Best youth turkey vests, ranked by the sizing and weight makers publish

How we ranked these

We have not put any of these vests on a young hunter. Every figure here is the maker's published spec, linked to its page, and scored on our published rubric.

The rank order on this page is not the overall score, and it should not be. A vest for a 10-year-old is a fit problem first, so the order is: vests whose maker publishes a youth or child fit, then vests by published weight, with the First-Season Score breaking ties. That puts the highest-scoring vest in our registry (the ALPS Super Elite 4.0, 7.8) third, behind two vests that scored lower but are sold to fit a smaller person.

Only one vest in our registry carries a maker's youth claim: ALPS describes the Impact in Small as “ideal for youth and smaller frames.” Knight & Hale goes almost as far on the Run N' Gun 200, saying its 10-point adjustment system fits “man, woman, or child.” After that you are buying the smallest adult size and adjusting it.

The four, side by side

Sizes and weight lead the table, because those are the two rows that decide whether a young hunter keeps the vest on all morning.

Why the Impact in Small wins

Two things make it the right first vest. First, the fit claim is the maker's, not ours: ALPS lists a Small size and calls it ideal for youth and smaller frames, at 2 lb 14 oz. Second, it has a real seat. The flip-down seat and backrest fold away or detach completely, and the Standard size includes a magnet that holds the seat up while you walk. ALPS publishes seat dimensions of 17.5 x 15.5 in with a 20.5 x 17.5 in backrest on the Standard.

A backrest matters more for a young hunter than for you. A child who can lean back is a child who can sit through the twenty quiet minutes after a gobble, and the sitting is the whole skill. The vest also has a home for each call type: a silent box call pocket, a slate pocket that holds two pot calls and three strikers, and three diaphragm pockets.

Its limits are worth knowing. ALPS publishes no chest or waist range for either size, so you are trusting a letter, and the line stops at Standard — a big teenager will outgrow it. There is no kickstand either, so the tree is the backrest once the seat is folded.

Weight is the youth spec

An adult carries a 3 lb vest without noticing. On a 70 lb frame, 3 lb of vest plus calls, water and a decoy is a real load before you add a shotgun. The published weights here run from 1.5 lb to 3 lb 11 oz.

The Knight & Hale Run N' Gun 200 is the lightest vest in our registry at a published 1.5 lb, with a removable six-layer cushioned seat that cinches out of the way, a box call pocket, two pot call pockets, diaphragm pockets and striker slots, plus a 198 cu in bladder-compatible backpack and an included decoy sling. For a kid who wants to move with you, that is the vest. It has a cushion and no padded back, and the warranty is one year.

If you plan to hunt one spot rather than cover ground, the extra pound on the Impact buys the backrest. If you plan to walk and call, read our run-and-gun vest picks, which rank the same vests by weight for exactly that reason.

Adjustment: the vest has to grow

A youth vest gets one or two seasons unless it adjusts. What each maker publishes:

• Knight & Hale Run N' Gun 200: a 10-point adjustment system from shoulders to lumbar that the maker says fits a man, woman or child. No inch range is published.
• ALPS Impact: Small and Standard, which ALPS says are “easily adjustable to accommodate a variety of sizes.” No range published.
• ALPS Super Elite 4.0: the only vest here with real numbers — Medium/Large fits a 38 to 44 in chest. For a teenager who already wears adult sizes, that is the most vest for the money at 22 pockets and 3 lb 1 oz.
• Avian-X Ridge Runner: Small/Large, with EVA-molded box and pot call pockets and adjustable waist and shoulder straps. No weight and no measurements.

Note what is missing: the ALPS Traditions, which adjusts from a 40 to 61 in waist, is on our big-frame page and not here, because the bottom of that range is still an adult waist.

The seat, and sitting still

Every vest here has a seat of some kind: a flip-down seat and backrest (Impact), a six-layer cushion that cinches away (Run N' Gun 200), a removable 2.5 in fold-away cushion (Super Elite 4.0) and a molded 2 in foam seat on magnetic storage (Ridge Runner). For a young hunter the cheapest upgrade is often a separate cushion: the ALPS Terrain Seat 3" is 1 lb 2 oz, 3 in thick, and doubles as padding on a chair.

The other honest answer for a fidgety first-timer is a blind rather than a thicker cushion. An enclosed hub blind hides movement in a way no vest can; the case both ways is in do you need a blind for turkey hunting, and the blinds themselves are in best turkey hunting blinds.

What a youth vest should not do

What to put in a young hunter's vest

Less than you think, and nothing they cannot run. One call they can already make a sound with — a push-button call is the honest answer for most kids, and our push-button picks explain why — plus a mask and gloves, water, a snack, and a light for the walk in. A box call is the next step up; mouth calls come last, because a diaphragm is the hardest call to learn and the easiest to lose.

The full kit list in buying order is our turkey hunting gear list, and the first-morning walkthrough is how to turkey hunt for beginners. On the gun side, a 20 gauge or a .410 with a youth stock is the right starting point: see best youth turkey shotguns.

Buyer's guide: a first vest for a young hunter

Weigh it loaded, not empty

Add the calls, a full water bottle and a snack to the vest's listed weight, then decide whether a child can walk a mile in the dark wearing it. The spread here is 1.5 lb to 3 lb 11 oz before any of that.

Buy the seat, not the pocket count

A young hunter will carry two calls, not ten. What they will use every minute is the seat. A flip-down seat with a backrest (Impact) or a cushion plus a tree is enough; 22 pockets is an adult's problem.

Check the adjustment, then check it again next spring

Straps that adjust at the shoulders and the waist are what buy you a second season. None of these makers publishes a youth size range in inches, so try the vest on over a jacket before the opener.

Keep the colors out

No red, white or blue anywhere on the vest or in it, and blaze orange on for the walk in and off once seated, where your state allows that. This is the first rule to teach and the easiest to check.

Let them run one call well

One call they can make a decent yelp with beats three they cannot. Start with the calls a beginner can actually run and leave the rest in the truck.