How to Choose a Turkey Vest for Your First Season

You can hunt turkeys out of a jacket and a backpack. The National Wild Turkey Federation's beginner guide puts it plainly: “If you find you are lugging a bunch of gear to the woods, you may be ready for a turkey vest or backpack,” and some “can be lifesavers while out on the hunt as they incorporate cushioned seats into their designs.” That's the case for a vest: a seat you can't forget, and calls you can reach without moving much. This guide walks through the choice in order. When you're ready to compare models, our best turkey vests roundup ranks the field, and the vests and gear section covers seats, boots and clothing.

We haven't worn or hunted in these vests. Every figure below comes from the maker's product page, or a named dealer's where the maker's wasn't readable, and is listed in the sources at the bottom.

How to choose a turkey vest in 7 steps

1. Decide how you'll hunt: sit against trees, sit wherever you stop, or walk and call.
2. Pick the seat to match: a cushion, a flip-down seat with a backrest, or a kickstand frame.
3. Match the pockets to your calls: a box call pocket, pot call and striker pockets, a mouth call pocket.
4. Check the published weight with the seat or frame fitted.
5. Check the published fit range against your chest or waist, over spring layers.
6. Look for quiet: a quiet fabric the maker names, magnets, a padded call pocket.
7. Check the game bag and the warranty before you pay.

Step 1: Decide how you'll hunt

Everything else follows from this. A first season usually looks like one of three styles, and each one wants a different vest.

• Sit and wait against a tree. You walk in before light, set up and call from one spot for a long time. The NWTF's advice for this style: “If you are not hunting from a ground blind, find a substantial tree to lean against during your hunt.” The tree is your backrest, so you need a seat cushion and good pockets, not a frame.
• Sit wherever you stop. Field edges, thin timber, a fence line. A vest with a flip-down backrest or a kickstand frame gives you back support where there's no good tree, and you pay for it in weight.
• Walk and call. Hunters call this run and gun: cover ground, call, listen, move to the next spot. Weight is everything here, so the lightest vest with a cushion wins.

Step 2: Pick the seat

Turkey vest seats come in three kinds. Here is what each one does and what it weighs on the vests we score.

Cushions differ more than you'd think. ALPS lists a 2.5 in fold-away cushion on the Super Elite 4.0 and a 3 in memory foam seat on the Traditions; Knight & Hale describes a removable six-layer cushioned seat on the Run N' Gun 200; Primos puts a 3 in seat pad on a magnet closure on the Will Primos vest. For the frame vests head to head, see Tenzing TR18 vs ALPS Grand Slam, and for a flip-down seat against a plain cushion, ALPS Impact vs Traditions. Every seat style is ranked in our turkey vests with seats.

Step 3: Match the pockets to your calls

Count the calls you'll actually carry, then look for a dedicated pocket for each one. A simple first-season kit might be a box call, a pot call with a striker or two, and maybe a mouth call. If you haven't chosen yet, our best turkey calls for beginners starts there.

• Box call: a box call sounds whenever its lid moves, so look for a padded or molded pocket that holds it still. ALPS lists a silent box call pocket on the Super Elite 4.0, Impact and Grand Slam; Avian-X says its EVA-molded box call and striker pocket on the Ridge Runner keeps calls quiet and protected.
• Pot calls and strikers: look for pot pockets with dividers and separate striker slots. The Super Elite 4.0 has two large slate call pockets with padded dividers and three striker pockets.
• Mouth calls: a small pocket so they don't get crushed. The Super Elite 4.0 has two mesh diaphragm pockets, the Impact three, and the Run N' Gun 200 has quick-dry diaphragm pockets.
• Locator calls and shells: the Grand Slam has a dedicated locator call pocket, the Will Primos vest has lanyard D-rings for locators. For shells, the Impact and Grand Slam list five shell loops and the TR18 seven.

A published pocket count helps you compare. ALPS states 22 pockets on the Super Elite 4.0; Primos says only “several outer pockets” on the Will Primos vest, which is why we can't score its storage as high. More pockets aren't better by themselves, though: every pocket you fill is weight on your shoulders.

Step 4: Check the published weight

Of the vests we score that publish a weight, the range runs from 1.5 lb (Knight & Hale Run N' Gun 200) to 7 lb 2 oz (ALPS Grand Slam with its frame, Standard). Two makers publish none: Avian-X for the Ridge Runner and Primos for the Will Primos vest. Compare weights with the seat or frame fitted, because that is how you'll carry it. The Grand Slam is 4 lb 10 oz without its frame, which is a real option on walking days, but then it isn't a chair.

A rough rule: if you'll walk more than you sit, stay near the light end. If you'll sit for hours close to the truck, the extra pounds of a frame seat may be worth it. If you'd rather keep the vest light and carry the seat separately, our turkey hunting chair picks include a 1 lb 2 oz foam cushion.

Step 5: Check the fit range

A vest that rides up or slides off your shoulders makes you adjust it, and adjusting is movement. Look for a size range the maker actually publishes, and measure over the layers you'll wear on a cold spring morning; our guide to what to wear turkey hunting covers those layers.

• ALPS Super Elite 4.0: Medium/Large (chest 38 to 44 in) and X-Large/XX-Large (chest 44 to 52 in).
• ALPS Grand Slam: Standard (waist up to 48 in) and X-Large (waist 48 to 58 in).
• ALPS Traditions: one size, waist 40 to 61 in, shoulder straps 13 to 24 in.
• Avian-X Ridge Runner: Small/Large and X-Large/3XL.
• Primos Will Primos vest: Medium to 3X-Large.
• Knight & Hale Run N' Gun 200: one size with a 10-point adjustment system that Knight & Hale says fits a man, woman or child; no range published.
• ALPS Impact: Small, which ALPS calls ideal for youth and smaller frames, and Standard; no range published.

For bigger hunters, the vests with published large sizes are the Ridge Runner and Will Primos (to 3XL), the Grand Slam X-Large and the Traditions (waist to 61 in).

Step 6: Look for quiet

Few makers publish anything about noise. The claims we found: ALPS builds the Super Elite 4.0 with a “quiet cotton liner”; Primos uses magnet closures on the Will Primos vest's striker pockets and seat pad; ALPS includes a magnet to hold the Impact's seat up; and Avian-X describes magnetic quick-deploy seat storage on the Ridge Runner as secure and silent.

Step 7: Check the game bag and the warranty

The game bag on the back carries decoys on the way in and a bird on the way out. ALPS says the Traditions' XL game bag “holds a mature tom or full-body decoys,” and the Impact has a pocket inside its game bag for decoy stakes. Some vests add a hydration sleeve (the Grand Slam, TR18, Ridge Runner and Run N' Gun 200), and the Impact Pro includes a removable ThermaCELL pocket; our Thermacell turkey hunting guide covers when a repeller earns that space.

Warranties vary more than the vests do. ALPS warrants its vests against defects for the life of the product, at its discretion. Knight & Hale gives vests a standard 1-year warranty from the date of purchase, and Primos a one-year warranty against defects for the original purchaser. Tenzing's homepage states a Limited Lifetime Warranty for its packs. Avian-X publishes no warranty term on the Ridge Runner's product page.

Three vests that meet the bar

One pick for each way to hunt. Each publishes its weight, its seat and a dedicated box call pocket, and each is currently sold by its maker.

Mistakes to skip

• Buying the heaviest vest because it does the most. A frame seat is great on a long sit and heavy on a long walk. Match the vest to how you'll hunt, not to the feature list.
• Loading every pocket. Carry the calls you can run, a few shells, water and a light. The rest can stay in the truck.
• Skipping the fit check. Put the vest on over your spring layers and sit down in it before the season, not in the dark on opening morning.
• Forgetting the rules. Hunter-orange requirements for walking in and out, and rules on decoys and calls, vary by state and season. Check your state wildlife agency before you go.