Buying Christmas gifts for a fishing/hunting buff should be relatively easy. Outdoor activities can require more than their fair share of absolutely must-have equipment, with new and better stuff turning up every year, offering a huge choice to the gift giver. The caveat, however, is that the correct gear must be matched to the correct activity.
If you’re planning to spend a couple of hundred bucks on a new fishing reel for your piscatorial nut, you’d best be sure which make, model, finish, line capacity, size and weight will ring his/her bell. So ask. Sure, it may spoil the surprise, but at least you can be sure that the morning of Dec. 26 will not require a run to the refund counter. That said, here are a few suggestions from area sport/tackle shops for new, popular, or unusual gift ideas for Christmas, 2007: 1.
The new SPOT Satellite Messenger should be in the pocket or backpack of anyone who ventures regularly into the tall and uncut. Hunters, boaters, fishermen, backpackers, cross-country skiers — anyone who spends time in areas with no cell phone service might well save their own lives some time with this seven-ounce device which combines GPS technology with the Globalstar satellite communications system.
SPOT, at the press of a button, will notify friends, family, or emergency services such as 911 that you have a problem and where, exactly, you are, even if where you are is completely out of cell phone range. You can check in with whoever you wish at a designated Web site via e-mail, or through a text message to a cell phone. The device is available at REI — the store or online at www.rei.com — for about $150, or for more information go to www.findmespot.com . 2.