When a sportsman turns the corner on 60 the person begins to take a serious inventory of the accumulated goodies in his life.
And it’s not uncommon to discover that your collection includes a lot of items that you originally thought were must-haves but now upon further reflection seem more of an unnecessary luxury than a necessity.
Still, I can’t help but ask for things either impractical economically or really not needed.
A request for a four-wheel-drive ATV heads the like-to-have-but-totally-impractical column. I hope to retire in five years and I don’t want another monthly installment loan payment.
Likewise I would dearly love to have one of the new Turkish-made Stoeger Arms semi-automatic shotguns. But we’re talking about $450 here and thus that also is a good fit for impractical column.
Yet I accumulated several items this past year that had I not already owned them would still have made good Christmas gifts.
Among them are rechargeable battery-powered electric socks and gloves made under the Gerbing’s Core Heat Transfer System banner.
Used extensively last winter and just now being employed as the weather cools, both the gloves and - especially - the socks are godsends.
They really do work. Gerbing’s gloves and socks have become “must” items whenever I take to my ground blind for a late season archery deer hunt or a chilly morning of ice fishing.
They are truly remarkable instruments. See http://coreheat.net/How%20it%20Works.html.
Fellow News-Herald reporter John Kampf put me on to the next item. He swears by the Rage series of mechanical broadheads for archery deer hunting. These tools, John says, drive a wicked entry wound as well as a massive exit wound.
So convincing was John’s arguments that I went out and bought the 100-grain, three-blade model. Sure enough, John was correct about how humanely these broadheads are in delivering a fatal blow to a deer.
I used one to take an adult doe deer the Monday before Thanksgiving. Rage’s product was coupled with a new style of arrow by Horton Archery that features a shorter and wider vane than previous models as well as an illuminated nock. It was cool to see the arrow’s flight but the effectiveness of the Rage broadhead was even more impressive. http://www.ragebroadheads.com/
Thirdly, I picked up both a Thermacell “appliance” and a Thermacell Lantern.
Each tool is designed to repel nasty, biting insects. Powered by replaceable butane cartridges, both the appliance and the lantern employ a replaceable so-called “mat” that is saturated with a repellent called “allethrin,” which the company says is a copy of a repellent that naturally occurs in chrysanthemum flowers.
It repels up to 98 percent of mosquitoes, black flies, and no-see-ums within a 225-square foot area. The repellent will not harm humans or pets, Thermacell says also.
And yes, the devices work - and work amazingly well. The appliance, for example, was extensively used during the early part of the archery deer-hunting season.
Since I hunt from a ground blind I brought in the appliance and watched as mosquitoes literally flew out of the blind.
As for the lantern that can be used for when want to enjoy a quiet evening in your back yard. Say good-by to all of those irksome disease-carrying Mentor Marsh mosquitoes.
These devices are inexpensive but they are worth millions if you want to avoid slapping mosquitoes for a living.
See http://www.thermacell.com/.
Now I know three products don’t make for much of a wish list but like I said, I’ve reached a point in life when I’m starting to forget all of the things I thought I needed only to see them collect dust. None of these three suggestions fit that category.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischkorn@News-Herald.com
Twitter: @Fieldkorn
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