Gear Review: TETRA Turkey AmpPods

Hearing, like many other aspects of good health, is often taken for granted until one day it’s gone or damaged. Proper hearing protection while hunting is frequently neglected; matter of fact, 86% of hunters don’t wear hearing protection at all. And sadly this number doesn’t surprise me. Many folks I know tell me, “I don’t even hear the shot during the hunt. My ear barely even rings.”

As hunters, we know that moment when your weapon cracks is usually an adrenaline-filled moment in which certain senses we use to hone in on our game become heightened above others. What many of us don’t realize though is the simple fact that loud decibels, like a gunshot, are causing irreversible damage to our hearing, not just temporary ringing. Essentially, with every loud noise our ears bear, a scar is created. Just because you can’t “hear” the shot doesn’t mean it didn’t leave a scar on our ears.

A lifetime of noise exposure from hunting, loud equipment, motors and more can rob us of our hunting edge. Hearing loss makes it harder to detect our game and almost impossible to tell distance and direction. So, TETRA developed a patent-pending Specialized Target Optimization (STO), the world’s first hearing technology designed to optimize hearing for hunters in their specific hunting environments. This product isn’t just hearing protection, it’s optimized hearing and protection.

During my recent trip to Kansas in which I, and a band of others, was in pursuit of springtime Rio Turkey amongst the wheat fields and wood lines I was given the chance to test out TETRA's Turkey AmpPods. Early one morning on our drive to the outfitter’s furthest piece of property, Bill Dickenson, CEO of TETRA, handed me a pair of TurkeyPods. In the dark truck cab, the first thing I noticed was how simply I identified the right and left ear units. These units are tiny, but all models are colored red for right. In the dark truck cab, I got the units seated properly on attempt number one.

After slipping the pods into my two ears, a simple double tap on the side jumped me in between the four different modes: Turkey, Turkey Magnum, Turkey Boost, and ClearComm.

Now, I’ve used cheaper end hearing protection that claimed to include noise enhancement, but these cheaply crafted products made life feel like I was sitting inside a microphone. The simple unzipping my jacket was bumping deer two hollers over—or so it seemed. But with the TETRA AmpPods, life wasn’t necessarily louder; rather, it was enriched.  

I felt more aware of my movements as I tip-toed across the dew-soaked wheat field. I slowed down and listened, coyotes were far off in the east, but not close enough to ruin my hunt. I slipped into my ground blind and awaited the sunrise. The lead guide Don told me the turkey would be roosting on the high ridge in the West, but early-morning tree gobbles suggested otherwise. That tom’s gobble was not on the high ridge where Don told me it would be. No, it was on the opposite side of the field. Just then, a faint gobble from the direction of the high ridge sounded off; I quickly determined he was too far off to pay attention to. I was amazed at the directional assistance the TETRA pods gave me as gobblers sounded off from their morning roost. 

As the morning sun continued to rise, the boss tom, which had gobbled from behind me in the East, entered the field behind my blind. He was accompanied by a few of his well-known hens, but he was looking for the hen that matched the sound of my Wood Haven glass-top. Funny thing is, I couldn’t see any of these birds, they were behind my blind and all the rear windows were closed. Yet I heard their every cluck, call, and gobble thanks to the directional noise enhancement of the Turkey Pods. I knew what was behind me without ever turning around. So, I slowly raised my barrel to the blind’s front window, and I waited for the turkey to appear in my peripheral. 

But as I watched to my left, I heard the leaves rustle over my right shoulder. The tom had crossed behind my blind and slipped into the finger of woods that separated me and one wheat field from him and the adjacent field. I slowly pivoted and got ready for strutting action to my right, but after a few minutes of silence the tom sounded off a gobble about eighty yards up the next field. It was a gobble of confusion, but he wasn’t the only one confused. I knew how close he was, and I couldn’t believe how far he had moved since being directly behind me. 

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I hit my pot call one more time and the Tom performed an abrupt about-face as he rushed back toward my call. I adjusted my camera’s angle once more and prepared for the shot. That’s when I heard footsteps in the leaves behind me again. It was now the third time this hot gobbler crossed behind my blind, so I decided to ditch my video efforts and kill the bird out of frame, so I slid out of my chair and turned around. 

When the turkey load left my barrel, my world went silent. The TETRA pods were there to protect my ears at the very moment that I ditched everything else for the kill. It wasn’t until I threw the turkey over my shoulder for my hike out that I even thought to take out my TETRA pods. I’d forgotten they were even in. 

As we all returned to camp that evening Bill and I shared a well-earned dinner and some Wild Turkey on the rocks. That’s when Bill explained to me the full adaptability of the TurkeyPods. Not only is the TurkeyPod specifically designed to enhance the sounds of a wild turkey, but they are also an adaptable product that can be programmed for other game species.

Spring might bring turkey, but you could be a big-time elk hunter too. Well, TETRA has you covered with hearing enhancement across the whole world of loud sporting adventures. To learn more about this revolutionary hearing product check out the YouTube video here or visit tetrahering.com