When Tim Dozier, with TuffTruckBag, first contacted me, I thought it was perfect timing. He was calling to ask me to take a look at their product and tell them what I thought. I was a week away from leaving for Kansas on the TalkHunting turkey hunt at 180 Outdoors. What a perfect way to test out their TuffTruckBag. The TuffTruckBag is a flexible bag that ties down in the bed of your truck to hold your gear. It's heavy duty and completely weather proof. Perfect!

There were three of us heading from Alabama to Kansas in a pickup truck and a ton of gear that had to go along. With a 15 hour drive ahead of us, we were hoping to keep the back seat of Marks extended cab empty so one of us could sleep and shift out the driving. However, we had a lot of gear that had to go with us and we were expecting rain on the trip. If we put the gear in the back of the truck it would get wet. If we loaded the back seat down, no one could sleep. It was quite the dilemma. We thought about tarps but anyone that has ever tried to keep a tarp tied down in the back of a truck knows how frustrating that can be. We thought about plastic tubs but those are bulky, rigid and a pain to work with. I was hoping this truck bag would be the answer. If I could provide us a good solution to our gear storage problem, I would be a hero.

I told the guys I had the problem solved and waited for Tim’s package to arrive. It showed up the day before the trip and while I thought the box seemed a little small to hold this perfect solution to our gear problem, I just stuck it on the porch and started getting my gear together.

Denny, Mark and I stayed at our hunting camp the night before we were leaving for Kansas so the next afternoon (we were leaving at 4 PM) I grabbed the TuffTruckBag and proceeded to set it up in the truck. Inside the shipping box was the TuffTruckBag all rolled up in its own storage bag. I opened the bag and rolled out the TuffTruckBag on the ground. Uh Oh… it sure looked little! About that time the guys came outside and started to complain that this little thing would not hold very much of our gear. I went from a hero to a zero in a single minute! Well, there was nothing I could do but go ahead and set it up and stick what gear we could get in it and move on. However, the initial looks were VERY deceiving. As I proceeded to tie it into the truck, it kept getting bigger and bigger as if by magic! Once I had it completely ready, which took all of 5 minutes, it looked huge!

The guys came back out and took another look and said it looked better and might hold most of our gear. As we started packing this thing, it just kept taking it. It was like a fat guy at a Chinese buffet.. the gear kept going in and yet we still had room! We ended up getting all of our gear in the TuffTruckBag and had we packed a little better, I think we could have gotten quite a bit more in there. We ended up putting the following items into this little TuffTruckBag. 3 large duffle bags, 3 full backpacks, 3 turkey vests, 2 camera bags, two bows (each in their own hard cases), an electric fan, all of our decoys and ton of accessories and little items as well.

I was blown away by this thing! Unfortunately I did not get pictures of us packing this brute as we were in a bit of a hurry and I didn’t think the guys would let me use the excuse of taking pictures as a way to get out of packing but I did get these photos a few days later. The secret to the TuffTruckBag is the material it is made out of. It is incredibly strong and thick but very stretchy. Tim told me it is made from the same material as body bags. I could have gone a lifetime and been happy not knowing that but oh well. The material bends, stretches and molds to what you are putting in there so it will hold a ton of stuff. The seams are heavy stitched and heat sealed. The zipper is heavy duty and easy to use.

Overall, this is one great product and I will recommend it to everyone!! I was very impressed and will always have one of these at my disposal. If you have a truck and like to travel, you have got to own one of these. At $120 and free shipping, this is simply a no brainer. Easy to setup, easy to use, durable and easy to store. I give the TuffTruckBag an A++! We went to Kansas and back with absolutely zero problems and I ended up a hero after all. Thanks Tim! Of course, immediately after packing the bag and zipping it up, Mark informed us that his back pain medication was in his bag and he had to have it for the trip. His bag was the first thing that went into the TuffTruckBag. Murphy’s Law.

You can check them out at www.tufftruckbag.com. You go order one now and tell them Robert at TalkHunting sent you. Tim will make you a hero just like he did me....

By Robert Householder

Robert was introduced to hunting by his uncle, Jeff Hendricks, at a very young age. He grew up in the outdoors, hunting and fishing at every opportunity. He started, as most boys do, with hunting squirrels and rabbits but was soon deer hunting with his uncle and thus started a true love for deer hunting. Jeff and Robert were two of a kind and stayed in the woods or on the water as much as possible until his uncles death in 2007.

Robert was introduced to turkey hunting by a close friend, Jerry Golden, and soon developed a passion for hunting this elusive bird. It remains one of his favorite game to hunt.

Robert has branched out of just hunting in Alabama to include states like Iowa, Mississippi and Georgia. He hopes to continue to hunt game in other states in the future. Robert is a veteran of the first Gulf war and served in the USAF for a total of 7 years, including assignments in Germany, Nebraska, Texas and Illinois.

Robert is the owner of an IT Managed Services company (www.gtinow.com) in Greenville, Alabama and is the founder of TalkHunting. He has been married to his wonderful wife, Annette, since 1985 and has 3 grown children, 2 sons and a daughter. He also has one grand daughter, (Katie) and one Grandson (Jake). Robert is also a hobbyist beekeeper.

God, Family and the outdoors are his life.....

Comments(4):

1. Sounds Great!

   Thanks for the info HM! Looks like a great item to have! I too have experienced the tarp issue and i agree, they are a pain and do not do a very good job. I will definitely look into the http://www.tufftruckbag.com/

   Sunday, May 08, 2011 Anthony

2. A needed product...

   What a great idea! Very ingenious solution to packing up the truck bed! Tarps and tonneau covers always seem to leak at some point and cause frustration.

   Sunday, May 08, 2011 Duane

3. I've been using rubbermaid tubs and they drive me crazy. For one thing, nothing ever fits right. Secondly, they get heavy. I like this bag. I can use it ALL the time!

   Sunday, May 08, 2011 Brent

4. TuffTruckBag

   Robert the old TuffTruckBag makes the old Paid for Truck look good... Lee and Tiffany has nothing on you now... Great review.

   Wednesday, May 11, 2011 Dennis