Christmas Ideas for Hunters

In this special Christmas episode of the Western Rookie Podcast, host Brian Krebs shares expert-curated gift ideas for outdoor enthusiasts, with a focus on hard to shop for hunters! Whether you're shopping for someone who loves hunting, fishing, or other outdoor activities, this episode highlights practical, versatile gear that makes for the perfect gift.

Brian discusses essential hunting tools, safety kits, cooking equipment, and innovative accessories that enhance the outdoor experience. Learn about top archery gear, rifle hunting equipment, and whitetail hunting gifts to make your loved ones' outdoor adventures even more enjoyable. The episode also emphasizes the importance of investing in hunting points for future Western hunting adventures, making it an ideal listen for anyone passionate about exploring new hunting opportunities.

Tune in for expert tips, great gift recommendations, and a special mention of GoHunt, a trusted partner of the show, offering valuable products for every outdoorsman.

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Brian Krebs (00:03.926)

Welcome back to another Western Rookie podcast episode brought to you by Go Hunt. Like always, I'm your host Brian Krebs, but we've got a new episode that we're doing today. It's going to be a great new episode. It's going to be an annual thing we're going to be doing here. It is the initial Western Rookie annual Christmas episode. That's right. It's a Christmas episode. It is not happy holidays. It's not seasons greetings. This is Christmas, man.

That's what I believe in and I think a lot of the listeners believe in it. So we're gonna go with it. And what I wanna do is we're gonna do a special episode for everyone out there that has an outdoorsman or outdoorswoman in their life that they're like, man, I just can't figure out what to get this person for Christmas. One of the problems when you're shopping for someone that has...

you know, hunting and fishing hobbies is, you know, all of us that love hunting and fishing, we generally have the gear we use. We have a lot of gear. If we need something, we go out and get it. And while that's not bad, it can be really hard if you're, if you're in a position where you're shopping for someone. I know that, you know, for myself, I have a lot of gear. So my family's always like, what should we get Brian? and so I've got a whole pile of items that I've already thought through for

for ideas for anyone out there you got a hunter, whether we got bow hunters, rifle hunters, I threw in some whitetail, I threw in a bunch of general hunting. So no matter who you're shopping for, these are gonna be ideas that you can really get anyone. That's what I wanted to go with for this episode. A lot of people have very specific pieces of gear.

Bow hunting for example, you can't just go get someone some new arrows, right? Because they have a very specific arrow for their bow set up. You can't just go buy someone a new bow because they have a specific size and they probably got a specific bow in mind. You could get, know, if you're thinking of like your husband or wife, you could sure get them a gift card and say, I want to buy you a bow. Well, we got to go to the shop and find it. These are going to be ideas that are

Brian Krebs (02:17.4)

more for the other pieces of gear. They can fit in with almost any one system. So that way it's a lot easier for you to pick something. You don't have to know exactly everything they have. Some of them you got to know a couple things. Also these are ideas from $10 up to maybe $2.50. So you might be shopping for your uncle for a White Secret Sand or a Dice Game gift.

And he's I don't want to spend 200. He likes to hunt, but it seems like everything's 200 bucks. And that's like way out of the budget. So I got ideas on here that are as low as 10 bucks. And I've got ideas. Maybe you're shopping for your husband. Maybe you're shopping for your dad, your brother, your wife, your mom, whoever it is that are like, you know what? We usually spend a little bit more. I got some ideas there too. That doesn't include buying a rifle or buying a scope or buying a bow, because all of those things, like I said, are going to be so specific.

And I'm going to try a new thing. I'm going to be sharing a lot of the pictures online. Most of these items I've used before, just they're all spread out between the shop, the hunting room, my gear, my truck. And I just didn't have time to go wrap all these things together and bring them into the studio. So I'm to be sharing a lot. So if you're driving, you might not be able to see the pictures, but we'll put this up on YouTube. We'll put shorts on there. So go find it. We'll also put links to a lot of these.

items in the show notes as well. So with that, let's kick it off. First thing that we have up, I'm going to share what I'm looking at here. Share a window, share an entire screen. I'm going with... Boom. Is it up? It's live. All right. Item number one, the Go Hunt Tyvek gear bags. Now...

You're going to see a theme here. A lot of the things that we're sharing are with the Go Hunt. There's a couple of reasons for that. Number one, Go Hunt has a lot of quality gear. That's what they're there for. They put together in the gear shop all of the best gear you could possibly need or want for Western hunting. So a lot of things are coming from Go Hunt. Secondly, yes, they're a partner of the show. They support us. I support them. But it does not take away from the fact that some of these pieces are incredibly high value. So just want to

Brian Krebs (04:39.586)

put that out there. We also have a discount at Go Hunt. And so obviously I'm gonna be trying to find ways for you guys to save money as well. we have the Western code. So if you go to the Go Hunt gear shop and use the code Western, you're gonna save, I believe 10 % on all normal price or most of the normal priced items in the gear shop. So if it's on sale already, it might not work. But if it's regular price, you're gonna save a little bit of money. So I wanna, it's really,

win win win. It helps go hunt, it helps me, it helps you. But number one is these Go Hunt Tyvek gear bags. Now I own these. They come in a couple different colors. I'm showing the white. These are, you might think of like Tyvek, isn't that the stuff they build houses with? I don't know if that's good, if that's what I want. These bags are phenomenal. It is a Tyvek material but it's also, it's made really well, it's really lightweight. One of the things it's a

beautiful blend between lightweight and rugged. Meaning, you know, a lot of lightweight bags are cheap. They fall apart, zippers break, all that stuff. These are lightweight, but they're super rugged. You feel it, it's tough. We used these on our Antelope Hunt. We put some gear in these. I have a bag that's set up with like, whitetail stuff too. So I'm putting in like screw in steps and bow hangers, things with sharp points. I'm throwing them in there and it's holding up really well. So I love them.

One of the best things about these is you can pick either the small, medium, or large. The small is $12.99 and it's 20 % off right now for the Black Friday deals. Or you can get a three pack for $35. So it's a real good option that's very usable. If you have an outdoorsman that you're shopping for or a woman that loves the outdoors, these will easily be able to be used for so many different things. You can put your game bags in them. You can put your emergency kit in them.

You can throw them in your truck with a bunch of odds and ends so they don't scatter all underneath the seat of your pickup. No matter who you're shopping for, these could be used and they will be loved. Great item for anyone. I really, really like them. They come in white. I've seen them in black. I've seen them in orange. I have a black one and an orange one. actually,

Brian Krebs (06:58.284)

These are on my Christmas list this year, I just put in order. So I can't tell you who they're for, because they might listen to the podcast. I want to wreck that Christmas idea for them. But that's a great option for no matter who you're shopping for. Another one, and I threw this one in early because I wanted to make sure we touch on it, a Mimetic kit. You can also find these in the GoHunt Gear shop. you can use, we're seeing Black Friday pricing. This is going to come out a little bit late.

Obviously one of the things we're going to do next year is do the Christmas episode before Black Friday week. Another good medium option, you maybe got a brother, a cousin, a sister, fiance, sister-in-law, who knows? It's like 50 to 75 bucks. They have a couple different sizes for the MyMedic kits, but this kit is great because number one, if someone that you have in your life, you want them to come home from hunting, right? You want them to come home from the mountains. You want them to be safe.

So if they don't have any type of emergency kit or medical kit, this is a great starter because it's got all of the standard stuff you need in there. You got bandages, you got wraps, you've got antibiotic, you've got gloves, lots of great stuff already loaded up in there. And you can look through the different options and see which size is the best. Or if like myself, I've kind of put together a few things over the years, but you got to keep that stuff replaced and replenished. Great one stop shop.

comes in a nice case, you can throw it right in your pack and you know you're good. So another really good option. Also, you can use the code Western for this product as well if you don't get to it until the sale is over. So that's a good option. Just right out of the back, safety is important. The next one I'm really excited about, the Randy Neuberg EBS knife. I will say this is the best knife I have ever seen or used.

for Western hunting. I have this knife, I switched to this knife four years ago and I've never looked back. So this EBS knife stands for Exchange Blade System. It's not a replaceable blade. That blade on that knife is the same stiffness, the same thickness and the same ruggedness that you'll find in any of your fixed hunting knives. It's like that thick steel.

Brian Krebs (09:18.764)

Difference is you can exchange it. So there comes with three different blades. You have like a longer blade, you have a shorter blade, and you have a serrated blade. And what's nice about this is if you've ever quartered an animal, if you've ever skinned an animal, you can go through knives really fast, the dull out fast. So what I do is I use the serrated blade to cut through the hide to take my initial first couple cuts.

And maybe some of the bigger tendons and it just cuts through like butter and it saves my other two blades for Other things that I want to be sharp. So if I'm skinning pulling that hide back, I'll take this rated blade off I'll put on the medium blade and I will skin that sucker down and then I save my my long blade Sometimes for when I'm butchering and that stays sharpest the longest. It's great system. I love this It packs down incredibly small and light

You can see here we have got the carrying case. So all three blades fit in there and then the handle snaps in. It's super small and lightweight. Like I said, it's the best knife I've ever seen. And I personally use this knife for Western hunting or any hunting. I still use it for whitetail. It's a phenomenal knife and it'll be a great gift for anyone that you're shopping for that's hunting. I love it. I really do. That's one that I've really, really liked over the years.

The next one's kind of in the same theme, but the Work Sharp Guided Field Sharpener. I use this, I use this for my broadheads, I use this for my knives in the kitchen, I use this all the time. It's got a 20 degree guide so you can make sure you're at the right angle. It's a gift for someone that's like, you know, maybe they got a really fancy knife or maybe they got something else they like, but it's also really lightweight. So it's easy to throw whether you sharpen at camp, throw it in your pack, tune some knives up. Super lightweight. It comes with

Three different surfaces. So a coarse surface, a fine surface, the leather, and you can also do ceramic for, even sharpen serrated blades. So the knife we just showed, you don't throw those blades away when you're done with them. You just sharpen them back up and they're good to go again. So I love this. I have this myself. Really like it. It also puts a phenomenally sharp edge on broadheads. So if you're shopping for an archery hunter, this could be a great system for them as well.

Brian Krebs (11:37.432)

One of the things I do is these ceramic plates or those metal plates kind of pop off and there's a broadhead tightener inside of it actually. And you see there someone sharpened a broadhead, but you can cut like a four inch section of an arrow, an old arrow off and you can keep that stored in there and then you can thread on your broadhead to like a four inch section of of a arrow shaft and have a little bit of a handle for sharpening broadheads works phenomenally well. Great gift, great dice game gift. If you've got a dice game, it's like 35 bucks.

A really handy tool to keep in. Keep in mind for for whoever you're shopping for. Next, I'm going to a tool. This Leatherman signal, my wife actually has this. This was our wedding gift. She got a signal. I got a Leatherman 300, but the signal is specifically intended for more of that backpacking, hunting outdoors.

Mindset so there's a couple cool features first of all it comes with a carabiner clip so you can clip it onto the outside of your pack super cool feature It has a fire starter a striker in there. You can see it in this picture here. You can see the ferro rod That's super cool. And then the other thing it has is it has a hex a quarter inch hex drive So if you get some of the bits that come with it You can then do any type of work you need to on your bow on equipment

because you basically have at that point like a socket wrench. Super cool and then it's got all the knives, bottle openers, screwdriver, pliers that you would expect from a Leatherman product. So I really love this gift. This is a great multi-tool. It's a little bit more expensive but super thoughtful gift for anyone and this could be someone that's like I don't even like my dad doesn't really hunt that much but he's always tinkering in the shop. These are a go-to.

Super cool item there can fit for anyone. Next up, the Black Diamond Icon 700. Abby actually runs this headlamp and I can tell you firsthand, this headlamp is incredibly bright. We blood trailed with this headlamp. I had used to have like some smaller, cheaper headlamps and I thought they were fine until Abby got this for Christmas last year and started using it. And my gosh, this thing is bright. It's got the battery pack in the back.

Brian Krebs (13:59.618)

comes with the green, red, blue. That's really cool. But it is super, super bright. So if you've got anyone that's in the outdoors, they probably have a headlamp, but they probably don't have a headlamp this good. So keep this in mind. That's a great item for anyone, even ice fishing. Run a lot of headlamps. You're always fishing in the dark a lot. Great, product for a lot of different people.

Brian Krebs (14:28.472)

Excuse me. I should take a caffeine break. So moving right along. Great episode so far. Great products. The Go Hunt Packout Game Bag Set. Now here's one I put on here that I have not personally used yet. And so I want to give that, I want that honesty and that transparency. I have not used this set of game bags. I have used a lot of other game bags. And so I have, I've probably used six or seven

different brands and variety of game bags in my career. I think I've used about 30 game bags this fall already. And so I can confidently say I really am interested in this and I'm really looking forward to this one and there's a couple reasons why. First of all, this game bag set comes with five bags instead of four bags. Meaning you got one dedicated bag for each quarter and then they've got a smaller bag.

That is the key missing ingredient with a lot of other game bags. You typically do need five game bags. So here's why. Especially like let's go with an elk. You put a front quarter in one, a rear quarter in one, same thing on the other side. Well, a bull elk is going to have probably 80 pounds of trim meat between the neck, the back straps, the tenderloins, rib meat, brisket. Where do you put that meat?

Now for me, I kind of stuff it in some of the other bags, but you really usually want those stakes to be out first. You know, a lot of times you get back to camp, you want to cook those stakes up right away. Those back straps, the tenderloins, having those in a separate bag like they have here, super cool feature. Second cool feature about these things is they have the handles on them. Every time you have a game bag, you want to hang that up. You want that to be off the ground. You want airflow.

Most game bags don't have a handle. So you're always stuck with like, how do I tie this off? These ones have a handle, super easy. I read through these. These handles are rated for a hundred pounds, which means they probably tested them a lot higher than a hundred pounds. And there's not a big game animal in the lower 48 that's going to have bigger than a hundred pound quarters, especially bone out. Maybe a giant moose, Shira's moose, a giant one, but even then a hundred pounds is very heavy. The heaviest quarter I've ever weighed is 82 pounds.

Brian Krebs (16:45.334)

So these will be golden. Third feature that's really cool is they come with the Tyvek bag, a carry case for your game bags. You don't have loose game bags running around in your pack. I have that exact bag actually, the small black Tyvek Go Hunt bag. I love it. It's a great feature to have this all integrated in a simple kit. They also come with the orange gloves. It's cool, but you'll replace them right away anyway.

Super cool set, cinches down. are reused. And so if you're also, if you're worried, like, well, yeah, but I don't want to get somebody a one time thing. Like once they shoot an animal, they get all bloody. Don't you throw them away? No, you don't throw these away. You wash them. They come up brand new looking. You can even throw some iron out at them or whatever. These are reusable. Game bags are reusable. I've reused game bags many, many times. So this is a great gift for anyone that haunts. These are high quality game bags.

I would recommend getting the elk set. It's like $5 more than the deer set, but if you get the elk set, you can always use them on a deer. If you get the deer set, you might not be able to use them on an elk. And so I would just recommend getting the elk set. I always buy elk game bags no matter what I'm doing, because they work for basically everything. Next up, Jetboil Minimo. We have a Jetboil Minimo. We actually bought it this year for our Wyoming hunt in

they work phenomenally well. So especially if whoever you're shopping for doesn't yet have a jet boil for cooking out in the field. Super cool gift. And the MiniMo is a great size. It packs down well, but it also has that integrated connection point in the insulation with the heat rings. So you don't waste as much fuel. I've used a couple different versions of back, these are called backpacking stoves.

And the Jetboil MiniMo would be my new favorite go-to. You can also use pans on these. A lot of times they're meant for a mountain house or a peak refuel bag where you boil some water, put it in a dehydrated food bag, seal it up, wait 10 minutes and you got a dinner. I've actually fried eggs on these too, just a little tiny pan. So super versatile cooking system. In Wyoming, we actually only brought Jetboils.

Brian Krebs (19:00.964)

cooking. We cooked everything. My wife made coffee. We made our breakfast. We made dinners. Everything we cooked, we cooked it on these. Super cool, super cool item. Next up, Alaska guide creations. This is my favorite vinyl harness. I've had one of these for years. I think probably 10 years I'm going on with the Alaska guide creations vinyl harness. I've seen a lot of vinyl harnesses. This one's probably my favorite and it's favorite for a couple reasons. Number one, great vinyl harness.

Number two, it's got the rangefinder pouch in the front. It's got pockets on the side so I can put wind indicator, my rangefinder, elk calls. I have tags that I can slip in the back. There's a zipper in the back right here that you can put your tags in. I have wind indicator and face paint that I slip in the top little shelf where there's some elastic fabric that you can tuck stuff under. The reason I like this is I can put everything I actually need to tag a deer or an elk.

on that. So if I drop my pack, still have everything I need to successfully take an animal. I put electrical tape on one side, I put a couple rounds, spare rounds on the other side. It's great system. I really like it. It's my favorite all around vinyl harness they make. Good for anyone that maybe doesn't have a vinyl harness or if they're still using like the box set vinyl harness. Like sometimes if you order Vortex Binals, they'll send you like their very basic entry level vinyl harness. Or if someone's just using straps for their vinyl harness,

Get them one of these. These will be super cool. Next up, we got the All-In Snapshot Spotter System. They make a Bino system too. I actually had Nathan Goodworth on my other podcast, the Two Bucks podcast, episode number two, way back when, who was the founder of All-In, talking about how he founded the company. But this is the best spotting scope system that I've ever seen. It looks very simple. You might be thinking like, well, what is it?

What it is is this this piece here goes on the spotting scope and then you get a phone case that you snap on and the what happens is it's magnetic. So if you have someone that hunts in the West, scouts, ducks, scouts, deer, you know, window spotter, they can easily snap their cell phone on and take amazing videos without having to line this up. The reason why this one's better than the others is because this one has magnets. A lot of the other ones you put a

Brian Krebs (21:29.548)

big piece on your phone and then you gotta cinch it on your optic and when you do that you mess up your optic. You bump it, now you gotta find it again. This one right here, best I've ever seen, I've seen a lot of them. This one is a tricky one because you have to find out what optic the person you're buying for has because they're size dependent but they've got a whole list of options here.

A lot of the standards like I have the Leopold SX2, SX4 is a really popular spotting scope. The Vortex Viper, Vortex Diamondback are very popular scopes. So you just have to figure out what scope they have and then you also have to figure out what phone they have because you got to get the phone case part of it too. It's a two part system. You can get both halves on Go Hunt. This is another great item. You can save 10 % when you use the code Western. Super cool. All right, moving right around.

The Mystery Ranch Pack Fly. This is another good item for maybe a dice game, maybe a more distant relative that you gotta find something for. You can get these in different colors, but it's a rain-poof cover for your pack. So if it starts raining, you pop it up, put it on your pack, all your stuff stays dry. It's super lightweight. I have one of these. I leave it in my pack. The only time I really take it out is if I'm like antelope hunting in Wyoming where it hasn't rained in three years.

But every elk hunt I've gone on, I've pulled it out since I got it because I use it all the time. So another really cool item could be a dice game, white elephant, secret Santa gift. You can get the blaze or the brown. I'd probably lean on brown if you don't know for sure, because I typically don't wear blaze. I wouldn't have used the blaze. I have more of a camel or a brown, a little bit more subtle. That's the way I would go.

for if I was buying this for someone. And then last up for the general hunting is, and this one isn't on Go Hunt. This is the Elps Mountaineering Ultralight Tarp Shelter. I have this, I have a different color though, but what this is, it's about the same weight as the PacFly. It weighs almost nothing. But if you get into like a downpour, you can set this up in just like a minute and you crawl underneath this sucker and you stay dry. You could probably, if you really wanted to, you could put four people under it.

Brian Krebs (23:46.678)

We always ran it with me and a buddy and we could like lay it down, take a nap, stay perfectly dry. When it stops raining, you take it down quick, roll it up, put it in your pack and you're off again, chasing bugles or mule deer, whatever it is. Super versatile. This is another good thing. for the person that seems like they have everything, they probably don't have one of these. So this is another great item if you don't know what to get somebody. And that really, that is our list of

items for general hunting. So a lot of the things you can find in the Go Hunt Gear Shop, it's a wonderful place to find almost any type of gear that you could possibly need for Western hunting. And if you shop in the Go Hunt Gear Shop, remember to use the code Western. You're going to save 10 % on most of the regular priced items. A lot of them are on sale already for Black Friday. So if you act fast, you might be able to actually get

better deals with Black Friday, but even if you don't, you can always use the Western code to save 10%. So that is our general hunting list. Let's bring it over now to archery. I gotta find the archery window. So archery is a little bit tricky because bows are so specific. Bows, arrows, and broadheads are so specific.

Everyone has their preference. a lot of you probably know this. It's very hard to shop for archery products for somebody because everything is specific and it's personal preference. And so I went through and I found six ideas that you could basically get anyone and they're going to appreciate them. Number one. Here we go. Number one, a Baker archery bow vice. I actually had

the founder of Baker Archery on our other show, the Two Bucks podcast is where I got this. This is a little bit more expensive. This is probably maybe more like a spouse, a very close family member. But the nice thing about this is no matter what bow they shoot, no matter what they do, they could always benefit from a bow vice. This is like what the archery shops have to tweak and modify their bows. It can also be used for a ton of other things. You can put a

Brian Krebs (26:07.36)

like a blanket or a towel in it and clamp a gun down if you're going to be cleaning a gun, mounting a scope. It's not like a shop vise where you're going to be really torquing on this thing, but it's great as a a tinkering vise if you just want to hold something still and hold something level. So this is a great item. I actually have one. The Baker Archery team sent me one. I have to open it up and do a full demo with it, but an awesome, awesome product. could

kind of go either way. It's really more for archery, but it could be used, like I said, for rifles. Anytime you're like tinkering or something, you want to keep it steady. It's a great product. You can pretty much add it to any bench. Another one, this one is back to maybe more of a dice game gift, a white elephant gift. The Pine Ridge Archery Quickstand Bow Stand. I have this exact

I actually have a special, here's mine right there. I have a special red, white, and blue American version. It's very modular so you can fit almost any bow with it. And what you do is you put it on the bottom of the bow so you can, that's actually my bow right there. You can snap it on quick and set your bow down. So like if you're shooting in the backyard, you don't wanna lay your bow down in the grass, you don't wanna lay it down on the cement.

You can put this on quick and you can set it down. You can shoot with it on. It doesn't really affect your shot, especially if you keep it way at the top side of your limbs there. And the archer you're buying this for will obviously know all these things. You don't have to know all the details, but it's very adjustable to fit almost any bow. Super nice. I always have mine in my bow bag. I'm shooting 3D league.

I shoot, I snap it on quick, set my bow down, it keeps your bow standing upright. Mine's actually sitting with it on in the other room right now. That's how I store my bow all the time so I don't have to hang it on the wall or anything like that. Super useful, great gift for almost any archer. They may or may not have one of these already, but this is a gift where you're like really thinking it. You know, that's the hard part. You want a gift that you really put some thought into and then you're like, wow, I didn't even know you knew this. And they're like, yeah.

Brian Krebs (28:18.402)

You don't have to tell them you found out about it at the Western Richie podcast. So great gift for anyone. Another great gift for anyone back to go hunt. This is another item. Like if you don't make it in time for Black Friday, you could use the Western and still save 10%. The go hunt compound boasling. It looks a little goofy. I'm not going to lie, right? You kind of thinking like, that really looks kind of like flimsy, tedious, what it does and what's very important.

is it protects your site housing, it protects your broadheads and your quiver, and it protects your bow string. So it does those three things. Plus it also gives you a good way to carry your bow. So this would be for like people that do a lot of Western hunting, do a lot of backpacking hunting. It gives them an easier way to carry their bow in and out, maybe even just private land whitetails. It's raining and they want to cover up their bow a little bit.

It can be very popular for this. So one of the reasons I have this, so I've worn out strings before because, you know, walking through the brush that just wears on everything. I've also lost arrows before because these, this is where your fletchings would be. And that can get caught on stuff and literally pull an arrow right out of your quiver. And sometimes you don't notice it. I lost an arrow in Montana to this day. I have no idea where it went. So that's just what this could be used for. Could be another dice game gift. It's real simple entry level bow gift.

and sometimes it just gets annoying carrying your bow on your fingers for three days. Like it sounds, it sounds funny. I get it. But you carry your bow around by the string for three days. It starts to like wear into your fingers. It's almost like the same as like learning to play guitar that first week, your fingertips hurt. so that's another idea. Now this next idea, this is secret.

I'm really sharing with you guys a secret. I don't know how I discovered this. Kind of feel a little bit like I'm giving away the keys to the farm here. And everyone's going to laugh because it's very simple. The top hat screw in steel point field tips, field points. So these are your target tips, you know, for if you're shopping for an archer, this is like what they shoot in their target all summer long.

Brian Krebs (30:39.734)

The reason why these ones are the best, number one, they're very aerodynamic. Number two, they come with an O-ring. And if you're an archer, you know that every shot you got to tighten your field tips. You shoot, they're loose, you shoot, they're loose. They rattle if you don't. Everyone knows this. You will not have to tighten these ever again. I shoot this exact point. These are phenomenal. So if you're shopping for someone that's not yourself,

it can be tricky because you have to get the weight right. I will say 90 % of people are shooting a hundred grain tips though. So just go with the hundred grain. if they're not right, save the receipt. You can get these. have these in 175 and two fifties. I think you can get them in two hundreds as well. These, I don't understand how anyone has a non top hat field tip anymore. Just because they have that overing. I've had these for years and I've never had to tighten them up. Also.

I did an iron buck challenge last year in 3D League where you try to shoot and if you miss the little circle, you hit a steel plate and it breaks your arrow, but you get more points if you hit. I shot an arrow into one of these. That tip stuck in the steel. I have a picture of it stuck in the steel. It bent tiny bit. My arrow, the insert on my arrow bent a tiny bit. But the point is these are incredibly rugged. Awesome product.

It's very cheap, very affordable. Get the 516th 100 grain. That's the standard size that everyone pretty much has. At 930 seconds, it's just like a micro smidgen narrower, but I would get the 516th 100 grain. If you don't know, just roll with that. If it's not right, save the receipt, but this is a great dice game gift if you have a bunch of archers in your family. All right, next up.

Painted Arrow Meg Pro Plus. This is a cool one and we actually, there's another one where we had the Painted Arrow guys on the Two Bucks podcast and you can hear their story as well. But what it is, is it's an add-on to their stabilizer that allows them to put their phone on a magnet and film their hunts, film their experiences. Super cool. It's the easiest way to get into self-filming. Whether you wanna become the next YouTube star or the outdoor TV star or you just wanna be like, hey, look at this buck I saw the other day.

Brian Krebs (33:05.644)

Super cool product, I really like it. Not much to say there, but it's a great little gift if you're like, he's into bowling, but he's pretty much got everything. Probably doesn't have this, another one of those. And then the last one that can be one of those, like he's pretty much got everything, get him a digital archery scale. So I use mine all the time, just verifying weights, checking arrows, making sure things are the same weight, because the weight can drastically affect the differences between how your arrows will fly.

So real simple gift, 30 bucks, not gonna break the bank. Great gift for like an uncle, cousin, sister-in-law, whatever it is that shoots some bows. So that's the archery gift list that I have. I'm going to take another quick caffeine break here one second, folks.

Brian Krebs (34:01.472)

I mute myself when I do that because I got a Yeti Tumbler with ice and it's going to be really loud. So those are archery items. Should be something you can get almost any archer and it will fit in their system. Archery is really tough because everything is so specific. The bows, the accessories, everything. Unless they give you a direct link of like, this is the new release I want. It can be really hard to shop for an archer.

Those are some ideas that should fit in for anyone. Next up, we have the same thing for rifle hunters. So big game rifle hunters. I've got a whole boatload of ideas for people for rifle that if you're shopping for a rifle hunter. All right. First one up is.

coming at you now. The Kaffaru Gun Bearer. I use this, I got one from my brother. We're seeing a picture of a pack, but it's this bottom rubber boot and this strap up here. What it is for, it holds your gun, your rifle, in a really safe and really easy to access spot, kind of right under your arm. So it shoots.

The butt of your rifle goes on that bottom boot. The top strap goes around your rifle and it keeps your gun underneath your arm with the muzzle pointed up. And it's also always in your line of sight. So you can always see it. So that meaning, you know, if you have your gun on a sling, it's behind you. can, like if you leaned over to tie your shoe, you can't see what your gun is pointing at. Up in front of you.

you bend over to tie your shoe, you can see it's pointing exactly in front of you. You can see exactly where it's pointing and make sure you point it in a safe direction, not pointed at anyone. The other thing that's nice is it's underneath your arm, which means if you fall, your optic is gonna be protected by your arm. You know, you're gonna fall, you know, around it instead of if it's on the outside and you fall. First of all, your gun's probably gonna fall off your sling and bounce on the ground. Second of all, you're gonna land on your optic with nothing protecting it on the ground.

Brian Krebs (36:16.216)

Third, is hands-free, which is the reason I love it. You can walk around hands-free. You can walk around with walking poles. You can just be have your hands free. You can be looking at things in your binos. And then you just pull this one rope real fast. It unbuckles the system. The gun falls into your hands and you can be out, I think, faster than having your gun with a shoulder strap. So personally,

I use this, I didn't even buy a sling for my new rifle, I just use this. It's phenomenal. And it will fit with almost anyone that you're shopping for. So this system right here, I think it's like 50 bucks, is that what Kefaru said? I don't have any codes at Kefaru. We did have Aaron Snyder on the Western Rookie Podcast. It was a phenomenal episode and Aaron is a phenomenal guy. He's the founder of Kefaru.

but you can get left hand, right hand, and you can get for a Kafaru pack or the other is the universal. So that is a little bit more expensive I think, but if they don't have a Kafaru pack, you can get the universal system. That's the system I have. Awesome product, highly recommend. Next up, we have the Go Hunt Essential Rifle Comfort. So back to Go Hunt.

If you, like I said before, if you miss the Black Friday Stale, you can still get 10 % off on this as well. The Go Hunt Essential Rifle Color is awesome because it does three things. First of all, protects your optic from the weather. It protects your muzzle from the weather. So if it's raining, you're walking through brush, it's wet, you're not going to get water in your scope. You're not going to get water down your barrel. But the third thing that it does is it actually has the same effect as the Kafaru rifle bearer. You can actually hang it.

on your pack just like the Gun Bear. And so I actually think this is maybe even a better all-in-one system than the Kefaru. I just don't have it. That's why I put both up there. I do have the Kefaru and I absolutely love that. This one looks very interesting and I probably would have bought this if this product was developed at the same time. It just wasn't developed as fast. that being said, you can do either way. Here's like.

Brian Krebs (38:28.984)

version without the gun bear and that's actually the same rifle that I have. Here's a one with the rifle cover. So very cool product. Great for almost anyone that hunts with a gun. They probably don't have it yet so it's a really good option. Back down to maybe like that white elephant dice game level. Stocking stuff for the go hunt glassing pad. So when you're rifle hunting a lot of times you're spending a lot of time glassing and

It's just nice to have a glassing pad. Don't get cactuses in your butt, no one loves that. The nice thing about these ones is they fold up like an accordion, which is a lot easier to integrate into your pack and carry around compared to maybe like the therma rest or the therma seats that you might have in your whitetail stand. The big foam square, those do not pack well. That's what I use now. I wish I had this. And so great option for just kind of at any level.

All right, fourth up, we have the, this is more of a generic. I'm showing you the Walkers Game Ear, but just a generic in ear electronic hearing protection. The reason why this is so important is we're getting into muzzle breaks, big calibers, and it's becoming more and more important to, know, people are realizing how important it is to hunt with hearing protection. you,

Save your hearing. No one wants to be the person that can't hear a thing that needs hearing aids at 30 years old. And these are a cool option because you can hunt with these in your ear the entire time that you can hear everything. That's why they're electronic. But when all of a that loud noise hits, they cut out the hearing protection or they cut out the electronic hearing. And now you have the noise dampening.

Walker's got a few, I know there's other brands out there. I don't have any yet. So you might want to just do your own research. But it's a great idea for whoever you're shopping for that's big into rifle hunting. It also be shotgun hunting, waterfall guys, upland bird guys, trap shooters, shooting sports people could be a great option for almost anyone. So just keep that one in mind. And then the last one I have is the Rugged Ridge

Brian Krebs (40:49.464)

rear support system. We've talked about this. We actually just had Jaden Miller on the podcast and we talked about long-range shooting and how important it is to have a rear support. So what this does is it goes on the back of your rifle when you're shooting prone, which is the best, the most accurate position to shoot from, you can put this underneath your rear of the rifle and it holds it steady and when you put a rear support on

Whether it's a bag, a backpack, your hand, whatever it is, drastically increases your accuracy. This model has like four different height settings. It's lightweight, it's small, it packs in really well. And so you can bring it with you anywhere, pull it out, set it up, and you're off to the races. Here's a picture of the four different heights that it offers. Super cool.

super cool thing for anyone. This is something I guarantee the rifle hunter in your family does not have. awesome, awesome product there. And that's kind of the that wraps up the the rifle specific items. Now, I did want to go and add a couple of white tail gifts because I know a lot of our listeners are like primarily white tail hunters. And so I have one last list, set a list to go through. If you're shopping for someone like, yeah, they kind of talk about

you know, hunting, but they don't really go out west that much. You know, they're big white-toed hunters. Here's a couple ideas I got for them as well. Number one, we are going with the, here we are, the XOP Mutant Saddle. So this is for anyone that hunts, if you're, the person you're shopping for hunts a lot of public land, a lot of run and gun. Saddle hunting is,

way to do that. I use this saddle, my wife uses this saddle, it's super cool. This is actually, I'm guessing, yeah that's my, I believe that's one of my buddies, Tom, in the picture. But it's a great saddle, goes run and gun, so you can also use this saddle with their current tree stands, whatever they have. You can use any platform you want. So for $119 is a good option to get into saddle hunting, because it has, it'll come with the three ropes or the

Brian Krebs (43:08.28)

the three ropes you need, the bridge, the tether, and the linements. So if your husband, your brother, your dad, whatever, if they are a mobile public land run and gun hunter, you can get a mutant saddle and they can face the way from the tree or face into the tree. I have been using this even on private land and I like it more than a tree stand because I can swing around, it's more comfortable, I can sit longer, and I have a wider...

angle that I can shoot because I can swing around the tree. So I really like it. It's a really cool thing. I would recommend this saddle to anyone. I've really enjoyed using it. And then with that, the X2 sticks from X2 XOP. I love these sticks. It's the X2s. You can either get a set of four or you can get a single pack. Both are

great options, the set of four, I love this stick. I'm using them with aiders, so I only need two sticks, so then I could have two setups if you got a four pack. Super cool stick, very lightweight, I really love it, so that's an idea for almost anyone. The other thing, obviously trail cameras, every whitetail hunter wants a trail camera. Let me say that again, every whitetail hunter

would love a trail camera for Christmas. You might think it's boring. You might think he already has some. You might think she already has plenty. Doesn't matter. They still want another one. Every whitetail hunter wants another trail camera. That's it. I really like these. We use them. Everyone in my family is using the Reveals. We actually also have the solar panels that you can get for these. I would recommend getting them a solar panel too, especially if the property

Whoever you're shopping for, Hunts is a little far away, two hours away at the family farm or whatever. We have these out in the field that have been running for about two and a half years now on solar panels alone. Works great, don't have to check batteries. Great option. have the, I just have the Reveal X 2.0's, $100, very simple. think you can get the solar panel kit for another 50, 60 bucks. It's a great option no matter who you're shopping for.

Brian Krebs (45:28.194)

They're a whitetail hunter. They want another trail camera. All right. Moving on along. Here's a there's a very interesting one. So those first two, the XOP mutant and the XOP X2s, that's a great option for like a public land hunter. The person you're shopping for hunts primarily public, always setting up, always tearing down. Great option. Can still be used on private land for sure. Now I've got a couple of private land options as well. The licking stick system from Hodeg.

What this is, is it's a spring bracket that you put in the ground and you cut off a tree and you can plant like a tree coin. I understand if you're not a whitetail hunter and you're not private land whitetail hunter, like if you're a spouse and you're shopping for your significant other, you could be like, what the heck, this sounds like the stupidest thing. It's actually very good. It's a very cool product. You can plant these trees on this system. what the key is, is that you can put it

22 yards away from your stand And it's like a magnet though. It'll pull that buck when he comes into your food plot It'll pull them right to that tree to either lick that branch or rub on it and you can really set up a nice easy shot It's phenomenal. I use these all the time. They work really really good So this is a version to plant a licking branch in the ground like a stick They also have a version here

that is like adding a licking branch to a tree. So it kind of just depends. If you're a person you're buying for has a lot of food plots, the licking stick could be great. If they hunt a lot of deep timber, the licking branch could be great. And so this is like you have here, they got that licking stick, giant buck obviously licking that off, but you put that around the tree.

take a branch, cut it, put it in the spring. The spring is important because it gives it that natural movement that they would expect out of a live living branch. And then you can also go and get the hemp scent rope system. What this is, is it's a hemp rope that you can put more scent into and it holds more scent than a normal natural branch would hold. And so it's really powerful for scrapes, bringing in more bucks. have...

Brian Krebs (47:49.28)

a whole archive full of trail camera pictures of big bucks on our farms using these, because I use hemp ropes everywhere. So those are a lot of cool ideas for anyone that whitetail hunts as well. So that is kind of the the list I had as far as things, physical items to get someone that you're shopping for this Christmas. Now, I've got a little bit more nuanced idea that I want to share with people.

If you have someone that you're shopping for, especially if they're a significant other, if you're shopping for your husband, your fiance, your boyfriend, your dad, your uncle, and they've always wanted to go out West hunting, but they haven't yet, you could always get them a point. We talk about it all the time on the podcast. You need points most of the time to hunt animals in the West. There's only a few considerations that you

don't need a point for and they're getting harder and harder to come by. So if you've got an uncle that's always wanted to do a mule deer hunt, you can go get them a Colorado mule deer point for 40 bucks if they don't, especially if they don't already have an account. If they have an account, it gets a little trickier because you had to like, you know, sign into your account stuff. But if they don't have an account, you can create an account for them. You'll need a little bit of information like driver's license or something like that. So

It could go like, you know, it could be a little bit more than people want to go through to get them a Christmas gift or a birthday gift. But a point is an excellent gift because it's in it. It's almost like a gift that's an investment in their future. So you can get them an elk point, a moose point, an antelope point, a mule deer point. There's a bunch of different states. I think it's a great idea personally to if someone in your life has always been wanting to hunt the West but doesn't know where to start, doesn't know how to get into it. First of all,

share the Western Rookie podcast with them, because we'll get them along the journey as well. But second, maybe buy them a point. And if you want to do that and you don't know where to start or where to go, reach out to me. I'll be happy to help. I'll be happy to say which states and which species and which points I recommend. My core for if you're doing this, it's probably for someone that doesn't hunt the West yet. And so I would say stick to one of three states or maybe all three states, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana.

Brian Krebs (50:19.116)

Those are the only three states you should worry about at the beginning for building points. You know, if they've always wanted to go on an elk hunt, you could pick any of the three. they want to do a mule deer hunt, pick Wyoming, pick Montana, pick Colorado, whatever you want. If antelope, Wyoming. If they want to do an antelope hunt, just buy them a Wyoming point. I think it's a great idea. I wish more people would do it. I wish more people would buy someone a point and expose someone to Western hunting, share the podcast with them and,

help someone's journey to becoming a Western hunter. So there you have it folks. That is the first annual Western rookie Christmas episode. I wish each and every one of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Let me know what you think. Let me know if you found any secret Christmas gift ideas for the hunter or the fisherman in your life. Because it's hard. It's not easy. It's not easy to find gifts for people that

already go out and pretty much get the gear they need. So let us know what you thought. Let us know if you got any cool ideas. Maybe they'll make it on next year's annual Christmas list. And with that, thank you for listening, folks. Have a wonderful day.

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