Gifts for Outdoor-minded people, Part 1
This is a four-part series about buying gifts to outdoor-minded people.
Four weeks from today is December 22, so Christmas is four weeks from this Sunday. A tradition of this column is to offer gift suggestions for the outdoor-minded people in your life.
We will begin with the more expensive items and end up, on the fourth week, with last-minute gifts.
Knife
The best gift for those who head out the front door in search of outdoor adventures is a knife. This tool is used in many outdoor adventures and is invaluable during survival situations. Yes, a pocket or hunting knife may save your life someday or, more to the heart, the life of your husband, son, daughter or friend.
My preference is a Buck Knife. My family and friends know for any gift-giving occasion, such as birthdays, Christmas, etc., a Buck Knife will thrill me.
Also, a knife is a great gift for anyone, the boss, the neighbor or anyone else in your life, male or female. Garnet and I have presented knives to female friends and relatives over the years. A common comment is, “I didn’t realize how much I would use a knife in my everyday life.”
The size and model doesn’t matter, neither does it matter if the same knife is in my collection. A standard Buck Knife becomes extra special if the blade is engraved or etched. A customary etching between my friends includes the person’s name who is receiving the knife, the occasion and who the knife is from, such as: “Dennis, Christmas 2008, Ted Nugent.”
By the way, engraving provides the message in the same color as the blade, steel, but it is difficult to see and read. Etching provides the message in black, so it is easier to read.
Yes, I’m big on Buck Knives, but there are other well-made knives on the market, too. There are also several local engravers to help with the message. Caution: Stay away from the $5 and $10 knives.
The Buck family came into my life years ago and over time they became friends. It has been even easier to visit from time to time when they moved their factory to Post Falls.
The factory offers public tours four days a week, two tours a day. Imagine giving a Buck Knife for Christmas and then scheduling a tour as part of the gift.
Range finder
Hunters go to the firing range to make sure the bullets fired from their rifles are hitting where they are supposed to hit. For example, my three rifles, the .270 the .30-06 and the .243, are all sighted-in to hit three inches high at 100 yards. This allows me to hit the animal in the kill zone, the heart/lung area, out to 300 yards by simply holding the crosshairs on the heart/lung area.
The problem is: How does a hunter know if the animal is 250, 350 or 375 yards away. When challenging friends to guess the distance to an object while in the field, they tend to guess too far. This means they would be shooting over an animal.
Example: “How far is the rock wall over there, Joe.” “Oh, it has to be at least 600 yards away.” But Joe finds out the rock wall is only 300 yards away when verified with a range finder. This means he would have been shooting over an animal at the base of the rock wall before using the range finder.
The 100-yard range was verified during a shooting session at the Boyd Mordhorst Shooting Range near Ephrata a few years ago. However, the range was 101 yards when standing at the back of the shooting bench. How could the range designers make such a mistake? Then my mistake was realized. The measurement was taken again, this time while standing at the front edge of the bench and the measurement was 100 yards.
There are many range finders on the market. Mine is a Bushnell. Study is required to decide which one fits the needs of a particular hunter. So how does one person give a range finder to another person, if study is required?
One way is to place photos of several in a package with the message, “Which one do you want?” If you really feel naughty and wicked, place a few pebbles in the package, to confuse the person.
Next week; Gifts for Outdoor-minded people, Part 2