Apr

The “Perfect” Pair of Turkey Hunting Boots

By 5593907

For many years there have been debates, both in person and online, regarding the "perfect" pair of turkey hunting boots. One the first questions that people ask are "why won't my regular hunting boots work for Turkey hunting?"

Well, they might work just fine, but take the following 2 things into consideration:

#1 - Temperature - Most turkey hunting is done in the spring when temperatures are going up. Depending on the geography you hunt, it could be anywhere from 50 to 80 degrees on a typical hunting day during the season. Most hunting boots are built for colder weather hunting so they will probably be to warm to use for turkey hunting. I wore a pair of my cold weather boots one year turkey hunting in South Carolina and I was miserable as my feet were sweating so bad I couldn't stand it. In most situations, boots used for turkey hunting will need to be lighter and less insulated.

#2 Snakes - Springtime in most areas means the possibility that snakes are just coming out after the winter. this means that the possibility of encountering a venomous snake increases. It's vitally important to understand that standard hunting boots may offer the wearer some protection from snakebite, but nothing compared to the protection guaranteed by true snake proof boots. Case in point: A good friend of mine who bowhunts happened to step on a large water moccasin (also called a Cottonmouth) while walking out of the woods. He was wearing standard hunting boots when the snake whipped around and struck the toe area of his boot. While the fangs didn't penetrate into his foot, they did penetrate deep enough into the boot to inject venom on his sock. The next day he was at the local sporting good buying snake boots.

While these 2 points are a "requirement" for a good pair of turkey hunting boots, I would definitely take them into consideration when buying boots. Although I don't get to turkey hunt much anymore, my personal pair of turkey hunting boots is a pair of Justin 18" non-insulated snake boots.