No Bull: This Vest Is Made for Lounging
Turkey hunters are some of the most obsessive individuals when it comes to their pursuits. They will pour hours of time into early morning scouting or reviewing of online maps, and a variety of calls are probably strewn about their cars and homes leading up to seasons as they get back into spring-season calling form. And, they most surely factor in the style of hunting they prefer and the terrain in which they may find themselves when seeking out gear for the hunt.
So, when I got my hands on the Bull Lounger turkey vest from Nomad Outdoors, I immediately began to consider how it would handle my gear needs, as well as how it would fair in all the places I would be chasing turkeys in the near future.
With 23 total pockets and compartments, I knew there should be ample room for all my gear, but I still pulled together all the items I wanted to have for an upcoming trip to Florida to check to see if things would fit.
- Four pot calls and four strikers
- One long box call
- Half dozen mouth calls in two plastic cases
- Scour pads, chalk and conditioners for calls
- Owl hooter and crow locator calls
- Thermacell with extra pads and fuel
- TETRA Hearing AlphaShield Ear Protection
- Knife
- Ammo
- Snacks (arguably as important as ammo or calls)
After some finagling, I was able to fill out the vest with all my equipment; however, the long box call was a tough fit for the box call pouch on the front left side of the vest — next time I’ll take a standard sized box call. And, the vest only has two pot call pouches, so my two smaller diameter pot calls — a copper pot from Duck and Strut Outdoors and an aluminum pot call made from a spent Grizzly snuff can — would have to be stashed in interior zippered pockets if I wanted to carry them.
No longer having concerns about storage needs, I moved on to suitability for the hunt and my first stop in the Sunshine State. Trying the vest on, I was able to quickly get the fit right using the more than 10 points of adjustment. The padded seat was comfortable and easy to deploy with its combination of buckle and magnetic fasteners. And, the lightweight removeable “lounger” frame was a cinch to adjust once I got the hang of the bolts.
At first, your mind will try to tell you your hands should both rotate toward you to tighten the bolts and away from you to loosen them, but your hands will have to move in different directions as both bolts are right-handed threads.
I’ll always advocate for finding a tree wider than your back for setting up on a bird for safety, but those who have hunted turkeys long enough and in a variety of terrain know a tree of that width is not always available. And, in those instances, the Bull Lounger is a life saver, even for me at 6-foot-2, 265 pounds.
I already was sold on the vest before I ever got to Florida because of its functionality and the ability to “lounge” in comfort with or without the aluminum frame in the down position. But, while hunting below the Osceola line, my faith in this vest was further cemented by testing the fit of the vest while “packing out heavy.” After helping a friend score on an afternoon black-winged gobbler, I loaded the bird into the vest and toted it more than a mile back to camp in comfort.
No further testing needed.
To learn more about Nomad Outdoor’s Bull Lounger, visit https://nomadoutdoor.com/products/nomad-bull-lounger-turkey-vest-mossy-oak-shadow-leaf.