It is almost Father’s Day. I don’t know about you but my father was always hard to buy a gift for — not that he was picky; he just didn’t really need anything. So I always ended up buying him a pair of leather gloves to use for building fence and working our cattle. Looking back, maybe I should have been a more creative shopper because him and mom bought a trailer in their later years and traveled around a bit. So I guess I could of bought him some camping gear.

But before you jump off the cliff, if your dad is an outdoorsman, there are a million gifts that you can buy him. And if you shop wisely you don’t have to spend that much. So let’s go over some of the items you might want to consider for dad.

CAMPING

— Tents. Check out Alps Mountaineering tents.

— Propane camp stove

— Cooking gear. Cast iron skillets, utensils, plates etc.

— Camp Tables. We always are short of tables.

— Cooking setups. They make cool multi-level tables to cook on and hold your cooking supplies.

— Lantern, flashlights. I’ve been testing some Blackfire lights this year that are awesome.

— Tarp(s)

HUNTING

— Knives of Alaska Professional Boning Knife

— Ammo. Ha, if you can find any.

— UMAREX Synergis .22 cal. airgun

— UMAREX .25 cal. Gauntlet

— Knives. Outdoorsmen love knives. Smith’s Consumer Products offers some economical folders.

— Knives of Alaska has some well-designed, high-quality hunting/fishing knives.

— Knife sharpening stones. Smith’s Consumer Products owns the market. Get him a fine diamond stone.

— Calls Turkey (4Play), varmint (FOXPRO), crow, elk and duck calls.

— GRIPSHIELD. Keeps your hands dry for competition shooting.

— Compass

— GPS

— Ruger 10/22 rifle. The 10/22 is the most popular .22 rifle ever made.

— MYTOPO Maps

— Riton 10×42 binoculars

FISHING

Fishing equipment can be very specific, depending on what species that he likes to fish for, where he fishes and what time of year. So ask him what he desires or inquire what is popular at a local outdoor store.

— Jigs

— Plastics. Mr. Twister makes good ones.

— Flies. I get mine cheap from flydealflies.com.

— Fishing rod/reel or a fly rod/reel. Ask him what kind he prefers or he might not like it.

— Dip net

— Rat-L-Trap fishing lures

— Frogg Togg rain gear

CLOTHING

Outdoor clothing is a big market and there are some good products on the market.

— HAELEUM Shirts. They offer a multitude of t-shirts that repel ticks & mosquitos. About to start testing them.

— 5.11 tactical pants. They offer a lot of models.

— Heybo fishing shirts. They have cool ones.

— Irish Setter boots. Irish Setter offers lightweight hiking boots on up to tall heavy duty leather winter boots. They also have some nice offerings for wearing in town.

— Hiking socks

— Kryptek. I’ve just started testing their gear but love it. I’ve got a couple of their Sonora Hoodies. They’re like a base layer with a hood.

— XGO base layers

BACKPACKING

— Backpacks. Alps Mountaineering offers a big line of packs.

— Alps backpacking tents

— Alps sleeping bags and pads

— Fire-starting gear

— Aquamira filtered straws and filtered water bottles

— Benchmade Claymore folding knife

— Backpacking chair like the Alps Dash

— Bushnell solar panels

— Backpacking meals

— Adventure Medical Kits

And if you don’t have any money (or even if you do) the all-time best gift that you could ever give him is three free passes that you will go fishing, hunting, camping or backpacking with him. I guarantee you that would be the best gift that you could ever give him.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.He can be reached via email at smileya7@aol.com.

OK, I don’t write many safety articles. In fact, hardly ever. I live a little wild around the edges so I’ve had my fair share of visits to the local emergency rooms. Or as my daughter would say, “Daddy, you’ve never been known as Captain Safety.” So, if I’m writing about safety then let’s just say that the subject matter must be pretty obvious.

So, let’s jump into today’s article. A few weeks ago a reader wrote in about the ground squirrel hunting article and had some comments on gun safety, a topic that I haven’t written too many articles on but it got me thinking. I do see some unsafe acts now and then and wanted to throw out a few words of caution.

There are a few basic rules that if you follow, hopefully you never accidently shoot anyone.

• Never point a gun at anyone
• Be aware of your backstop
• Treat all guns as if they’re loaded
• Be aware of your target
• Keep your finger off the trigger until you’re about to shoot
• It’s smart to carry a pistol in a holster ESPECIALLY Glocks etc. that don’t have safeties

Now let’s expound on a couple of items. I can’t remember all of the details but my nephew had just gotten back from a tour in Afghanistan and/or Iraq and had re-upped. On the way to Washington he stopped by to stay with us for a few days so we went whistle pig hunting.

We were having a big day and had been shooting in the same spot for a good 30 minutes. Suddenly dust started kicking up all around us. Some kid was right over the rise shooting right at us. We hollered for him to stop. After talking to him it all came out. He was shooting from a slight low spot at whistle pigs setting on the top of the rise. Never ever shoot at something on the top of the horizon. He acted amazed that the bullets traveled through the grass and about hit us.

It constantly amazes me how many times I’ll be set up shooting and someone obviously sees you and drives up ¼ mile away and stops and sets up off to left or right basically right in front of me. Don’t think it is safe to shoot if someone is off to the side of your point of impact even 300-400 yards.

Here’s why I say the above. One time two deer were looking at me. They were standing sideways and looking at me with one about 12 to 20 inches behind the other one. The closest doe was about 30 inches forward of the other one. I did a headshot on the closet one and they both dropped. My brother said wow! You got both of them.

I said wait until you see the shot. I knew he thought that I’d done a heart shot and the bullet had passed through and hit the other one but I’d done a head shot and the back doe’s head was 30 inches to the right of the one I’d shot.

After looking at the situation here’s what happened. I shot the front doe and the bullet had hit the jaw bone and bounced off to the right and made a perfect head shot on the second doe. After that I have been scared to take a shot at something I don’t care how far off to the right or left something is in the background. So if someone sets up in front of you just move.

Don’t shoot at anything on a rise or hilltop. You don’t know what is over the hill. You want to set up your targets against a mound or dirt hill so they can’t ricochet off into the wild blue yonder.

The reader that contacted me suggested using fragmenting bullets which is a good idea. But if you’re using solid core bullets beware that they are more likely to skip. Also, if a bullet hits water it can skip as of course if it hits a rock.

Hunting and shooting is a blast but if you ever made a mistake and shot or God forbid killed someone, I can’t even imagine how bad you would feel. We hunt and fish with people we love. It would devastate you for life. I’ve heard second or third hand of people that have shot someone and it screwed them up for life.

As we close, remember the old Winchester saying. “All the pheasants ever bred cannot repay for one man dead.” Have fun but be careful.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop. He can be reached via email at smileya7@aol.com.

Two weeks ago, we talked about mushroom hunting. (A non-hunter may say mushroom picking but to a hunter everything is about hunting. I go to the store to hunt for a pair of boots. Non-hunter, I go shopping. You get my drift.) I said I’d follow up the next week with an article on cooking mushrooms. But those rascally little whistle pigs barged in on the scene and got me side tracked. So, this week, I’ll take back up on the mushroom scene.

But, before we can cook them, we have to clean and process them, right? Morels, and mushrooms in general are fragile so you must be gentle when handling them. That’s why I semi favor carrying a bucket when picking (er, hunting) them even though real mushroom hunters use a mesh bag to let the spores fall out.

When I get home, I gently wash them to remove the dirt and bugs. Then slice them in half from top to bottom and put in a pan of salty water to kill the remaining bugs. Leave them in the bowl over night in the fridge. But this I not a hard fast rule set in stone along with the Ten Commandments. Because I can guarantee you that my girls are going to make me fry up a mess right when we get home. And more than likely their friends will mysteriously show up on cue as well.

To cook if they were soaked overnight as described above, drain off the water. Wait a few minutes and drain again. You don’t really want them waterlogged. Or, if you just got home and have a mess rinsed and split, either way the next step to cook will be the same.

Crack a few eggs in a bowl. Pour in a little milk. Beat with a fork. If you’ve never cooked, don’t actually “beat” the eggs with a fork. Stir them. (Had to throw in a little humor). Sprinkle flour on a plate. Dip the morels into the egg batter and then roll in the flour.

Now throw the morels into a skillet with medium hot grease. You want it hot enough so they bubble when you throw them in but not sizzling hot. Everything fries better in a black iron skillet. Black iron skillets disperses the heat better than a thin-walled skillet.

I think things season better if seasoned while cooking so while frying I sprinkle on regular Tony Chachere’s seasoning. Tony’s is the perfect blend of salt and spices. It is my go-to spice for everything. Fry to a golden brown and remove and lay on a plate lined with paper towels.

Eat while warm. Morels are the best food in the world. Our old friend Jack Sweet used to tell us that morels are the best fungi in the world, second only to the truffle in England. I’ve never tasted a truffle so I’ll have to have that statement proved to me before I concede that there is anything better than a morel.

Fried is the best way in the world to cook them but my old bear/turkey/mushroom hunting buddy Roger Ross mixed some in with scrambled eggs once when we were bear hunting and that was great too. I’ve also had them in cream gravy and that was excellent too.

But what if you get lucky and find more than you can eat in a few days? I don’t know what the exact shelf life is that you can keep them in your fridge but I’ve never kept them fresh for too long. Does anyone know a recommended fresh shelf life?

Jack Sweet said there are a few ways to store them but nothing beats eating them fresh. One year Katy and I got a million and I froze a lot of them. That makes them mushy and is not the best option. The method most people use is to dry them.

You can lay them out on racks to dry in the sun. Or I’ve run a needle and thread through them and hung them up to dry. The buyers lay them out on racks in the sun to dry so of course they’re the professionals.

So drying in the sun is the best method that I know of to store them if you get lucky and find quite a few. Rehydrate them when you’re ready to fry up a mess. Well, happy hunting.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop. He can be reached via email at smileya7@aol.com.

Recently, Katy and I were running to buy a pair of boots and then I was going to take her out to dinner. I was thinking about how magical Idaho is in the spring (I know, I know, I say that every spring).

Suddenly, I was singing: “It’s the most wonderful ti-i-ime of the year. There’ll be whistle pigs flipping, the crappie will be nipping, the mushrooms will be growing and the turks will be crowing, it’s the most wonderful ti-i-ime of the year!!!!!”

OK, I’m not a songwriter but springtime is magical in Idaho and less we get tied up mushroom hunting, turkey hunting, bear hunting and crappie fishing don’t forget — whistle pig hunting. It’s one of the highlights of the year. It provides for high-speed shooting and is a great hunt to break kids in on.

There are plenty of them and they are in no danger of being over hunted. They’ve been shot for centuries and are doing fine. In fact, if they are thinned out, they’ll do better because the plague won’t run through their colonies as fast and wipe them out. Farmers will gladly welcome you because they devastate crops. They can wipe out a field of alfalfa in a short amount of time.

So, what is a whistle pig? They are a unique animal. Their official name is Townsend ground squirrel. The subspecies south of us are the Urocitellus Townsendii Idahoensis. They emerge and mate in January/February. Although everyone thinks of them as appearing in mid-April, I’ve had good hunts in early March, according to the weather. But when it gets warm, they are out in full force.

Gestation is only 24 days and they’ll have six to 10 young in April. Their eyes open in 19 to 22 days and are weaned muy pronto. This seems to be their system to me. As stated above, they come out in late January/February and go on a breeding frenzy. Then they go on a feeding frenzy until the end of May/June when it gets hot and the grass dries up. Then they go back underground and that’s the last that you see of them for the year.

Some people think that they go underground and eat plant roots for the next seven to eight months. Some people think that they hibernate. What they actually do is called “estivation.” Sort of a summer hibernation.

You may be fooled into thinking that they are cute little furry creatures but make no mistake, they are a prairie rat. Adult squirrels have been known to cannibalize unweaned young. And while hunting you’ll frequently see them run out and eat their fallen comrades.

Enough of the scientific angle. What will you need to hunt them? Some people use a .223 but most people use the lowly .22. Most shots will be within 100 yards so a .22 is the perfect gun. And the Ruger 10/22 is the most popular model. Since they are small, you’ll need to use a scope. I put a Riton Optics 4-16x on my 10/22 and a Timney Trigger and a Boyds’ Stock to make it super classy. But the .17 HMR is also a popular rifle. It is faster, has better results and reaches out a little further.

But the last 10 years I’ve mostly been using airguns. They’re a lot cheaper to shoot and with ammo being so scarce airguns might be the only option for you. Plus, since they’re quieter they pop back up faster.

I’ve been using the Umarex .25-caliber Gauntlet and the .22-caliber Synergis. They are both super-good choices in the airgun realm. For pellets use JSB Dome pellets if you want supreme accuracy. But JSB just came out with a pellet named the Knockout pellet that looks like a good hunting option. I went out shooting yesterday but the wind was blowing so bad that I can’t testify one way or another as to their accuracy. You’ll also want a good pair of binoculars to find the little elusive creatures. I use a pair of Riton Optics 10×42 binoculars.

I think that the high deserts are beautiful in their own forlorn way. Hunting whistle pigs gives you a good excuse to go out and see them. Plus, there will be unique wildlife viewing opportunities. You’ll see badgers, which I think are beautiful (but the kings of bad attitudes). Once I shot a whistle pig and suddenly a badger ran out, grabbed it and ran back to his hole. Another time my old buddy Roy Snethen shot one. He flipped twice and I said “You got him!” Suddenly a hawk swept down and grabbed him and I said “You had him!”

So, before they go underground for the year you better grab a kid and run out and have some fun!

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop. He can be reached via email at smileya7@aol.com.

If you haven’t ever tried morel mushrooms you’re missing out on nature’s best outdoor treat. Or for that matter, the best food ever since manna dropped down from heaven in the wilderness. I’ve been in the beef business nearly all of my life so I can get good steaks. But for eating pleasure, a morel will rate right up there with a choice ribeye.

There are quite a few edible mushrooms in the Northwest Pacific but I’m not comfortable picking more than a few varieties. I took a mushroom class but still don’t feel comfortable venturing out of my comfort zone. If you make a mistake and pick the angel of death, well, let’s just say that you and God had better be pretty good friends!

So now that I’ve scared you spitless, let’s proceed. The first season you ought to go mushroom picking with an experienced old timer and have them show you the ropes. They may be able to help you identify morels, shaggy manes, cauliflower, puffballs and calf brains mushrooms.

The good news is morels are easy to identify. The only thing that I’ve seen that even remotely resembles a morel is the snow morel/false morel. But again, make sure that you go with an old timer the first season.

The growing season on morels is short. I’ll say something like a one- to two-week period max. They’ll pop out earlier at lower elevations and then you’ll find them later up higher. The magic formula for them popping out is for the soil to be moist and have a warm night or two.

I’m sure if you did a scientific study, you’d discover that their growth is triggered at a certain soil temperature. I find them up where I bear hunt around May 10 at 5,200-foot elevation. Of course I’m up there baiting from April 15 to June so I keep checking until the season hits.

It seems they jump out overnight. I’ve always threatened and maybe I’ll do it this year and that is to find a small one and put a marker by it. Then come back the next day and see if it’s grown 2 to 3 inches.

You want to be checking for them early and not be on the tail end of the season. Nothing is more disheartening than to find a good mess and they’re on the downhill side and deteriorated and you can’t eat them. So, it’s better to be early and barely find any than to be late and only find rotten ones.

So where do you find them? Ha, that’s the million-dollar question. I’ve hunted them for decades but still don’t have it all figured out. Everyone will tell you to look by old rotting logs. Well, there are a million old rotting logs in the forest and the majority of them don’t have mushrooms. Some people say to look under tamaracks. I seem to find them randomly. But there are some likely spots.

They’re not in a bog hole but I have a good spot that is a little bit of a hole which caused it to be moist. Along old logging roads. Especially on the sidebank above the trail. Last year’s logging operations where the ground is tore up. Check in old Caterpillar tracks (bulldozers not the caterpillar bug. Their tracks are too small).

Over the years as you find them go back to those spots. Not that it’s a hotspot every year but many times they are. When you find one on a hillside look up and downhill. Spores wash downhill and many times you’ll find more.

But now and then I find them in weird spots. Years ago I found a bunch on a grassy hillside. I’ve looked there every year since and never found anymore there.

But the absolute most magical spot is in last years forest fire areas. But the second year the burn has lost its touch. You can go to the Forest Service and get maps of old burn areas or pay attention to fires this summer and go back next spring.

I’m not sure if the fires need to reach a certain temp or what but a couple of years ago, I was up bear hunting and found where a random fire had run through the forest. It was a spotty little fire and I thought great! Nobody knows about this spot. But I didn’t find one mushroom in the burn. Weird.

But some years you’ll find clumps big as a cow pie. I remember at one fire years ago two of us couples picked two 5-gallon buckets each in no time at all and had to step over a million on the way out.

It about killed me passing clumps of eight to 12 nice healthy morels.

Uggh, we are out of room. I’ll try to do a mushroom cooking article next week.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.