Holiday gift shopping for the outdoors enthusiasts on your list might seem an easy task. The vast array of gear and equipment available for anglers, hunters, campers, hikers, boaters and target-shooters is mind-boggling.
The fly in the ointment is that most of us have a “Marden’s Mentality;” we buy it when we see it, often just as a backup. If I’ve learned one thing in all my decades as an outdoorsman, it’s to buy two of any item that’s truly outstanding because it won’t be available a few years later.
Fortunately many of the products necessary to enjoy sporting activities need to be replenished annually, so smart shoppers will research and resupply.
Fishermen need new lines every year or two, so fly lines, spools of monofilament and various lengths and strengths of leaders are great gifts.
A dozen dry flies or streamers, a trio of trout lures, some topwater bass plugs or a bag of colorful plastic worms and weedless hooks make perfect presents.
How about a new set of line nippers, a tube of fly floatant, a stream thermometer or a pocket fly box or two as stocking stuffers?
Gun and bow hunters and target-shooters always need ammo, arrows or crossbow bolts, and of course targets — paper, a box of clay traps and skeet discs or dense foam blocks or animal forms.
Just sneak a peek in the gun safe or ammunition cabinet for nearly empty boxes of shotgun shells or cartridge boxes, note the size, gauge or caliber and head for the local gun shop.
While you’re there, how about some cleaning patches, a bottle of Hoppe’s No. 9 gun bore cleaner and a can of sheath lubricant and water protectant to keep firearms clean, rust free and operating smoothly.
If I’m not able to do my favorite outdoor activity, reading about it helps fill the void. Buy a book or a year’s magazine subscription on a favorite pastime for the sports person on your gift list, letting them live vicariously for a few hours.
Regardless of what outdoor endeavors you enjoy, sooner or later you will require a good dependable light. Setting out waterfowl decoys before dawn, following a woods trail from tree stand to truck after dusk, loading a car top canoe or fixing a flat after dark, all require bright, steady illumination.
In my experience, you can’t beat a headlamp for easily directable hands-free light outdoors, or even at home during a power failure. Check out Black Diamond’s Storm 450 model as a gift idea.
I’ve used many types and styles over the years and this is the Cadillac of headlamps in my opinion. Adjustable brightness of the 450 lumens, fully waterproof, Power Tap technology to change light level, dimming, strobe or red, green or blue night vision modes.
The Storm 450 has an easily adjustable head strap for a perfect fit and the option of five color choices, and the best and most important option of this light is the dual power. If the rapid charge lithium ion battery should drain after hours of use, a trio of AAA batteries come on-line to extend the light source for several more hours. At a modest price of $59, this is one of those items I mentioned that an outdoorsman should have two.
Any big game hunter will avow how crucial scent control can be, and how a simple change of wind alters success into defeat. I experimented with a new scent neutralizing product for deer, bear and moose this past year with superior results.
Camodust is the first such powder-style product I’ve encountered. Instead of drenching yourself with wet spray that offers an outer layer of scent barrier for a limited time, Camodust’s fine particles infiltrate clothing and neutralizes human scent rather than masking it.
A $20 container lasts at least a dozen hunts, is simple and convenient to use and worked well for me this past fall.
If there’s a goose hunting enthusiast on your Christmas list, check out the new Flats Canada goose motion decoys by Higdon. As a lifelong honker hunter I swear by full-body flocked decoys, but they take up a lot of space for storage and travel, extra time to set out and pick up a spread, and are fairly expensive.
Flats are silhouettes with a non-glare, photographic quality image in multiple poses and you can carry a dozen in each hand via a handle that’s part of the motion stake system.
The sturdy dual prong stake has a step bar allowing hunters to use a foot to seat them into the ground and the motion stake lets the wind swivel the decoy to match wind direction. Using a couple of dozen Higdon Flat silhouettes with a dozen full body or shell decoys fooled geese all fall and required a lot less set-up time and effort.
They run $119 a dozen and are available as various duck decoys as well.
Every long gun or handgun hunter needs to sight in their firearm from a solid rest each season, and target-shooters require a stable bench even more frequently. Those who don’t belong to a shooting range, or a local fish and game club with an outdoor target field and shooting benches are in a bind.
If you own remote land in a zone legal to discharge guns, it is possible to build a solid bench from wood. It’s fairly expensive and a challenge to transport. It’s also susceptible to damage and deterioration from rain and Maine’s winter weather.
After years of using bipods or tripods as shooting supports or settling for lying, sitting or standing offhand in practice, I found a solution this past summer.
Bitter Creek Blinds is a Texas company that builds a line of ground-level and elevated hunting blinds and also manufactures an aluminum shooting bench that is stronger and won’t rot like wood or rust like steel.
And when the detachable legs are removed, it easily fits in an SUV or station wagon, and in a pickup when fully assembled.
This comfortable bench accommodates left- and right-handed shooters, weighs a mere 52 pounds and sells at a nominal price for a product that will last for decades. Check it out online at bittercreekblinds.com. I needed only two tools to put it together in less than 20 minutes.
There are lots of other ideas for gifts including a new license for the new year. If you are not positive about an item or if the recipient is picky about certain gear, a gift certificate to a favorite store or online outlet is a sure bet.
Here’s hoping Santa finds your chimney and just the right present for under the tree.
