Top 5 MUST HAVE Items for Turkey Hunting (Spring 2022)

Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in today. I'm Chris with Afflicted Broadheads, and today we're gonna talk about my top five must-haves for your turkey vest. So there's some things here that are common sense, but they're also things that are often overlooked, maybe forgotten in a hurry, but are all kind of vital, at least to me. So when people call and they say, hey, what do I need to have? What are my must-have items that I should not be without in the turkey woods? Here's the top five. The first thing I wanna talk about is locator calls. I have forgotten them many times, and just wish so bad that I had had my locator call. In the mornings, I love my woodpecker locator call, but I use the owl mostly between this and some other owl calls that I have. That really helps me while they're still on the roost, it's still dark. It's a good location method. Some guys like to use other calls. Some guys will even use coyote calls. Negative, I really don't think it's a good idea when turkeys are getting ready to fly down for them to be on alert for coyotes. They know what that sound means. They know it's danger. So for me personally, a coyote locator call is off the table when it comes to turkey hunting. Another locator call that I use all day long is a good, loud crow call. And the reason I use this, if I'm running and gunning, if I'm moving, maybe I'm coming out of the woods into a field or a blind corner or making a turn on a path, and you don't know there's birds there, you can simply hit that crow call and get them to give away their location while you're moving around so you don't have that instance which I'm sure almost all of you have had where you come around the bend or you walk up over a hill and oops, there's the birds. There they busted me and there they go. So having a good crow call in your vest at all times throughout your hunt is a good idea. And so it is probably one of the most important things that I always double check before I go out the door when it comes to my turkey hunt. The next thing that I like to have all the time, no matter what, is a comfortable chair. I love the low lounging turkey seats. Doesn't matter if you are running and gunning, if you plan on being stationary, if you, whatever you plan on doing, something you can throw on your back to make sure you're comfortable. My body is not suited to those little foam pads that are attached to the turkey vest. Now, some of them I know are really thick and really nice, but even my legs go numb after a long sit on those cushions. So I'm very partial to making sure that I have a turkey chair, a lounge, low riding chair, so I'm low to the ground and it's light and portable and I'm comfortable. I can just comfortably sit quiet and most of all be motionless because we know that one of the turkey's primary defense mechanisms is their eyesight. We have a great video on that, by the way. If you haven't watched it, look through our video list. The video on turkey eyesight is there and it's an excellent video to help you know how they see and what a difference it can make for your hunting. The third thing that I like to make sure that I have all the time that I have forgotten and come home for is my license, tag, and a pen to fill it out. I always have a pouch in my vest. This also has my map, my permission slips. It's got a pen and a backup pen and something to attach my tag and then my license and tag are with my ID and my wallet. But there's been times I've forgotten that and I've forgotten a pen and in the states that I hunt, it's not a notch tag system. You have to fill it out with pen. If you forget your pen and you attach your tag to your turkey and you're walking to the truck and the game warns it's your truck, even though that tag is on the turkey, if it's not filled out, it's not legal and you're liable to get yourself in trouble. So something as simple as having a pen can be very important so don't forget some of the little things when you're packing your turkey vest. Another very important thing that I often forget is conditioning for my calls. The night before I go on a hunt, I've sanded, I've done chalk, I've done everything, but then you get into circumstances, so maybe there's wet weather, maybe you're doing a lot of calling and you've really rounded off your striker or really abused an area of your call. If you don't have the resources to quickly get in to condition your call back, whether that's Scotch-Brite pad, whether you're using a piece of sandpaper, you need to have that available to keep your call in the best sounding condition that you can. And also along with that is chalk. So whether you're using a box call, a scratch box type call, any type of friction call that requires chalk, you wanna make sure that you're able to get your calls in optimal sounding tones while you're in the woods. And if you don't have it, you can't use it. And that can be very frustrating if you have that one call that the gobblers are responding to and now all of a sudden it is not working properly. So make sure that you have whatever you need to condition your calls with you. Last thing that I wanna talk about and it's really near and dear to my heart is insect control. You know, it's one thing to handle mosquitoes and black flies which can easily be done with a thermos cell and any type of spray because turkeys do not utilize their sense of smell for defense so you can stink as much as you want, but it's ticks. So having been, having had lime, having been treated for it several times, I am a big proponent of permethrin. And the reason I like this is I can treat my clothes before the hunt and it is good for the entire season. I don't have to think about ticks again and it is so effective. It works very, very well. I highly recommend whether you buy Sawyer's or something that's already pre-made and diluted properly or you buy concentrate like I do and dilute it yourself, I highly suggest that you get yourself some permethrin so ticks don't become a problem for you on your turkey hunt.