Big Horn o’ plenty
Fishing and hunting remain the foundation of the annual Big Horn Outdoor Adventure Show, but there’s much more between there and the roofs of the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center this week. A new skateboard half pipe will be in the same room with the trout-filled ponds of Fishing World. Basketball fans will find new big-screen TVs in the beer garden not far from big-game Trophy Territory.
Bob Munden, the Guiness Book of World Records “fastest gun who ever lived” will be returning to put on quick-draw demonstrations in one area while ESPN’s “Dock Dogs” are showing their long-jump skills as they leap more than 20 feet to retrieve dummies thrown into a pool.
Incidentally, one of the top Dock Dogs in the nation resides in Spokane and will perform at the show.
Organized 45 year ago by a group of sportsmen who wanted to compare and display their hunting trophies, the annual Big Horn Show has expanded into an event that’s become a rite of spring for a broad range of the region’s outdoor families.
Hunters can still have their big-game trophies measured by Boone and Crockett scorers, but they also can bring their boys and girls for numerous activities geared to kids. The Council also opens enrollment at the show for its spring and summer hunter education classes.
More than 240 exhibitors cover a wide range of interests including fishing and rafting guides, boats and outdoor motor vehicles, knife makers and, frankly, way too many to mention.
The show is unique among trade-type shows in that it’s sponsored by a local sportsmen’s club with a membership of about 600 families totaling nearly 1,400 members, and the profits stay in this area to be used for the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council’s mission of fish and wildlife conservation.
To that end, the council offers space at the show for other nonprofit outdoor organizations, including Ducks Unlimited, Mule Deer Foundation, Wild Turkey Federation, Sierra Club, plus local fishing, bird dog, archery and other groups.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s Great Elk Tour is coming to the show, featuring trophy elk mounts plus record-book antlers shed by Washington elk that are still out in the hills, somewhere.
Bird dog clubs will have booths and information for getting involved with people passionate about training pointers and retrievers. Meanwhile, the Spokane Humane Society will be on hand with pets for adoption.
Twice daily, a mini version of the Dock Dog competition from ESPN’s Great Outdoor Games will take a flying leap into an indoor pond.
Along with the dogs, youngsters will be flying high for prizes in a competition at a new skateboard park.
“One of the things we wanted to do was change the face of the show a little bit to make it even more appealing to a broader spectrum of folks,” said Lloran Johnson, the council’s executive director.
“We’re inviting locals who have jumping dogs to come and compete with the Dock Dogs as well as in a new Stupid Pet Tricks competition and a pet and pet owners look-alike contest.
One of the dogs that will be running down a dock and jumping is Sadie, a 4-year-old that was No. 1 for golden retrievers on the ESPN rankings last year.
“She holds the record for goldens with a jump of 22 feet, 10 inches,” said her owner, Matt Chisholm, assistant principal at Salk Middle School.
Chisholm and his wife, Katie, will have Sadie at the Big Horn Show on Thursday, Friday and Saturday trying to make the finals competition on Saturday. “There will be some great Labs, and a good vizsla that’s also from Spokane,” Matt said.
Youngsters will be jumping at the show, too, Johnson said.
“And three local skateboard shops are putting together a half pipe that we’ll have open on Thursday and Friday and we’ll have a competition on Friday and Saturday,” he said.
Other Big Horn Show favorites include; Fishing World, where there’s always fish to be caught, and the real action laser shooting simulator.
“The laser shooting has been real popular,” Johnson said. “So instead of two simulators I think will have up to six this year.”
Basketball fans won’t have to compromise their longings to go to both the Big Horn Show and watch the Gonzaga Bulldogs and other college teams in the first round of the NCAA Tournament this week.
“We’re putting up big-screen TVs in the beer garden this year so people can keep track of their favorite teams,” Johnson said.
For show goers who’d rather participate than watch, Sportsman’s Warehouse is sponsoring a “reality adventurer” game in which people form teams and compete to see how fast they can put up a campsite.
And everyone can come out of the show smarter than they went in by attending one of dozens of almost non-stop seminars on topics such as dog training, bow hunting, game calling, and fishing for salmon, steelhead, trout, bass and walleyes.