Calling all mountain men to put on your buckskins and grab your Hawkin rifles. And you’d better gather up your corral mama and the young’uns and bring them along as well.

It’s that time of year when the mountain men, fur trappers and buckskinners from the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada gather on the Coupeville Plains for the yearly Rendezvous at the Central Whidbey Sportsmen’s Club.

The annual event gives 21st Century folks the opportunity to set up tent and teepee encampments to reenact the lifestyles of the mountain men and fur trappers who explored the Rocky Mountains and western America during the mid 1700 to mid 1800s. Just like the old days when the Hudson’s Bay Company invited trappers to come to Fort Yellowstone or some other location for a celebration and fur-trading session before heading back into the wilderness for another year of seeking the elusive beaver.

The 2008 Rendezvous will be held Saturday, Aug. 16, and Sunday, Aug. 17, on the grounds of the Central Whidbey Sportsmen’s Club, located 2.5 miles south of Coupeville off Highway 20 across from Morris Road.

Traders’ tents will be open for business selling beads and leather goods, along with early American cooking utensils, clothing, blacksmithing items and, of course, black powder guns and supplies.

Mountain men and their families visiting the encampment should bring along items to swap. There is always a good deal to be made on an item you can’t survive another year without.

Black powder shooting competition with rifle and pistol, tomahawk and knife throwing events, primitive archery and children’s games will make up just a few of the days’ activities.

This is a free event and will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 16 and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 17.

For more information, call David at 675-7540.