Wherein your correspondent journeys to Reno, Nevada and the 28th Safari Club Annual Convention, meets femme fatale Niki Taylor, and actually gets business done.
I flew up on Thursday Feb 3. The show was nominally Feb 2 thru 5, but there are various side meetings that actually begin earlier. It seemed to me that more folks were buying things than two years ago (I did not go in 1999). I had an agenda of meeting several correspondents and outfitters, but was not looking to buy or sell any hunts. Next year's convention will be in Las Vegas, January 10-13 at the Sands Expo Center & Venetian Resort.
Looked like more exhibitors and possibly more attendees than last time.
Thursday
Checked in at the El Dorado Casino & Hotel. (Which I later re-named it the Refuge Hotel because of the amount of time I stood in line to get something to eat.) I was able to catch the shuttle to the Reno Convention Center, arriving about 3:00p. The show floor was open until 6:00p. I started running down the people I wanted to see, and also began the grand tour of the show floor. I didn't buy any tickets to the evening banquets, just usually not interested.
Great gun booths! US makers and custom 'smiths, English makers, European makers were all represented. Plus some really great taxidermy on exhibit, including the new SCI #1 Cape buffalo. Also a lot of African outfitters I never heard of before, and some of the old stand-bys did not come. Typical amount of jewelry, furs, and art work.
One woman sculptor had a life-size sitting piece of an obviously too-well fed, older Lab. I complimented her on it, told her I had know several dogs like that. She said she lived with the model for that one for years. Her husband got her interested in sculpting birds and dogs.
South African Airways changed their southern route a bit, they now fly to Atlanta vice Miami. I believe they have a Ft. Lauderdale fuel stop in there.
FNAWS was handing out a way cool circular gadget with facts on North American game. When you point the arrow at an animal around the edge, windows display food, sizes and habits. Great for kids to learn, and older kids too.
Friday
Got to the show for the 9:00a opening. Could not find Niki's booth, as it turns out Gene Yap calls his business South Point Safaris. I had to go to the Exhibitor Help Desk to find that out, almost as bad as looking at a map. Anyway, I made it there, met Niki and got an invite to the hospitality suite at 7:00p. I also had an invite to the San Diego hospitality suite at 5:00p, and a dinner rdvu with friends for 6:45p. Looked up Kevin ("Himself") Robertson and got a copy of his new book, The Perfect Shot. Subtitled Shot Placement for African Big Game, ISBN 1-57157-163-9. Safari Press of Long Beach, CA is doing the publishing. You will want this book if only for the diagrams of the aim points for hip and texas heart shots on various critters. Also picked up reprints of two of John Hunter's books at the Safari Press booth.
Did lunch with some friends from Canada, a couple Renae & I first met in Namibia. They are looking for a bongo and Lord Derby eland hunt. Norm kept saying "30 thousand US dollars!"
Looked over the new (and very compact) Leica 800 yard laser range finder, show price $399. Delivery though was quoted at 4 weeks. Neat unit. This one looks really good.
Checked the Holland & Holland edition of the Range Rover, the H&H guys actually sold some large number of them at the show.
Also met Gene Bindon, the head Fred of Trijicon, and checked out his new 1.5-4X tritium-illuminated low power variable. I will be buying one. I have been corresponding with him via e-mail about his stuff and scout rifles, etc.
I was shopping take- down magazine guns. HS Precision is $2,000, Dakota is $3,000 and Hartman & Weiss of Austria is $100,000. The H&W booth is one of those types with no price tags, I found out the price later from a friend. Absolutely first-rate workmanship. You mechanic guys would have freaked there, or for at the Szecesi/Fuchs bolt-action magazine double rifle booth.
Lyalvale of England shotshells on display. Good source for16 ga stuff. They emphasize high velocity in their loads, combined with low recoil powders. http://www.danrey.com for the US distributor.
Visited SA Wine Co, who import Southeren Hemisphere wines, and are based in Huntington Beach, CA.
Hit the Namibia booth to pick up the 2000 reg books.
Met with John Wambach of We Se Safaris, and talked about two elephant licenses he has in Namibia for $18,000 on a portered hunt. He took a 50 pounder last year on day two of a hunt, and believes bigger are out there in his concession. Another outfitter took a 100 pounder in Namibia recently.
Met with Jerome Latrive of JML Safari, Tanzania to talk details about some hunts in their concessions in the Selous, Rungwa and Masailand. He didn't have a booth, but came through to visit with me on his way back to his base in France. Jerome says there are 1.5 million hunters in France, the highest density in Europe. I have been looking for a good Tanzanian outfit for some time, and my friend Danie van Graan hunted his outfit and trained the younger Jerome. Jerome invited me over to observe this year. Can you imagine going to Tanzania and not hunting? Time for more Lotto tickets.
Made it to the San Diego suite in the Reno Hilton to discuss details of our auction coming up on April 1, and met some folks we were courting to attend. I am building the list of guns for same, and I was also conducting a "beg-a-thon" of certain makers for guns. My goal was to get them to provide a gun at cost, but I would have taken a freebie! Fortunately, the dinner meeting was also in the Hilton, but I somehow ended up at the wrong restaurant. Gene Yap's suite was also in the Reno Hilton, so I went on up to visit.
Gene is a solid guy, and also his young son hunts. Niki convinced me Renae and I needed to hunt in Hawaii with Gene's outfit, with her guiding us for a sheep (for Renae) and a Vancouver bull for me. We are fortunate to have Niki on Artemis, she is the real deal. Thank you Jim C for making this marriage.
She also introduced me to Linda Linton. Linda has hunted for 22 years, and is an attorney in Reno. She has studied international law, and is involved in the National Summit on Africa. Her contribution is to have the value of sport hunting documented in the proceedings of the conference. Linda's husband is a fireman in Reno, and owns a guiding business in Nevada. Niki has recruited Linda for Artemis membership -- more on that in another mail. Linda also believes passionately in hunting, conservation & education. I told her that she "sure worked close" when her nose was about 6" from mine. She allowed as how the subject matter was one she was really interested in. I believed.
Niki also got me some copies of Women Afield, Journal of the Outdoor Woman. This small mag is published three times a year in Butte, Montana, with Niki a regular contributor. She and I think this could be a project for Artemis support; just what that means remains to be defined. http://www.womenafield.com
I caught a shuttle downtown to the Refugee Hotel after Niki's bronze of her leopard skull winked at me.
Saturday
Finally got some private time with my two Zimbabwe contacts, Anthony (Ant) Williams and Gordan Duncan of Doma Safaris. Ant is the Editor in Chief of African Hunter (formerly Zimbabwe Hunter). This is a high quality mag, and well worth the subscription. I had e-mailed Ant last year about doing some targeted advertising in AH for particular hunts & animals (50" buff, anyone?). Ant acted as the facilitator and put me together with Gordan, our project was to market some kudu & sable package hunts for Gordon.
Also got some time with my friend Danie van Graan/Engonyamei Safaris on a project he and I did some scouting on last August in South Africa, to wit southern kudu over 60". We looked at mounted and measured heads in August that went 64"-66" (Rowland Ward's system, longest horn length). In that particular area the kudu have a combination of good genetics and year-round feed sources (different stuff maturing at different times on the calendar).
Got a couple of new Craig Boddington books, and chatted with Craig and his wife Bernadette. I had met them before in San Diego when Craig put on a program for us. Craig is a solid guy, and I think the best now writing in terms of experience and honesty.
Also saw George Bush on the convention floor with his gaggle of armed escorts. I was amused because there were guns and ammo all over the show. No sign of the SS twigging to this.
I went to visit the Zambia booth, this year staffed by the new private wildlife agency. The guy I was talking to pocketed my pen, so I guess Zambia will still be a destination to be careful with. ;)
I also visited the PHASA booth. I am a member (Prof Hunters of South Africa), and I wanted to meet the office staff. I usually deal with them via e-mail, and it does help as we all know to meet the guy on the other end.
Last, but not least, I upgarded my SCI membership to life.
Sunday
I was planing to hit the Firearms Engravers and Cutom Makers Gun Show in the Silver Legacy, but my back and my feet all voted "NO".
So I got in my MD-82 and buzzed back to San Diego, observing the Channel Islands off the starboard wing as we passed.