Turkey Thug waist pack

[alloutdoors]

I was in Walmart yesterday and took a walk through the sporting goods area when I noticed the Turkey Thug waist pack on the shelf. One of my goals for this season is to travel lighter and leave the vest home as much as possible, especially when it gets hot. At only $20, this pack seemed worth a shot.



Starting from the left of the above picture (which would be on your right hip if wearing in the front on your waist) is a small rectangular pocket big enough for a knife or leatherman, or maybe thermacell refills or a granola bar. It's too small for my iPhone 5, a smaller phone might fit. This is probably the least useful pocket on the entire pack, the rectangular shape is an inefficient use of the space available. I'd trade it for a water bottle pouch in a second. Even just copying the pocket on the opposite side of the belt would have been a big improvement.


Next is a box call holder, I had no trouble fitting any of my short boxes in it and it did a pretty good job of holding them snug and keeping them quiet. There's also a D-ring you might be able to make use of.


Then comes the main cargo compartment at the front of the pack. There are also two loop straps but I haven't thought of any way to make use of them. The main compartment has several sections, the one closest to your body is a large open pocket that could hold a Thermacell or small water bottle, maybe a small pair of binoculars, and would be a good place for gloves/facemask/etc.




In front of the main cargo pocket is a flap with two striker pockets. I can actually fit two strikers in each pocket, or a trumpet as shown here (the mouth piece sticks out a bit as you can see, but it is held securely). This also gives a good look at the magnetic "snap" closures found on much of the pack. Despite the shape they don't actually snap, they are held closed entirely by the magnetic force, but the shape gives the magnets a nice firm hold.


Flip the flap up and there are two slate pockets underneath.




Lifting the flap also reveals another storage area with zipper sides, undo the zippers and this is what you find.


I added some gear for scale. The rangefinder is a Nikon Riflehunter 500, it just barely fits in that pocket. The two mesh pockets have zipper closures, the openings to each are pretty small but they would be a good place to put mouthcalls, sandpaper, chalk, brillo pads, etc. You could also lay something flat in the bottom of this storage area under the trio of small pockets.


Next up is a pair of pockets, the first of which would easily hold my rangefinder. It's just a tad small for my pruners, although that's partly because my pruners are on the large side. There is a second smaller gear pocket on the front of the larger one. There's another D-ring on this side of the pack as well.




Last up is another small cargo pocket, this one also contains five shell loops. It held my 20ga shells nicely, it seemed like 12ga may be a bit snug although I haven't tried any in it yet to see.


Overall I think it's definitely worth a try for $20. I filled it up with most of the gear I though I might want to carry in it and it was still very comfortable to wear. I like the magnetic closures and that velcro has been kept to a minimum. The pot call pockets probably could have made use of the magnets but that's a fairly minor complaint. I do wish it came with a dedicated water bottle pocket, but I may just take a belt loop bottle holster and slide it onto the buckle strap. The nice thing is you can probably find a few of these at just about every Walmart in the country, so you can easily take a look at it yourself if you think you might want one.

[ShotGunSniper]

Nice. This would be great for scouting and for leafy suits, imo. It has everything on it. I have last years tactical vest. I like their stuff.

[bamagtrdude]

Dang, I need to check that out!  I'm a fanny pack hunter for a while now, and this looks *nice*!  Wal-Mart, huh?

[2eagles]

That's probably the best review of a product I have ever seen!

[kiltman]

 I purchased one last year.  It's great when the weather starts getting warm.

[bamagtrdude]

Man, I'm bummed - went to both Wal-Marts in my town, and they don't have their turkey stuff fully out on the shelves yet - won't have it out 'til this week, so ...   

Couldn't check this waist pack out; but, if it's like your review, I'm gonna be getting me one of these...  I like my Game Winner pack from Academy; it's worked for me for a number of years, but ...  It's not specifically built for turkey hunting like this one...

They said they'll have the stuff out by Thursday, so...  Keepin' my fingers crossed!!  Thx again for this detailed review; you did a great job!

BGD

[ShotGunSniper]

Man, I'm bummed - went to both Wal-Marts in my town, and they don't have their turkey stuff fully out on the shelves yet - won't have it out 'til this week, so ...   

Couldn't check this waist pack out; but, if it's like your review, I'm gonna be getting me one of these...  I like my Game Winner pack from Academy; it's worked for me for a number of years, but ...  It's not specifically built for turkey hunting like this one...

They said they'll have the stuff out by Thursday, so...  Keepin' my fingers crossed!!  Thx again for this detailed review; you did a great job!


That's how the Wal-Marts are around my area. I shop at 3 different Wal Marts, and they put their turkey products out, different times.

BGD

[bamagtrdude]

I went to Gander Mountain & another "local" shop, but it appears this Turkey Thugs stuff is only sold through Wal-Mart; which is unfortunate 'cause that's my LEAST favorite place to shop at (for hunting stuff)!

Oh well, gotta be patient, I reckon.  Good practice for season; haha...

[WildSpur]

Great review.   That is a nice looking pack.  I can't believe it's only $20.

I see you mentioned the 2 loops near the one pocket.   They make great attachment points for things you can't loose.  I hook a small spring clip to my gps lanyard and attach it to my vest on a similar loop.

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[kiltman]

 My local Wal-mart just put the turkey items out this past week.  The fanny pack didn't appear until yesterday (sunday).  The are also offering single pockets to attach to a vest or the fanny pack if you need more space for a box call or pot calls.  I purchased this fanny pack last year, along with a extra box call pouch.  I purchased the pot call pouch yesterday.  It will hold 2 pots and 2 strikers.  It also has built in scotchbrite pads in each pocket to turn up the call if needed.  They are attached in the middle of each pocket, I'm not sure how this is suppose to work.  I sand mine on the edges.

[bamagtrdude]

Alright, I just dropped into Wal-Mart over lunch and -- *gasp* FINALLY they had this Turkey Thugs fanny pack - but they only had 2 of 'em.  I went ahead & got it - along with the TT butt pad & backpack (to carry my decoys), so essentially I've done a whole "upgrade" of my hunting system this year.

The one MAJOR thing I'm concerned about here (although I went ahead & bought it) are the magnetic snap closures; I just don't know how well they're going to hold & stay together during running-and-gunning sessions thru the woods...  My old Academy fanny pack is all zippers - no snaps or velcro at all, so it's very quiet on hunts...  I'm not a big fan of "ripping" open velcro closures, but ...  I'll just have to see how well this thing works out...  If it doesn't work out as well as my old system, I can always revert back...

I *REALLY* like the Thugs backpack; it's definitely an improvement on my old pack, 'cause it's got an extra zippered med-sized pocket on the front; that's *cool* cause I can fit a few more things in there! I intend to put the Thugs butt pad into the big pocket of the pack (the TT pad is much smaller than the Mossy Oak pad that had come with my turkey vest, long time ago), along with the dekes, just like my old setup.

We'll just have to see what happens; again, I really like the concept here, but just wonder if I'm going to be losing calls running like a banshee thru the woods...

BGD

[eddie234]

Our walmart doesnt have any turkey stuff out yet

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[bamagtrdude]

Mine didn't either -- until today!!  I've been buggin' the stew out of 'em.  Supposedly, it's "there"; just employees that haven't put it on the shelves yet.

[eddie234]

Our walmart finally got their turkey stuff out. I picked one of these up just to have. They only had two of them.

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[bamagtrdude]

Our walmart finally got their turkey stuff out. I picked one of these up just to have. They only had two of them.

Ya, mine only had 2, as well??  Well, I did the swap-over & am planning to hunt w/mine.  We'll just have to see how it goes; I had to do some "mods" to get it situated where I'm comfortable with it, but ...  I think it's going to work pretty well.