Bagging Wild Gifts A Few Suggestions On Tracking Down The Perfect Present For The Outdoors Enthusiast On Your List

My family rarely dares to give me outdoor-related gifts.

This is a curse I have brought upon myself because I am a gear snob. If I like something, I’ll probably keep it until it wears out regardless of what the Jones have or whether 10 better versions have been produced.

If I don’t like it, I don’t want it.

I would cringe if I looked under the Christmas tree and found a monogrammed Orvis six-weight fly rod because I’d prefer a five-weight rod handmade in Spokane by rod maker Steve Moran.

And I don’t under any circumstances want one of those animated singing fish plaques. It would only take up valuable wall space I’d rather fill with the real fish story of a lifetime.

Thus, my family gives me socks and underwear. They stick with the safe stuff, although I’d prefer the next batch of socks to be Patagonia’s mid-weight Capilene.

My wife has outsmarted me a few times. Two years ago she gave me a classic book, “The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition” by Caroline Alexander featuring the epic photos snapped through the two-year ordeal by Frank Hurley.

This is an account of what might be the adventure world’s greatest survival story.

I also love my pewter salmon serving tray.

But my wife rightfully regards buying me an outdoor-related gift to be as risky as traversing the Arctic Ocean on a sail board.

That’s why I have a supply of socks that will last for decades.

If family members could read the mind of the outdoors person in their lives, they would be terrified, but not necessarily enlightened about what that person’s heart desires.

I didn’t know at first that certain items would become my most utilitarian cherished gear.

I was lukewarm about my Leatherman multi-purpose tool when I first acquired it years ago. Now I rarely go outdoors without it. Several companies, such as Gerber make similar tools. I use my Leatherman to bend hooks, mend fences, tighten ski bindings and field-dress fish and quail. I’ve also used it countless times to pull porcupine quills and cactus spines out of a Brittany spaniel that could have been aptly named Pin Cushion.

My Peet Boot Dryer, made in Idaho, gets used virtually year-round for ski boots, hunting boots, wading shoes and running shoes. It does the job without over-drying or damaging expensive footwear.

My lightweight SOSpenders inflatable life vest has eliminated any hesitation I might have had about wearing a flotation device while fishing or riding a duck boat.

The device drapes around my neck and across my chest with virtually no bulk. Yet in an emergency, I can pull a cord and it will instantly inflate with nearly twice the buoyancy of typical foam life vests.

Two-way radios - the newest models are powerful yet smaller than a pack of cigarettes - have saved me barrels of heartburn and miles of unnecessary trudging in occasions ranging from elk hunts to the caravan’s with other hikers en route to backpacking trips.

Chemical heat packs, such as the ones made by Grabber, are cheap stocking stuffers that could warm the heart of the coldblooded member of the family, not to mention the toes and fingers.

All these gift suggestions are time-tested and utilitarian. But if you want to score a bullseye on the deepest desires of outdoor people, you must zero in on their passions.

Anglers, for example, tend to have a “homewater” - their default fishing spot, where they go to feel good and catch a certain species of fish.

Anyone who spends more than a few hours with these people should know the “homewater” and the favorite fish. (If not, ask your loved one’s fishing partner.)

Then go to a fly shop or a tackle shop, give those details to the clerks and let them help pick out a selection of flies or lures specific to the “homewater” and the fish.

You might put them in a nice fly box or tackle pack. Add some sort of personal touch, if you like, but think ahead if there might be any children around when the presents are opened.

Speaking of passions, there are other ways to address them.

Bird feeders can enhance or ignite a person’s fondness for birds. A widow told me recently that the feeder her friends gave her after her husband died has been the focus of daily joy, companionship and spiritual healing.

Anyone giving a gift to a serious whitetail deer hunter could be confident in buying the “Amazing Whitetails Video” by Texas photographer Mike Biggs ($29.95 call 800-433-2102). Trust me.

Computer screen savers are made for virtually any special outdoor interest. People with a warm spot in their heart for the gem of North Idaho will like The Priest Lake Screen Saver by Ken Eldore Photography.

Eldore has compiled 15 soothing scenics of Priest Lake into a screen saver that unfolds like a slide show when your PC is idle.

This product is so new, you’ll probably have to call Ken at Outlet Bay to get it at (208) 443-5302. The PC must have 4MB of available hard drive space. Cost for the CD is $15, plus $3.50 for shipping.

Similarly, calendars can be found for just about any special outdoor interest. Climbers will love the Mountaineering 2001 Calendar, (The Mountaineers, 800-553-4453) with top-notch shots that take them through their climbing dreams month by month.

Books might be the easiest way to find direct hits on an outdoor person’s passion, that is, of course, if the person reads.

(TIP: Even if the person is not an avid reader, try any of the anthologies of outdoor humor by Spokane’s Patrick F. McManus. These short stories are masterfully written and hilarious enough to remind latent readers how much satisfaction can be found in short stories.)

“Fly-fishing for Sharks”, by Richard Louv (Simon and Schuster) is NOT about fly-fishing for sharks. It’s about people across America who fish.

One of those people is a Californian who has a passion to fly-fish for sharks. Dozens of others are notable men and women the author dredges up in his travels from coast to coast.

Some of the names are famous, including Sugar Ferris, Joan Wulff, Bobby Kennedy Jr. and Doug Swisher. Others are virtual unknowns who fill a niche in the country’s fertile fishing culture.

This is a great book, with a mix of humor and poignancy, highs and lows. Patrick Hemingway tells what it was really like to learn to fish from Papa. Howard Thompson tells how to succeed as a fishing guide. Whitefish Willy, a Vietnam vet and fishing survivalist living in the remote region of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, shows how he’s mastered the Zen of ice fishing.

“Hunting’s Best Short Stories”, edited by Paul D. Staudohar (Chicago Review) includes gems such as “The Blue-Winged Teal,” by Wallace Stegner, and “Walking Out,” by David Quammen.

The stories by 21 hot-shot writers stalks the moods and outcomes hunting involves, from the comic to the heart-warming, disastrous and bizarre.

“Along the Pacific Crest Trail”, photography by Bart Smith, text by Karen Berger and Daniel Smith (Westcliffe), will titillate any hiker with long-distance dreams. This is not a guidebook. It’s a trip journal by two hikers who walked the 2,600-mile adventure along the Sierras and Cascades from Mexico to Canada.

The book is a standout because of the stunning photography done by a pro who concentrated on great images rather than making 20 or 30 miles a day up the trail.

“Voices from the Summit,” edited by Bernadette McDonald and John Amatt (National Geographic) will go to bed with any climber who wants to delve into the mind and insights of climbing’s superstars.

Published in honor of the Banff Mountain Film Festival’s 25th anniversary, the book profiles climbing celebrities such as Hillary, Bonington, Messner, Breashears, Viesturs, Cestivelle, Calhoun and 25 others you may or may not immediately recognize.

All of them, however, made their mark in the great mountaineering achievements in the past 50 years.

John Roskelley of Spokane, considered America’s premier mountaineer in the early 1980s, is a glaring omission from this otherwise splendid book.

When asked why he was not included, one Banff festival official said, “We knew we couldn’t get all the great climbers in the book. And we were right.”