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Dallas Safari Club (DSC) just wrapped up its annual hunting convention which it bills as the “greatest hunting show on earth.” Attracting 20,000 visitors to peruse 700 exhibitors showcasing every imaginable hunting destination, the Dallas show is indeed becoming a vital show for anyone serious about big game hunting.
Of course the hunting show that still sits atop the hill is Safari Club International’s (SCI) annual convention, which takes place next week in Reno, Nev. The Dallas show has been growing and growing, but it still has a long way to catch the mother of all hunting shows. I’d guess the SCI Show is about four times bigger than Dallas in terms of square footage and number of exhibitors.
Industry insiders know that SCI and DSC have endured a rocky relationship. Dallas was one of the first chapters of SCI when the organization was founded by C.J. McElroy in 1979. Because of the large number of wealthy hunters in Texas, and Dallas in particular, the Dallas chapter was one of the largest generators of money for SCI’s conservation projects.
Eventually, however, Texans being Texans, they bristled at the thought of sending so much money back to headquarters when there were plenty of local conservation programs that they would rather support. Egos being egos, the chapter split off from SCI and formed its own organization—the Dallas Safari Club.More News click here to view.
Soon thereafter, the Houston chapter of SCI also broke away to form the Houston Safari Club (HSC). The idea of joining Houston and Dallas into the Texas Safari Club has never come to pass.
It is not surprising that money and egos were the two mainreasons for these respective organizations to come into being. McElroy, the late founder of SCI, had an out-sized view of himself and ran SCI like his personal private country club. When he was finally forced out of the organization, he left with ownership of the convention, the single biggest source of revenue. He later sold the convention back to SCI.
If there was ever a chance to reunite these groups, it’s long since passed, however, they all work toward raising public awareness of the benefits of sustained utilization of wildlife and contributing money to fund conservation and legislative initiatives. Today, all of the “SC” hunting organizations play well together, at least on the surface.
I’m a Life Member of SCI and an annual member of DSC. I try to attend the SCI show every year and the DSC show as often as possible. In fact, I just returned from a bitterly cold Dallas and the DSC show. As usual, I ran into a lot of old friends in the African safari hunting business as well as industry acquaintances.
Overall, the international hunting business remains hard-hit by the global recession. Big-ticket hunts are not selling like they did before the crash. However, hunting is a passion and not a business, so those who can still afford to hunt are doing so, which is keeping the industry alive.
I’ll be attending the SCI show in Reno next week and I’ll see if the overall “cautious outlook” carries over there from Dallas. I’ll keep you posted.