Eric Morken: How much gear is too much gear for the mobile turkey hunter? – Outdoor News
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As someone who loves to run and gun for turkeys, I often find myself questioning how much gear is too much gear to bring into the field.
I’m not a true minimalist. You don’t need decoys to shoot turkeys, but I’m a sucker for the experience of shooting a bird over a decoy when it all goes to plan.
It’s an exhilarating hunt being stuck motionless against a tree with a bow in your hand, waiting for a strutting tom 10 yards away to provide a chance to draw and get an arrow off. Because of that, I tend to carry a decoy or two with me during most of my hunts.
There’s also a fine line between having what you need and wishing you had left something back at the truck two hours into a hunt.
Here is what I’ll bring into the turkey woods this spring that helps me quickly go after birds while also feeling like I am equipped for whatever the day might throw at me.
Pack
The Equinox Turkey Vest from Sitka Gear is built with the run-and-gun hunter in mind at less than three pounds of weight, but it has pocket space for all my essentials.
I carry a box call, two pot calls, two strikers and three mouth calls in my vest within the water-resistant pockets — all positioned for easy access in the front. There is plenty of pocket space left for tags, snacks, water, shells, etc.
The back pockets hold decoy stakes and a jacket when it’s time to shed a layer. The straps are highly adjustable so the vest fits snug. The seat cinches up tight when you’re on the run and goes down quickly when it’s time to set up.
There’s no loose material with this pack. Like nearly everything Sitka produces, it’s a well-thought out piece of gear.
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Calls
I carry glass and slate friction calls, but mouth calls and my box call are the calls I utilize the most.
They all have their place. The slate works well for softer purrs and yelps, while louder cuts and yelps on the glass travel well through wind. The same goes for a box call, which I love utilizing in combination with my mouth calls to mimic the presence of two separate hens.
I have used Woodhaven mouth calls in recent years with very few complaints. I get good sound out of them, but I like to experiment with different mouth calls due to how inexpensive they are.
I have a right channel of air when blowing a mouth call, which means I use a call where the gap in the top reed is cut on the right side of the call. Read this story for more information on why identifying your channel of air is important.
I recently bought three mouth calls from Minnesota call-maker Shane Simpson — the prodigy Pro R, prodigy elite R, and the 3-reed combo cut.
Simpson uses smaller tape when building his calls. That small profile on the call makes for a better fit to my palate, which has made working these calls simple. I am getting great sound with both aggressive and soft calling.
Decoys
I invested in a mating hen and 3/4-strut jake from Dave Smith Decoys ahead of the 2024 season after years of wondering if they were worth the price.
From the paint job to the body posture of the birds, they are very realistic looking decoys. That said, I did not notice a huge difference from the Avian-X decoys I used during prior years in their ability to pull in birds.
There were toms that hung up, which is just what you get. When decoys work, toms will put on an incredible show, but there are simply birds that seem to react negatively to the presence of a decoy.
I am thinking of adding the mating motion jake decoy to pair with the mating hen. The hand-operated motion with this decoy allows you to create movement, which might make a difference on some of those wary gobblers.
These are hard-body decoys that do not fold up or inflate, so don’t expect to fit them in a small pack. I often carry both in the bag that they come in from DSD.
Make sure to think about safety if carrying decoys on property where you could run into other hunters.
Bow or gun?
This is the question I always wrestle with in my home state of Minnesota.
Hunting with a bow gives me a much longer season to hunt, but there are multiple times each spring that a turkey gets by unscathed because I didn’t have a gun in my hands.
I bought a Stevens single-shot .410 ahead of the 2024 season for my daughter to use. This winter, I put a Vortex Venom red dot on it and may use the gun myself this spring with Federal No. 9 TSS loads.
The gun weighs just five pounds — perfect for a mobile hunter — and using a gun would allow me to focus more on calling for friends and family in Minnesota.
An out-of-state hunt in South Dakota will allow me to hunt with my bow, and I am going to try Iron Will’s new turkey and small game broadhead this spring.
I trust Iron Will’s single bevel broadheads for deer hunting after multiple years of use. I’m intrigued by a fixed blade built for turkey hunting like this that I can resharpen to kill multiple birds with the same head.
Clothing
Anyone who turkey hunts in northern states understands how much the woods change from the start of the season to the end.
It’s not unheard of to hunt in snow in mid-April with little to no foliage. By season’s end in late May, the woods are a sea of green. The camo I wear for deer hunting in Sitka’s Elevated II and Subalpine patterns work well for turkeys during the early through midseason.
Staying still and timing your movements will fill a lot of tags. But matching camo patterns to the surroundings becomes even more important when bowhunting for turkeys where birds are often very close for long periods of time before getting a chance to draw a bow.
Sitka released its Optifade Cover pattern in the fall of 2024. It features darker tones for better concealment in green settings.
I’ll wear the core lightweight hoody, Ambient 100 hooded jacket and Traverse pant during the late season. All of these are perfect for a mobile approach in the woods with regards to comfort and the ability to adjust from cool to hot temperatures.
The Ambient jacket is one of my favorite pieces of clothing for both deer and turkey hunting. It is incredibly comfortable, takes the chill off during the early morning and then folds up into a small package to easily fit into a pack when the day warms.
