Bass Pro Shop used to have me write five Christmas List articles yearly which brings up, it’s time to start Christmas shopping.
Maybe you’re getting sweet on an outdoorsman, or maybe you’ve been married to one for 40 years and still don’t have a clue what to buy them.
Don’t worry, Santa’s little helper is here to help you out. The good news is, outdoorsmen love their gear and gizmos but they are very specific in what they want but with a little research you can blow their socks off.
I’ve gotten to test a lot of outdoor gear this year and will list out some of the new items that have caught my eye as well as a few old tried and true items. Let’s get started.
CAMPING
• Sea to Summit tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad and pillow. All were top quality and worked great. Tent is super nice; pad uses the bag to inflate it and the compactible pillow is awesome.
• Plano makes some nice plastic storage boxes that I use to keep my camping food, clothes etc. secure and dry.
• Who says you can’t clean-up in the backcountry? Mil Usos offers a CHAR GOALS EVERYTHING BAR CLEANER which has activated charcoal so you can wash from head to toe without polluting the environment.
They also offer a multi-use balm. It may not be like hitting a spa but…. it’s the closest thing in the outdoors. Take these two items and maybe your woman will go with you.
HIKING
• 5.11 hiking boots. Love these.
• I just started testing some Sawyer filtered water bottles. They have a squeeze filtration system and a filtered water bottle that is great for my needs.
• Alps Mountaineering offer a plethora of packs. From day packs to large backpacking packs.
• Browning hiking socks
FISHING
• Fish monkey gloves
• Crappie Magnet plastics & jigs
• Lake Fork Trophy Lures plastics
• flydealflies.com
• Evolution backpack tackleboxes
• A custom flyrod. I have a cool flyrod made by Dream Rods of Idaho
• Tested multiple Rapala lures this year
• PRADCO Cotton Cordell lures for bass and crappie
• IRON DECOY-big slabs
HUNTING
• Otis gun cleaning supplies. I use their oils, cleaning patches etc.
• Otis Gun Maintenance box. This will store all of your gun cleaning supplies. Also has forks to hold your guns when cleaning, mounting scopes etc.
• Hornady big game ammo. Found their ammo to be super accurate, consistent and functional.
• Bolle’ safety glasses
• 5.11 pants. Have multiple pockets-great for my outdoor needs plus they’re nice enough to wear to Church.
• Sawyer International Bucket System. This would be cool to use in your camp. Dip a 5-gal. bucket in the river and everyone fills their water bottles out of it.
• Airguns have taken the world by storm. I use all Umarex airguns. They offer too many choices to list but think about a break barrel.
• Zero Tech Optics. I’ve been testing their binoculars the last year. Comparable to the big 3 European optics.
• Hi-Mountain Seasoning. They offer the best and most diverse blends of seasoning.
• Swab-Its makes some cool gun cleaning swabs
• Brownell’s-you can order all of your gun tools and parts through them
• I’ve started using Vortex scopes. Mounted a handful this year and having good luck with all of them. In fact, I’m using two on an East Texas hunt this week.
• 5.11 makes some heavy-duty packs that hold up fine for hunting.
KNIVES
• DiamondBlade Knives, check out the Surge and Pinnacle II
• Smith’s 8” Breaker
• Knives of Alaska Boning Knife
• Smith’s new meat hook
• DiamondBlade Knives Pro Series Alpha
•Smith’s 6” Boning Knife
• Smith’s 6” Orange Diamond Stone
• Spyderco Bow River knife. Elegant knife.
• Outdoor Edge offers too many razor blade knives to list but check out their 3.5” Razor EDC Lite and Razor Pro S.
SELF PROTECTION
I’ve been testing some Sabre products. Here are a few that I like.
• Door stop Alarm. I got one for when I’m traveling but it also is good for at home.
• When walking the dogs I carry a cannister of their Frontiersman Max which is their bear spray
•For everyday carry, I like their Pepper Spray, Pepper Gel or Defense Spray. Remember, you can fly with up to a 4 oz. canister in your checked on bag.
BONUS GIFTS
• Henrys 45-70 lever action or .22 mag lever action. Who doesn’t love lever actions?
• Umarex Gauntlet 2 SL25 PCP
• Umarex Ready Air compressor to use in the field
• Pyramid Air Compressor to fill your air bottles
• Camp Chef pellet smoker
STOCKING STUFFERS
• Smith’s folders
• Browning hiking socks
• Duck Camp Shirts
• JSB pellets-most accurate pellets on the market.
• Hi-Mountain seasoning. I love their jerky and sausage blends.
• MyTopoMaps. They’ll make whatever kind of maps that you want. Talk to Paige.
• Clamtainer makes ammo carrying containers. This is what I use when flying.
• Quaker Boy turkey, squirrel and crow calls.
• .22 bullets
• Lures
• Flies flydealflies.com
Tom Claycomb is a hunting enthusiast and writes a bi-monthly column for Great Basin Sun.