Outdoors: Some holiday shopping tips for those on the list

Hunt for gifts is definitely in season

Pheasant, quail, woodcock, grouse and archery deer hunters had the last day of their respective seasons last Saturday. But our forests got a lot more colorful this past Monday, as safety-conscious, orange-clad hunters participated in the opening day of the Massachusetts shotgun deer and bear seasons, which run concurrently through December 12. Late-morning rains that persisted throughout the day and severe afternoon winds drove many hunters home and diminished the initial harvest.

Upward of 5,000 deer, though, are still likely to be tagged by the shotgunners, but bears will be largely spared. While some will continue to forage for acorns and beechnuts, many have already gone into hibernation.

The increased threat of the COVID-19 virus is keeping thousands of wisely cautious, local shoppers from hunting for bargains in-store. Fortunately, the Christmas shoppers’ season has no closed season, and no bag limits online. Amazon is making a record killing.

Many late-season shoppers will desperately hunt for just the right presents with their credit cards till well after sunset on Dec. 24. For anyone still needing to check out, here is my annual suggestion list for your sportsman or woman.

To protect

For the serious sportsmen in my family, I’ll be wrapping up several pairs of Costa sunglasses (for fishermen dealing with different light and reflection conditions on both the ocean and a river’s surface), Insect Shield clothing and three insect repellents. With tick-borne diseases and EEE now perennial threats, the impregnated clothing along with permethrin and picaridin sprays are the most sensible ways to keep us absolutely safe in the most tick and mosquito infested areas. I’ll be wrapping several containers of Sawyer’s, Natrapel and Proven. I tested each thoroughly in 2019, and all three kept me totally safe in the jungles of the Amazon, the savannahs of Africa, and the deer woods of Massachusetts.

Finish reading the article written by Mark Blazis here.