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Guess Who Got Fooled Again

April 19, 2023 by

The British rock legends The Who have a song entitled, “Won’t Get Fooled Again”. It contains the lyric, “We don’t get fooled again.” Unfortunately, it appears that no one in the NRA’s leadership is a Who fan or at least doesn’t remember that song. That is because they did get fooled again.

At last year’s Meeting of Members, Jason Selvig of the comedy duo The Good Liars trolled Wayne LaPierre on a resolution honoring him. He tried to get the members to chant “thoughts and prayers”.

This year, Selvig’s partner Davram Stiefler did the honors. He spoke on Jeff Knox’s second resolution that called for a vote of no confidence in Wayne LaPierre. It is playing on Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube where it has received hundreds of thousands views.

Jeff Knox realized Wayne was just trolled. He even suggested to NRA Secretary John Frazer that speakers be required to hold up their voting credentials before being allowed to speak. That is a quite reasonable suggestion that will probably get blown off given that it came from Jeff.

Selvig and Stiefler understand Alinsky’s Rule Number Five – “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. There is no defense. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage.” While Wayne is worthy of ridicule, the work that the NRA does on training and the promotion of the Second Amendment is not.

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2023 NRA Meeting Of Members – Resolution 3 (Updated)

April 19, 2023 by 4 Comments

The third resolution presented at the 2023 NRA Meeting of Members generated the most comment. It was a resolution from Jeff Knox that expressed no confidence in Wayne LaPierre as the Executive Vice President.

After NRA Secretary John Frazer read the resolution, Charles Cotton asked for those for and against it to speak. Those speaking in favor of it were Jeff Knox, Rob Pincus, John Carr, and Michael Mc (missed the rest of his name.)

When it came to speaking against it, the Friends of Wayne on the Board fought one another to express their confidence in Wayne as well as to attack Jeff either directly or through innuendo. These included Tom King, Mark Robinson, David Keene, Joel Friendman, and Jay Printz. There were two others that spoke against it but one of those was a comedian similar to Jason Selvig in 2022.

Here is Jeff’s resolution which failed again in 1/3 aye, 2/3 nay vote.

Resolution of No Confidence in Wayne LaPierre

Submitted by Jeff Knox, Endowment Life Member, Arizona

April 15, 2023

Whereas the NRA has seen a dramatic decline in Annual Members over the past 4 years, with sources indicating a drop of close to 30%, and

Whereas the NRA has experienced a significant declines in revenue over the past 4 years, with sources indicating declines of almost 50%, and

Whereas, between the years 2015 and 2018, the unrestricted net assets of the NRA declined by over 60 million dollars, and

Whereas 2018 saw financial belt-tightening, and the total collapse of the NRA’s heavily promoted, and very expensive Carry Guard program, which had only been introduced a few years earlier, and

Whereas, the advent of the SARS COV 2 pandemic caused layoffs of some 400 NRA employees, along with announced reductions in executive and managerial pay of 20%, and

Whereas, during this time of austerity measures, layoffs, significant financial losses, and growing legal expenses, in 2018, Wayne LaPierre, as Executive Vice President and CEO of the NRA, received a significant pay increase and a four hundred and fifty five thousand dollar “bonus,” bringing his total compensation that year to more than 2.2 million dollars, up from the 1.4 million he received in 2017, and for 2019 and 2020, while the layoffs and pay cuts were being implemented, Mr. LaPierre received compensation of approximately 1.7 million dollars each year, and

Whereas, along with this generous compensation, Mr. LaPierre received numerous other perks, including chartered, corporate jet travel at an average cost of seven thousand dollars per hour, limousine service, luxury accommodations, and a substantial expense and entertainment account, all totaling well over an additional million dollars per year, and

Whereas the National Rifle Association’s positions and objectives are supposed to be based on certain unwavering principles, beginning with the fact that the right to arms is an unalienable, fundamental, individual right, bestowed by our creator, and enshrined in the Constitution, and that restrictions on inanimate objects can never control the behavior of persons with evil and criminal intent, and

Whereas Mr. LaPierre, in his capacity as Executive Vice President of the NRA, publicly declared in 1999 that the National Rifle Association believes in “absolutely gun free, zero tolerance, totally safe schools.  That means no guns in America’s schools, period, with the rare exception of law enforcement officers or trained security personnel,” and

Whereas, at other times, while serving as Executive Vice President of the NRA, Mr. LaPierre has declared the NRA’s support for the creation of an “Instant Background-Check System,” declared the NRA’s support for laws requiring background checks for all firearm sales at gun shows, declared NRA support for so-called “red flag” laws, which provide for the confiscation of firearms from people accused of being a threat to themselves or others, with only bare consideration of due process, and declared that “the NRA believes that… (bump-stocks) …should be more tightly regulated,” and

Whereas President Trump subsequently acted on that last statement of support from the NRA, resulting in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives declaring bump-stock devices to be “machine guns,” effectively banning them under the Hughes Amendment, and

Whereas, while serving as chief lobbyist for the NRA, when the Hughes Amendment was attached to the Firearm Owners Protection Act as a “poison pill,” Mr. LaPierre asked the Republican Senate to agree to the amendment in order to pass the law, and asked President Reagan to sign the law, and subsequently stated that repeal of the Hughes Amendment would be the NRA’s number one priority going forward, but has never taken any substantive action toward repealing this travesty of a law, and

Whereas Mr. LaPierre has testified in court and on tax documents that he improperly charged personal and other unauthorized travel on multiple flights on chartered jets, and other unauthorized expenses to his NRA account, and

Whereas the various disclosures, revelations, and numerous substantiated accusations that have come out about Mr. LaPierre in recent years, along with his lack of principled stands on critical rights issues, have damaged the reputation of the National Rifle Association and its members, and have destroyed Mr. LaPierre’s personal credibility, severely limiting his abilities as a fund raiser or a political influencer on behalf of the NRA and its members, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the members here gathered for the 152nd Meeting of Members of the National Rifle Association, here gathered in Indianapolis, Indiana on this 15th day of April, 2023, do hereby declare that we have No Confidence in the ability of Wayne LaPierre to lead this organization going forward, and while we appreciate his contributions to the fight for rights over the past 40 years, we call on him to resign his position as Executive Vice President and to not seek reelection to that, or any other leadership position in the NRA at any time in the future, and, be it further

Resolved, That we call on the NRA Board of Directors to recognize the will of the members and ensure that Mr. LaPierre is not reelected to the office of Executive Vice President, or elected or appointed to any other office of importance within the National Rifle Association or its affiliated organizations, nor be awarded any contract or employment by any NRA-related entity, and, be it further

 Resolved, That the Secretary is instructed to cause a full, legible copy of this Resolution to be printed in the Official Journal of the Association within 120 days of the close of this meeting.

UPDATE: I did record Jeff Knox and Rob Pincus speaking in favor of this resolution. Their videos are below. In the one with Rob, you will seek Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R-NC) giving a loud defense of Wayne. While I like Mark, I find it incredibly sad that he had “drunk the Kool-Aid”.

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2023 NRA Meeting Of Members – Resolutions 1 and 2

April 19, 2023 by 2 Comments

The first resolution offered at the 2023 Meeting of Members came from John Carr, a Patron Life Member from St. Louis, MO. As he handwrote the resolutions, I don’t have a copy. In his resolution, Mr. Carr asked for two things. First, that we be given three options for voting for Board candidates. These would be For, Against, and Abstain. This mimics how public corporations do it in their annual proxy votes. Second, it called for a vote of confidence in Wayne LaPierre.

Before Mr. Carr’s resolution could be read, NRA President Charles Cotton ruled it out of order as it wasn’t in the form of a resolution. Mr. Cotton could have given Carr the opportunity to amend his resolution to meet the proper format required but didn’t.

The second resolution was from Jeff Knox. It called for a vote of no confidence in the officers of the NRA and specifically asked that that Charles Cotton and David Coy resign. After virtually no discussion other than an explanation from Jeff, the vote was called. By my estimate of the show of hands, it failed in a 1/3 aye, 2/3 nay vote. An estimate of the number of attendees was put at about 600 voting members.

The resolution of no confidence in the officers is below.

Resolution of No Confidence in the Officers

Proposed by Jeff Knox, Endowment Life Member, Arizona.

Whereas it is the sworn duty of all members of the Board of Directors of the National Rifle Association, and particularly the officers of the Board, to put the needs and interests of the Association above any personal considerations or other loyalties, and

Whereas Directors and officers of the NRA have a legal, ethical, and moral responsibility to be honest and above-board in their dealings with fellow Directors, staff, and the members of the Association, and

Whereas it is the duty of the members of the Audit Committee, as explained in the Committee’s Mission Statement; “to assist the Board of Directors in its oversight of the integrity of financial information, its review of the adequacy of the system of internal controls established by the Association, and its monitoring of the audit process,” as well as to specifically; “review the Association’s financial reporting process and internal controls, review and appraise the audit efforts of the Association’s independent auditors, and provide open means of communication between the Directors, the independent auditors, and the financial and senior management of the Association,” and to; “provide oversight of regulatory compliance and business ethics compliance,” and

Whereas it is also the duty of members of the Audit Committee to oversee and deal with questions of conflict of interest, related party transactions, and the oversight and management of the Association’s “whistleblower” policies, and

Whereas all of the above-mentioned duties and responsibilities are particularly incumbent upon the Chair and Vice Chair of the Audit Committee, as they are responsible for leading, and ensuring that the other members of the Committee are informed of, and in compliance with, these requirements and duties, and

Whereas Mr. Charles Cotton and Mr. David Coy, who currently serve, respectively, as President and Second Vice President of the NRA Board of Directors, and have alternately served as Chair and Vice Chair of the Audit Committee for many years, have both failed in their fiduciary duties and obligations to the members of the NRA by placing personal relationships, and loyalty to Wayne LaPierre above the requirements of their respective offices, failing to properly oversee outside auditors, failing to engage in any sort of thorough, internal audits, failing to thoroughly evaluate internal systems, policies, and protocols to ensure the security of the system from abuse, failing to fully inform the Board of Directors of critical information, failing to enforce conflict of interest and related party transaction policies, and approving such conflicts of interest and related party transactions, with little scrutiny, and no penalty for tardy or incomplete reporting, and failing to give proper consideration to whistleblowers alarms, failing to adequately protect whistleblowers, and failing to report critical whistleblower concerns to the full Board, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the members here gathered at the NRA Annual Meeting of Members, on this 15th day of April, 2023, do hereby express our extreme frustration with these officers, and declare that we have No Confidence in their ability to effectively serve this Association in any of their current positions as officers and members of finance-related, governance-related, and litigation-related committees, and we call upon the Board of Directors to select others from among their members, who have not been involved in the serious failings of the Audit Committee over the past 20+ years, to fill these positions.

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Willes Lee Out; Bob Barr In

April 18, 2023 by 5 Comments

Just before noon, I received a press release from the NRA. At first, I expected it to say what a success the Annual Meeting was and how the officers had all been re-elected. Instead the first paragraph contained a shocker. Willes Lee had been replaced as 1st Vice President and replaced by former Congressman Bob Barr (R-GA). Whoa!

From the release:

The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) announces the election results from its Board of Directors Meeting held in Indianapolis, IN. Charles Cotton was reelected NRA President, former Congressman Bob Barr was elected as First Vice President, and David Coy reelected Second Vice President.

In recognition of his extraordinary leadership these past two years, the NRA Board of Directors  voted unanimously to amend its bylaws to allow Cotton to succeed himself for a third term. In addition to his responsibilities as NRA President, Cotton is Chairman of the Audit Committee and a transformational leader.

LaPierre was re-elected by the NRA Board of Directors, who annually elect the CEO/EVP. The Board of Directors are elected by NRA members. This followed a vote at the NRA Members Meeting on April 15, 2023, where members expressed confidence in Mr. LaPierre.

I have to laugh when they said Charles Cotton was a “transformational leader”. That would be true if you meant the leader who helped make the NRA a defunct organization. As to the members expressing “confidence” in Wayne, about 1/3 or so of those in attendance at the Meeting of the Members including me voted FOR the resolution offered by Jeff Knox expressing “no confidence” in LaPierre.

As to why Willes Lee was dumped, it is speculated that his resignation from the Special Litigation Committee was considered “disloyalty”. As a Florida politician who had voted with Marion Hammer 95% of the time noted, she considered him a “traitor”. I had understood that he felt blindsided when the move to let Charles Cotton have a third term was floated. He was not consulted nor told in advance of this move. I heard other speculation that his resignation from the Special Litigation Committee could have been due to a disagreement with Bill Brewer on litigation strategy.

Lee found this under his hotel room door on Sunday night prior to Monday’s Board of Directors meeting.

Again, the friends of Wayne blindsided Lee. A former director told me that Bob Barr was a true, blue supporter of Wayne. I was also told by another former director that he was surprised that it wasn’t Ronnie Barrett who also supports Wayne. What is surprising is that David Coy was not moved to the 1st VP position with Barr becoming the 2nd VP. This makes Barr as the presumptive nominee for President of the NRA in 2024.

The Facebook page of Lee contains some interesting stuff. He even included an article by Jeff Knox criticizing the Special Litigation Committee. Mind you it was Jeff who offered the resolution of no confidence in Wayne at the Meeting of Members. Normally, something like Jeff’s article would have been ignored as if it never happened and not worthy of comment. Lee also said that he believes in transparency and will never “keep secrets” from the Board.

In other Board news, Carrie Lightfoot reportedly has resigned and will be replaced by Charles Beers. I understand her resignation was due to a need to take care of a family member and to give more attention to her business.

In an ironic twist, Lee reports that the best text he has received today was one that said, “Oh. No. They Ollie’d you, at annual meeting, in Indianapolis. lol.” He even acknowledged how he was part of those who did it to Ollie in 2019.

I’ll put this out there. If any member of the Board of Directors wants to contact me, either on or off the record, my blog email is gunsandmoneyblog AT gmail DOT com.

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NRA Election Committee Report

April 16, 2023 by 8 Comments

I will have a more complete report on the NRA Meeting of Members up later. However, I wanted to get this statistics from the Election Committee out.

Bob Barr, former Congressman from Georgia and Director, was chair of the Elections Committee. He started out his report detailing how votes were tallied by an independent accounting firm and how they were read electronically.

Barr then gave these statistics:

  • Ballots Mailed – 2,535,798
  • Ballots Received – 78,327 or 3%
  • Valid Ballots – 75,454
  • Invalid Ballots – 2,873
    • 1,163 received after the deadline
    • 558 missing membership number
    • 503 not signed
    • 401 voted for more than 26 candidates
    • 168 voted for zero candidates
    • 47 used an improper ballot (last years or photocopied)
    • 33 had multiple votes for the same candidate
  • Ballots that contained write-in votes – 1,218

No write-in candidate received enough votes to be elected.

Barr then ran through the list of everyone elected or who failed to get elected. I had those name up earlier and you can find them here.

My first impression is that fewer and fewer members are bothering to even vote. Given a low turnout local or municipal election will have a response of 15% +/-, a response of 3% is horrendous. Either people feel their vote doesn’t make a difference or they just don’t care anymore. Bear in mind everyone who got a ballot was either a Life Member or a 5 year continuous annual member.

The second impression is that this is the time for petition candidates to get on the ballot. The bylaws state that for a petition candidate to be placed on the ballot the threshold is 0.5% of the valid ballots cast in the past election. That means a candidate would need 378 valid signatures to make the ballot. Compare this with earlier years when a candidate need 6-700 or more to make the ballot.

One final note is that Rick Ector was elected as the 76th Director for a one year term. Congratulations to Rick as this is recognition, in my opinion, for all his hard work in Detroit training thousands of women year in and year out.

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A Wake-Up Letter To The NRA Board

April 14, 2023 by 4 Comments

Note: I want to emphasize that I did not obtain Frank Tait’s letter from Frank nor any member of the Board of Directors. He also did not give me permission to publish or quote from it. However, he was willing to answer questions about the letter for which I was appreciative.

Frank Tait sent a wake-up letter to the NRA Board of Directors a week ago. It asked for answers to many tough questions especially with regard to the NRA’s finances. Almost immediately, Marion Hammer went into “enemy within” mode and told the rest of the Board to delete the email. She also suggested they block Frank who is a member of the Board. In one of his few instances of showing a spine, NRA Secretary and General Counsel John Frazer had to step in and remind everyone of the existing records retention order.

Frank starts by saying:

Dear Fellow Directors,
I am humbled and honored to serve the members of our great Association. As I come to the end of my brief term on the NRA Board of Directors, there are observations and recommendations to share with the entire board. I attended the January Board meeting and made 4 visits to headquarters requesting and reviewing a wide number of documents to fulfill my obligations as spelled out in the NRA Director Reference Book and in the Right from the Start: Responsibilities of Directors of NOT-FOR-PROFIT Corporations issues by the Office of the New York State Attorney General Charities Bureau. I encourage you to familiarize yourself with the document and encourage you to review underlying documents to what management presents to assure yourselves of the health of our Association.
My overall impression is that Directors willingly serve in the area where they are asked to focus. And that only a select few long-term insiders such as the Executive Council members, focus on the overall financial health of the Association. Directors are ‘kept busy’ with outward facing activities and that Directors assume that “someone else” is handling the overall financial health of the Association. Only the officers, Executive Council members and management have a complete picture of the health and status of the Association. Directors need to recognize that it is THEIR responsibility to look at the overall
financial health of the Association IN ADDITION to their Committee assignments.

Two years ago I wrote a post about fiduciary duty and the responsibilities of the NRA Board of Directors. Every member of the NRA Board as well as the employed officers (CEO, CFO, Secretary, etc) is a fiduciary. As such, under New York law they have three duties that they must fulfill as a fiduciary. They are the duty of care, the duty of loyalty, and duty of obedience. Summarizing these duties, the duty of care means providing reasonable time, attention, and care to providing organization oversight. Loyalty means acting in the best interests of the organization and its members rather than their own self-interests. The duty of obedience means the board is fulfilling its fiduciary responsibility to ensure that the organization is abiding by its stated mission and is complying with all state and federal laws. New York law goes even further to include internal governing documents and policies such as the bylaws.

To assist board members in understanding their fiduciary duty, the New York Charities Bureau publishes a short booklet called “Right from the Start”. Frank referenced that publication in his letter to his fellow board members. Another publication from the Charities Bureau not referenced by Frank deals with internal controls and financial accountability. Both publications make reference to financial reports and the obligation of board members to review them. For example, in Right from the Start, it says one should “Obtain the current year’s budget and cash flow projections. Find out how they compare to actual income and expenses and what processes are in place to monitor these comparisons.” This was suggested to be done even before someone is seated on a board. After becoming a board member, Internal Controls says procedures should be in place “ensuring that timely and appropriate financial reports are distributed to all directors and officers and reviewed by them, as well as the president, chief executive officer, treasurer and chief financial officer.“

Frank points out it is the responsibility of all Directors to look at the overall financial health of the NRA and not just those of a specified committee such as the Finance Committee. He then makes recommendations on records transparency including a suggestion of a way to provide documents to the Board through a secure, electronic site. Since the Special Litigation Committee is a committee of the Board, it should be required to keep minutes and report out its decisions. One need only look to how they handled the abortive bankruptcy filing to see how they failed at providing transparency of their actions to the Board. That is, the Board didn’t know a bankruptcy filing was in the offing until after it was filed.

He then makes recommendations regarding compliance and cybersecurity. With regard to compliance, he says to move forward with appointing a Chief Compliance Officer and to bring that resolution to the members. I agree with Frank that the members would approve this move. Given it is adding an officer to the NRA, it must be approved by a members’ vote. That cannot happen until ballots go out in 2024. Also with regard to compliance, the lines of authority needs to be spelled out in a Delegation of Authority Matrix. Currently, these lines of authority are in various documents some of which have not been provided to the Board.

On cybersecurity, Frank notes the NRA has a significant amount of information on individual members including credit card numbers. He and Judge Phil Journey have submitted a resolution to the Board requesting a Cybersecurity Committee be established. You may remember that Russian hackers hit the NRA with a ransomware attack in the fall of 2021. Frank suggests a full Systems and Operation Control audit be part of the annual audit to keep members’ and employees’ data secure.

I spoke with Frank this afternoon after he attended the Finance Committee meeting. He and Judge Journey will be retracting their proposed resolution on the establishment of a Cybersecurity Committee. He said the NRA has taken some measure to improve cybersecurity including locking out thumb drive access to all computers and watermarking financial documents so that the recipient is known for each copy. They also have all computers emptying “trash” automatically as this was the way the hackers obtained some of their data.

Now to the meat of Frank’s letter – Financial Oversight. This is where Directors need to become involved in order to fulfill their fiduciary duties. Sec. 717 of the New York Consolidated Laws, Non-Profit Corporation Law outlines the duties of officers and directors. The law considers that directors, if acting in good faith, may rely on reports from officers, qualified professionals, and designated committees of the board. However, it is conditioned on officers being “reliable and competent” in the matter presented, the professionals having the professional expertise, and the committee “merits confidence.” It then goes on to say, “Persons shall not be considered to be acting in good faith if they have knowledge concerning the matter in question that would cause such reliance to be unwarranted.” The bottom line is that the Board cannot rely on “well, Wayne assured me” or “Charles and David said it was OK” anymore. That would not be consistent with the care that a ordinarily prudent person would exercise under these circumstances.

Frank continues:

Membership is down as is membership revenues. From 2021 to 2022, new memberships fell by 35%. The budget adopted assumed growth in both members and membership revenue. The actual numbers are going in the opposite direction. When Frank asked for a management response to this, he got a response from John Frazer that just infuriates me. It was arrogant and rude in my opinion.

John Frazer replied “your requests for responses to questions about budget projections and the NRA’s ability to meet its budget, outside the scope of a meeting of the Board, are redundant and therefore unnecessary. The NRA addresses directors’ questions of this type in the appropriate time, place, and manner-i.e., during meetings of its Board and duly appointed committees, rather than through ongoing, ad hoc responses to individual directors between Board meetings.”

With that type of response, is it any wonder that Frazer is a named defendant in the New York Attorney General’s lawsuit?

The balance sheet information above is from the annual reports. As with any balance sheet, it is for a spot in time unlike a cashflow or income statement.

As I noted above, I spoke with Frank after he met with the Finance Committee. He got some answers but not everything. The NRA will be starting a campaign to raise membership and membership revenues. However, they will be using extensive discounting which reduces the revenue impact of the campaign. He said the NRA is working hard to reduce costs by not filling positions and renegotiating contracts.

There is a saying that you cannot shrink yourself to prosperity. The cost cutting measures help but are not enough. Hypothetically, the NRA has a $50 million problem which new programs that generate revenue are the key. It would be next to impossible to come up with one $50 million program so it would be more likely to have 10 $5 million programs to generate the needed revenue. Realistically, you really need 20 as some programs will fail to generate the needed revenue. Where to find those 10-20 programs that can generate revenues is the issue. This weekend’s expo in Indianapolis will generate revenue but not in the $5 million range after expenses.

Frank went on to say in our conversation this afternoon that the two key factors are membership (revenue growth) and legal costs (cost reduction). While Frank won’t say it, I will. Bill Brewer and his team are sucking the NRA dry with their overpriced legal services that have continually failed to produce any results. A $12 million settlement with Ack-Mac, a ludicrous attempt at bankruptcy, $8 million in fees to avoid paying Chris Cox his $2 million severance package, and the list goes on.

I should make clear that I am only posting excerpts from Frank’s letter per his request. I did review what excerpts I would be publishing with Frank. Parts of this post were drafted before Frank met with the Finance Committee. Those specifically after I spoke with him are in bold italic.

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Barnett V. Raoul – Hearing On Challenge To Illinois Gun Ban

April 13, 2023 by 1 Comment

Barnett v. Raoul is the consolidated case which challenges the Illinois AWB and magazine ban. It is being heard before Judge Stephen McGlynn in US District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. A hearing was held today in East St. Louis, Il.

Bishop On Air live tweeted the arguments in the case which is embedded below. He did a great job of capturing the essence of the arguments. I used Thread Reader to pull them all together.

After the oral arguments ended, plaintiffs said they were confident on obtaining a preliminary injunction against the law. From my reading of Judge McGlynn’s questions, I think they very well get their injunction.

You can see more comments from the plaintiffs’ attorneys along with my friend Todd Vandermyde who served as a consultant in the case in the video below.

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2023 SCI Convention – The Furniture

April 5, 2023 by

The Safari Club International Convention was not just about outfitters, hunting, and the like. There were jewelers, furriers, and purveyors of all sorts of things. I didn’t pay much attention to the jewelers and furriers but I did pay attention to the furniture.

My favorites were tables made by a local Nashville company called Sawdust and Whiskey. Made from trees from Central and South America like parota, they emphasized the heartwood of the trees.

The curved slab or drip slab tables were incredible. They take half of the log and then cut it so it ends in the curve you see above as well as below. These tables sell for approximately $5-6,000.

Sawdust & Whiskey also had flat slabs for a more traditional table as well as tables with epoxy inlays.

You also had the lamps and chandeliers made from antler sheds. Lake Antlerworks from Wyoming also used antlers to form the legs of side and coffee tables.

Continuing the outdoor theme but using old parts from outboard motors and agricultural machines was Machine Age Lamps. Some of their stuff had a very Steampunk vibe to it. I loved how they repurposed the old Johnson outboard motor seen below.

Chairs made from reclaimed stumps stood out like the ones below. I’m not sure which company they came from.

You also had the more traditional leather and antler furniture as well.

Whether it was for your trophy room, man-cave, or dining room, you could find something that would be a statement piece if you looked. You could also go for the British campaign furniture look as well with items from Jim Morando of African Sporting Creations. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures of it while in Nashville. You will have to look on his website.

To round it out, there was a lot of artwork and sculptures. I particularly liked the bronze below by the late Loet Vanderveen which has a patina painted on it. The painting of the elephant is by South African artist Derric van Rensburg. Both were represented by Native Visions.

Another van Rensburg painting that caught my eye is that of this leopard.

There were plenty of more realistic pieces of art at the convention but it was the colorful, impressionistic works that obviously caught my eye.

The SCI Convention will again be held in Nashville. The dates are from January 31st to February 3rd.

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2023 SCI Convention – The People

April 5, 2023 by 3 Comments

One of the great things about a convention is seeing old friends and meeting new ones. It doesn’t matter if it is the NRA Annual Meeting, the SHOT Show, or, as in this case, the Safari Club International Convention. The Complementary Spouse and I attended the convention held in Nashville as well as the one held last year in Las Vegas. Thus, I have some basis for comparison.

I met hunter, author, Marine, gun writer, and editor Craig Boddington initially at the Dallas Safari Club where I bought a couple of his books. I met him again in Las Vegas when I attended his seminar for first time African hunters. This year I attended his seminar on buffalo hunting in Africa as well got another of his well-regarded books on safari rifles. I had the original edition and now I have Safari Rifles II. I had hoped to get his book on buffalo hunting but he was sold out.

Another author I met at the SCI Convention was Sue Tidwell from Idaho. She is the author of Cries of the Savanna: An Adventure. An Awakening. A journey to understanding African wildlife conservation. Sue and I had “met” on the africahunting.com forum. I will be reviewing her book which I am about halfway finished. It is a story of how she had many of her preconceived beliefs on African wildlife stripped away when she journeyed to Tanzania with her husband on safari. She was not anti-hunting but had some romanticized beliefs about animals such as the zebra. Sue was a delightful person to chat with and I look forward to seeing her again next year. I understand she might just have another book in the works.

I have been a long time fan of Cable Smith’s Lone Star Outdoor Show podcast which is sponsored by SCI. I had contacted him prior to the convention asking if we could meet. We did and it was great speaking with him. In the photo below (which I think I took for him), Cable is with large carnivore wildlife biologist Maria Davidson. She retired from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. She is now the SCI Foundation Large Carnivore Program Leader. Her interview ought to be must listening for everyone here in Asheville as she talks about black bears and opportunistic feeding.

Courtesy of Cable Smith

Speaking of old friends, as I was meeting with Cable Smith up comes Jim Shepherd of the Outdoor Wires. I had met him at many events and corresponded or chatted with him multiple times. Jim now lives in Nashville and was reporting on the convention for the Outdoor and Shooting Wires. I am in total agreement with Jim that Nashville was a good fit for SCI. While some of SCI’s old guard may love Vegas, SCI recognized the need to be where they could have the potential to reach millions of younger hunters.

I also got to catch up with Andy and Sheila Larsson of Skinner Sights who introduced me to Tim Fallon of FTW/SAAM Training Ranch. Sheila told me she presented a rifle to Jim Shockey to replace a family heirloom that had gotten stolen or lost in transit. Another person I ran into was Chris Cox of Capitol 6 Advisors. Yes, that Chris Cox. Unlike Wayne, he seemed to have a genuine interest in hunting.

As I said earlier, we attended the SCI Convention in both Las Vegas and Nashville. One of the major differences I noticed immediately on arriving on Wednesday was that you saw more families in Nashville. While not at the level as what I saw at the Dallas Safari Club Convention in 2022, it was still lightyears ahead of what I saw in Las Vegas. You also saw many younger attendees looking for their first hunt out West or in Africa. I can’t speak for the evening events as we didn’t attend them but even those seemed aimed to attract a somewhat younger audience with entertainment from Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Four days seems like time enough to see everyone you wanted to see but it really wasn’t. I am a fan of Gabriella Hoffman’s District of Conservation podcast and had made plans to meet with her. Unfortunately, due to a glitch in our schedules we didn’t get to meet. There will be other events so I am sure she and I will meet sometime.

When all is said and done, it is the people that make events such as this a memorable event.

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Craig Boddington On African Buffalo Hunting

April 5, 2023 by

The Complementary Spouse and I arrived in Nashville for the Safari Club International Convention at noon on the first day of the event. That put us there in time to catch Craig Boddington’s seminar on Hunting African Buffalo.

Teddy Roosevelt and his son Kermit on safari in 1909.

The seminar was very comprehensive and covered all six species of African buffalo, where they are found, their differences, how to hunt them, how to judge a trophy, hunting in various countries, and meat utilization. Few hunters have the breadth or depth of hunting buffalo over such a long period of time as Craig Boddington.

Look at the picture above of Teddy Roosevelt and his son Kermit on their famous 1909 safari in which they took 512 animals. To an uneducated eye, that looks like a good Cape buffalo and for 1909 it probably was. For today, not so great. Today it would be considered an immature bull as its boss or helmet-like covering of its horns had not hardened. However, in 1909, the rinderpest virus had wiped out much of the Cape Buffalo herd across Africa along with much of the domestic cattle. Cape buffalo were few and far between making Roosevelt’s probably as good as it got.

Buffalo are found from sub-Sahara Africa all the way to the tip of South Africa. They tend to be smaller as you go from east to west in central Africa as well as lighter in color. The Southern Cape buffalo is both the largest and most numerous of the buffalo.

According to Craig, there are six sub-species of buffalo. These include:

  • Southern Cape – Found in southern and east Africa
  • Nile – Found in Uganda and Sudan
  • Central African Savannah – Found in Cameroon and Central African Republic
  • West African Savannah – Found in Benin and Burkina Faso
  • East African Savannah – Found in Ethiopia
  • Dwarf Forest – Found in Cameroon, Congo, and Liberia

Craig then went on to detail country by country what to expect in terms of size and number as well as how they are usually hunted. Given he has hunted buffalo for almost 50 years and they are his favorite African animal to hunt, he can speak from experience about hunting in all of these countries.

Southern Cape Buffalo By Country

Botswana

While the Cape Buffalo found in Botswana are big, they have a quota limit. This is because the overpopulation of elephants has had a negative impact on habitat for all other species.

Mozambique

In the north, it is a tracking hunt with lots of glassing. You are looking for white Cattle Egrets as they a tip-off to the presence of Cape Buffalo. The north has big herds that can be two miles wide by six buffalo deep. You will also be doing a lot of swamp hunting where you will either be wading or using an amphibious vehicle like an Argo. This is true of coastal area where the bulls are not as numerous but still good.

Nambia

Most of the country is too dry to produce the grasses needed as feed by the Cape Buffalo. Hunting is primarily in the Caprivi Strip and the Waterberg Reserve north of Windhoek. Namibia has a small quota for buffalo, the herds have good genetics, and hunting there is more expensive due to the limited numbers. Most buffalo are found as they are coming in and out of national parks.

South Africa

The country initially had low numbers of Cape Buffalo. However, breeding has pushed the supply and disease resistance. Breeding has also resulted in good genetics. It is the least expensive place to hunt for Cape Buffalo. As with most hunting in South Africa, it is not genuinely free-range as regulations force high fencing between wild and domestic animals. Craig noted that despite the fencing it is not an easy hunt. The bulls know every nook and corner of their 5-10,000 acres and can disappear in a heartbeat.

Hunting for buffalo in South Africa tends to be a stalking hunt. You are often dealing dense brush in the bushveldt. Buffalo here tend to be more aggressive and more likely to charge.

Tanzania

It is a classic, tracking hunt in Tanzania. Craig noted it was expensive but the hunting was great. Much of the hunting is a what he termed “park boundary hunts” where you are waiting for buffalo to leave the reserves. The keys for buffalo hunting here are grass and water. They need both. Craig’s all-time best buffalo was taken in the Masailand area of Tanzania.

Zambia

Zambia is a sleeper according to Craig. While more expensive than Zimbabwe, it has very good hunting. Tracking is the method of choice here.

Zimbabwe

There is good buffalo hunting in Zimbabwe with large herds. The bulls are not monsters when it comes to size. It is, however, very good for duggaboys or older bachelor bulls. You have classic tracking hunting here with thick cover. The herds are primarily found in the periphery areas of Zimbabwe.

Other Sub-species Of Buffalo Discussed

Nile Buffalo

The Nile sub-species is most prevalent in Uganda. It is smaller than the Southern Cape Buffalo and tends to reddish-brown in coloration as opposed to the black of the Southern Cape. Their horns tend to be flatter and don’t drop below the jaw line.

Most of Uganda lies within the Nile drainage but it is in the Karamoja region of the north where the Nile buffalo is concentrated. It consists of acacia forests surrounded by large mountains.

Central African Savannah Buffalo

These buffalo tend to be more red. Their horns are smaller and their horns go up, not out. They are found primarily in Cameroon and the Central African Republic.

West African Savannah Buffalo

Even redder than the Central African Savanna Buffalo, they are about one-third smaller than their Central African cousins. They not only have smaller bodies but smaller horns as well. They are found in Benin and Burkina Faso.

Dwarf Forest Buffalo

These, as the name implies, are the smallest of the African buffalo. Found in Congo, Cameroon, and Liberia they weigh about 600 pounds or so. He noted this is a tough hunt because you are hunting in a rain forest. Their coloration is a reddish brown and their horns curl up much like a water buffalo.

Hunting Techniques and Tips

Tracking

Tracking is the classic method of hunting buffalo in Africa. Most PHs will have a dedicated tracker whose job is to pick up the trail of the buffalo. Craig said to keep an eye on your tracker as his behavior will tell you if you are getting close. He also said to keep an eye out for birds especially in Mozambique. These will be either oxpeckers or white Cattle Egrets. In that case you will be doing “spot and stalk” to get into position to shoot a buffalo.

Shooting & Shot Placement

The average shot distance on a buffalo in Africa is 70 yards. As such, if you are using an optic, you do not need a lot of magnification. Craig said scopes in the 1.5-5x, 1-8x, 2-7x, and the very common 3-9x are all you need. You should also keep it at the minimum magnification and only go up if needed. Craig said the longest shot he ever took on a buffalo was 160 yards.

You will need a tough bullet such as the Swift A-Frame, the Nosler Partitions, the Barnes monometal TSX/TTSX, or the Hornady bonded DGX. Solids are also an option. However, if the buffalo is in a herd, avoid monometal bullets (Barnes) as well as solids. Stick with a good bonded bullet. You don’t want the bullet to go through one buffalo and then wound another. That can be costly in more ways than one.

In terms of shot placement, it should be about one-third of the way up the shoulder if the buffalo is quartering or broadside. The big mistake is to shoot too high. Frontal shots are common. If all you can see is the front two legs, then center the shot. Do not shoot to the sides. You should always take that second shot as buffalo are tough and you don’t want to be tracking a wounded one if you can help it.

Given buffalo are generally herd animals, make sure you and your PH are looking at the same buffalo.

Evaluating Trophies

The trophy bull will have a hard boss. That is the thick, helmet-like growth at the base of its horns. There should be no hair on the boss which would indicate a younger animal. The hard boss is the mark of a mature bull. The boss only starts to harden at 9-10 years old and the bull is then ready to compete for breeding rights. He may only have one year of breeding before he is forced out by a new bull. The average age for a trophy bull is 12-13 years old.

This is a case where you need to pay attention to your PH. He will be experienced in evaluating the age of a bull and its trophy quality. If there is any doubt, don’t shoot!

Danger Factor

A wounded bull can charge. Thus, you need to make sure of your shot. Buffalo in South Africa seem more likely to charge than elsewhere which might be due to a smaller range caused by high fences.

Jokingly, Craig said not to read too many Peter Hathaway Capstick stories. That said, the “dead one’s” will kill you. Hunters, PHs, trackers, and others have been killed by buffalo and especially wounded buffalo.

When approaching a downed buffalo, approach from behind and be ready to put a finishing shot in its spine. I have heard this not only from Craig but just this week on a podcast with Dr. Kevin “Doctari” Robertson who was both a veterinarian and a former PH.

Meat Recovery

The meat from a buffalo is never wasted. It will often go to local village especially in areas like Mozambique. Alternatively, it is shared with local schools or orphanages with some retained by the outfitter for feeding the guests.

The Book

I tried to get a copy of Craig’s book, Buffalo II, at his booth. Unfortunately, they were sold out. The deluxe limited edition is still available on his website along with some of his other books and his DVDs. I bought my copy of Buffalo II! on Amazon. Here is a link. If you ever think you might want to hunt African buffalo, this is must reading. Even if you just want to dream about it, I suggest getting the book while it is still available. Safari Press was sold late last year to large publisher Rowan and Littlefield. Large presses like that are less likely to keep older books on their list.