# What's your favorite turkey vest?



## maverick9465 (Nov 21, 2016)

I'm thinking of upgrading my vest, a basic Primos vest I bought on KSL a few years back. I'm intrigued by those with the pop up backrests, but wonder how well those actually hold up. 

What vest are you running? What do you think about it?


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

I have a nice vest that 90% of the time stays on the hanger. My go to, is a back pack that allows three decoys in the main pack and side pockets for a couple calls. The Bino case is on my chest and I can place small items in that if needed. 


I keep it simple. Decoys, (not all the time depends on how the birds are acting) One box call, one friction call and a simple thermal pad to sit on. Works for me and has proven to produce birds. 


If you've done your homework and no where the birds are and where they normally go coming off the roost, your ahead of the game. I've killed birds simply by being between the roost and where they're heading. Sit down, a couple purrs and putts, shut up and DONT MOVE!


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## Lone_Hunter (Oct 25, 2017)

Ok another beer induced product review by the Lone DBag. (IE, Yours truly)

Item number 1: 
MidwayUSA Turkey vest









My First official Turkey vest, it's an older version of this one currently being sold:
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/939171133

PROS:
- Relatively cheap when on sale
- Holds all your turkey hunting crap without any problem
- Easy to fold the seat up with good retentin with a center fastex buckle that keeps it in place while hiking/ running and gunning. THe best thing I can say about this vest is buckling up that seat easily so its not flopping me in the ass.

CONS:
- The back padding is tantamount to 1/4" foam insulation that will make you sweat like an SOB. Frost on the ground, humping up the mountain in the dark, nothing on but my base layer, and I'm STILL sweating. I've literally had to stop and let my back air out.

- Seat sucks in terms of thickness/comfort. You'll end up duct taping another seat on top of the vest seat.

The upgrade, Item number 2:
Alps Outdoorz GrandSlam Turkey vest









As described here:
https://www.alpsbrands.com/alpsoutdoorz/products/turkey_gear/grand-slam

PROS:
- The kickstand is nice. Especially here in Utah when you might be setting up under some scrub oak or otherwise can't lean your back against a proper tree. You can setup almost anywhere, and you can adjust the kickstand legs to allow for any back incline you like. You can get really comfy with this, and that translates into less movement.

- Holds all my crap, and has holders for two water bottles, and a water bladder.

- The seat is nice, I no longer have to duct tape another seat onto my vest.

- I like the pocket layout. I set my ass down, this vest becomes my workbench. The shoulder straps do detach if you want to allow more freedom of movement with your shoulders/arms, though I never bother.

- I don't sweat in this vest like I do the midway vest.

CONS:
- If you plan on walking 8-10 miles round trip, that kickstand gets heavy. If I intend on doing a lot of hiking/ running and gunning, I take it out. I don't recall how much it weights, ill say 1-2 pounds. When ounces are pounds and pounds are pain, this matters.

- The seat retention sucks balls. There isn't a single middle strap like the midway vest, there's two straps on either side, and a set of magnets. The magnets DO NOT RETAIN the seat for very long. It's supposed to make the seat fold up nice, easy, and quick, what ends up happening is you take one step down a boulder or log, the seat jostles loose and hits you in the ass all the time. When your trying to slip in on a bird this is REALLY ANNOYING. So I end up struggling with one of the slide clips, trying to be a contortionist.

In the end, the pros outweigh the cons on this vest.


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## maverick9465 (Nov 21, 2016)

> As described here:
> https://www.alpsbrands.com/alpsoutdoorz/products/turkey_gear/grand-slam


I've actually been looking at that very vest. I wondered how well that kickstand would hold up. Finding a nice back rest in a bunch of scrub oak has been challenging to say the least.


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## Orgend (Feb 18, 2021)

Alps is great and the price is not too bad.


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## Lone_Hunter (Oct 25, 2017)

maverick9465 said:


> I've actually been looking at that very vest. I wondered how well that kickstand would hold up. Finding a nice back rest in a bunch of scrub oak has been challenging to say the least.


 Seemed to work ok for me last year. :mrgreen: 
( Seriously though, this Tom just wanted to die that day. Easiest Turkey tag I ever filled, I usually have to work much harder... for tag soup )


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

Personally I got to laugh a little when I see these new vests they are selling now days, I mean, holy crap, they got a pocket for everything. I got suckered into buying a fancy vest about 15 years ago thinking how much better a turkey hunter I'd be if I could just carry another four or five calls, a couple radios, a GPS, two bottles of water, spare cloths, a full box of shells, my cell phone, first aid kit, a whole roll of TP, a little extra fire wood and or course a picture of the grandkids. Well, first off, by the time I got the darn thing loaded up I couldn't remember what I might have forgot so I had to unload it and check it all out, and sure enough, I had forgot the decoys, but as luck would have it, there was a pocket ready made for'em and about a half hour latter I was loaded back up and ready to go again. That next morning I drove up to one of my favorite huntin places and with the help from some passer by hunters I got the vest up on my shoulders and off I went. I really didn't mind the extra weight of the well packed vest and in fact when I got about halfway up the mountain I noticed the load seemed a little light...geez, I was payin so much attention to the darn turkey vest I left my gun leanin against the truck. Back down the hill I went to fetch the gun. Well, since it was startin to get well into the morning I figured I might as well have a little lunch before I start the hike again. It only took a short time to locate the correct pocket...the one marked "lunch"...and due to the built in refrigeration and abundant insulation, the soup was still nice and hot and the sandwiches nice and cool. Now, minus the weight of the lunch, I was able to shoulder the vest by myself, so off I went. A couple miles later I picked out a fine big pine tree under which I planned to settle and wait out a bird. So, with a quick flick of the auto-deploy lever, the 4 inch thick, double padded seat flipped down into place and I eased down and relaxed. Now I need only to choose the right call, make a few yelps and a big old tom was certain to be mine. But as I sat, it came to me that it wasn't that easy, I had to choose which call out of the many I had stashed neatly in their own handy pocket to use. Well, what the heck, since I had'em I might as well use'em, so one by one I pulled 'em out and started yelping away. By the time I got though trying all the calls I noticed the sun was starting to work its way down behind the hills and darkness wasn't far behind, but as I tried to stand, I accidentally snagged the self-inflate air mattress switch on a branch of the tree and the mattress inflated like an emergency life raft taking my legs right out from underneath me, landing me square on my back on top of what turned out to be the most comfy bed I had felt for years. The darn thing even had clean sheets! I decided to stay the night right there. Boy was I happy the next morning with the performance of the built in peculator, the coffee was great and the birds where gobblin away. Before long, and only need'n to try four of five different calls, I bagged my bird and headed on back to the truck. I must admit, the electric bird picker that was included with the vest and neatly stored in it's own pocket worked like a champ! It was a great hunt and a great weekend and as soon as I find them friggin keys to the truck that I put somewhere in one of those vest pockets, I can get the truck started and end this story.


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## Lone_Hunter (Oct 25, 2017)

LOL, I knew BPTurkeys would respond to this. :mrgreen: Old timer turkey hunters love to poke fun at vests.

Personally, I use all the pockets in my vest, but not necessarily for turkey calls. My vest ends up being my day pack; I usually carry everything I need for a solo day hunt in the mountains and an 8-10 miles walk. I have an aversion to 4wheelrs apparently.

I try for the more remote areas as far away from people as I can get. I mean, yeah I could go to some WMA at the end of "Turkey trot Ln" , and set there with my back against a private property fence. Not saying you do that, but it is the other option one could do, and it's just not fun to me.


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## maverick9465 (Nov 21, 2016)

Lone_Hunter said:


> Personally, I use all the pockets in my vest, but not necessarily for turkey calls. My vest ends up being my day pack; I usually carry everything I need for a solo day hunt in the mountains and an 8-10 miles walk. I have an aversion to 4wheelrs apparently.
> 
> I try for the more remote areas as far away from people as I can get. I mean, yeah I could go to some WMA at the end of "Turkey trot Ln" , and set there with my back against a private property fence. Not saying you do that, but it is the other option one could do, and it's just not fun to me.


Yeah, that's me as well. I like the vest functionality because I can keep it on and have access to everything I need for a 12-hour sit in the woods. Looks like supply chain issues are still hitting businesses hard. All the newer vests I've looked at are all back-ordered until after the LE hunt.


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## Lone_Hunter (Oct 25, 2017)

I just have to add, after spending the last 6 days camping and 4 days hunting, I think the alps vest I posted above can hurt you, as much as it can help you - depending on the situation. My wife doesn't know it yet, but I just ordered a Knight and Haley RNG 200, specifically for running and gunning in the afternoon. Less bulk. I still like my alps vest though, and I'll continue to use it.


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## gdog (Sep 13, 2007)

Kifaru Striker XL backpack setup. Carry a lot more weight comfortably than standard turkey vests. 2 Avian X decoys, camera/tripod and gear for a the day. Haven't found a turkey vest that can touch the load hauling ability of this setup.


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## Lone_Hunter (Oct 25, 2017)

Stryker XL (Bag Only) – Kifaru International







kifaru.net





Nice pack. Gotta be the mollee. Pals loops, and you can adapt something to most any purpose. Especially if those loops are on the waist.


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