The Great American Outdoor Show is returning to Harrisburg; here's what you need to know [column]

The NRA Great American Outdoor Show is set to open Saturday, Feb. 1, for its run through Feb. 9 at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg.

This is the big one.

This is the hunting and fishing show of shows.

Nine days.

Over 1,000 exhibitors.

More than 650,000 square feet of exhibition space.

Celebrities, contests, seminars, gear and tactic demonstrations.

READ: Here's what's on the docket for consideration from the Pa. Game Commission in 2025

What you need to know

· Show hours are Feb. 1 and 8, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.; Feb. 2, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Feb. 3-7, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; and Feb. 9, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

· Tickets are $15 for adults; $26 for a two-day pass; $9 for kids 6-12; $13 for seniors 65 and older. · Tickets can be bought ahead of time at www.greatamericanoutdoorshow.org.

· Parking is available at the Farm Show Complex, 2300 N. Cameron St., for $10; There’s another lot on Elmerton Avenue at Sycamore Drive with a shuttle, $10; Harrisburg Mall, 3501 Paxton St., parking is free and shuttle is free.

· The busiest days generally are the weekend days, although the show is usually busy every day from noon-4 p.m. To avoid the biggest crowds, plan on going on a weekday evening, or later in the week.

READ: Your guide to outdoor safety during hunting seasons in Pa. woods

What it's all about

The Great American Outdoor Show is put on by the NRA each year, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors to the nine-day event at the Farm Show Complex.

There’s been an outdoor show of this magnitude happening at this facility at this time of year for decades, and the NRA is the latest organization to run it, taking it over from the previous owners in 2014.

It is arguably the biggest consumer outdoor show in the eastern United States.

People attend for a number of reasons.

If you’re looking for a fishing or hunting adventure, this show will be packed with outfitters from all over the world.

Whatever you want to hunt or fish for, there will be an outfitter at this show who chases your target species.

Researching and boking these adventures online certainly is simple these days, but to be able to talk to these outfitters face to face – and one after another – is invaluable.

READ: What makes Pennsylvania deer hunting so special?

Several years ago, I was walking down an aisle of the main outfitter hall and I spotted a row of mounted oryx.

Oryx is the name we call the African gemsbok here in North America.

The long, spear-like horns, the painted black and white face and the stocky body of the gemsbok always intrigued me.

But I didn’t want to go to Africa to chase them, and I had no idea they lived free range in parts of New Mexico.

After chatting with the outfitter displaying those mounts for several minutes about the unique opportunity New Mexico offers to hunt oryx on a limited basis, I went through the process to draw a tag, signed on with that outfitter for a hunt and ended up shooting an excellent animal.

That outfitter is no longer in business, but I owe that once-in-a-lifetime adventure to the Great American Outdoor Show.

Seeing and learning about new equipment in the outdoor space is another leading reason people attend the show.

Hundreds of vendors will be on site displaying the latest and greatest guns, archery gear, fishing tackle, boating equipment and on and on.

Again, you can learn a lot about this gear on the internet, but the Great American Outdoor Show is a great place to go see it in person – to pick it up, and maybe even try it out.

If you’re interested in buying, the show is loaded with special deals.

I took advantage of a show special to buy my first real bass boat about 20 years ago. It was a model that was being discontinued, and the dealer was reducing his stock, so I got an unreal deal on it.

One thing you can’t buy directly at the show is firearms.

The show’s policy is that orders for firearms can be placed, but the actual transaction cannot take place on site.

So you can order a gun, but you’re not leaving the show with it.

Want to learn something new about your favorite outdoors pursuit?

The list of seminars presented by experts is seemingly without end.

Show officials promise the schedule of seminars will be packed every hour of every day of the show, but as of Jan. 22, that schedule had not yet been published.

READ: Hunter illegally kills first black bear ever harvested in Lancaster County: Game Commission

You can check out the full list at greatamericanoutdoorshow.org, but here’s a sampling of a few of the higher-profile speakers slated to appear:

· The guys from Seek One - Lee Ellis, Drew Carroll, and Kendall Golightly – are scheduled to be at the show Feb. 1-3.

Boasting nearly 900,000 subscribers, Seek One is a YouTube channel featuring the hunting adventures of these three wildly successful whitetail hunters.

· Sean Mann is one of the most successful goose callers and goose-call makers in history. He’s been guiding goose hunters on Maryland’s Eastern Shore for decades, and he’s scheduled to talk about goose calling and hunting Feb. 2-8.

· Eddie Salter is one of the most famous turkey hunters in North America, appearing in TV shows on ESPN, TNN, The Outdoor Channel and The Sportsman Channel for decades. He’s scheduled to present every day at the Great American Outdoor Show.

· Harrisburg native Rod Bates has been fishing for smallmouth bass on the Susquehanna River his whole life, and now owns and operates Koinonia Guide Service there. He’ll be talking about smallmouth bass fishing on the river Feb. 2-8.

· Farmington native Jeremy Critchfield is the founder of HuntChef, which offers a line of seasonings, jerky kits, sausage kits and other products designed to help people prepare wild game. He’ll be serving up cooking tips for game and fish every day of the show.

Finally, the show offers a place for people to test their skills in a variety of games. Among the contests lined up are:

· The 3-D Bowhunter Challenge is an archery contest, where archers shoot 30 targets at a variety of 3-D animal targets placed as far as 40 yards away. Competition runs every day of the show.

· The GAOS Spot Challenge is another archery contest, where archers shoot 30 arrows at bull’s-eye targets 20 yards away for score. Competition runs Feb. 1-7, with the championships set for Feb. 8-9.

· The DockDogs competition runs Feb. 1-5, and offers dog owners the chance to bring in their dogs to see which one can jump the farthest into a pool of water. (Even if you don’t have a dog, this is a fun event to just sit and watch.)

· The second annual GAOS Elk Calling Championships will be held Feb. 2 from 1:45-3:45 p.m. Divisions are set for kids 10 and under, kids 11-17, amateurs of any age and for professionals, who receive any compensation from call manufacturers.

If you’re in to hunting and/or fishing, and you’ve never been to the Great American Outdoor Show, you owe it to yourself to at least attend once.

There’s bound to be something there that will pique your interest.