by Elizabeth Mcgill

Created on: December 21, 2008

Many years ago, I discovered a unique gift idea for hunters, camouflaged toilet paper. Yes, I know. Over the course of my years as a hunter's wife, I too thought I had seen it all. So every year in the stocking, along with the usual fare of battery-heated socks, hand warmers, a deer caller, flashlight and orange sock cap, would go the toilet paper.

Nowadays, there are endless varieties of thermal insulated socks, quiet different from the grey, bulky, red-banded socks complete with battery wires and all, of yesteryear. The callers have progressed to include the female versions, doe bleats, the hand warmers are more sophisticated and the lucky hunter might even find a gift certificated to his favorite store, for the other things you couldn't even imagine existed for today's hunter.

Another great gift idea is deer scent. These deer scents you can buy without testing, trust me. These bottles are not the sniff-and-buy kind. Make sure you add a bag of cotton balls he will need spread around the scent. This is to ensure your own personal supply will not be depleted. Add a small bottle of hand sanitizer. You will not appreciate the lingering smells this scent leaves behind. Stuff a small flashlight in with all the other goodies, along with extra batteries, and some small zip lock bags to store all this in.

Throw in a small stick of the cheap odorless deodorant. This comes in handy, when used in conjunction with the non-scented clothes detergents, he has already insisted on you buying. A good hunter's wife will comply without pointing out the fact to her dear hunter that the local diner he visits with his fellow hunters will undo all of his careful a head of time preparations when they exit it, heading for the hills, reeking of fried breakfast animals.

Add some good reflecting tacks so he will find his way back to his truck, and home. This will be a good time to add a two-way radio, incase he forgets to use the reflecting tacks. Give him the edge over the game warden, and add in a license holder that he can keep pinned to the inside of his hunting coveralls, if he is not into remembering to stick his wallet into his pocket for the hunt. Buck fever is known to inflict more than just a temporary amnesia during hunting season; it will last, oh, about three months. Remember, this is the same man that forgets where he laid his remote.

If you really are into the end deer count and know it takes five good size ones to take your household through the next season, then you will want to buy him a nice LED blood-trailing spotlight. This investment pales considering the amount of money you will have to spend for extra meat the rest of the year. I know you have heard some hunters comment on being able to smell that musky old buck, but how many have bragging rights on tracking a downed deer while sniffing the ground like a bloodhound?

Who is to say that you have to spend big money on gifts for your, um, gifted hunter? One item that really became popular to my then husband and his fellow hunters was a camouflaged scarf that I crocheted for him. I made it extra long and doubled up the ends to form pockets where he could keep his hands warm, or store his grunt calls, and keep extra bullets handy. I ended up crocheting several of them that season. With that scarf you could also crochet a matching hat and if you are really into the crochet thing.

This year your favorite hunter should be delighted and well prepared for his hunts, when he opens up his stocking, and finds your thoughtful gifts. Hindsight, I should have marketed the scarf. Come on, think about it, if grown men will buy camouflaged toilet paper, what could be simpler than, excuse my pun, really pulling the wool over their eyes?

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