#HUNTGear

I still remember the moment. A package arrived at my remote home amidst the rough, high-elevation mule deer and elk habitat of my youth, dropped casually on the porch by the United Parcel Service driver. We lifted it, my brother and I, to a place of honor on the kitchen table, and carefully removed the contents from the packaging. Dashing to the back porch we pointed the new marvel at a distant hillside and exclaimed with glee at the result. It was the first laser rangefinder we owned, and it changed our hunting and shooting lives.

Turkey hunting gear can make or break a hunt. With gobblers having some of the best vision in the animal kingdom, and ears that can pick up details that humans can’t fathom, it’s imperative that hunters have the right equipment to get the job done.

Here is some of my favorite gear for 2018, which helped me harvest five turkeys just last season.

As Vortex’s entry level rangefinder, the Impact 850 outperforms its price point. As someone who does a variety of hunting, I look for diversity in my gear. I want equipment that’s going to function whether it’s spring or fall, archery season or gun season, and good conditions or poor. When it comes to a rangefinder, I’ll be looking for optics that can function for bowhunting deer, shotgun hunting turkey, and rifle hunting elk.

Sure Shot uses a different style of architecture in how a call is built, going back to the companies first patent, for a double reed call held together by rivets. Starting in 1959, they won pretty much every calling contest in the world for a decade straight. Since that first duck call, they have expanded into many styles of predator calls, and continue to be used by hunters around the world today.

Eberlestock has long been known amongst civilians for hunting packs, establishing a reputation for hell and back reliability. Arguably, no pack company has done more when it comes to innovative designs. Less well known, for years military snipers have used them as well. The off the shelf solution solved a variety of problems since the [...]

The mere mention of the word obtains my undivided attention; it is the concept of a hunting adventure in the wild places of Africa, and is undoubtedly my happy thought. The word safari is taken from the KiSwahili dialect of East Africa, and it simply means ‘journey.’ It represents the challenge of shooting a big-bore rifle and being in an environment where there are animals large enough to take your life with ease. The CZ 550 rifle is, in and of itself, a journey, in that it has its roots in the Czechoslovakian Brno ZKK 602 rifle, and has come a long way to get to the current inception. That ZKK 602 is still revered among those who enjoy the big bore bolt-action rifles; the action is considered as rock-solid and reliable as a Mauser 98.

When you’re planning a hunting trip there are few very important considerations — what gun are you going to take? What does the weather look like? How much will the tags cost? Equally as important as what firearm you’re going to take is what binos will you take? For a mid-range 8X binos, the Vortex Viper HD 8×42 are hard to beat.

Here are some top gift ideas for the hunter and backcountry adventurer in your life. With candy canes and gum drops dancing in your head, it’s never too early to start scheming and dreaming of Christmas.

Moose were the furthest thing from my mind at the moment. Cold water was at the forefront, cold water and the fact that I was falling. Yup, you guessed it – falling into said cold water. Good gear for a hardcore backcountry hunt is paramount to success and survival. Clothing is no exception, and should be given serious consideration.