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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Show Has Experts On Hunting, Fighing

Rich Landers Outdoors Editor

While elk herds are struggling throughout much of Washington, the news for elk hunters is much better elsewhere in the West. Jim Zumbo is coming here to spread the word.

Zumbo has been a specialist in elk and mule deer hunting as a staff writer for Outdoor Life magazine since 1978. He will be one of the top seminar attractions at the Big Horn Sports and Recreation Show, which begins Thursday at Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds.

Produced by the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council, the annual Big Horn Show is the only sportsmen’s show of its size in the Northwest from which all profits are used for sportsmen’s education and wildlife conservation programs.

“Elk numbers are up through much of the West,” Zumbo said. “There’s about 800,000 now compared with 25,000 at the turn of the century.”

Many hunters pass up opportunities by not applying for the special elk hunts offered by most Western states.

“These hunts offer the bigger bulls and the quality experiences, yet only 5 percent of the hunters even apply for them,” he said. In all, the Big Horn Show has scheduled 55 hours of seminars covering subjects ranging from hunting to fly fishing, bass and walleye fishing, saltwater techniques, using pepper-sprays in self-defense against bears, Dutch oven cooking, animal packing and salmon conservation.

Zumbo’s seminars concentrate on improving a hunter’s odds for bagging an elk as well as hunting techniques and elk behavior.

He also will conduct seminars on mule deer hunting strategies.

Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado are Zumbo’s “big four” states for elk hunting. “But the surest bet for a really big bull is Arizona, if you can get a tag,” he said.

While Idaho, Montana and Wyoming produce about 20,000 elk a year, Colorado produces closer to 50,000, Zumbo said.

Zumbo’s seminars are scheduled for Thursday and Friday at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Zumbo and other outdoors writers, such as locals Patrick F. McManus and Paul Quinnett, are scheduled to be at booths autographing books periodically through the show.

Stage entertainers include the Reptile Safari, featuring snakes of the Pacific Northwest, and country music by Serenade.

Bob Panther, the wildlife council’s executive director, said 214 exhibitors are booked for the Big Horn Show, up from 182 last year.

Spokane Taxidermist Scott Brewer said he’s put together a full-body whitetail mount with a pair of shed antlers that measure larger than the world record whitetail buck. The antlers came from Kansas.

Kids attractions include three fishing ponds stocked with at least 6,000 rainbow trout, plus ranges for shooting air rifles and archery.

Area sportsmen can make contact with 13 local sports and conservation clubs, ranging from fishing and bird dog clubs to hound hunter organizations and even the Sierra Club.

Big game trophy mounts fill one entire room. Hunters can bring in trophy mounts for scoring and judging Wednesday through Saturday noon.

Panther said the council works nearly year round, compiling about 10,000 volunteer hours to produce the show each year. All profits are put to wildlife conservation efforts, he said.

Last year, projects included working with local fly fishing clubs to erect nets at the Spokane Fish Hatchery to protect trout from predatory birds.

Building spawning runs at Browns Lake and Sherman Creek, building feeders for upland birds, as well as assisting and funding an elk mortality study in the Blue Mountains.

The show will feature representatives from state fish and wildlife agencies, tourism agents from Idaho and Canada, river rafting companies, Alaska outfitters and many other outdoor travel and product representatives.

ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: A sidebar appeared with this story under the headline “Big Horn Show The Big Horn Sports and Recreation Show opens Thursday at the Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds. Show hours: Thursday, noon-9 p.m.; Friday, noon-10 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; and Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

A sidebar appeared with this story under the headline “Big Horn Show The Big Horn Sports and Recreation Show opens Thursday at the Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds. Show hours: Thursday, noon-9 p.m.; Friday, noon-10 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; and Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.