Continue reading to learn about the top 5 hunting gear essentials that are must haves for this holiday season.
Regardless of where he or she lives, or what game they pursue, you can’t go wrong by buying new hunting gear for that special hunter on your Christmas gift list. It’s true that the incredible variety of equipment out there can be mind boggling, but these five pieces of hunting gear are the perfect presents for just about any hunter.
ThermaCell
Available from Amazon, the ThermaCell is great for keeping bugs away while hunting, fishing, or just enjoying the outdoors. The ThermaCell repels mosquitos, flies, gnats, and other flying insects from an area approximately 225 square feet large. Not only is it silent when operating, but it is virtually scent free and will not alert game animals to your presence. This is the perfect gift for hunters from Florida to Alaska. While the ThermaCell comes with one butane cartridge and three repellent pads (which will give you a total of about 12 hours protection), don’t forget to buy some replacement cartridges and pads.
The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game
No matter how experienced the hunter on your gift list is, or how much he or she knows about hunting, Steve Rinella’s book The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game very likely has some useful information for them. It’s very well written, comprehensive, and full of entertaining asides. The book contains a ton of useful information about hunting just about every species of game in North America as well as various hunting tactics, gear recommendations, how to butcher game, and a bunch of tasty wild game recipes. Volume 1 focuses on big game and Volume 2 provides the same type of information for small game and fowl. Neither book is very expensive and I can virtually guarantee that you’ll find the price of these books as money well spent regardless of current hunting knowledge of the person you give them to.
Leupold BX-2 Cascades Binoculars
Every hunter needs a good set of binoculars and the Leupold’s Cascades series is a great choice for a hunter on a budget. Available in both 8x42mm and 10x42mm versions, the Cascades binoculars are a darn good set of optics. Considering the fact that they are lightweight, have exceptionally clear glass, and provide bright images even under low light conditions, these binoculars are quite a deal. They also are very high quality optics and come with Leupold’s lifetime warranty. Though there are many other optics on the market that are superior to the Leopold Cascades binoculars, you will not find any that are anywhere near as good a buy for your money as the Cascades.
Moultrie Panoramic 150 Trail Camera
The Moultrie Panoramic 150 is anything but a normal trail camera. The biggest advantage of the Moultrie Panoramic 150 is the fact that has a 150° detection field, which is triple the size of a typical trail camera. This allows the hunter to use it to potentially monitor up to three trails at a time. With it’s rotating camera lens, the Moultrie Panoramic 150 can take single zone photos, panoramic photos, single zone video, or time lapse photographs. With a fast trigger speed, high quality photos, and an extremely wide detection field, the Moultrie Panoramic 150 is tough to beat and it’s an incredible value for a serious hunter.
BoneView HotPocket Hand Warmer + Phone Charger + LED Flashlight
I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’m constantly dealing with two problems while I’m out hunting: cold hands and a dead cell phone battery. In addition to using a cell phone to communicate, more and more hunters are using their phones for navigation using land ownership apps these days, so it’s very important to maintain a good battery charge. It only takes one hunting trip to find out how quickly cold temperatures can sap a cell phone battery. Well, the BoneView HotPocket can solve both of those problems: it can fully charge up to 3 cell phones while providing up to 120 degrees of heat to help warm up your hands on those frigid mornings so common during hunting season. I used a similar device to keep my cell phone battery topped off during my recent mule deer hunt in New Mexico and it was an absolute life saver. Buy one of these for that special hunter on your gift list and they are sure to appreciate it.
For more gift ideas, check out the following article:
Awesome Holiday Gifts For Hunters
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John McAdams is a proficient blogger, experienced shooter, and long time hunter who has pursued big game in 8 different countries on 3 separate continents. John graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and is a veteran of combat tours with the US Army in Iraq & Afghanistan. In addition to founding and writing for The Big Game Hunting Blog, John has written for outdoor publications like Bear Hunting Magazine, The Texas State Rifle Association newsletter, Texas Wildlife Magazine, & Wide Open Spaces. Learn more about John here, read some of John’s most popular articles, and be sure to subscribe to his show: the Big Game Hunting Podcast.
Have you used the ThermaCell? If so what are your thoughts? I’m always looking for something to combat the mosquitoes while I’m camping and fishing with the family.
Tony,
I used the ThermaCell pretty extensively when I lived in Georgia. Throughout most of the year, the mosquitoes were absolutely terrible and the ThermaCell was the only thing I ever found that would consistently repel them. The ThermaCell is hands down, the best thing I ever found to combat mosquitoes. I think it will work very well for you while you’re camping and fishing. Hope this helps!
Merry Christmas,
John
Badlands makes good stuff, but it’s a bit pricey… UTG makes some good packs and slings as well. Not quite the same quality, but functional and reasonably priced.