Gift Guide for Hunters – Updated

Let’s face it, it can be hard to buy gifts for hunters. Hunters tend to have strong preferences and very different needs for specialized equipment. Plus, it’s hard to know what gear a hunter already has or will value. If you have a hunter on your gift list, HuntTested is here to help. Here’s our carefully curated list of top gift ideas that the hunter on your gift list will love.

General Hunting Gifts

Here are some fail-safe gifts that every hunter could use and will absolutely appreciate.

• Flash Light – Every gift list I write will always have a flashlight on it because everyone can always use another quality flashlight. This year our choice is the Streamlight Wedge XT. It is a high-quality and rechargeable EDC light. – $90 – Streamlight. 
• Wool Blanket – A quality wool blanket is great for adding insulation to a sleeping bag, for your emergency kit in your truck, or for tons of other uses. The Pendelton Yakima Camp Blanket is a favorite – $189 – Pendleton.
•  Wool Socks – When in doubt a pair of quality wool socks like Smart Wool’s Hunt Sock is always welcome. – $26 – Smart Wool.
• Ammo – If you know a hunter’s favorite shotgun or rifle load, everyone can always use more ammo. Unsure what they use? Everyone has a .22 rifle. Buy them a brick of .22 rounds. Federal Premium is a HuntTested favorite!

Knife and Tool Gifts

No one has ever said, “I have too many knives”. These failsafe gift ideas!

• Folding Knife –  The Benchmade Mini Bugout 553 is an excellent folding knife with a black carbon fiber handle and premium American-made CPM-S30V Steel $150 – Benchmade
• Fixed Blade Knife – One of the most common Viking proverbs was “Knívleysur maður er lívleysur maður” which translates to “The knifeless man is a lifeless man”. Times aren’t quite so tough right now, but every hunter on your list would still appreciate this Norwegian-made Helle Knives – Utvaer – $225 – Helle Knives.
• MultiTool – I rarely leave the house without a multitool handy and there is always one in my hunting pack. Tim Leatherman invented the category and continues to perfect it. The Leatherman Wave model is a personal favorite. – $110 – Leatherman
• Small Axe – Swedish steel makes the best hatchets and axes. You’d be hard-pressed to find a nicer one than the Gransfors Bruk Small Forest Axe. I’ve carried one all across the Boundary Waters Canoe Area on multiple trips and found this small axe to be infinitely handy – $225 – Gransfors Bruk.

Gifts for Upland Hunters

If you have an upland bird hunter on your list, we guarantee they’ll enjoy one of these items.

• WaterPORT GoSpout 2 Gallon Portable Water Tank – I’m really digging the utility of having a pressurized rinse kit on pheasant hunts. It’s super handy for rinsing birds before bagging them up and for cleaning your game shears. 2 gallons is more than enough to thoroughly rinse half a dozen pheasants.  – $144 from WaterPORT
• Upland Game Vest – Years ago I scratched up the finish on a Browning Citori from the metal buckle on a game vest. Since then, I only wear LL Bean’s excellent upland vest. It’s extremely well-made and there’s nothing on it that will scratch your gun. – $119 – LL Bean.
• Waterproof Upland Pants – Last year, I hunted pheasants all day in freezing rain. I was soaked and cold. This year I wore LL Bean’s excellent Tek Upland Waterproof Briar Pants and was warm and dry. Any upland hunter will appreciate a pair of these pants for the inevitable cold and wet days. – $179 – LL Bean.
• Game Shears – I’ve cleaned hundreds of pheasants over the years using game shears, they are the perfect tool for the job. Gerber game shears are a favorite. – $16 – Gerber
• Pheasants Forever Membership– A fail-safe gift is membership in Pheasants Forever. They offer a variety of membership levels with associated benefits. Click to join

Big Game Hunting Gifts

• OnX Hunt App – If you know anyone who isn’t using onX, I’d be surprised, but if you have a “late-adopter” of tech on your gift list, buy them an Elite OnX membership. They’ll have complete access to all 50 states of private/public land ownership and a growing list of map overlay layers. More than anything I’ve tried in the last ten years, OnX has been a game changer for how I hunt. – $29 per year for 1 state, $99 for 50 States – OnX Maps
• Primos Trigger Stick – I recently carried these trigger sticks on a moose hunt where they doubled as a walking stick. These innovative sticks are instantly ready to provide a solid rifle rest and are a must-have for every hunter. – $150 – Primos Trigger Sticks 
• Wool Shirt – You cannot beat wool. LL Bean’s heavy Maine Guide Shirt is my favorite wool hunting shirt and it’s been quite lucky over the years. – $119 – LL Bean
• Cellular Game Cam – A cellular game cam will keep a deer hunter entertained all year long, and they can always use another one. The Stealth Cam Fusion is a solid, moderately priced choice.  – $144 – Stealth Cam

Gifts for Duck Hunters

• Duck / Goose Calls – Waterfowl hunters love to collect duck and goose calls. It’s as close as they get to “bling”. A solid gift choice would be this Duck Commander Jase Robertson Pro Series Duck Call in fancy Chartreuse Acrylic. – $45 – Duck Commander
• Duck ID Guide – My buddy Doug can identify ducks from a half-mile away. “What’s that?” I’d ask, “Ringbill”, Doug would reply – with me none the wiser. Every duck hunter who wants to be able to identify ducks like Doug would appreciate Delta Waterfowl’s North American Waterfowl Identification Guide – $24.95 – Delta Waterfowl
• SportDOG Wetland Hunter – This SportDOG Wetland Hunter (pictured above) is one of the best e-collars for waterfowl hunters. – $189 – SportDOG Brand 

Guns and Shooting Gifts

• Tipton Best Gun Vise – A gun vise is a core piece of equipment for any shooter. I use mine constantly for mounting scopes and cleaning rifles. – $90 – Tipton
• Turnbull Restoration Red Dot Mounts – The lever gun remains one of the handiest gun designs of all time. It stands to reason that guys would want to add a red dot sight to them for even faster on-target shots. Turnbull Restoration, the modern experts on all things lever guns, makes the best mounting system for red dot sights available for your gun and sight combination. – Price varies by model – Turnbull Restoration
• Noise Cancelling Ear Muffs – I was just at a busy shooting range and I was so glad I had high-quality hearing protection. If you spend any time at the range, you need quality hearing protection. For the price point, the Walkers Razor Slim Electronic Muff is an excellent option. – $50 – Walkers

Winchester 1873 – Custom Finished by Turnbull Restoration

The gun I would REALLY like under my tree this year is this custom Turnbull-finished Winchester 1873.

Starting with a factory-new Winchester 1873 Sporter Octagon Pistol Grip model, Turnbull applies their signature charcoal blueing to the receiver, forend cap, and small parts while color case hardening the lever, hammer, and butt plate. The 24″ barrel and magazine tube are rust blued. In addition, they refinish the factory-checkered stocks in a hand-rubbed oil finish to match Winchester’s original classic red shading. The receiver top tang is drilled and tapped for an optional tang-mounted rear sight.

Available in .44-40 Win or .45 Colt. $4,500 – made to order – from Turnbull Restoration

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