If you walk the rows of the Safari Club International Convention—known as the Super Bowl of hunting shows—prepare for sensory overload. Every aisle is a trail leading to different adventures across the globe. Perhaps there’s a buffalo safari in Tanzania, a brown bear hunt on Kodiak Island, or an elk hunting foray to Arizona in your future? If fishing and bird hunting are more your taste, there are plenty of wild adventures awaiting in the Amazon, Argentina and Bolivia—golden dorado, anyone?
Tens of thousands of hunters from all corners of our planet will descend on the Music City Center in Nashville for the unrivaled sporting extravaganza January 22-25. The show is a four-day hunters networking happy hour, complete with nearly 1,000 exhibitors, 20 auctions, live entertainment from music acts to popular comedians, and firearm and taxidermy displays of all kinds. A variety of seminars to help hunters embrace the wide world of hunting sports are part of the convention as well—led by subject experts from across the globe.
The SCI convention draws nearly 1,000 exhibitors representing 114 countries.
This is the place where hunters come to fill their annual calendars with dream trips and experiences that would make Teddy Roosevelt smile. If safari hunters have a patron saint, it would be the 26th President. As if to reinforce that, one auction item is dubbed the, “Roosevelt Style” safari, a 42-day odyssey across three African countries to hunt several of the species Teddy did during his post-presidency collecting mission for the Smithsonian in 1909-1910. The hunt will raise money for some of SCI’s hundreds of global conservation initiatives, focusing on wildlife protection, habitat restoration, and sustainable hunting practices worldwide.
That is the mission side of the convention, which is why it also lures many foreign leaders and officials. “We attract global dignitaries, North American government officials, and conservation leaders,” says SCI’s James Shin. “It’s not uncommon to see dozens of foreign leaders, including those from international wildlife organizations, governmental representatives from countries with significant wildlife tourism, and ambassadors from nations involved in SCI’s global conservation efforts.”
SCI is the world’s leading hunter-advocacy organization, helping illuminate the science establishing hunting as an important driver in global wildlife conservation. They’ve successfully advanced that without regulated hunting as an economic force for conservation and sustainability—especially in Africa—the future for wildlife will be left to poachers. One has only to look at nations like Kenya to understand the catastrophic outcomes for African wildlife when controlled hunting is removed from the equation.
“This is the place you come to meet some of the most interesting people in the world,” says long time SCI volunteer and outfitter Russ MacLennan of Denver. (Photo by Ted Soqui/Corbis)
SCI has also pushed for more inclusion from African nations when it comes to the West deciding the fate of the continent’s wildlife. There can be no sustainable wildlife conservation in Africa without African leaders having a seat at the table, they say. It should be obvious by now to global conservation concerns that without buy-in from the people who live among Africa’s charismatic mega-fauna, there is no path to health for the continent’s wildlife populations.
One auction item being offered at the convention aims to raise money for conservation while at the same time encourage hunting to control an overpopulated species. Introduced Axis deer—an Asian import—have become a plague in parts of Hawaii, so what better way to solve the dilemma than by nudging hunters to enjoy a prey vacation?
The opening bid for the SO Sparviere Marco Polo is set at $630,000. Pietro Beretta Custom Atelier
For firearm enthusiasts, the venerable Italian gunmaker Beretta (one of SCI’s longest running partners) will be showcasing a one-of-a-kind shotgun at its booth that is part of a global auction ending at the end of January. The mind-blowing work of art features the remarkable story of Marco Polo in meticulous engraving, and it’s expected to fetch upwards of seven figures.
It’s just one of many attractions that make the annual Safari Club convention feel to sportsmen like opening day of hunting season and Christmas all rolled into one.