GREAT OUTDOORS: Plenty of gift ideas for outdoor enthusiasts

There are a number of items that always come in handy as gifts for those who enjoy the great outdoors through hunting, fishing, trapping, hiking or wildlife viewing. Knives: It is hard to have too many knives. They come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes with each style serving different purposes. There are large to small-bladed fillet knives for cleaning salmon to walleye-size gamefish to panfish such as perch and sunfish. Electric ones can be plugged into an AC outlet, clamped to a 12-volt DC battery or be rechargeable. Non-electric fillet knives can run from less than $10 at a bait store checkout counter to hundreds of dollars from high-end makers. For field dressing deer, it's useful to have a stout knife, ideally with a gut hook to carefully guide slitting the hide without puncturing the stomach. Removing the hide is pretty straightforward with any sharp knife, but a separate, comfortable boning knife is the perfect tool for self-processing meat into venison steaks, roasts and trimming chunks for the grinder for making venison burger, meat sticks or sausage. A trapper can always use a small, sharp knife to skin muskrats and other furbearers. I used the style of folding knife called a Tennessee toothpick, but ones with replaceable blades have become popular. Hand-held GPS: A tool that can be universally used by all outdoor enthusiasts, fishermen can mark their best hot spots; deer hunters can find their way through the woods to their stands and get home after dark; trappers can enter the location of their sets; and hikers can retrace their steps back to the parking lot. (Make sure to include extra lithium batteries as GPS units eat through them quickly.) Flashlights: A wide range of flashlights from head lamps to traditional hand-held varieties are indispensable in an outdoorsman's life after dark. Snacks: While the list is almost endless, a couple of traditional on-the-go lightweight snacks to stave off hunger while afield include jerky and meat sticks, string cheese, nuts, trail mix, dried fruits and protein bars. Binoculars: Great things about binoculars is that they are so versatile and adjustable for a wide range of users. Magnification, lens quality and diameter and material affect the price. They can be used for observing nature, hunting, competitive sporting events or other targets. Some of us have multiple pairs to always have one at hand in the car, boat or backpack. Trail camera: It is amazing how inexpensive trail cameras have gotten. They are easier to program, take good photos and videos and can be used all year long to watch deer trails, gardens, porch pirates and other non-wildlife surveillance. Birdwatchers: A simple suet wire cage feeder is easy to refill and attracts visiting woodpeckers and nuthatches all winter if the tenders are willing to use suet cakes containing peanuts mixed into the fatty offering. Be sure to include enough suet cakes to allow the recipient to put it to use right away. This is just a partial list of gift ideas that, even by having more than one of any of them, is not redundant and does not require knowing sizes.