Wow, I’ve had a great year and it was action packed but I still had two backpacking trips and a horse packing trip I wanted to do and yet.
I looked at the calendar and Christmas is fastly approaching. Whoa, I’m not ready for summer to be over and yet it is long gone!
So, if you’re like me and haven’t bought any Christmas presents yet don’t panic. Outdoorsmen are easy to shop for. We love our gear, so you can buy something from $1.00 on up to $100,000.00. Let’s start off small and go up from there. I’ve tested a lot of gear this year. Here’s some items that have tested out well for me.
SMALL ITEMS
• Smith Products Diamond stone
• MyTopoMaps, order him a map of his favorite hunting/hiking spot.
• “In The Wild Chef” by Stephen Weston. Great book for camp cooking. Easy recipes and yet great tasting.
• NRA subscription. We need to support the NRA, they’re the only ones fighting for our gun rights.
• Ammo. This is a really specific item. You have to find out exactly what he likes or he won’t appreciate it.
• Jerky mix or Sausage spices from Hi Mountain Seasoning
•Targets
• AccuMax made by Caldwell. It sticks in an AR like a clip and is a fan that cools off the barrel faster.
• Rocky Mountain Hunting Calls & Supplies (elk bugles)
• Here’s a cool one. Phone Skopes. They attach to your cell phone and you can att. them to your binoculars or spotting scope to take pictures of animal’s way off.
• Mountain House meals. All outdoorsmen could use these.
LARGER ITEMS
• Diamond Blade knife. They have a lot of great options (And they just came out with 4 new folders).
• A knife from Knives of Alaska. They have a lot of selections but check out the Elk Hunter or Pronghorn
• Base Layer clothing. I like XGO.
• First Tactical, I love their pants.
• Crosman air rifle. They have a million options. The Benjamin Steel Eagle is a good break action and their Marauder is a great PCP.
• Gun Cleaning gear. I use Otis products.
• Fly Rod. Check out the selection from Rise Fishing Company.
• Binoculars. Check out Leupold’s Mojave BX4 Pro Guide Binocs.
• Rechargeable Flashlights by Coast. I like their HP7R.
• Alps Mountaineering makes great Tents, sleeping bags and sleeping pads.
• GPS
• Dutch Ovens. Lodge makes the best.
• Silynx makes a hearing protection device that also amplifies your hearing plus it is cell phone compatible.
• Irish Setter Boots, to get where we want to hunt/fish/backpack it takes sturdy boots.
• Solar Panel. The Bushnell Solar Panel 400 is good for backpackers.
• Montana Decoys. They’re light weight and easy to carry.
• I need a new varmint rifle. I’m looking at a Mossberg MVP Varmint or their MVP Predator model.
REALLY BIG ITEM
HOMERUN DEAL
• Give him a coupon stating that you’ll go hunting or fishing with him in 2018. I love it when Katy goes with me.
STOCKING STUFFERS
This is where you can really hit a home run and not spend much.
• Invaluable gift! Buy him one of my Amazon Kindle books “Knife Sharpening” or Survival Tips For The Outdoorsman”.
• Flies. Check out flydealflies.com
• Adventure Medical Kits moleskin
• Favorite fishing lure
• Mepps fishing lures
• Mister Twister plastics
• Carbide Firestarter
• Case Stockman pocket knife
• Browning Hiking socks
• Waterproof matches
• Fire-starting material
• Compass
• Tony Chachere’s seasoning. It’s a Cajun seasoning and I love it.
Here’s a cool idea. What if you bought him a backpack and hung that up instead of a stocking?
Another twist you could do is to tell them to give you a list of 10 items. Then you can pick what you want to buy off that list and that way it’d be a surprise.
Or, grab his favorite catalog and have him mark some items. That way you can select one in your price range and still know that he’ll love it. (Today is my anniversary. I better whip out an anniversary list right fast!!!).
Tom Claycomb is an outdoor enthusiast and writes a monthly column for the Humboldt Sun.
