Let’s Shop

Christmas is just a few weeks away. Time is waning for holiday shoppers who may still be hunting and fishing for ideas for the perfect present for sportsmen and women on their shopping lists.

Buying a gift for a the hook-and-bullet type can be risky business, especially when it involves a novice buying for someone who is really passionate about their game.

My best advice to anyone facing this dilemma is to ask lots of questions before you pull the trigger on a gift. Otherwise, you could wind up wasting money on an item that may not see daylight after it is unwrapped.

The best policy for situations when you just aren’t sure is to stick with the basics. Here are a here are few gifts that just about any outdoors type will appreciate: * Bubba Pro Series Fish Scale: Bubba calls it the “perfect” fish scale for recreational and tournament fishing applications. It’s a digital scale that provides precision weight readings on fish up 60 pounds and features three operation modes — tournament, rally and competition — capable of smart culling, livewell management of up to eight fish, maintaining bag weights, competing on scale with as many as four anglers, and more. The scale even has a downloadable Bubba app that allows for logging fish weight and catch locations, GPS locations, sharing catch data with others and logging catch details and conditions. Comes with a full-color LCD screen, waterproof buttons, non-slip grip, interchangeable lip grip/hook, rechargeable lithium battery/ USB charging cord and a heavy duty waterproof case that floats. Sells for $229.99, bubba.com.

* Spoolin’ Buddy Portable Line Spooling Station Here’s a handy tool designed to keep spare spools of fishing line organized so you can locate the line you are looking for quickly without wasting valuable time digging through boxes or unorganized storage bins. Spoolin’ Buddy also provides a convenient anchor point that makes respooling reels a breeze. Comes in varied sizes capable of holding 2-15 bulk spools of line from 1,000 to 3,000 yards; even more economy sized spools. Framed from rigid polyurethane with a handy carrying handle. Sells for $89.95-$149.95, depending on the size. spoolinbuddy.com.

* Portable Meat Grinder Eliminate commercial processing costs of wild game with a high quality meat grinder. Cabela’s heavy duty model with a 400W motor is ideal for small job processing at home or camp. It comes with attachments for grinding meat for tacos, burgers and other dishes, or making sausage and jerky. Sells for $129.00. The MEAT! #22 delivers more power at a higher price point with a 1 HP motor capable of spitting out 11-14 pounds of ground meat per minute. ($599.00, meatyourmaker. com). Cabela’s Deluxe model will grind 4 pounds per minute ($179.00); the Cabelas Combo package comes with a No. 5 meat grinder, heavy duty slicer and 12 inch vacuum sealer to keep frozen meats fresh ($329.97). Cabelas.com.

* Texas Tackle Split Ring Pliers These specialty pliers are a great stocking stuffer for fresh and saltwater anglers. The patented pliers resemble small needle nose pliers, but function entirely different. One of the jaws is designed with a nose wedge that makes swapping out treble hooks on fishing lures a breeze. Just insert the wedge into the center of the split ring and the ring divides for easy hook removal and replacement. The pliers are made from surgical grade stainless steel with bright orange non-slip grips for easy identification. The pliers are available in two sizes for standard or s larger split rings used on pike, musky, peakcock bass and offshore trolling lures. They sell for $17.99 and $18.99,.texastackle.com.

* Hunter Safety System There is not better present for a deer hunter who hunts above ground than the gift of safety. Alabama based Hunter Safety System covers all of bases with a wide range of harnesses and lifelines that are designed to help tree stand hunters avoid becoming a statistic. Each year, thousands of hunters are injured or die after falling from elevated tree stands. A high percentage these accidents happen because hunters are not wearing a safety harness at the time or are not connected to the tree while climbing. HSS Lifelines sell for $39.99 and safety harnesses range from $69.99 to $209.99, huntersafetysystems.com * EZ Riser Flexible Boarding Ladder Every duck hunting or fishing boat should be equipped with some sort of boarding ladder, but a bunch of them aren’t. Taking a tumble into chilly water while wearing bulky clothing or waders can be tragic without someone to assist in re-entering the boat. The rope ladder secures to an open or closed boat cleat and deploys by opening a Velcro strap. It has two plastic steps fitted with non-skid padding. Sells for $39.95, ezriserproducts. com.

* Going Plastic Take the guesswork out of gift purchases with a gift certificate to a sporting goods retailer or good restaurant. Gift cards can be purchased for various dollar amounts in-store or online using a credit card. Going plastic is great option for last minute shoppers if you are buying at the last minute for someone out of town. Gift cards purchased online can usually be e-mailed to the recipient on the same day, often with a special Christmas jingle or your choice.

Matt Williams is a freelance writer based in Nacogdoches. He can be reached by e-mail, mattwillwrite4u@yahoo.com.