Stock up on clearance gear and reading materials for 2020 adventures

In that gap between Christmas and New Year’s comes the special time of year when we reflect on the blessings and hardships of the past year and the promises of better things to come in the new year.

It’s also a time to take advantage of those big clearance sales at the sporting goods stores and buy what we really want with our Christmas money, or at least put a few more things on our already stretched credit cards.

This year was a bit different than most for me. My family members made it pretty clear exactly what they wanted for Christmas, although I did manage to buy them a few surprises. Asking for specific presents — although fine for little kids who send their adorable, misspelled letters to Santa — just seem a bit wrong for adults.

Some of my best childhood gifts (recurve bow and numerous BB and pellet guns) were requests, true, but a few were complete surprises. My mom bought me a cheap clock radio one Christmas, and I was completely amazed and happy with it! Waking up to music was a novelty way back then, and soon I was waking up for school to Bachman-Turner Overdrive, J. Geils Band and Three Dog Night.

My in-laws did not go to Florida for the first time in years, and they gave my wife, daughter and I cash instead of a lot of gifts we didn’t need. Now that cash is burning a hole in our collective pockets, and those clearance tags are dancing in our heads.

On Monday, my daughter and I sneaked off to Appleton for some clearance shopping while my wife slept. (She works nights.) Kalispell, now at age 14, had some strong ideas about where we were going, but we finally made it to Scheels.

A used Thompson/Center Impact .50-caliber muzzleloader I’d seen before Christmas was still on the shelf, and the $180 price tag was a great value for an American-made front-stuffer. The friendly salesman threw in a nice used zipper case from the back room, since there was no box. My daughter picked out a free T-shirt to complete the transaction.

There are no federal forms or other paperwork on a muzzleloader, so the sale was quick and almost painless, except for the reluctant departure of my Christmas cash. I’m now the proud owner of four T/C muzzleloaders and heartily recommend them.

My daughter and I both enjoy books, and she’s lately discovered poetry, which utterly shocked me. Definitely excluding barely comprehendible rap tunes, I never thought she’d be reading any rhymes that advanced the human condition. Both Monday’s trip and our Christmastime trip to the Quad-Cities took us to bookstores and those huge, delightful rows of magazines!

Although I do subscribe to a few gun magazines, I tend to prefer picking up other outdoors-related periodicals at newsstands (usually the grocery store).

Winter is the time to catch up on your reading and settle under a blanket in the recliner chair with a magazine on bowhunting, survival, primitive skills, muzzleloading, trapping or whatever else might interest you. I’ve honestly grown weary of most bowhunting articles on the biggest bucks of 2019 or one more article on how to “fool” a trophy buck. (Do we really fool these big guys or is there an element of luck as well?)

I find myself going back to “Traditional Bowhunter” magazine, in part because of my fascination with traditional archery gear. I just read a column in the latest issue by the magazine’s editor that talked about how they would still publish stories on hunts that included kills of small bucks, does and even no critters at all, because the real success of a hunt isn’t measured by the size of the antlers. Wow! How refreshing. Again, we all appreciate a big buck, but seeing the smile on the face of a youngster with his or her first deer certainly tops it.

I also bought a copy of “American Frontiersman,” which is full of articles on making fur caps and bags, setting survival traps, game recipes and other practical stuff. I also bought two copies of “Camp Life in the Woods and the Tricks of Trapping and Trap Making,” a reproduction of an 1882 volume written by W. Hamilton Gibson. (Half Price Books in Appleton is full of great hunting, shooting and woodcraft books old and new, and at great prices!)

Improve your outdoors edge in 2020, satisfy your urge for more quests or just indulge yourself with another equipment purchase with clearance goodies, books and magazines. If you can’t get outdoors in the cold and deep snow, at least you can stay warm indoors and kindle your spirit of adventure, too.

Ross Bielema is a freelance writer from New London and owner of Wolf River Concealed Carry LLC. Contact him at Ross@wolfriverccw.com.