Christmas shopping for the outdoor-minded person

This is the first of a two-part series about Christmas gifts.

It is the Christmas shopping season and our target is the outdoor-minded people in your life.

Buck Knife

Readers of this column know my first suggestion for any gift-giving occasion is a Buck knife. These knives will last a lifetime and can be handed down from generation to generation.

Making the knife a one-of-a-kind gift is as simple as having it engraved, such as "Tom, Congratulations 2014, Garnet and Dennis" for a high school/college graduation gift, "Susan, Happy Birthday 2014, Garnet and Dennis" or "Rudy, Christmas 2014, Dennis."

A knife is a great gift for a boss, a neighbor, close relative or distant relative, a close friend or a person who does a good deed for you.

I have told my family my only desire for a gift is a Buck Knife. My collection of Buck Knives is extensive, but, as is a favorite saying in this household, "you never have enough Buck Knives."

Of course there are other brand name knives and over the years, a few of these have ended up in my collection, but my preference is a Buck. My suggestion when giving a knife as a gift is to make sure and give a quality knife, not a cheap one costing five dollars.

The Buck Knife Factory is located in Post Falls, so arranging a factory tour after giving one as a present is practical. The tour would be educational for the entire family, ages 7 and up.

The tours are free of charge, on Monday through Thursday at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. and are about 45 minutes in length. Fully closed shoes are required, closed toe and heel. These tours are popular, so calling ahead for a reservation at 800-326-2825, is suggested.

Cast-iron cookware

Cast-iron cookware is not required to cook in the outdoors, but campers eventually will want to try cooking with a cast-iron skillet. Many times the person becomes hooked and will want to have different sizes, such as 8-, 10-, 12- and14-inch. Camp Chef provides a large amount of quality cast iron products, such as skillets, Dutch ovens and more.

A Dutch oven is next in line, with the cook preparing a main course of game hens and finishing the meal with a pineapple upside down cake or a German chocolate dump cake.

These cooking utensils are just plain fun and the results can be impressive. The standard beginning size is a 12-inch oven. They also come in 10-inch, 14-inch and 16-inch sizes, plus there are 10-inch and 12-inch deep models, which means the sides are higher or deeper allowing more food to be prepared.

A 10-inch Dutch oven is large enough for Garnet and me to prepare our meals, usually with leftovers to eat the next day.

My use of Dutch ovens was extensive at first, even stacking a 10-inch on top of a 12-inch sometimes. I became tired of using charcoal for the heating source and stopped using them for a time.

Then Camp Chef developed the Dutch Oven Dome, which allowed the use of an oven on a gas stove. A flame tamer (also called a heat diffuser) is a steel plate with holes. It is placed over the flame of the stove. The Dutch oven is placed on top of the flame tamer. The dome, which is heat-resistant, is placed over the oven.

The oven becomes a convection oven as the dome traps the heat, which circulates around the oven as it goes up and out a hole in the top. The dome allows cooking with a Dutch oven without the mess of using charcoal.

There are times when fires, including the use of charcoal, are not allowed because of fire danger. However the use of a propane gas camp stove would be OK. During these times using charcoal to cook with a Dutch oven would not be permitted, but using a Dutch Oven Dome would be acceptable.

Firearms to youth

My first firearm, an over-and-under .410 and .22, was a Christmas gift. I was 10 or 11 years old. This firearm is still in my arsenal and it was used on a hunt within the last year.

However giving a firearm, no matter which kind or caliber, to a youth takes much consideration by parents. The parents should know when their child would be mature enough to participate in the shooting sports.

More discussion of Christmas gifts to outdoor-minded people next week.