The best turkey hunting slings, and why the quiet one is not the top-ranked one

How we picked

Each sling here is currently sold by its maker or on Amazon, and each was scored on the accessory rubric published with our First-Season Score: documented function 30%, ease of use 25%, build 20%, carry and weight 15%, and published warranty 10%. Every figure below was read on a maker's own page on 5 October 2026, or on a named dealer listing where the maker publishes nothing, and each links back to its source.

A sling is a strap. There is very little to measure, which means the rubric mostly rewards the makers who publish a length, a width, a weight and a load figure instead of a paragraph of copy. One consequence is worth stating up front rather than burying: the sling we think is the best choice for a careful turkey hunter ranks fourth here, because its maker publishes almost no numbers. We explain that trade honestly below instead of quietly reordering the list.

Why a turkey gun needs a sling

A deer rifle gets carried from the truck to a stand. A turkey gun gets carried for miles, in the dark, uphill, while you listen for a gobble and then move again. You are also usually wearing a loaded vest with a seat, a few calls, a couple of decoys and water, so the strap is competing for the same two shoulders.

Three things follow from that, and they drive the whole ranking:

• Weight matters more than padding. You are not carrying a 9 lb magnum rifle with a scope. A turkey shotgun is heavy enough to want a strap and light enough that a thin, light sling is usually all you need.
• Silence matters more than comfort. Metal swivels that squeak or rattle will stop you dead when a bird answers at 80 yards, and no spec sheet on any site lists decibels.
• It has to come off. Once you sit down against a tree, a sling is in the way. You want to be able to move it off the gun or out of the way quietly, without standing up.

If you are still choosing the gun rather than the strap, start at choosing your first turkey gun, and the whole carry setup is laid out in our turkey hunting gear list.

The four slings, side by side

Every value links to the page it came from. Where a maker publishes nothing and a named dealer does, the row says so; a blank is treated as missing rather than assumed.

Why the cheapest sling ranks first

The Allen Endura scores 7.8, the highest here, and it does it on arithmetic rather than charm. Allen publishes a 31 to 42 in adjustment range, a 2 in x 14 in low-density foam shoulder pad, a 0.15 lb (2.4 oz) weight, a 500 lb test figure and a one-year limited warranty, and it sells the thing in Mossy Oak Break-Up Country rather than black webbing. That is five rubric lines answered with facts.

It is not a flawless product and the page says so. Allen's own copy manages to say the sling “does not need swivels to function effectively” in one line and “SWIVELS TESTED: This sling was tested up to 500 Lb.” in the next, while listing no swivels as included, and its spec block gives the color as Black under a product name that says Mossy Oak Break-Up Country. Confirm how it attaches to your gun before you order.

Behind it, Allen's Yukon neoprene sling scores 7.0 and buys you two shell loops and a non-slip neoprene back for twice the weight; Butler Creek's Comfort Stretch is 6.9 and is the comfort pick for a long carry; and the Quake CLAW 2.0 is 6.6 despite being, in our view, the best-designed sling of the four.

The noise problem nobody specs

Here is the case for the sling that ranks last. Quake builds the CLAW 2.0 around a non-slip pad molded directly into the webbing, with about half an inch of stretch, a pad that it says stays flexible to -40 F, is UV stabilized and does not hold water the way foam, urethane or leather does. Then it ships the sling with its patented Hush Stalker II quick-detach swivels, which Quake says “will not squeak, rust or rattle” and are “over two times stronger and lighter than conventional metal swivels.”

Every one of those claims is aimed at a real turkey-hunting failure: the squeak when you shift your weight, the sling that slides off a wet shoulder, the foam pad that holds a pint of water after a rainy morning, and the swivel you cannot take off quietly when a bird is coming. It is also the only sling here that includes the swivels at all, so there is nothing else to buy.

What it does not do is publish a length, a width, a weight, a material composition or a warranty. Four rubric lines with nothing in them is a 6.6, and we are not going to quietly inflate a score because we like the design. So read the ranking as what it is: an evidence score, not a verdict on which strap to put on your gun. If you are a careful, quiet hunter who already has sling studs, buy the Quake. If you want to know what you are getting before it arrives, buy the Allen.

Check your gun for studs first

This is the part that catches new hunters, and it is worth doing before you add anything to a cart. Look at the buttstock near the toe, and at the magazine cap or the forend of your shotgun. If you see a small metal post with a hole through it on each end, you have sling studs and every sling on this page is an option. If you see nothing, your choices are a sling that clamps or straps around the barrel and stock, a stud kit, or a gunsmith.

• Quake CLAW 2.0: needs studs. Its advantage is the quick-detach swivels it includes, and without studs you cannot use them.
• Allen Endura and Allen Yukon: Allen lists no swivels with either, so confirm what you need for your gun. Both are web slings with published adjustment ranges.
• Butler Creek Comfort Stretch Shotgun Sling: uses plastic clips rather than metal swivels, which is one fewer metal-on-metal contact point.

Many dedicated turkey guns come with studs already fitted, and most pump actions sold as turkey models do. If yours came with a red dot or a dedicated turkey choke, it very likely has them too; those two upgrades are covered in best red dots for turkey hunting and best turkey chokes.

A slung gun and the safety rules

A sling changes how you carry a loaded gun, which makes it a safety item and not just a comfort one. The basics do not change because the gun is on your shoulder: the muzzle still has to be pointed somewhere safe and the action still has to be empty until you are set up.

Vermont Fish and Wildlife's turkey hunting safety tips and the Pennsylvania Game Commission's safe hunting guidance both center on the same habits: positive identification before the safety comes off, never stalking a gobble, and keeping your muzzle under control at all times. A slung gun is harder to point safely while you are climbing over a fence or crossing a creek, which is exactly when you should unload it, not when you should trust the strap.

On public ground there is a second argument for a sling. The NWTF's public-land guidance is built around moving, covering ground and reading pressure, and a gun on a strap is a gun you can carry with your hands free for a decoy bag, a map or a fence. Public-land tactics, including when to leave the decoys in the vest, are in public land turkey hunting.

Buyer's guide: a sling for a turkey gun

Buy light before you buy padded

A turkey shotgun is not a magnum rifle. Allen's Endura is 2.4 oz and its neoprene Yukon is 4.8 oz, and a 2.5 in neoprene sling is heavier still. If you walk a lot and your gun is a standard 12 or 20 gauge, the light web sling is the better answer, and the weight you save is weight you can spend on water.

Width is comfort, not strength

A wider sling spreads the load across more of your shoulder, which is why Butler Creek's 2.5 in neoprene sling is the comfort pick for someone carrying a heavy gun a long way. It is also more bulk under a vest strap. If you run a loaded vest, try the narrow sling first.

Non-slip backing is the underrated feature

A sling that slides off your shoulder every forty yards will make you hate it by the second morning. Both the Allen Yukon and the Quake publish a non-slip pad or backing; the Butler Creek dealer listing adds non-slip grippers. On a rainy morning, with a slick rain jacket, this matters more than padding thickness.

Count the parts you still have to buy

Only the Quake includes swivels. If your gun has studs and no swivels, add that cost to every other sling here before comparing prices. Quick-detach swivels are also the quiet way to get the sling off the gun once you are sitting, which is worth more on a turkey hunt than on any other hunt.

Camo over black, but do not overthink it

Your sling is a black strap across a camo vest if you let it be, and turkeys see contrast and movement extraordinarily well. Three of these four are sold in camo. It is a small edge, it costs nothing, and your face and hands still matter far more, which is why masks and gloves come first in the concealment budget.

The first-season mistake: leaving it on while you call

A sling hanging off a gun across your knees will catch your elbow at the worst possible moment. Take it off the gun or tuck it behind the stock when you set up, and practice doing that silently at home. The setup that goes with it, tree choice and shooting lanes included, is in turkey hunting setup.