Jon from Just Hunt Club goes over some essential things to pack before you hit the road chasing spring gobblers!
Transcription:
We're down here in Alabama just getting ready to pack up to head back north. We wanted to go over some things that we've learned to be essentials when we're traveling to Turkey Hunt in the spring, and it may save you guys some headaches when you're either starting out or planning your first turkey trip.
I just only have a few of the things here on the truck bed. Obviously, a good cooler when you're headed down south or during springtime.
It's going to be warmer, so you want to make sure you got a good cooler that'll hold ice for a decent amount of time, especially if you're camping or if you're on the road for a long period of time.
You want to have a good cooler. Keep your food cold and those turkey breasts cold after you shoot one. We always bring a bunch of non-perishable foods, you know, quick, easy oatmeal, rice, snack bars. We put them in a tote that way if it rains, it keeps everything nice and dry. And we got good snacks to be out in the field with freeze-dried meals, mountain houses, peak refuels, or some of our favorites.
Along with this, we always bring a jetboil. That way, if we're out on public land or out for the day, or come back to the truck, we have something to boil water really fast, make some food, and continue turkey hunting. This is super important if you're running in a truck bed.
We have a cap—blew the window out of it—so it's not really waterproof anymore. A dry bag is what I pack all my non-turkey hunting clothes in. That way if you just have a truck bed or a tonneau cover or way that things are going to get wet, you can throw this in the back there and make sure all your stuff is nice and dry.
Another thing we do with all of our hunting clothes aside from keeping them in dry bags, is to try to pack them into totes so water and dust stay out. I actually have a big cooler in the back here that's packed two full. But I got a boot dryer in there, extra pairs of boots, you don't want to be getting your feet all wet and not have a way to dry it out, and only have one pair of boots because that'll ruin your trip pretty fast.
When we go on trips, a lot of times our stuff is 50/50. Whether we're going to be camping or staying at a house like we're at today. But when we came down here, we knew we were going to have this option. We always pack our camping gear. The reason is because we've had times where maybe we have an awesome trip in Alabama and we want to hit a different staples but we have nowhere to stay and we don't have camping gear. Well, we're kind of SOL there, so we always bring camping gear. And there's a couple things that we like to bring for that.
This is above and beyond: We're living on the road a lot of spring so if you're just going for a short stint, it's not as big of a deal. But if you are wanting to be gone for a little while, these are just some things that may help save you a headache. Small tent one man two man tent right here that packs down nice and light. We also love hammocks. Hammocks with a bug net if we're pulling off the side of the road, camping for a night, it's super easy to throw up in a tree. I sleep awesome in hammocks. If I could pick a hammock every time I would, but they're nice, light, and compact. You can squeeze it in a small space and you always have a bed while you're on the road.
Something that we utilized a lot on this trip is tools. Always try to be prepared for vehicle errors. Have a toe strap. You know, your basic stuff. We use an impact wrench this trip. We use a sawzall, we use wrenches, we use sockets. We use all sorts of stuff. There's nothing worse than trying to go out and turkey hunt and getting stuck because you don't have the means to fix something. So pack your normal tools. Like I said, a really big one is a toe strap. If you get stuck, you want to be able to have a way to get pulled out. Jumper cables, those types of things, those essentials.
A Rocksolar is also really nice, especially if you're camping with a portable power supply. They have the small ones for your phones. We could run a laptop off of this and even hook it up to solar panels and get some solar power to charge that up and run our laptops and work on the road. That's super nice to have.
Another thing that is super important in my mind is water jugs. I try to bring anywhere from—depending on the trip—20 gallons of water from back home. It's not fun when you get dehydrated on the road. Also, I like drinking my water from home.
With your guns, your turkey stuff, those are just a few things that we've learned throughout the years to make sure that we have with us. And, you know, we've learned it by not having it. Hopefully this helps you plan for your next turkey trip and good luck in the woods.
