Best upland hunting strap vest

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dalex117

New member
Hi All, I'm looking for a new strap vest for upland hunting. I've narrowed down the search to the
1) Browning bird n Lite,
2) Tenzing bv16,
3) wingworks ballistic vest, and the
4) Orvis pro series hunting vest.
My upland hunting is 90% pheasants and 10% grouse.
I wanted to see what those who have used these vests (particularly if you have used multiple from the list) thought were some strengths/weaknesses and which vest you would buy if you had to do it again.
Thanks in advance,
 
I can only speak for myself and the 6 other guys I hunt with on a weekly basis, we all own wings works vests. They are custom made to your exact size/dimensions, can hold a ton of water, easily hold 4-5 roosters and are built to last. Granted they aren't cheap but, it's the old saying you pay for what you get!
 
Hey Dalex117, I was in the same boat this summer and actually tried out all of those for a couple days except the WingWorks one. I also tested the LL BEAN vest, and the Badlands Vest. I cant say that any of them are bad, but I liked the Browning one the least. When the dust cleared I settled for the LL Bean Technical Strap Vest. It fit my body right and seemed to distribute the load correctly. I tested it with enough sandbags in the game pouch to simulate a limit of roosters and maybe a couple bonus quail. It doesnt come with a bladder, but has the place for one. But id rather drink from a bottle anyways. My next favorite was the BV16 from Tenzing. Although it is more of a backpack than a hunting vest. If you stuffed it with birds and filled the other pockets, it rode kinda funny on my back. But the local hunting I do doesnt require a days worth of supplies all at once.

As waterdog09 stated, WW vests are highly loved throughout our community and should be strongly considered. Im just a fan of wearing before buying, and thats not a choice with a custom built vest.

Hope this helps, Happy Hunting!
 
Waterdog09 and poninskib,
Thanks for the great information! I'm going to keep looking at the WW and try out the LL Bean vest.
 
Once I figured out what I wanted, I scoured ebay and saved $40 on the LL Bean. Deals are out there, you just got to do the legwork
 
I just got the Orvis Pro Series a few days ago. Overall I’m very impressed with the quality and features. I have yet to use it in the field but just from messing around with it I don’t foresee any major issues. Time will tell though.
 
I have had a wings work for the last 10 years highly recommended it , the Orvis pro series seems to have similar features to the ww vest ,
 
I had the Browning Bird n lite for 4yrs, its a great vest but their sizing is a little wonky. I'm 6'2" 220lbs, I could get into the med with the straps fully extended and ended up settling on the large/xl. With the straps sucked right up it was still to big on me and hung to low. The construction on the vest was excellent and really liked how easy it was to load your birds. The vest has lots of storage and the shell pockets are very easy to access. This year I ordered a WW vest and even though I've only had it on about 5 hunts, I very please with it. Top notch construction, very comfortable loaded with water and birds and seems to breath good in the warmer weather. The one thing I noticed on the wing works was the shell pockets, they seem a bit narrow when getting a gloved hand in them. It hasn't caused me issues yet, but it might with thicker gloves on. I don't think you can go wrong with ether of these vests, both will last and are worth the money (pending the Browning fits you...)|
 
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