Neon Tom" picture!

This was 2015, I believe.

Morning temps were in the 50's.........maybe lower 60's. I relieved one d-back of his noggin with my Gerber. Saw 2 others. Was at the same place another year and never saw a toothy snake. Just don't sit down in thick grass if you can help it and watch where you put your hands down. The hunt was 3 days. Guide dropped me off an hour before gobble time and picked me up when I called him. The outiftter's lease was 26000 acres out of a 280,000 acre ranch. It was pure turkey hunting. In 2 trips there and a TON of walking, I never saw an active corn feeder except in the front yard of the lodge house. And those birds were STRICTLY off limits.

3 days hunting (2 bird hunt), lodging and home-cooked meals cost me $1350. We drove. If you flew, the price included pick-up and drop-off at the San Angelo airport.

Yikes, pretty steep price for a couple birds and a few home cooked meals. I doubt I spent that much for the last 40 deer I killed. Most of my hunting is done within 10 miles of home and a good bit right out the back door. I know I killed six last season and spent less than 200.00 total for license/tags, ammo and gas. Would have been less but I went to my buddies camp a couple times and that's an hour away. The rifles I used more than paid for themselves in venison long ago. If I were going to spend 1300.00 to hunt turkeys the limit would need to be 50 birds and the lodging needs to include hookers and blow. LOL

To each his own, I reckon. 😉

Six is a pretty solid spring !!! 😉👍 What states did you hunt ??

I want to hunt 7-9 states every spring, but don’t need to hunt more than 3-4.

Never shot six turkeys in the spring but being frugal like I am, I have killed two with one shot. Twice.

Hey, FF !!!!!!!!! Good to see ya around !!!

Up until this year, I never considered any more than 2 or 3 states per spring. But, it appears that retirement MAY be a possibility for me in the foreseeable future.............. I may become a bit more of a roadie from here on out.

How do you find the time ? Spring is a busy time on a Christmas tree farm planting and fertilizing. How many seedlings do you plant each year and how many trees do you have to fertilize ?

Some things you MAKE the time for.

Generally, everything we have to do in the spring is completed a month or more before our season starts. We plant 3K to 6K per year. Fertilizing is on an as-needed basis. That generally happens late February or early March.

Winters must be quite a bit shorter where you are than here. We couldn't start planting and fertilizing until April. February and March the ground is generally frozen and covered with snow here.

Quite often fertilizing is done with snow on the ground. Melting snow leaches it in.

Being retired I have lots of time. Met a guy back in Dec. We both were in Idaho trying to get the 23 elk tags, he has 7k acers in Kansas. Said I'm more than welcome to hunt it this spring. Headed for Missouri on 4/13 and plan of sliding over to Kansas for a bit.

Mr. Yoder how ya been?? I just got banned from Gobblernaton. Reason they gave me was, I was trying to sell TSS. When all I did was mentioned, I knew a guy selling 18g stuff for 42.00 a pound. Old Brice got his panties in a bunch I guess...

FullFan
I know several that got ban from there because of selling TSS. Brice does not like competition and is big buddies with Tommy. I am a member there and don't go there much as I figure I would get banned for knowing and being friends with some that sold TSS.

Fullfan----You're Welcome here !!

What do those idiots sell? I know TSS, is there a brand name? Want to make sure I don't buy any!

I was better years ago. 😁

But doing OK. I just registered on G-Nation a week or two ago. Seems like a pretty lame site, in general.

Been starting to do a little intel on NY and OH. Thinking there may be a couple of 3-day trips this spring.

Agree bunch of clown at GN. Sometimes the short 3-5 days trips are the best. Hunt several states in short hints can be very productive

Foxtrot Ammo

Never heard of those folks. Thought I'd look 'em up!

HOLY GUACAMOLE! Are they outta their ever loving minds! 🤯

I've bought exactly 10, T-E-N, one naught, TSS rounds.
Paid $6/ea for 10 three inch .410 rounds with #9 TSS.
Only reason I bought them was because I couldn't find standard 3" ammo with #9 shot. Heck, I can't even find three inch .410 ammo, much less with #9's!

Once I get the nerve up to shoot the remaining 8 I won't ever buy any more! (I shot 2 for patterning purposes!)

I'm a hard core lead shot freak! I gave up waterfowl with the lead shot ban.
The lead shot ban is just another government hoax by anti hunters!

If lead shot is all you "want" to use, by all means, have at it! Not an issue. By now, everyone knows TSS shot is expensive. But also, more and more people are finding out how well it performs and are willing to pay the price for it, they "want" to use it. Performance has always been expensive, no matter what that performance is, it comes at a higher price. TSS performance really shines in a sub-bore making me "want" to use it in my 20ga. And for the couple few shots a year, to me, it's worth every penny.

If anyone WANTS or NEEDS some, Mack's Prairie Wings has .410 Winchester Double X 3" #7.5 copper plated LEAD turkey loads available. Don't see that too often.

https://www.mackspw.com/Winchester-...antity=1&custcol_macks_ammo_size=104

I'm thinking I "want" some more/new mouth calls. Found these guys last year and really like their mouth calls. Not familiar with their other calls, my buddy had some of their mouth calls and I like their sound.

https://www.phelpsgamecalls.com/collections/phelps-turkey/?lang=en_US