DSC Convention

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Dallas Safari Club Convention Moves To Atlanta In 2025

July 19, 2023 by

I received an email and video today from the Dallas Safari Club stating that their 2025 through 2029 conventions will be held in Atlanta, Georgia. The reason is that the City of Dallas will be doing a multi-year tear-down and rebuild of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.

From Corey Mason, CEO of DSC and the DSC Foundation:

As you heard in the video, DSC is moving our annual Convention to Atlanta, GA, beginning in 2025. We are extremely confident that the Georgia World Congress Center will be the premier site to deliver successful DSC Conventions to come!


Dates for the DSC Conventions in Atlanta will not change from those previously published, and we are certain you will continue to enjoy the southern hospitality, which has long been a hallmark of the DSC Convention. 
 
In addition to the annual Conventions to be held in Atlanta from 2025-2029, DSC is excited to announce that in 2025 we will begin hosting a second convention in Dallas each summer. Aligned with the DSC Foundation Gala, this Expo will feature many of our valued Exhibitor Partners, include evening events, and culminate with the annual DSC Foundation Gala on Saturday night.
 
While Dallas will always be home and we are very excited about the future of the new Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, DSC looks forward to the opportunity to take the greatest hunting and conservation show on the road for a few years. We cannot wait to see you in Dallas January 11-14, 2024, and encourage you to please make plans to join us in Atlanta beginning in 2025!

The video message goes into more detail.

I should note that the NRA held their convention in Atlanta in 2017 in the Georgia World Congress Center and it was a very nice facility. Likewise, both the NRA Annual Meeting and this year’s DSC Convention will be held in Dallas at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.

I know many Texans are upset at this move but I cannot say the same. I live about a 3.5 hour drive from Atlanta and am excited to be able to drive to the DSC Convention. Just as with SCI’s move of their convention to Nashville, I think it will expose DSC to a lot more people which is a good thing.

Having attended both DSC and SCI Conventions, they are similar yet different. This is not a slam at the SCI Convention but the Dallas Safari Club Convention seemed more open and friendly. I know that there were a lot more kids there when I attended it in Dallas in 2022. Kids under 16 accompanied by adult are free and day tickets for adults are much less expensive than SCI.

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DSC Convention Day Two

January 8, 2022 by

Day Two was much like the first day with a lot of walking around. I did get to talk with a couple of Eastern Cape outfitters about trips in 2023. One was Marius Goesen of KMG Safaris who I really enjoyed talking with. My friend David Cole had gone with him on an earlier trip and plans to go again.

Two highlights from the the day were a seminar that was an accumulation of tips and wisdom about going to Africa. As one of the presenter put it, he was just there in November and some things had already changed. His point was whatever happened for a friend a year or five ago is probably already out of date. Thinks change that quickly. I took 3 plus pages of notes and will do a separate post on that later.

The second highlight was a dinner organized by Africahunting.com for those who participate in its forums. I met a lot of great people there and had some really good Tex-Mex food.

I’m keeping this short so that I can head in to the convention. This will be my last day there so I need to make the most of it.

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DSC Convention Day 1

January 7, 2022 by

DSC or Dallas Safari Club is holding their annual convention in Dallas. Of course, where else would they hold it! This is my first time attending it so I didn’t know what to expect.

First impressions is that it is a lot like the NRA Annual Meeting exhibitions but without the mega-booths from the major gun makers like Ruger, S&W, SIG, and the like. Having attended the NRA Annual Meeting here at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Dallas Convention Center just a few years ago, I have a decent appreciation for how the space is filled. I would put it at about 3/4 of what I saw at the NRA exhibition.

The gun makers were off in a section by themselves and the mix here is widely different than what you’d see at either SHOT or the NRA Annual Meeting. While SIG and Savage both had booths, they were much smaller. Moreover, instead of seeing S&W, you got Rigby, Holland and Holland, and a slew of custom gun makers. The American Custom Gunmaker’s Guild had a section to themselves and their work there would take your breath away.

You of course had outfitters from around the world. There were the US outfitters with hunts for everything from brown bears in Alaska to guide whitetail hunts in Indiana with the western elk and sheep hunts thrown in for good measure.

The African contingent covered the continent from east to west and north to south. In terms of value, a 5-7 day hunt in the Eastern Cape of South Africa goes for $4-5000 plus or minus. For that you’d get upwards of five animals. By comparison, a guide whitetail hunt for archery in Indiana goes fro $4500.

You also saw some interesting things for sale such as this swamp buggy from Argo. I think I heard the sale rep say that the tires can be used for extra fuel storage. I didn’t ask the price. I think it probably is in the range of “if you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it”.

Finally, while I have much more to write about the DSC, I’ll save it for another time. I just want to add this last picture taken this morning from my room. I didn’t realize until I look at a map and then looked out the window again that the Texas School Book Depository and Dealey Plaza were a mere block away. I am of an age that I do remember where I was when JFK was assassinated.