‘Tacticool’ Meets Classic Upland Style: Chief Upland Over/Under Vest Review

I’m not a tactical gun bro. I think tactical gear is over-the-top, and doesn’t fit my style despite having spent over 7 years in the Army. I’m more of the old school, classic look type of guy. Think tweed jacket, bamboo fly rod, and walking the Scottish countryside with an over-under vibe. Yeah, it’s snobby, but I like what I like. You can make fun of me for it, just like I make fun of tactical stuff.

So, as you can imagine, I don’t love it when outdoor brands merge “tacticool” features on everyday hunting and fishing gear. To me, it seems like a marketing ploy designed to capitalize on those who think “military-grade” is a selling point. I’m honestly embarrassed to wear it.

Because of my proclivities, I viewed the Chief Upland Over/Under vest as a cardinal sin against everything I stand for. Tacticool MOLLE covering an upland bird hunting vest? Is nothing sacred? Upland bird hunting is one of the few things that allows me to be unapologetically uppity. And now, we’re letting the gun bros in.

In short: The gun bros may have a point with MOLLE. The Chief Over/Under vest ($199) brings tactical tech to an upland bird-hunting vest with a classic upland look. This is the most customizable upland bird hunting vest I’ve used, and after hunting two states with it, I have it dialed in perfectly for my hunting. Since everything is removable and adjustable, there’s no question you’ll love it, and still look like an upland hunter.

MOLLE, MOLLE Everywhere

I’m picky about my upland hunting vests, and so are all of my buddies I hunt with. We all have our own preferences and strong opinions on why we carry the one we do. Yet, each of us is always prowling online for a new one, even though we may not be in the market to replace the current one.

Unfortunately, upland vests are one of those products you’ll always be unhappy with. You may love 95% of the one you’re currently rocking, but the 5% you don’t like drives you nuts. You’re often left wanting this feature from one, and a separate feature from another.

That is where the MOLLE bro technology comes in to save the day. The base Chief Over/Under vest looks barebones and non-functional. Because it is. But dang near every square inch of the thing is covered in MOLLE webbing.

While I’m not in love with the look of MOLLE webbing, or its overuse in the hunting and fishing space, it just makes sense on an upland vest. I can put the exact pocket I want, exactly where I want it, and eliminate any pockets that don’t work for my hunting style. The Over/Under is the “Choose Your Own Adventure” of upland hunting vests. I must admit, MOLLE has found a place in my heart, thanks to the Chief Upland Vest.

Accessories for the Chief Upland Over/Under Vest

Yes, the vest itself is barebones, but the selection of accessories available at the Chief Upland website is anything but. There are a plethora of options for you to deck out your own vest.

Plus, with MOLLE systems being so obnoxiously popular, the buck doesn’t stop there. There are thousands, heck, maybe tens of thousands of MOLLE accessories from third parties that you can attach to one of the dozens of MOLLE rows on the Over/Under vest.

For me, one that instantly springs to mind is a trauma kit. It’s a breeze to attach a small kit to the back of the vest, always ready for any two-legged or four-legged emergencies that may arise in the field.

As far as Chief Upland accessories go, I currently use the “waterproof ammo box” and “water bottle pouch” on one hip, and the “quick grab ammo pouch” and “waterproof electronics pouch” on the other hip. Those attachments give me all the pockets (plus some) you’ll find on a “standard” upland vest, and let me put them wherever I want.

To top it off, all of them are higher quality than what you’ll find on most vests. The lids have effective magnet closures, the pockets have a robust build, internal organization is included, and zippers are waterproof, yet easy to open and close.

But It Still Looks Cool

If you look at the vest itself online, without any additional accessories, you might think it looks ugly. At least, in my opinion, it does. The thing looks like a body armor vest.

Once you start building it out, though, the tactical look gets covered up, and the vest transforms. The Chief Upland Vest goes from a piece in a 5.11 Tactical catalogue to something you’d see in a Filson or Orvis ad. It looks good. It looks classy. And, it looks pretentious and snobby, just like an upland vest should.

The Chief Upland Over/Under Vest: Plenty of Storage

Any time I’ve switched upland hunting vests, storage is one of my main concerns, and it’s one of the reasons the Tenzing Upland Vest was my favorite for years. The thing was practically a hunting backpack and bird vest combined into one.

For the type of hunting I tend to do, that was important. For years, I hunted chukar more than anything. I would leave the truck in the morning, hike the steep mountains of Utah’s west desert all day, and not return again until dark. I needed to pack food, K9 first-aid supplies, water for myself and two dogs, basic survival equipment, layers, plus room to spare for birds. A standard strap vest didn’t cut it.

Even when I chase pheasant, quail, sharptail, and huns, I still appreciate the extra space. I tend to avoid small tracts of land and opt to walk for hours on the largest track of public land I can find, just like chukar hunting, which requires lots of room.

I was expecting to be disappointed with the Chief Upland vest from a storage standpoint, because it didn’t seem like it had nearly the capacity of my beloved Tenzing vest. Yet, despite its simpler, streamlined, and seemingly more minimalist build, I’ve never wished for more space.

Water Storage

Many strap vests leave you limited to water bottles in pouches. But as I said, I’ve got two dogs, and myself, and tend to cover over 5 miles at a time. I need a lot of water. I’m a camelback guy because of that.

The Chief Upland vest is camelback-compatible, and the tube exit port is in the center of the back. You can run your water line down either shoulder. With a full camelback and a water bottle in the water bottle holder, I have yet to run out of water on a walk.

The camelback pouch is separated from the main storage pouch and the game bag. It’s subtle, and if you don’t look for it, it’s easy to forget it’s there.

Jacket Storage

Like water, extra-layer storage tends to be a problem in strap-style vests. When I’ve used strap vests, I’d roll jackets up and stuff them into the game bag. That was fine until the hunt was successful and I needed to fill that space with birds. Then it didn’t work at all, and I’d have either a jacket or a bird fall out of the sides of my vest.

One of my favorite parts of the Chief Upland vest is the ingenious jacket storage. While in South Dakota, I faced frigid temperatures at the start of the day, and as such, would start my walks with a baselayer, the Kings Camo XKG pinnacle jacket, and the Sitka Jetstream Jacket over that. But, after half an hour of post-holing through 3-foot snow drifts topped with a 3-inch crust, things would get mighty toasty. I needed to ditch the jacket.

I’d take it off, roll it up, and lock it into the strap system on the exterior of the vest, secured by a buckle to the upper portion of the vest’s back. It securely holds the jacket without taking up any internal storage space. What’s more, you can buy additional jacket straps if needed.

That left the main storage pouch (separate from the game bag and the camelback slot) to hold a beanie, first-aid gear, sandwiches, a knife, and sunglasses. I never felt like I was running out of room, no matter what I asked the Chief Upland Over/Under Vest to carry.

Bird Storage

The game bag on this vest is sufficient. In South Dakota, it held three pheasants securely. So it has as much room as any upland hunter could ever need.

I will say it’s not the roomiest game bag I’ve ever used. To fit all three pheasants, I had to be sure I stuffed the birds in all the way and slightly stack them. There isn’t so much extra room that the thing can eat multiple limits of birds. But again, it’s more than sufficient assuming you’re following legal limits.

Accessory Storage and Pockets

Once you throw in the MOLLE webbing, storage becomes seemingly endless. With the two ammo pouches, I was able to fit an entire box of 2-3/4 inch shells into the vest with tons of room to spare. I also used the elastic external pouches on those pouches to hold my car keys, as well as the nicotine that fuels my awful addiction. It was right there, always at the ready.

When things got hot on my walks, I pulled off my gloves and stuffed them in the ammo pouches as well.

I absolutely love the waterproof electronics pouch. I store my phone in there, and having it secured by a zipper is a huge plus. One time, years ago, my phone dropped out of my pants pocket while walking through cattails. That’s not an experience I want to relive.

Having the electronics pouch right next to the ammo pouch keeps it secured, yet always at the ready to snap a quick photo.

And if you’re going on a massive trek, like ptarmigan in the high country, you can add even more pouches to the MOLLE on the back of the vest. No, it won’t be easily accessible, but you can put everything you’ll ever need on it.

There is also an elastic pouch on the left shoulder, which can hold an e-collar remote. Even though my large Garmin unit will fit in it, I do not use it. Instead, I clip my Garmin unit to one of two leather tabs just above that pouch. For me, it keeps it more readily accessible.

Unmatched Support

No matter how much I load the Chief Upland Over/Under down, it still feels like I’m carrying nothing. The vest has fantastic support — arguably the best support I’ve seen in an upland vest.

The back panel is breathable and malleable, yet provides just a touch of stiffness for rock-solid support. On top of that, the waistband is large and rests perfectly between my hips and ribcage.

It distributes weight over a massive area. Additionally, the strap can be adjusted to multiple positions, again, giving you the option to customize it for yourself. I run mine in the lowest position and use the second included waist buckle at the top to keep everything nice and tight.

Rather than put a few skimpy straps over the shoulders, Chief Upland made this more of a vest in the traditional sense. Across the shoulders, there are large pieces of cloth that get wider across the chest. I’ve found the extra surface area distributes weight more evenly, and makes for a comfortable all-day carry.

Is There Anything Not to Love About the Chief Upland Over/Under Vest?

The short answer is, not really. However, it did take a few hunts for me to get the vest dialed and truly fall in love with it.

I, as well as others I know who got this vest, started by setting the accessory pockets and pouches too far rearward. When looking at the blank vest, I decided to push the ammo pouches at least one row of MOLLE away from the waist belt. The placement looked right. And I thought I should put my electronics pouch and water bottle pouch on the vest with at least one row of MOLLE separating them from the other accessories to keep some spacing.

That setup left the water bottle pouch and the electronics pouch annoyingly out of reach. I could get my water bottle out of the pouch, but couldn’t get it back in. I couldn’t get to the electronics pouch at all. So it was back to the drawing board.

After testing a few different setups, I have it nailed. The key is to keep everything as far forward as possible. Start with your first accessory pouch on the first row of MOLLE, and don’t leave any rows of MOLLE between accessories. It seems like that would overcrowd the accessory pouches, but it doesn’t. Trust me.

It took me four iterations to get the vest to a point where I think it’s perfect. While that seems annoying, it’s actually a huge plus. By removing and rearranging the accessories, any complaints you have can be solved.

Final Thoughts on the Chief Upland Over/Under Vest

Thanks to its customizability, seemingly endless storage, and classy look, the Chief Upland Over/Under vest has taken the spot as my favorite bird hunting vest. The trusty one I relied on for the last 8 years is now collecting dust with others I’ve tried and disliked.

Is it expensive? Yes. The bare vest is 200 bucks, and that’s not including the accessories that you have to purchase to make it functional. Realistically, it will cost between $295 and $400 to have it fully kitted out. That certainly puts it in the premium product category.

But you know what, if you’re going to drop that kind of coin, wouldn’t you want to be able to fine-tune it? The MOLLE system lets you do that. You get a one-of-a-kind vest, set up exactly how you want it. I promise, after a few hunts and some tweaking, you’ll fall in love with it.

Chief Upland thinks so, too. In fact, this vest is backed by a 365-day risk-free guarantee. According to the brand’s site, “If for any reason you are not completely satisfied with your order, for one full year we will fully refund the purchase price upon receipt of returned goods in new condition.”

So what do you have to lose? This is a damn nice vest that every bird hunter will love. Whether you’re chasing roosters in farm country, chukar in the mountains, grouse in the timber, or quail in the desert, the Chief Upland Over/Under Vest can be customized to your hunt.