Butch Short knows how to throw one heck of a party.

But the one he puts on for the Bonners Ferry community each October at his Far North Outfitters store fronting Highway 95 takes the cake.

It's by far the biggest and best barbecue this side of the Canadian border.

For the third consecutive year, Short and Far North will kick off their annual Sportsman's Giveaway, a contest that has Boundary County hunters vying for more than 50 prizes valued at close to $2,500, with a monster barbecue set for Oct. 4.

From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Short and his crew will be cooking up 350 pounds of elk bratwurst courtesy of South Hill Lockers on three different grills in the parking lot by Far North Outfitters.

If the outpouring was anything like last years, Short may have to round up a fourth grill. Far North's Chris Langan said about 200 people took part in the annual barbecue that grilled about 250 pounds of smokies and hamburgers, twice as much as from 2006.

"It was absolutely awesome," said Langan. "People just kept coming all day. The response keeps getting bigger and better each year, especially for the Sportsman's Giveaway."

The contest Short created three years ago - which gives a $500 shoulder mount to a hunter who lands the biggest white tail and mule deer - runs from early September to the end of hunting season, around mid-December. Sportsmen who shoot a big-game animal including deer, elk, bear, mountain lion - even ducks or geese - can take a photo of their kill and either bring or send it into Far North, where they are first mounted on a wall and then on Far North's website, www.farnorthoutfitters.com.

The shoulder mounts - courtesy of Three Heart Outfitters & Taxidermy and Thomas Taxidermy - are not the only prizes Far North gives away. An engraved Henry Golden Boy rifle valued at around $460 will be the first prize in a drawing that offers 40 different prizes, including a European mount from Dawson Ridge Beetleworks. The rifle was selected as "Rifle of the Year" by readers of Gun & Ammo magazine in 2001.

The giveaway has received such an overwhelming response from the hunting community that last year Langan said nearly eight pages of Far North's website were filled with pictures hunters sent in. Each page holds about 30 individual photos.

Last year, Wade Winkleseth, Derek Snyder and Darrel Chubb were the top three winners.

"Our walls were just loaded with pictures hunters brought in with deer and elk and other photos of big game," said Langan. "It's been great to see how the response to this keeps growing each year."