My wife and I just returned from two weeks in Reedsport, Oregon, visiting my daughter and her family. I always like to visit Reedsport and the surrounding area along the Oregon coast. I just always dread the 13-hour drive from Pocatello to Reedsport.

Just west of Reedsport is Winchester Bay, dubbed by the merchant association as the “Crab Capital of the World,” where one can see a lot of fishing boats at the docks when they aren’t out fishing or crabbing along the coast.

Winchester Bay is also a resort area where dune buggies can be rented and driven on the nearby sand dunes, as well as visiting the Umpqua River Lighthouse, which is the oldest working lighthouse on the Oregon coast. There are daily tours of the lighthouse starting at 9 a.m.

The dock area also has several great seafood restaurants and live crabs can be purchased from a couple of the boat captains and cooked at home.

The largest yearly activity in Winchester Bay is the annual Dune Fest, a five-day event that will be held this year from July 24 to 29.

Winchester Bay and Reedsport are bordered on three sides by mountains with thick forests that are home to white-tailed deer and Roosevelt elk.

We were disappointed that our two weeks were up before the annual Father’s Day weekend Chainsaw Sculpting contest was held in Reedsport, but we plan to be there next year. It seems you just can’t do everything in one trip.

The area’s past logging industry is still evident and a large port for shipping lumber overseas is still in operation in Coos Bay, about 30 miles farther west from Winchester Bay.

The whole coastal area from Winchester Bay north to Waldport is filled with sand dunes, beaches and lighthouses, as well as the sea lion caves just north of Florence.

The Festival of Sail comes to Coos Bay every three years with smaller events each year surrounding the area’s importance to the construction of sailing ships during the 1800s and early 1900s in the United States.

If you like beaches, seafood, sand dunes, dune buggies, sea lions, chainsaw sculpting, crabbing, hunting for sea shells, lighthouses, elk, deer, mountains, forests and tall ships, you will love the coast of Oregon.

Smokey Merkley was raised in Idaho and has been hunting since he was 10 years old. He was a member of the faculty of Texas A&M University for 25 years. There he taught orienteering, marksmanship, self-defense, fencing, scuba diving and boxing. He was among the first DPS-certified Texas Concealed Handgun Instructors. He can be contacted at mokeydo41245@hotmail.com.

Ducks Unlimited is putting on a big outdoor show titled The Great Northwest Outdoor Expo from June 29 to July 1 in Nampa. I’m excited. I think they have a good game plan and it has the potential to quickly become the largest outdoor show in the Northwest.

One thing I like about their format is that they’re making it family-friendly. They’re not just trying to appeal to the outdoorsman, it is programmed to be interactive. It would be hard to cover everything in one day so the entry prices are designed to make it attractive to attend multiple days. They want to have enough events and seminars so it will be a two- or three-day experience for you. Look for it to grow every year.

I assume that there will be all of the exciting normal type of vendors. Fishing guides, hunting guides, dude ranches where you can take the family for the summer and so forth. And then of course there will be booths selling outdoor gear so you can stock up for your yearly outdoor activities.

On a sidenote, one thing that might surprise you is how many outdoor items are produced right here in little ole Idaho. I find out about new companies every year. For example, Cordova Coolers. Many people are blowing up their Yeti coolers since Yeti sold out on supporting the NRA and are going to Cordova. I’ve got to find out more about them.

I’m not even going to try to list all of the local outdoor manufacturers because I’d miss half of them. They include safes, knife companies, blackpowder bullets, ammo, gun manufacturers, calls, backpacks and the list goes on and on. So hopefully there are booths showing some Idaho products.

I notice on their website that they have listed “taxidermy and art championship.” I’m interested to see what that is about. Hopefully there are some displays from our local and super talented taxidermists. These guys are artists.

Seminars

I love going to outdoor seminars and it looks like they have a good selection of speakers to chose from. I know quite a few of the speakers and they’re knowledgeable and you’ll learn something. I’m interested in some of the cooking seminars for sure. I’m friends with Steve Weston and Randy King and have books from both of them. Steve used to always be doing seminars where I was and kept me nourished.

Rockie Jacobsen puts on good elk seminars. I’ve heard him speak numerous times. I’ll have three Small Game Hunting With Air Rifle seminars. Crosman donated a cool NP Elite Powered Break Barrel Air Rifle (Model: BTN2Q2CX). We’ll have a drawing after the last seminar and someone out of the three seminars will be the lucky winner.

The airgun seminars will be held on Friday at 6, Saturday at 1 and Sunday at 2. Then we will conduct a Knife Sharpening seminar at 12 p.m. on Saturday and a Choosing The Proper Knife for The Outdoorsman seminar on Sunday at 12 p.m. Dexter Russell has donated a sweet boning knife. We’ll have a drawing after both of the knife seminars and two lucky people will win a 6-inch boning knife. The first 24 attendees to the Knife Sharpening seminar will receive a little 2-step sharpener and we’ll hold a drawing for a diamond stone.

Elk Calling Contest

I think one popular event is going to be the elk calling competition, which is being held at 11 a.m. on Saturday. For more info on this event, go to their website and check out the rules.

There is no way I can cover this show adequately in one short article. I’ll wrap it up by saying that if you’re new to Idaho, this is your chance to get acclimated to one of the best things Idaho has to offer — her outdoors. Come check it out and speed up your learning curve. It should be a fun show.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana.

Basic Ticket Info

Ducks Unlimited is putting on The Great Northwest Outdoor Expo at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.

Friday, June 29, 12 to 8 p.m.

Saturday, June 30, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Sunday, July 1 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Prices

One Day Pass

Adult $8.00 + fee

Senior 60+ $5.00 + fee

Military $5.00 + fee

2 and under are FREE

Weekend Pass $16.00 + fee

Family 4-Pack $24.00 + fee