Energy Drinks and Turkey Hunters

Energy drinks and turkey hunters are like magnum loads chambered in a shotgun.

If you’re over 40 like me you probably still drink black coffee as your number one go-to “energy drink” before, during and after turkey hunts. I have to be honest though. My local Circle K truck stop carries the infamous “Not for city boys” Team Realtree Energy Drinks and I’ve been known to grab one or two after gassing up my old truck. Heck, they even helped me kill my New Hampshire fall turkey last year. The dang can is as thick as a gun barrel and works like an ice cooler if chilled beforehand. Good stuff on a hot day, I’ll tell ya. Make mine an AP by the way. And it’s got another use. Realtree.com editor and Brow Tines & Backstrap blogger Will Brantley once said they'd make one heckuva spit can . . . try it and let us know.

Coffee-drinking guys like me might be a dying breed in turkey camp though (no jokes, young punks). Each season with increasing frequency I see cases of hardcore artery-expanding energy drinks in camp. Any time I turkey hunt with Steve Nessl of Yamaha Outdoors I know a big case of Red Bull will sit somewhere in the kitchen area, ready for action. (If you're me, a stubbed toe is expected on that beast in the middle of the night.)

Van Holmes, also of the YO crew, prefers his turkey hunting jump-start in the form of those pocket-sized 5-Hour energy drinks. Don't tell him my teenaged daughter says the NASCAR colors of those little cans makes it look like something you'd put in an engine rather than your body. Then again, maybe there's something to that . . .

Want cutting-edge energy drink action? Another one of my turkey hunting buds refers to his Monster Rehabs as having the ability to “hit reset on the day” when you need it the most.

What energy drink helps you hit reset on the day? Black coffee or maybe Team Realtree Energy Drinks? Maybe something stronger or nothing at all? Any milk drinkers out there?