From The News Journal.
Gone are the days when we received hefty annual holiday catalogs from major department stores and we dog-eared pages and circled all the items on our once-a-year wish lists. Instead, we hunters are bombarded year-round with specialty catalogs from major outdoor retailers and with endless streams of promotional emails.
Because of this perpetual promotion, one would think that holiday shoppers would have no problems finding awesome gifts for the hunters in their lives, but many of us are left disappointed when we receive yet another ill-fitting, bizarrely patterned camouflage shirt or a discounted bottle of expired, skunky deer scent.
Championing justice for all hunters, I’ve once again compiled a list of great holiday gifts that hunters will actually use instead of relegating them to the back of a closet.
Focusing on warmth, hearing protection, food preparation and storage, portable power, and what I call “the cool factor,” hunting gift givers—as well as gift recipients—will surely be thankful for this year’s holiday gift guide.
As I sat shivering with numb toes and fingers in an elevated and windblown deer stand on the first three days of Delaware’s November shotgun deer season (when temperatures dipped to unseasonable lows in the low-20s), my potentially hypothermic brain gravitated toward ideas of gifts that spread holiday warmth. Literally. Flambeau Outdoors offers a rechargeable heated socks kit that provides toe-warming comfort for up to six hours.
Unlike the heated socks of yesteryear, Flambeau’s socks are lightweight and use relatively small batteries.
Similarly, Friction Gear Co. sells The Torch Coat Heater, which is a battery-operated heater that attaches inside any jacket with Velcro. Other heart- and soul-warming gift ideas include wool long underwear (tops and bottoms) from companies like Woolpower and Ridge Merino, wool outer-layer clothing likes vests and jackets from Filson and Johnson Woolen Mills, and warm gloves and socks from Outdoor Research and The Buffalo Wool Company.
Also, don’t overlook simple, inexpensive warming gifts like disposable hand and foot warmers from Grabber, HotHands, and Yaktrax.
Most hunters use hearing protection while sighting in guns at the range, but few take the same precautions while hunting. Single shots at deer or successive shots at rabbits, pheasants, or waterfowl can lead to hearing loss.
To help hunters protect their hearing, consider giving affordable earplug-type devices that filter out damaging sounds while enabling them to hear normal frequencies. Ear Shield from Otis Technology provides comfortable and lightweight hearing protection from high-decibel noises with a small headset that adjusts to any shooter.
Additionally, Custom Molded Percussive Shooting Filters from Decibullz suppress gunshot sounds to safe levels and protect users from hearing damage. The devices are self-standing and are meant to be custom molded to the user’s ears.
Hunting and cooking go hand in hand, so hunters welcome food preparation and food storage gifts. With freezers full of harvested meat, hunters look for new ways to prepare game.
To give some inspiration, consider game-focused cookbooks, including the newest title by Hank Shaw, Pheasant, Quail, Cottontail, which is available for pre-order. His other cookbooks, Hunt, Gather, Cook; Duck, Duck, Goose; and Buck, Buck, Moose are also excellent choices. To help hunting foodies properly prepare their game without overcooking, give a state-of-the-art meat thermometer.
MEATER by Apption Labs is a completely wireless leave-in meat thermometer with internal and external temperature sensors. Incorporating a phone or tablet app, the MEATER provides cooking instructions and temperature monitoring via Bluetooth, wifi, and the cloud.
Coolers are another hot item on hunters’ gift lists. While coolers from YETI have understandably reshaped the cooler market, alternative and potentially lower-priced coolers with similar capabilities exist. ORCA Coolers manufactures their coolers in the USA and builds coolers with superb ice retention capabilities. I loaded an ORCA cooler with ice and beverages on Sunday morning Nov. 26, and brought the cooler to the Philadelphia Eagles game. On Sunday morning Dec. 3, there was still ice in the cooler.
Like the rest of society, most hunters are constantly tethered to the cloud via our phones and tablets. However, most of us have been without text, phone, and internet access while hunting because one, we are away from power sources, and two, the outdoor cold zaps our power quicker than if we were indoors. To help hunters stay connected while afield (which is a good safety practice), consider giving them rugged portable power devices.
The myCharge AdventureMax provides rechargeable power with two USB ports. Its sturdy design caters to hunters’ needs with is splash- and drop-resistant and dirt-proof design and its built-in carabiner clip. Another item to consider is the combination waterproof phone case, battery, and solar charger, the SLXtreme from SnowLizard. The case’s integrated battery provides up to 16 hours of additional talk time, and the integrated solar panel provides up to 10 minutes of talk time after an hour of sun exposure.
Rounding out this year’s gift guide are items that I just find cool. After all, we all want gifts that satisfy the cool factor, so I’ll offer some suggestions to considerate shoppers who are still stuck.
SpringBack Decoys have recently introduced tangle-resistant duck decoys that incorporate an integrated retractable string and weight into each decoy. Moderately priced, the decoys should save waterfowlers from the headaches associated with tangled decoy lines.
Waterford Press produces hundreds of cool and functional pocket guides focusing on nature, the sciences, world cultures, and outdoor recreation and skills. Consider giving guides like Basic Navigation for Search and Rescue and Survival, Wilderness Survival, Essential Knots, and Animal Tracks to hunters.
Another cool item, the Big Ol’ Brick of Hunting Soap from Duke Cannon Supply Co. is sure to make a great gift. Their promotional messaging seems to say it all: “At a hefty 10 oz., it’s double the size of other hunting soaps, and it’s made with a unique formula that captures odors, smothers them, and prevents their release.
It’s like a Special Forces combat mission against your scent.” (Other interesting and colorful descriptions are used on Duke Cannon Supply Co.’s website. After reading them, most hunters will agree the soap is worth a try. Plus, the company uses a portion of their proceeds to directly support veteran causes.)
Finally, maybe the coolest of the cool gifts is a drone. I’ve heard of hunters using drones to scout their properties, so giving a drone with integrated camera and livestream capabilities is just a neat idea.
Drones marketed for commercial use may be out of the price range of some holiday shoppers, but lower-priced priced options exist. The X5UW Thunderbolt Force1 drone provides scouting capabilities through its 720p HD camera and accompanying app. The cool factor is strong in this one.