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Sure, your grandpa killed deer with nothing but his old .30-30, some flannel, and the skill of a veteran woodsman. But grandpa didn’t have all of today’s cool modern gear at his disposal. The best gifts for deer hunters include cellular trail cameras, heated socks, precision scopes, and countless other gizmos.
Some of this modern gear is frivolous. However, the best gifts for deer hunters will make time in the field more productive, or at least more comfortable. So if you’re shopping for a holiday gift to give that deer hunter who seems to already have it all, you’ve come to the right place. Below I’ve compiled a list of stocking stuffers and big-ticket items that any deer hunter would love to see beneath the Christmas tree—even grandpa.
Stocking Stuffers
- Hunters Safety System Lifeline
- Ocoopa Rechargeable Handwarmer
- Woodhaven Ninja Intimidator
- Weston Rechargeable Heated Sock
- Smartwool Classic Merino Wool Base Layers
Big Ticket Items
- Moultrie Mobile Edge Pro
- Flambeau Boss Buck Deer Decoy
- Benchmade Meatcrafter
- Tethrd Skeletor
- Redneck Outfitter HD Bale Blind
- Leupold RX-1400i TBR/W Gen2 Range Finder
- Zeiss SFL 8×40 Binoculars
- Primos Trigger Stick Apex
Stocking Stuffers
These simple gifts for deer hunters all cost less than $100 and have been reviewed by OL‘s gear testing team.
Hunters Safety System Lifeline
Give the gift of safety this holiday season. This simple lifeline system is a great gift for any and every treestand hunter. It attaches above the stand and includes a sliding prussic knot. You simply clip your harness into the knot and then slide it up the line as you climb. Most treestand accidents happen while the hunter is climbing into or out of the stand. This system ensures that a fall won’t be life threatening.
Ocoopa Rechargeable Handwarmer
This clever rechargeable handwarmer was picked as a top option during a test of the best hand warmers. “The Ocoopa was impressively easy to use, making it the best multiple-use hand warmer in my test,” staff writer Laura Lancaster wrote. “Upon opening the box, I plugged in the hand warmer using the supplied cable. Once all three lights next to the power button were a steady blue, I unplugged it and turned it on. It immediately started warming up; in fact, this was the fastest warming product I tried.”
In testing, the Ocoopa ran for five hours, which should keep you warm for a full morning sit.
Woodhaven Ninja Intimidator
Zach Ferenbaugh, from The Hunting Public crew, picked the Woodhaven Ninja Intimidator as his go-to call for drawing in big bucks on public lands (read our review of the best deer calls here).
“I’ve used a lot of calls over the years, but this is by far my favorite,” Ferenbaugh says. “I can be as subtle as I need, or I can crank up the volume if I need to grab a deer’s attention, even if he’s 100 yards away. If you look at our videos, this call is literally tied to my vest all season long.”
If Ferenbaugh trusts it, the deer hunter on your list will too.
Weston Rechargeable Heated Sock
This is one pair of socks that people will actually be happy to get for Christmas—if they’re deer hunters. These socks are battery-powered and link to an app. You can set the temperature from 85℉-158℉ with a few swipes. The batteries will last for 10 hours on the lowest settings. Just make sure to take the battery out before you wash them. With these bad boys, there’s never a reason to hunt with cold feet again. (Read our full review of the best socks for hunting, here).
Smartwool Classic Merino Wool Base Layers
There are a lot of companies that make great base layers for hunting, but it’s hard to beat Smartwool. This is their heaviest layer, and it’s made 100 percent from merino wool. That’s important because Merino wool is odor resistant. Plus, these layers aren’t skin-tight like spandex, which makes them more comfortable for sitting in a treestand (save the super-tight spandex for yoga class, thanks). If the deer hunter on your list is still wearing the old flannel long johns, help him out with a pair of these.
Big Ticket Items
These gear items are sure to bring joy on Christmas day—or before that, if you decide to just buy them for yourself.
Moultrie Mobile Edge Pro
Give the gift of deer knowledge this year through the Edge Pro trail camera and Moultrie Mobile’s incredibly powerful app. I’ve reviewed a wide variety of cellular trail cameras and Moultrie has, by far, the most comprehensive app. Notably, Moultrie Mobile just released an a buck-movement prediction tool called Game Plan, which uses recent, local trail camera data, along with upcoming weather info to help calculate the best time to be in the stand. In other words, it pulls deer movement data collected from other users in your general area combined with local weather to make its predictions.
The app also rolled out a new and improved mapping feature that allows you to view a variety of layers—including property lines and topo lines—and set more than 70 pin types on your hunting property map. I’ve run both the Edge Pro and standard Edge cameras on my hunting properties for two seasons and have found them to be functional and reliable. The data that I’m able to pull from them through the Moultrie Mobile app really has sharpened my hunting strategy.
Flambeau Boss Buck Deer Decoy
Using deer decoys is the trendy tactic these days, and for good reason: watching a rutting buck swagger in to run off a challenger (your decoy) is a rush. Flambeau makes a simple and realistic buck decoy that is much more affordable than the high-end, ultra-expensive decoys out there. It’s a collapsible and packable decoy, so you can hike it into spots, just make sure you always wear orange when transporting a deer decoy and never use a decoy during firearms season.
Benchmade Meatcrafter
This is a serious knife for serious wild-game butchers. It’s designed essentially as a hybrid fillet knife/boning knife with a thin six-inch blade. The Meatcrafter shines when quartering, deboning, and butchering an animal—it’s not a skinning knife or a gutting knife.
The base model of this knife, the 15500 comes with CPM-154 (58-61 HRC) steel, and an orange Santoprene handle. The knife comes with a nice Kydex sheath. But this is just the beginning. You can upgrade the steel or handle material (the 15500OR-2 model comes with a carbon fiber handle and CPM-S45VN (60-62 HRC) steel and costs more than twice as much). You can also mix and match materials and colors to create your own custom Meatcrafter here.
Tethrd Skeletor
The Skeletor won a great buy award in a review of the best climbing sticks for mobile hunting. Even though these sticks won a value award, they’re still a little pricey (as mobile hunting gear tends to be). But for the price you get some high-end features: DynaLite rope attachment method, folding double-step design, and the StickLoc pin system. Four aluminum sticks weigh 8 pounds 7 ounces.
Redneck Outfitter HD Bale Blind
This roomy, comfortable blind blends in perfectly in farm country. The interior measures 72 inches long x 72 inches deep x 72 inches high, which is plenty of room for two or even three hunters. It includes six windows that slide open silently thanks to a clever rope system. The frame is powder-coated steel. My hunting buddy and I have been using this blind on a property in western Wisconsin for two seasons now, and we’ve killed a couple freezerfuls of deer out of it. We’ve left it out all winter, and it’s showing hardly any wear-and-tear. The blind is heavy (146 pounds) but I’m able to slide it into my truck bed by myself and transport it to new spots around the property without too much trouble. Tucked in next to a real bale or along a fenceline and the blind becomes invisible to deer.
Leupold RX-1400i TBR/W Gen2 Range Finder
Knowing the distance from hunter to deer is critical, and this range finder does that and so much more. In fact, the Outdoor Life testing team wrote in best range finders that: “Despite spending an intensive week with this rangefinder, our test team can’t figure out how Leupold has packed so much technology and capability in a rangefinder that retails for under $200.” The range finder is great for archery hunters because it includes a feature that shows the height of the arrow’s path at middle distance to help a bowhunter know if anything will be in the way. It’s also, “a great choice for the multi-season hunter who isn’t shooting past about 500 yards with a rifle, which is most of us,” wrote OL’s gear editor Scott Einsmann.
Zeiss SFL 8×40 Binoculars
We realize this is one heck of a gift for the hunter in your life, but the Zeiss SFL binoculars are worth it. Outdoor Life gear reviewers noted in the best binoculars test that the images delivered by these Zeiss binoculars are “every bit as sharp and vibrant as those of Zeiss’s other premium binoculars.” In fact, they earned the top resolution score during the optics test, even rated against binoculars with twice the price tag. This year, give the gift of good glass leading to more animals spotted and more successful hunts.
Primos Trigger Stick Apex
Primos Trigger Sticks are well known for their versatility in the field and add stability when it matters most. The Trigger Stick Apex sets up fast and reaches 62 inches. The Outdoor Life gear team ranked it the best fast-deploy tripod rest in their review of best shooting rests, noting its rapid adjustability and ability to adapt to uneven ground. At just under $500, it’s not an inexpensive gift, but it’s also one that the open-country deer hunter in your life will appreciate and use for many years.