By Scott Haugen     Published on December 15th, 2023

I’ve been a fan of Browning shotguns, rifles, ammunition, and clothing for years. But some of their other outdoor gear has impressed me just as much.

Browning’s line of dog gear is one I’ve relied on for nearly a decade. I hunt with my dogs year-round for waterfowl, upland birds, tree squirrels, ground squirrels, and deer and elk antler sheds. I also train and travel a lot with my dogs.

With that, here are some items to consider for both you and your canine companions — all of which make great last-minute Christmas gifts. 

The Bush Craft Camp is a knife I rely on for the dirty work of clearing shooting lanes and removing brush for a trail camera set. The Bush Craft Camp, which is like a small machete/giant blade knife hybrid. This stainless steel, semi-bolo-bladed tool is a workhorse and is excellent for cutting thorny berry vines and small root wads that can be toe-grabbers. This very capable knife is 15 inches long, and suitable for keeping trails open once groomed. It’s lightweight and easy to pack. I even use it around my home for chores.

The Outdoorsman Axe is perfect for taking down limbs, cutting suckers, and chopping roots that impede trails. I’ve used it to chop parts of fallen trees to wedge a trail camera beneath it, even removing large limbs and small trees that have fallen across game trails. It’s less than 24 inches long and is easy to pack and swing. The carbon steel axe head and polymer handle make it a lightweight tool that is easy to pack yet strong enough to get the job done. 

A large, sturdy knife is valuable in the field for work like articulating trail camera sets. From cutting vines to trimming brush to enlarging holes in logs and stumps, a sturdy knife makes the work more efficient. The Large Sage Creek Fixed Blade Knife is a machine that’s sturdy, easy to grasp, slice, cut, and wedge with. With an overall length of 9 inches and a blade length of 4.5 inches, it’s also a handy camp knife and works great for breaking down big game.

Many of my trail camera days afield start and end in the dark, so a quality headlamp is a must. The Blackout Elite Headlamp is USB rechargeable, has a rugged LED lamp, a sturdy aluminum housing, and can take a beating. It is waterproof, has multiple brightness adjustments, including a low green mode, meaning it’s a tremendous all-around headlamp for hunting, fishing, camping, and anything else outdoors. It can also run on two CR123 batteries. The head strap is easy to adjust and comfortable, and the hinge system holds its position. An 860-lumen maximum beam provides an effective range of over 150 yards, with a 4-lumen low being great for discrete jobs.

Browning has a range of reasonably priced items for dog lovers. Over the last decade, I’ve used many backseat covers for my two hunting dogs, and I keep going back to Browning’s Pet Seat Cover. It’s sleek, offers multiple stash pockets, and straps down on all corners and edges so my lanky-legged canine companions don’t get hung up in it. It’s also easy to remove, clean, and reinstall. It maintains its shape and quality for months, even after getting wet and muddy, thanks to a 600D polyester with a water-resistant coating.

Browning’s Neoprene Dog Vest is a great all-around dog vest for various hunting dog breeds. The protective chest plate is flexible, yet strong enough to guard against sticks and rocks, while the neoprene is comfortable, warm and boosts flotation in heavy water and during retrieves on big birds like geese. The leg openings can be trimmed to fit, and the easy-grab handle is ideal for helping tired dogs into the truck, boat, or even up muddy river and creek banks. I’ve used this vest for many seasons on my Pudelpointers, and many friends love them for their smaller profile Labrador retrievers.

The Browning Canvas Training Dummies hold scent and feel like a soft bird, which makes them ideal for training in fields or anywhere on dry ground. It’s easy to add scent to the Canvas Training Dummy and position it where dogs can quarter and track. Small Canvas Training Dummies are ideal for young pups with baby teeth or sensitive adult teeth as they come in. The large-size Canvas Training Dummies are perfect for adult dogs. Since dogs can’t see colors, the orange Canvas Training Dummy is great for scent location training in open spaces, while the white canvas bumper is perfect for sight recognition training.

Browning’s Vinyl Training Dummies also come in orange and white. For water training, be it flooded fields, sheet water, ponds, lakes, or rivers, these are sturdy, well-designed bumpers that are not too hard. I have over a dozen Browning Vinyl Training Dummies in both large and small sizes, some of which I keep at home while the others are in my truck for training sessions when on the road. These training dummies are durable, dogs love them, and they’ve withstood thousands of retrieves.

Shed antler hunting with a dog continues to grow in popularity, and sight recognition plays a big part in the success. Enter Browning’s Antler Toy. This soft rubber antler is nontoxic and perfectly represents an old, bleached-out deer antler. The Antler Toy is great for teaching young pups how to safely pick up a shed without getting poked by the tines, and for adult dogs, it will teach and reinforce the shape and size of what they’re looking for come shed hunting time. Antler scent can be added to the Antler Toy, which can then be hidden from sight to replicate the hunt for fresh antler sheds that are most often found by scent, not sight.

Many hunters do not feed their dogs before a hunt for fear of stomach and digestion issues, even stomach twists, which can be fatal. For this reason, many hunters bring along the dog’s breakfast and feed them once the hunt is over. Browning’s Portable Dual Pet Dishes are ideal for feeding your dog while on the road. The Portable Dual Pet Dishes are compact, zip-closed, and water-resistant, and the food and water bowls are removeable. They can be staked to the ground and are easy to clean. I have one for each of my dogs.