Christmas shopping deadline 17 days away

This is the second of a four-part series about Christmas gifts for outdoors-minded people.

We finished last week's column by discussing giving a firearm as a Christmas present. While local sporting goods stores have plenty of rifles, shotguns and pistols on their shelves, it may be necessary to special order the model the receiver is looking for. The stores have firearm catalogs to look through before ordering.

There are a couple of ways to deal with this situation. First scenario: The firearm is ordered, but it is not scheduled to arrive until the middle of January. What can be done?

Find a box similar to the shape of a firearm or, if this is not possible, any box will do. Add a photo of the specific model taken from a catalog or the Internet, plus a handful of BBs or rocks, and seal and wrap the box.

This will drive the recipient crazy and provide several moments of entertainment for the rest of the family.

The second scenario involves a situation where the recipient desires a certain firearm, and has for a year or so. A special savings account has been established and deposits are made on a regular basis, although the amounts are small.

Such a circumstance is quite common, as some firearms are on the expensive side. Without setting aside a bit of money from time to time, many of us would be hard pressed to purchase a new rifle outright and I'm an example.

Use the same box, photo and rocks plan, but include a couple of $20 bills or a $50 bill, so the person is able to increase the firearm fund a bit.

Even if you have the firearm in hand, consider the box and rocks idea, just to create some questions on the part of the recipient.

Hunting gear

A vast array of hunting gear is associated with the basic item; a firearm. Goose and duck decoys are available in a variety of sizes and price points. Kits are on the market to paint or otherwise increase a decoy's effectiveness.

How many does a hunter need? This is an interesting question. Some hunters claim they never have enough. Others may claim three, six or nine dozen will do just fine. Goose most likely will come in a package of four, while duck decoys are usually in groups of six.

New items of gear in my arsenal are two Bushnell Trophy Cameras. These allow a hunter to monitor a hunting area without being on site. The instruction manual suggests the owner use the camera around their house to get familiar with them.

I placed one in the backyard, attached to a tree and checked it a week later. There were over 10,000 photos to view. Now this took some time and I didn't want to do it again. 

The reason for so many photos concerned one of the features on the camera; the field-scan option. The cameras are designed to take a photo when the sensor is triggered by movement within 45 feet. However, there may be animals traveling in front of the camera, but beyond the sensor's range.

The field-scan option allows the camera to take a photo out to 50 or 150 yards, according to the manual. However, my experience is the picture of the field scan is adequate out to 300 plus yards.

The frequency of photos in this mode can be set at one, five, 15, 30 or 60 minutes. On my first try, the regularity was set at one minute. During the hunting season it was set for 15 minutes and this will be changed to 60 minutes during my next visit. This camera also has a video and sound feature, but I haven't played around with this yet.

Bushnell claims the batteries will last up to a year. A 16 GB SD card is installed, so it is possible to store several thousand photos before checking the camera. We will monitor this claim, but realize it will depend upon the settings, one minute as opposed to 60 minutes, and video as opposed still photos.

The Trophy Cam uses what is called black infrared LEDs, which function as what is called a covert flash, providing clear photos without giving away the location of the camera.

The camera has served me well, so far, and the excellent service is expected to continue throughout the year. They will accompany us on camping trips and other outings. Last year we had two folding chairs disappear one night from on top of a campsite picnic table. Sure wish one of these trail cameras was on duty that evening. The cameras also have the possibility of serving as security cameras when we are at home.

Unfortunately this camera doesn't attract deer to the hunt area. Only a few were recorded during the season and only one of those was a buck, a spike. However one coyote made recurring visits to the camera, along with a bunch of ravens.

Next week: Christmas gifts ideas with just 10 days to go before the big day.