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Home | Sports | Club Outdoors
Holiday time is cheery season for the outdoorsman
Want a new rod to go after walleyes or a new bow for deer-hunting season? Make it out on your wish list ... and hope to find it under the tree.
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"All I want for Christmas is you."
The avid outdoorsman knows this Christmas carol well -- except he's as likely to direct those words toward the beautiful Beretta Silver Pigeon II in the sporting-goods store window as he is to say them to his sweetheart.
Of all the seasons outdoor enthusiasts embrace, Christmas carries a cheer like no other. This time it's not the fishing opener, deer opener or duck opener they anticipate.
But the opening of presents.
For one and all, but especially for those who love the outdoors, Christmas is the season of guilty pleasures. Time to make their wish list and check it twice.
What a nice gift that rod and reel would make, or that new bow, or that flashy lure.
Christmas transforms rugged outdoors people into giddy schoolboys and schoolgirls with visions of Rapalas dancing in their heads.
Call it a Christmas miracle, as silent, stoic stalkers of deer transform themselves into noisy zealots who lobby for stockings stuffed with toys and trinkets.
What are fishing lures, after all, but glorified toys? They come in bright colors wrapped in fancy packages and find their way onto wish lists. Some even have rattles inside.
Eager anglers circle the objects of their desire in colored catalogs, then tear out pages to slip into spouses' purses or billfolds, to remind them what good boys and girls they've been all year.
Anything to increase the harvest of the 12-day Christmas season.
• • •
Of course, Christmas is about giving, not receiving. Which is why anglers so willingly give their fishing partners such generous gifts.
Price is no issue, for example, when it comes to finding that perfect muskie bait for the buddy who shares his tackle with you.
The spirit of Christmas can even inspire outdoors people to song. But their Christmas carols are unique.
Take this (admittedly often forgotten) verse from "The Twelve Days of Christmas":
"On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, four swimming ducks, three Canada geese, two darting doves and a wood duck in an ash tree."
There's no denying it. 'Tis the season outdoorsmen embrace -- and sing about.
"It's the most wonderful time of the year.
"With the jigs they'll be selling, and everyone telling you, 'This will shoot deer.'
"It's the most wonderful time of the year.
"There'll be duck calls for calling, new crankbaits for trolling and ice fishing in the snow.
"There'll be scary buck stories and tales of glories of Christmases fished long ago.
"It's the most wonderful time of the year.
"There'll be Dad's bargain shopping, and hearts will be glowing when loved lures are near.
"It's the most wonderful time of the year."
Tony Capecchi, an outdoors writer, lives in the Twin Cities.
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