One of the great things, and one of the bad things, when it comes to writing about hunting is testing and using a lot of gear.

During turkey season, I sometimes look like a walking sporting goods store in the woods. It prevents me from being as mobile and adaptive to bird movements as I would like, but it gives me an opportunity to get the real measure of the latest gear.

It’s a tough way to make a living, but somebody’s got to do it.

GILLIE PONCHO

Essentially a ground blind that you wear, this item is a lot lighter and no less effective than a military style gillie suit.

It covers the entire body, including the legs, and has a hood that fits over your ball cap. The sides are cut to allow your arms free movement.

It eliminates your outline and makes you look like a bush, which makes it possible to hunt in places where there is little or no cover. For these reasons, it’s also useful for hunting from the ground in archery deer season.

The garment is surprisingly warm, too, eliminating the need for a jacket or pullover on cold spring mornings.

I can roll it tight enough to fit easily in the back pouch of my turkey vest or in a small day pack.

I bought mine for about $50.

OVERALLS

I prefer overalls for all hunting, and for years I used Walls.

They were light and comfortable, but not durable. The cuffs always shredded, the seams parted, and the shoulder strap hardware often broke. Their lifespan was about three years.

This spring I’m using a pair of Bone Dry overalls. They cost about the same as Walls, but they are waterproof, windproof and breathable. Unlike cotton fabric, they also turn away briars and stickers. They have generous zippered pockets in the front that can hold keys, a wallet and a smart phone, and also large zippered pockets in the back.

A zipper opens the entire front, and a buttoned flap protects the zipper. This allows venting and makes it easier to get them on and off. It does, however, eliminate the large front pouch on traditional bib overalls.

I miss that pouch, but I don’t miss things falling out of the pouch when I turned down a bib to answer nature’s call.

FOLDING SEAT

A compact folding chair is a lot more comfortable than a cushion and enables you to sit in one place for hours.

I’ve used several. My Browning folding chair is comfortable, but it is bulky and unwieldy, as is my hunting recliner, but at least it has dual shoulder straps for portability.

I currently use a collapsible hunting chair from Cabela’s. It folds into a compact stick that stuffs into a sack with a shoulder strap. It enables you to plop down and sit anywhere, especially if you wear the gillie poncho.

On the other hand, it’s unhandy if you have to relocate on the fly.

DECOYS

Decoys can help close the deal on a gobbler.

If a tom comes to a place where he hears a call but doesn’t see a hen, he will proceed cautiously, but he’s just as likely to turn away or circle. Gobblers will often go straight to a decoy.

I like Primos She-Mobile decoys. They’re easy to set up, they’re light, and you can fold them to fit in your vest pouch. Some hunters use the B-Mobile, a strutting gobbler decoy. I’ve used it once, but it intimidated a gobbler and made it run away.

CALLS

If I can claim expertise in any turkey hunting subject, it’s callers. I use all kinds, boxes, slates, diaphragms and push-buttons.

I prefer calls made by Arkansas craftsmen. I have about a dozen calls made by Bill Rhodes of Sheridan. He makes them out of every kind of wood imaginable, and each has a unique sound. If you visit Rhodes’ shop, you can try as many as you want to find one or two that you like.

One of my proudest possessions is a laminated box made by Eddie Horton of Camden that I bought in January. I’ve listened to celebrity callers on turkey hunting television shows and wondered why my calls never sound that good. This call sounds that good.

For slates, I use Patrick Frachiseur’s Premium Game Calls from Dierks. I have several, including his excellent Diamond Cutter and Aluma Cutter. They’ve brought birds to me when nothing else would.

Sports, Pages 36 on 04/27/2014