My eldest son Henry is now of the age where he understands a little about Christmas. Enough, at least, to know there might be a present coming his way if he’s good. And he already has a short list of what he hopes Santa will bring him.
His recitation of what he wanted from Santa reminded me so much of what occupied my own Christmas list in years past. It won’t come as any surprise to anyone who knows me, that hunting, fishing, and camping items were the fixture on my Please, Santa lists since the age of about 6.
Sometimes I even got some of them and, in fact, some of these great gifts went on to produce some of my best memories of hunting and fishing.
Here are a few of the best hunting gifts I ever received:
1977 – My parents gave both my sister and I a pair of cross-country skies. I had a lot of fun with them, but it wasn’t until years later that I realized what those skies had taught me about how to move, hunt, and how to cover ground in deep snow.
Back when most of Minnesota was covered with snow long before Christmas, I made money like no other kid my age by skiing and snowshoeing my trapline each day. In 1980, I sold 32 muskrats for $13 each in one single transaction with the local fur buyer. $400 was an enormous sum in the recession-riddled America of 1980.
1985- I remember the Christmas of 1985 not for what was on my wish list, but rather what wasn’t on my list that I got anyway. I spent my first 4 years of hunting deer armed with dad’s well-worn 16 gage 870 with slugs.
I’m sure many of you will understand that this wasn’t by choice. We hunted in a rifle zone, but the 16 gage was the only other gun my father owned besides his legendary Remington ought-six pump action that would throw enough lead to take down a deer, so that’s what I was given to use. Our household motto was something along the lines of necessity being the mother of firearm selection.
When a curiously long and heavy box appeared under the tree with my name on it, I tried all manner of logic and 15- year-old reasoning to try to figure out what it was. But the size and shape didn’t match anything that I even remotely had asked for.
Well, as it turned out on Christmas, the reason was simple. Inside that box was a Remington Woodsmaster 742 autoloader in .30-06. I was dumbstruck. And awestruck. Are the best gifts the ones that are least expected? I think so. It was a used 1970s vintage gun from a man in town who had given up hunting and that mattered not the least to me. It was and still is a treasure.
I took over a dozen bucks with that rifle and in the process I acquired a reputation for shooting more than some would consider strictly necessary. I’m still getting cr@p from some of the guys about this point, but dad still comes to my defense by stating that no deer has ever walked away after my ought six barked to summon him to meet his maker. The fact that it may have been barked 4-5 times (or 8 times in one case, but who’s counting?) is beside the point.
Probably the greatest shot I have made or ever will make was with this rifle. A 10 pointer had busted out into a hay field after the neighbors foolishly tried to drive him out of a thicket. It was that classic ears-laid-back, dead run where the deer is just digging in for all he’s worth and I stacked him up with a shot right through the boiler room.
Circa 1983-4 – I remember this Christmas because I got two of the most useful items that I’ve ever received, all in one Christmas.
My sister bought me the then just-introduced Mini Maglite. Purchased for the princely sum of $13.98, as she felt compelled to remind me.
And worth double that. Certainly there must be some out there who remember life BEFORE there was a small, but reliable flashlight? It was hell! You either put up with useless little “pen lights” that never worked when you needed them or you carried a big, heavy flashlight. There was no in-between.
Until the Mini Maglite! Suddenly I could have bright, small, and reliable all in one package. I still have that flashlight, I’ve used it on 3 continents and in 19 countries. I hunted with it, I fishe with it, I’ll never be without one.
And from my parents I got an LL Bean Chamois Cloth shirt. Of course, that shirt lasted only a couple of years, but I haven’t been without one since.
It’s not all about the gifts, of course. But it’s because these gifts went on to produce so many great memories, that I recall them with fondness now.
What were your favorite hunting and sporting gifts from your Christmases past?
Grouse
