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Feb. 12, 2003
Safari Club reaches out to everyday hunters
BY LEW FREEDMAN, Chicago Tribune
RENO, Nev. - (KRT) - Safari Club International. The name carries the whiff of romance, the image of overseas adventure. But for some it also implies exclusion - a group just for rich hunters.
No more. As became evident at the organization's 31st annual convention recently, Safari Club International is now about inclusion, about embracing hunters of squirrels and rabbits as warmly as hunters of elephants and lions.
The name stays the same, but a new subtitle was unveiled to define the club - "First For Hunters." The change reflects the Tucson, Ariz.-based, 42,000-member organization's eagerness to be viewed as the foremost lobbyist for hunter's rights.
Scratch that. Not rights, freedoms, according to club executive director Peter J. Dart.
"We don't have rights as hunters," Dart said in an interview at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. "We have freedoms and liberties. We need to protect those freedoms."
The old "elite" image of Safari Club, Dart said, "was a barrier to growth. We want to appeal to a broader market of hunters. Don't turn them away at the door."
If Safari Club gets much bigger - and it was anticipated that roughly 1,000 members would be added during the four-day gathering - it will need to rent a football stadium for its next convention. The event attracted about 16,000 people from 40 countries who viewed exhibits spread over 600,000 square feet.
This was the Super Bowl of outdoor shows, Disneyland for hunters, a rendezvous for friends from around the world. Even with a light beer budget it was fun, even eye-popping, to browse the champagne aisles.
This was the place to book a trip to South Africa to hunt lions, to sign up for a trip to Canada to hunt polar bears. This was the place to be for wildlife art and sculptures and rare hunting books. You could buy hand-crafted rifles and hand-crafted carvings, and even a map of Africa, each patch of a nation represented by a different animal skin.
"This is our largest show ever," Safari Club spokesman Jim Brown said. "Our show is the biggest in the industry. We look at our show as the ultimate hunter-buyer show. It's all under one roof."
Yet for all of the showiness and camaraderie, a general uneasiness underscored the proceedings. Hunters may retain political and financial clout - this convention dropped an estimated $20 million on Reno - but there was a keen awareness that animal rights activists are devoted to eradicating hunting.
Jerry Luciano of Wonder Lake, attending his 27th convention, said hunters must introduce the sport to more young people. Last September he manned a laser shooting booth at Northern Illinois Hunting and Fishing Days at Silver Springs State Fish and Wildlife Area.
"So kids could come in and see how much fun it is to shoot," Luciano said. "We have to keep more kids interested."
Luciano also noted that hunters can connect with the community at-large through their generosity. On the eve of this convention, Safari Club donated 7,000 pounds of venison to a Feed the Hungry Dinner that served 700 needy people. The leftover 6,000 pounds of meat went to the local Salvation Army chapter, which estimated that it would provide an additional 26,000 meals.
"It's important to let people know we don't just go out and take out of the wild," Luciano said.
Keith Bates of Chicago, involved since the earliest days of Safari Club, was wistful about the shifting emphasis but said political realities dictate change.
"It was founded as a forum for big-game hunters and we probably grew as big as we were going to get," Bates said. "If we include everyone who wants to walk in the woods with a gun, it's going to dilute the original mission. But we need to support everyone who hunts the woods. I'd rather change the thing than have it dry up and go away."
Hunting is not going to dry up and go away. Yet dollars may in an economic downturn.
Abrie Myburgh of South Africa's Tholo Safaris said hunters booked only three trips with his company at the show.
"They're definitely not spending money," Myburgh said. "No one is coughing up the money."
Others thought people were more worried about travel because of a potential war with Iraq.
Fred Hamilton of High Arctic Lodge in Nunavut, a Canadian territory, said he booked 14 musk ox hunts at the convention.
"At five grand apiece, that's a heck of a chunk of money," Hamilton said. "I think people are staying in North America."
Clearly, hunting remains big business, but Dart still frets about the future.
"I grew up in Colorado hunting, fishing, and enjoying wild places and wild things," Dart said. "I want to make sure that my son and my grandchildren can too."
Dart is right to worry and right to try to expand the organization. Hunters of large animals and hunters of small animals have more in common with each other than they do with activists seeking to ban hunting altogether.
Safari Club reaches out to everyday hunters
BY LEW FREEDMAN, Chicago Tribune
RENO, Nev. - (KRT) - Safari Club International. The name carries the whiff of romance, the image of overseas adventure. But for some it also implies exclusion - a group just for rich hunters.
No more. As became evident at the organization's 31st annual convention recently, Safari Club International is now about inclusion, about embracing hunters of squirrels and rabbits as warmly as hunters of elephants and lions.
The name stays the same, but a new subtitle was unveiled to define the club - "First For Hunters." The change reflects the Tucson, Ariz.-based, 42,000-member organization's eagerness to be viewed as the foremost lobbyist for hunter's rights.
Scratch that. Not rights, freedoms, according to club executive director Peter J. Dart.
"We don't have rights as hunters," Dart said in an interview at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. "We have freedoms and liberties. We need to protect those freedoms."
The old "elite" image of Safari Club, Dart said, "was a barrier to growth. We want to appeal to a broader market of hunters. Don't turn them away at the door."
If Safari Club gets much bigger - and it was anticipated that roughly 1,000 members would be added during the four-day gathering - it will need to rent a football stadium for its next convention. The event attracted about 16,000 people from 40 countries who viewed exhibits spread over 600,000 square feet.
This was the Super Bowl of outdoor shows, Disneyland for hunters, a rendezvous for friends from around the world. Even with a light beer budget it was fun, even eye-popping, to browse the champagne aisles.
This was the place to book a trip to South Africa to hunt lions, to sign up for a trip to Canada to hunt polar bears. This was the place to be for wildlife art and sculptures and rare hunting books. You could buy hand-crafted rifles and hand-crafted carvings, and even a map of Africa, each patch of a nation represented by a different animal skin.
"This is our largest show ever," Safari Club spokesman Jim Brown said. "Our show is the biggest in the industry. We look at our show as the ultimate hunter-buyer show. It's all under one roof."
Yet for all of the showiness and camaraderie, a general uneasiness underscored the proceedings. Hunters may retain political and financial clout - this convention dropped an estimated $20 million on Reno - but there was a keen awareness that animal rights activists are devoted to eradicating hunting.
Jerry Luciano of Wonder Lake, attending his 27th convention, said hunters must introduce the sport to more young people. Last September he manned a laser shooting booth at Northern Illinois Hunting and Fishing Days at Silver Springs State Fish and Wildlife Area.
"So kids could come in and see how much fun it is to shoot," Luciano said. "We have to keep more kids interested."
Luciano also noted that hunters can connect with the community at-large through their generosity. On the eve of this convention, Safari Club donated 7,000 pounds of venison to a Feed the Hungry Dinner that served 700 needy people. The leftover 6,000 pounds of meat went to the local Salvation Army chapter, which estimated that it would provide an additional 26,000 meals.
"It's important to let people know we don't just go out and take out of the wild," Luciano said.
Keith Bates of Chicago, involved since the earliest days of Safari Club, was wistful about the shifting emphasis but said political realities dictate change.
"It was founded as a forum for big-game hunters and we probably grew as big as we were going to get," Bates said. "If we include everyone who wants to walk in the woods with a gun, it's going to dilute the original mission. But we need to support everyone who hunts the woods. I'd rather change the thing than have it dry up and go away."
Hunting is not going to dry up and go away. Yet dollars may in an economic downturn.
Abrie Myburgh of South Africa's Tholo Safaris said hunters booked only three trips with his company at the show.
"They're definitely not spending money," Myburgh said. "No one is coughing up the money."
Others thought people were more worried about travel because of a potential war with Iraq.
Fred Hamilton of High Arctic Lodge in Nunavut, a Canadian territory, said he booked 14 musk ox hunts at the convention.
"At five grand apiece, that's a heck of a chunk of money," Hamilton said. "I think people are staying in North America."
Clearly, hunting remains big business, but Dart still frets about the future.
"I grew up in Colorado hunting, fishing, and enjoying wild places and wild things," Dart said. "I want to make sure that my son and my grandchildren can too."
Dart is right to worry and right to try to expand the organization. Hunters of large animals and hunters of small animals have more in common with each other than they do with activists seeking to ban hunting altogether.
