What Your Spring Turkey Gear Wish List Needs
Alright everyone – we know that you probably took a fair share of vacation time and “sick” time throughout the fall for various hunting seasons. To be honest, you’re probably still catching up a bit on work tasks or family responsibilities. That means you don’t have the time you’d like to really focus on your turkey hunting gear before hunting season arrives. Don’t you worry – we’ve got your back. Here’s our 2021 spring turkey gear wish list, so you can quickly look through your stuff and see what needs replacing before opening day gets here. And it will be here before you know it.
Spring Turkey Gear Wish List
No matter how much of your spring you dedicate to turkey hunting each year, there are some universal truths. Some of your hunting gear will break, tear, or wear out over time. You will lose some items (especially calls), whether in your closet at home or out in the field. And there will always be new pieces of gear on the market that you’ll want to try out. So whether you’re looking to upgrade an old piece of hunting gear or you just need something (period), here’s the Bone Collector spring turkey gear wish list for 2021.
1. Leather Gun Slings
When you’re trying to sneak into your turkey hunting blind early in the morning while carrying turkey decoys, calls, and all your other hunting gear, the last thing you want is to have to carry your shotgun too. Use a quality leather sling instead. Our CSTF leather sling comes in several great leather colors, which are unique for each sling. It sports the CSTF logo and an old tom on it, and all the slings are hand-crafted 100% here in the U.S.A. We also do custom leather slings if you want something a little different.
2. Shotgun Choke
It’s critical to pattern your shotgun using different chokes and ammo before you go turkey hunting so you know exactly what your lethal, effective range is. Don’t leave things to chance. If you don’t have any choke tubes for your shotgun – or more commonly, only have one – try picking up a couple different options so you can test them out. We trust Carlson’s choke tubes, which are constructed from solid stainless steel here in the U.S.A., and come in almost any configuration you’d want to try. But if you’re looking for a recommendation, the Remington Bone Collector Turkey Choke Tubes throw very tight patterns regardless of which load you shoot (e.g., lead, tungsten, TSS, etc.), but pattern best with shot sizes of 4 through 10. If you don’t have any turkey choke tubes yet, add this to your spring turkey gear wish list.
3. Mouth Calls
Mouth calls are commonly lost while turkey hunting. You think you slip them into your vest or pocket, and suddenly, they’re gone. As a result, they belong on our spring turkey gear wish list. There are lots of options out there when it comes to mouth calls, but if you’re only looking for one, consider the GA Peach. This bat wing cut call is one of the finest turkey mouth calls Bone Collector produces, and can be used for a wide range of hunting scenarios. With a little practice, you’ll be talking turkey in no time.
4. Box Calls
Like mouth calls, it’s nice to have a good and reliable box call on hand. They are often louder than mouth calls, slightly more intuitive to use, and not as easy to lose in the field. The Death Valley box call is a wonderful choice. It’s beautifully made from mahogany and purple heart wood, and is hand tuned to produce extremely loud yelps and clucks to reach out to distant toms.
5. Turkey Tote
If you’re an optimistic kind of person and you expect you’ll be carrying a big tom out of the woods this spring, why not plan ahead for it. Carrying a heavy turkey back to your home or vehicle can be a chore, especially when you’re carrying other gear. Make it easier with the turkey tote! This high quality leather strap will spread the load while hoisting the turkey, it looks great, and it packs down in your turkey vest very easily.
6. Pot Calls
You didn’t think we’d leave out pot calls, did you? It’s helpful to have a variety of turkey calls on a hunt, so you can adapt to different situations. With the Sweet April and Lonesome Lady calls, you’ll be ready for anything. The Sweet April is a glass turkey call, which still performs great even in rainy weather when most other pot calls tend to drop off. And the Lonesome Lady is a slate over glass call, which still gives you the higher volume from the glass, yet versatile calling options from the slate. Both calls come in a tuned mahogany cup and with a hardwood striker to produce some very realistic and raspy yelps.
7. Turkey Tool
The turkey tool is another handy item to keep in your turkey vest or backpack. You can measure the beard and spur length of your turkey, attach it to prop the turkey fan open for pictures, or even use it for taxidermy purposes to hold the fan in position while it dries. If you don’t have one yet, it’s a good one to add to your spring turkey gear wish list.
8. Subscription to BaseMap
Before the spring turkey season arrives, it helps to scout a few properties so you know where to hunt. But instead of scouting in person, you can check out multiple properties quickly using aerial imagery, and a tool like BaseMap™ would help you tremendously with that. You can use 3D imagery to scan the environment, map out a few options based on topography and terrain, and even save observations within the app.
9. CSTF Clothes/Hats
If you’re getting excited about turkey hunting, you might as well get some Can’t Stop the Flop gear for you and the kids! Bone Collector has several hats and shirts available that you can pick up! For those that pursue morning gobbles, burnt pines and front porch pics like it’s their job. This hat has a modern trucker fit, Realtree Timber camo, custom turkey track design on a 100% Genuine Leather patch – sewn with a single-line stitch using a tonal thread – and is ready for turkey season across our great nation and beyond. This year’s CSTF hat raises the bar in consistency, fit, and finish. So, add one to the Can’t Stop The Flop collection and get ready for the Greatest Turkey Hunting Campaign of all time.
10. Hunting Knife
One thing’s for sure when you’re hunting – you will need a good quality knife at some point. Hopefully you’ll have a big gobbler to field dress, but even if not, you may need it for fixing a piece of your blind, notching your license/tag, or something else. The Havalon Rebel is a great knife for any outdoors person. This knife comes with two blades – a hardened fixed blade on one side and a Havalon replacement blade system on the other side. It will always be sharp when you need to remove the breasts and legs from your next gobbler.
11. Ground Blind
Hunting out of ground blinds is a great way to stay concealed from the sharp vision of a turkey. But some people find them a hassle to use. Fortunately, the Rhino Blind R-150 is a great solution. It is lightweight and easy to set up quickly due to its hub system. The R-150 can fit 2-3 hunters if you want to get your kids out with you. And the silent-slide windows help you to stay hidden if you need to make a last-minute adjustment with turkeys in range. This blind is a great addition to your spring turkey gear wish list.
12. Tactacam
Even if you’re not interested in producing your own hunting show some day, it’s fun to look back at your own previous hunts, particularly when the footage is actually worth watching. Tactacam™ helps you do just that. Simply attach one of these units to your shotgun or another mount (such as a head mount), press the simple button when the time comes, and get ready to relive some crazy cool turkey hunting videos for years to come. The main advantage to this camera vs. other options is that the footage feels like you’re right there – not like you’re a spectator up in the stands.
13. Cooler
Again, being optimists, we all hope we’re going to have a big tom to bring home. On those late spring days when the weather’s on the warm side or you have a long drive home, you should plan on having a cooler to transport your meat on ice. The Bone Collector cooler comes in two sizes (the 45L and 20L), and it is built to last. It is roto-molded with closed-cell foam, comes with a 7 year warranty, and has a basket to keep items separate from the ice water.
14. Locator Call
Roosting turkeys is a great way to be more successful on opening day, which you can easily do with an owl or crow call. Most turkey hunters probably already have a couple turkey locator calls, but as with the other ones mentioned above, you can easily lose them too. The Revealer is an owl hooter call that is small and lightweight, yet produces a very loud call to trigger a shock gobble back.
