Beaver Creek encampment to kick off Monday

STERLING — The Beaver Creek Free Trappers enjoy their trip to the past so much, they’ve decided to make this year’s Fall Rendezvous a six-day event.

The annual fall encampment will begin Monday at its usual location near Sterling, then last through Oct. 19. In addition, the general public will be welcome to come to the event any day of the week, said Toby Butler, president of the Beaver Creek Free Trappers Club.

What visitors will be seeing are club participants traveling back in time, recreating an early-1800s encampment. Like those encampments of old, the idea is a time of contests, commerce and fellowship, reminiscent of an era when independent trappers traveled the country’s open areas in search of animals and pelts, then came together in the spring and fall to conduct business with companies and each other — and to have a good time.

During the day, that good time means engaging in contests, with competitions in shooting, knife and hatchet throwing, fire starting, and other events. Butler said one of the shooting competitions will be a Motley shoot, where competitors won’t know whether they are competing in rifle or pistol — or even what their target will be — until they get to the contest site. And, that also is one of the events visitors may watch, Butler said.

Encampment contests typically are held between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. each day.

Rendezvous participants will be dressed appropriate to the era, in clothing such as handmade muslin, linen and buckskin and visitors are invited to do the same during the daytime (those who stay past 5 p.m. must be clad in period costume or they are confined to the “modern” area). If you watch campsite participants, you’ll see people carrying weapons that also remain true to the era, with black powder rifles and bows and arrows. And in another bow to tradition, there typically are traders on site offering goods that would have been sold at encampments in the 1800s.

Members said the rendezvous is popular, drawing participants from not only Oklahoma and Texas, but other states as well. Additional information is available by calling Butler at (806) 679-9016 or Al Hobbs, club secretary, (580) 512-6673.