7 Turkey Hunting Gear For Beginners
Turkey hunting is considered easy among professional hunters. But for beginners or newcomers, this can be very complicated. Most beginner turkey hunters do not have an idea about what to carry with them for turkey hunting. They find it very difficult to set up good gear that can be very helpful for turkey hunting. So they often do mistakes and carry a lot of things with their gear.
In our opinion and according to the suggestion of many professional big game turkey hunters your turkey gear as a beginner has to be light and not too heavy. You just need to carry the things or items that are most important to take a perfect shot at turkey and put it down to the ground. Turkeys are very fast and agile birds so a little bit of mistake can do a lot of harm to you. This is why we have made the list of the best turkey hunting gear for beginners!
Must Have Turkey Hunting Gear For Beginners List –
Turkey Shotguns or bows
You must need a shotgun or bow for turkey hunting. It does not matter if you are a professional hunter or an amateur if you do not have a good shotgun or bow at your possession you will not be able to hunt turkeys cleanly. If you are a guy who prefers shotguns then I will suggest you buy a shotgun that is easy to load and is not too heavy. Many shotguns in the market are specifically designed for turkey hunting.
Many big names among them are Winchester SXP Hybrid Turkey Pump Action, Benelli Supernova. But if you prefer bows then you should choose a bow that has fast action capability and can shoot from 22 yards. Because this is the most ideal range for shooting at turkeys. Shotguns and bows specially made for turkey hunting can come in both costly and cheap. So you should decide by looking at the features like a shooting range, length, and weight, shell, and targets.
Clothes and Appearance
In turkey hunting, you have to be very careful about your clothes and appearance. Because turkeys are very keen with their eyes like most birds. So if they spot you early they can easily getaway. This is why experts suggest wearing a camouflage outfit for turkey hunting. Because the patterns of camouflage help the hunter to get blend with the wildlife and green surface.
Even though turkeys can not spot colors but they can spot different shapes, patterns, and bright things. So you have to cover yourself very well. You need to cover yourself with a properly insulated camouflage mask, cap, and outfit. In this way, turkeys will not able to spot you and you can hunt with full freedom.
Turkey Vests and seat
You may think that why are vests and seats important for turkey hunting? Well, I will say that you are right because it is not so necessary. But, in turkey hunting, you have to keep standing or walking for a long time. You need to keep going to different turkey spots and keep making calls or leaving decoys in different areas to find turkeys.
So if you do not have a good vest and seat your body will get tired easily. Vests help the body to be strong and protect from different things while with a comfortable seat you can just pause and take a rest for some time until turkeys come to that spot. Nowadays there are vests attached with comfortable cushion seats in the market. If you buy them you can get the advantage of two within one you do not have to carry any extra stuff. They have many pockets in them too.
Items to call Turkeys
There are so many things that can be used to call turkeys. Remember that calling turkeys is a very important thing to do. Because the sounds are not well then turkeys will not come near you or at least at a shooting distance. So make sure you have the right items to call the gobblers.
The most popular and effective turkey calls are box calls. Where you can make many sounds to call turkeys near you and turkeys also respond fast with these calls. Besides box calls, hunters also use slate calls, gobbler calls by using another gobbler or mouth calls. You should always mix up your calls and do not repeat the same sound again and again. This can make your calls more effective.
Decoys
A well-planted decoy can lead you to the turkey. Many hunters prefer to use many types of decoys to get to turkeys. Most of the hunters use hens or other gobblers as decoys. Turkeys are mainly territorial birds. So if you put another hen or a gobbler in their area they will be furious and attack them anytime.
So if you pant your decoy at the right spot the soon you will notice a turkey approaching and you will have the chance to shoot at it. Besides hens and other gobblers, hunters also use jacks as decoys.
Proper hunting boots
Hunting boots are always important in any kind of hunting. In turkey hunting, you have to move a lot. So without good and nicely insulated hunting boots, you can not walk for too long. There are tons of different types of boots made especially for hunting.
You can just buy any sort of hunting boot from the market with different features for turkey hunting. The only things you have to be careful about are the insulation, size, and material. If these three things are fine then you can put them on and go for turkey hunting.
Binocular
A binocular can be very helpful in turkey hunting. Many professionals carry a hunting binocular with them for turkey hunting. They help a lot for spot turkeys from long distances. So after spotting them you can know the exact time of their arrival and you also notice how fast they are responding to your calls.
So you can load your shotgun or bow and be ready to take a shot. There are many hunting binoculars at the market but I will prefer a binocular from Nikon, Vortex, Celestron, or big brands like that.
At the end
The items we mentioned in the article are enough for turkey hunters to carry at the beginning. I hope now you know the right turkey hunting gear for beginners. All these things are most important in turkey hunting. Indeed, some items like binocular and vests or seats are not important for turkey hunting but still, you should carry them at the beginning to have a comfortable day at your hunt.
These things maximize your chances of getting a turkey to boost your confidence. You will soon realize you do not even need them when you become an expert turkey hunter. We hope the article was useful to you!