“All a guy needs to have fun is a mouth call in his shirt pocket, a box call, head net, gloves and some shells for his gun.” Tad Brown, veteran turkey hunter.
A few years ago I sat with my laptop computer propped on my knees, staring out the window of a speeding Amtrak train somewhere between Washington, D.C. and New York City. Fall foliage was on fire, color peaking. As trees, houses, dank business districts flashed past I caught a reflection of myself in the dusty windowpane, the scene outside mirrored life hurtling past at breakneck speed.
Forgive me for waxing a bit prosaic in an article about turkey hunting, but if you’ll stick with me, I’ll make my point shortly. Turkey hunting seems to be keeping up with technology nicely, but as the weight of my turkey hunting vest climbs higher I seem to enjoy the experience less. It seems that if bigger isn’t better, then faster’ll fix it. Problem is, getting back to the bare essentials doesn’t sell much advertising.
When life is blazing past and turkey season is open, I can’t think of a better way to slow the pace and relax than a day in the woods. To get the full effect, I’ve become a convert to a different way of turkey hunting. It’s the kind of turkey hunting that you haven’t seen on your television screen or read about in a magazine. It’s a hunt that goes in the opposite direction of carrying enough calls to strike up a turkey calling symphony, and hunting irons are ultra simple, one-shot affairs.
When I get the opportunity, I like to hunt with a minimum of equipment and fuss… alone. Last spring, I made a hunt where I ventured afield with the least amount of gear possible. I carried a single mouth call instead of a vest so full you could stock a sporting goods store. I didn’t get quite as drastic as the guy I read about that smears his naked body with charcoal paste and sneaks around the woods poking deer with his finger, but I did trim down everything that wasn’t necessary. I carried single-shot 12 gauge and a couple of shells, and that was enough. Trimming away everything that wasn’t necessary made the hunt a low-tech, slow-paced one-on-one outing that seemed all the more enjoyable because of its simplicity.
If you’re ready to trim some excess weight from your turkey hunting treks, check out some of these ideas.
Gun: Trim 3 to 4 pounds
I discovered a new gun during a fall writer’s hunt that fits into my plan for a simple approach to “less is more” turkey hunting. Sitting a tree over from Turkey Trot Acre’s owner Pete Clare, I rested a Thompson/Center’s Encore shotgun on my knee and kee-kee’ed like a lonesome jake. Prior to the morning’s hunt I had a chance to pattern the single-shot T/C Encore 12-gauge at the lodge range. Several hunters took their turn at the bench to make sure that the light-weight gun was shooting where its Tru-Glo sights were aimed. A couple of clicks to the right and up a skosh put the Winchester Hi-Velocity loads of No. 5 shot in a pie-plate-sized pattern at 30 yards. I would have to concentrate extra hard on any birds at close range to keep from missing them with the gun’s tight pattern.
The hunt had gone well. Clare’s dog has scattered a big flock of hens and young gobblers. Before I caught up with him and the rest of the hunting party, three turkeys were already in the bag. Not long after I caught up with the group, Winchester’s Mike Capps tagged a fourth young bird. The T/C Encores were doing a splendid job of putting the lead upside a turkey’s noggin at ranges between 20 and 35 yards.
Adjusting our setup to gain a wider vantage in the thick woods, Pete and I frequently called to entice the birds back to the breakpoint. A faint yelp brought us to full alert as we scanned the brush ahead to the source. A grayish-pink head periscoped from behind a spruce at 35 yards. I cocked the hammer and traced the bird’s steps through the waist high weeds and brush. When the young jake stepped into the clear at 20 yards I lit the fire and bagged the fifth turkey of the day for our hunting party.
The T/C Encore 12 gauge patterns well with its factory-installed screw-in choke. The real beauty is the gun’s portability. Tipping the scales at a hair over six pounds, the 12 gauge Encore is one of the lightest single-shot turkey guns on the market. The light weight comes at a price, in both recoil and dollars; this gun exerts in excess of 70 foot-pounds of recoil with high-velocity turkey loads. Having shot this gun several times, I’ve earned the right to say that its stiff recoil is, in my opinion, worth the trade-off in portability. The Encore platform is the basis for my whitetail rifle, too, with the addition of a center-fire barrel. Most repeating turkey guns tip the scales at nine to 10 pounds when loaded, so the weight reduction is obvious.
Ammo: Trim 1 pound
I used to carry four each shells in each of two pockets of my vest, which added about a pound of weight. This one’s a no-brainer, simply carry fewer shells. Now, when I’m going “bare bones,” I only carry one extra shell beyond what my gun will hold.
Yet another way to trim weight is opting for a 3-inch magnum versus 3 ½-inch magnum turkey loads. It sounds silly if you consider that you’ll only be trimming a quarter-ounce per shell, but hear me out. The weight savings will come from the gun shooting the load. All things being equal, a 3 ½-inch magnum 12 gauge must have a longer action, bolt, magazine tube, etc., to handle the longer loads. With today’s heavier-than-lead turkey loads, a 3-inch magnum 12 gauge packs enough punch to fill your tags at the furthest reaches anyone has any business shooting at turkeys.
Optics: Trim 2 pounds
Next on the list of ways to trim weight is to take a long hard look at which accessories you carry afield. I carried a pair of compact binoculars for several seasons, but I could feel their heft every time I put them in my vest. Then, I discovered a Zeiss 6X monocular that does a splendid job of checking out the landscape. Monoculars are offered by several other companies are less expensive than the Zeiss. The trade-off was nearly a pound.
Several of the turkey guns in my gun safe carry a scope these days. The addition of cross-hair optics and a little magnification are a plus for ageing eyes, but they add weight. Most scopes, bases and rings weigh just over a pound, so swapping out for a less-sophisticated iron sight setup will trim the obvious.
Hydration: Trim 1 pound
Another way to cut a pound or more from your accessories is to limit the amount of water your carry. Before taking to the woods, be sure to hydrate yourself thoroughly. This will help you keep from dehydrating as quickly. I also salvaged a small flask-shaped plastic bottle that will carry only a couple of ounces of water. It’s just enough to keep my mouth from getting too dry when using mouth calls.
Footwear: Trim 3 pounds
Another way to reduce weight and increase your stamina while chasing gobblers is to carefully pick footwear. Lug-soled hiking boots usually tip the scales at five to six pounds per pair. Several years ago I fell in love with Browning’s kangaroo-skin bird hunter’s boots, and in fact I’ve worn out three pairs. These feather-weight boots weigh half what a typical pair of boots a turkey hunter would wear. Light weight, well-constructed boots make a difference in how you feel at the end of a day-long trek up and down hilly terrain.
Seat Options: Trim 5 to 10 pounds
If you wear a turkey hunting vest it is awful tempting to load it down with equipment. I know that mine easily surpasses the 20-pound mark. At the end of a day climbing mountains to locate a longbeard my body can feel the fatigue of lugging around all that weight. Sometimes, having the stamina left to climb just one more ridge and call has put me in contact with a distant gobbler that filled my tag. If you leave the vest at home, then you can subtract three to four pounds right off the bat.
Early in my turkey hunting career I improvised what little equipment I carried: One hand-made single-reed mouth call fashioned from a latex glove, a piece of Coke can and some athletic tape; an H.S. Strut slate; and a 1-foot square ground cushion cut from an Army surplus closed-cell foam sleeping mat. Although my selection of calls has evolved, I still like the portability of a simple cushion when trying to be weight conscious. Stepping it up a notch, I improved the comfort of my seat by swapping an under inflated 12-inch diameter lawn mower inner tube for the chunk of sleeping mat. The inner tube was carried inside a camo cloth bag that my wife sewed from a worn out hunting shirt. If you don’t want to go the home-made route, a few commercially-made versions are offered by H.S. Strut and Beard Buster. Check out www.Cabelas.com to find these seats for under $20.
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