Earlier this week, the Complementary Spouse and I received confirmation that we had been approved for media credentials at the 2024 Dallas Safari Club Convention. That event is being held January 11th through 14th in Dallas. It will be the last time in Dallas as the event will move to Atlanta for a five year period while the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center is being totally rebuilt. We plan to drive to Texas as it will give us more freedom to get around once we arrive in Dallas.
Next up on the agenda will be the 2024 SHOT Show in Las Vegas which begins on January 23rd with Industry Day at the Range on the preceding day. This will mark my 9th SHOT Show if you count attending the 1996 show in Dallas when I was working part-time for the original Paragon Cutlery. The difference in size and scope between 1996 is like night and day. In 1996, anything tactical including knives and modern sporting rifles was segregated from the rest of the show. Now they are an integral part of the show. As to size, the show has expanded to include the Caesars Forum in addition to its location in the Sands Expo Center.
The Complementary Spouse won’t be attending the SHOT Show and I will be cutting my visit short as I will be flying home on Friday, January 26th. The major reason for cutting it a little short is that we take off the next Wednesday for Nashville.
Rounding out the month will be the Safari Club International Convention in Nashville for which both the Complementary Spouse and I have media credentials. It starts on Wednesday, January 31st and runs through Saturday, February 3rd. This will mark the second year the convention has been held in Nashville. From everything I saw earlier this year, the move to Nashville from Las Vegas and Reno has attracted even more attendees.
As to why we are doing both the DSC Convention and the SCI Convention, while there is considerable overlap in exhibitors, they are just different from one another. While the former attracts a more Texas-centric crowd, the latter has a more international flavor. In years gone by, the Dallas Safari Club Convention was always seen as the more family friendly event but I think from what I saw in Nashville that this may be changing.
If there is something you want us to check out at any of these events, either leave a comment above or send an email to me at gunsandmoneyblog AT gmail DOT com. We will do our best to fulfill your requests.
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.
The Complementary Spouse and I attended the 2023 Safari Club International Convention in Nashville held from February 22nd through 25th. It was held at the Music City Center in downtown Nashville. This is where the NRA was supposed to have their 2020 Annual Meeting until the pandemic interfered.
There were 835 exhibitors with 140 countries represented. From what I understand, they had to turn down some exhibitors as there just was not enough room for everyone who wanted to be an exhibitor. Having attended the convention last year at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, I didn’t realize there was that much difference in size. However, checking the available exhibition space for both venues, Mandalay Bay is about 2.5 times as large as the Music City Center.
The Complementary Spouse reminded me that the aisles were wider in Las Vegas and that there were more open spaces in the Mandalay Bay exhibit hall. I do remember it being much harder to find the rooms in which the seminars were being held as they were on a different floor in another section of the facility.
Regardless of which venue had more exhibit space, it was my impression that they had better attendance in Nashville over the four days than they did in Las Vegas. It was the first time that SCI had come East for a convention. As Jim Shepherd noted in his report on the convention, you go to where the people are. There are millions of hunters and anglers within a four hour drive of Nashville. For us, it was a five hour drive which was fine. Not having to fly to Las Vegas and deal with that city made this year a pleasure.
We did talk to quite a number of safari outfitters. My goal is to hunt somewhere in southern Africa in 2024. I spoke to outfitters from both South Africa and Namibia as well as catching up with a safari outfitter from Zambia that I met last year. I had hoped to make the trip this year but honestly felt I just was not in the physical shape that I’d like to be.
One of the biggest differences I saw between last year in Las Vegas and this year in Nashville were the number of families who attended. Other than not having groups of school kids, it felt much more like the Dallas Safari Club Convention I attended in 2022. What I mean by that is that kids were welcome, families were numerous, and younger people were everwhere. I know there is a difference in admission fees between SCI and DSC but this year you wouldn’t have known it.
Photo from SCI
The convention is the major annual fundraiser for SCI. Beyond the money raised through ticket sales and memberships are the funds derived from live and silent auctions held every day of the convention. While I don’t have the figures from the silent auctions, the day and night live auctions raised approximately $4.4 million by my estimate. The range of winning bids for trips and goods ranged from $500 at one end to $675,000 for a set of five custom rifles called the African Lion Rifle Collection. These were made by gunmaker John Bollinger on sequentially serial-numbered Winchester Model 70 actions with Turkish walnut stocks which all came from one 300-year old tree. It took five years to complete the project.
Courtesy of SCI – African Lion Rifle Collection
We did not attend any of the evening events such as the concerts by stars such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gretchen Wilson, Big & Rich, and Lee Brice. From what I understand, they all sold out or close to it. These, too, helped raise money for wildlife conservation and protecting hunting.
I did attend two of the 41 seminars held from Tuesday through Saturday. I will have separate posts up on those two. However, the seminars ranged from everything from African hunting to the impact of drug cartels on US wildlands.
The convention and evening events attracted and honored a number of legislators, diplomats, and foreign officials. Beyond the US politicians, you had Eduardo Bolsonaro, a Brazilian legislator and son of the former president, who was honored at International Legislator of the Year.
We were also joined by honorable dignitaries from Namibia, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe and extend a special thank you to H.M. Rodney Sikumba, the Honorable Minister of Zambia’s Ministry of Tourism and H.E. Elsie Sia Kanza, the Tanzanian Ambassador to the U.S. for her attendance.
Events like this often attract demonstrators from anti-hunting groups who wish to impose their neo-colonialist beliefs on African and other countries. Surprisingly, the only thing we saw was a roadside billboard objecting to bear hunting. It is my understanding that the Humane Society of the US which is virulently anti-hunting had an “undercover investigator” sneak in. I will have a separate post of it.
The convention hotels in downtown Nashville were all very nice, convenient to the facility, and, dare I say it, expensive. We took an alternate route. We stayed at a Comfort Inn in Brentwood which includes breakfast and free WiFi. Even better was the road we took into downtown Nashville, US 31 aka Franklin Rd and 8th Ave, went directly to one side of the Music City Center which had plenty of parking for a set fee of $20. It was a 15-20 minute drive with no traffic jams. It might not work for you but it was great for us.
The SCI Convention will be in Nashville for the next two years and then switch to New Orleans for a year. The dates for the 2024 event are January 31st through February 3rd. If you can make it even for a day, it is worth it.
(I had planned to have this up much earlier and apologize for the delay. Some things had to be attended to when we got home and then my natural procrastination kicked in.)
The registration for the 2023 Safari Club International Convention is now open. The even will be held February 22nd through 25th in Nashville at the Music City Center. This is the convention center where the NRA has held their annual meetings in the past.
This will be the first SCI Convention to be held outside of Nevada since 1993. In their earliest years, they held some conventions in cities like Atlanta and Orlando. However, they were not a great success when compared to Las Vegas and Reno. I am hoping this year will be prove to be different.
The 2022 convention was fun in Las Vegas and we split our time between it and the SHOT Show. I enjoyed the exhibits as well as attending some of the seminars. Not wanting to be tempted, I skipped the auctions and banquets. All of that said, I’m excited that it will be held in a location to which I can easily drive and where I know my way around. I also like the timing of it as it won’t make the month of January jam-packed with events.
More information on the convention is below in their press release:
SCI’s preferred hotels for the 2023 Convention include Grand Hyatt Downtown, Hilton Nashville Downtown, Hyatt Place Downtown, JW Marriott Nashville, The Westin Nashville, Renaissance Nashville, and Omni Nashville. Please mention “SCI2023” or “Safari Club room block” when booking hotels over the phone to receive discounted pricing.
The Convention will showcase unique hunting opportunities on six continents, world-class taxidermy and art, and give manufacturers their first opportunity to demonstrate new products directly to consumers. Considered the “Ultimate Sportsmen’s Market,” the Convention also plays host to dozens of topical seminars presented by subject matter experts. Several hundred hunts, fishing trips, firearms, works of art, jewelry, and other items and services are offered at live and silent auctions, helping SCI raise hunter advocacy and conservation funds. Finally, you won’t want to miss out on the nightly banquets and world-class entertainment starring country music celebrities, hunting superstars, and much more!
Whether attendees are looking to book their dream hunt, scope out the latest firearms and gear, or find taxidermy inspiration, the SCI Annual Convention will impress with many exhibits and something for everyone!
To register for the 2023 SCI Annual Convention, visit https://showsci.org. To contact a registration agent, please dial 520-620-1220 or call toll-free at 888-746-9724.
UPDATE: I came across this teaser video on the 2023 SCI Convention. It is definitely well done.
The NRA Annual Meeting will be here before we know it. I made hotel reservations for the Complementary Spouse and myself a week ago. We’ll be out near the Nashville International Airport. This means a little bit of a drive in on I-40 but it shouldn’t be too bad. We are staying over until Monday so as to attend the Board of Directors meeting which will be a first for me.
It turns out we will be staying near a contingent of my Minnesota friends who have an Airbnb rental. I last some of them at a wedding in Las Vegas during the SHOT Show officiated by the Rev. Elvis Presley (or a facsimile thereof). This should be fun.
With all the fears of coronavirus, you do have to wonder if it will have an impact on the meeting and show. Given my experience coming home from the SHOT Show, it makes me quite glad that I’ll be driving.
Speaking of coronavirus, wash your hands! My friend Grant Gallagher from the Polite Society Podcast is a PhD immunologist and sent us this article on the persistence of coronavirus on “inanimate surfaces”. I can’t begin to understand most of the science. However, thanks to Grant’s translation from science-speak, it means that your average antibacterial soap won’t be that effective but alcohol based hand sanitizers like Purel and the like will be.
Grant calls this the key line in the abstract:
The analysis of 22 studies reveals that human coronaviruses such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus or endemic human coronaviruses (HCoV) can persist on inanimate surfaces like metal, glass or plastic for up to NINE DAYS.
Returning to a discussion of the NRA Annual Meeting, ballots for the Board of Directors election must be received by March 29th. That is a fraction more than a month away. As always, any NRA member is eligible to vote for the 76th Director if they are attending the NRA Annual Meeting. It has to be done in person.
You can review my recommendations for the Board election here. To reiterate, I only voted for Frank Tait and Graham Hill. You could vote for up to 31 candidates but why would you.
The bottom line is you need to vote if you are an eligible member. Too few people vote in these elections and you know the result by now. The average local election for dog catcher and coroner has a higher turnout than the NRA board election. That is a shame!
If you are headed to Nashville in April, I hope to see you there.
First off a disclaimer. I was not at the VCDL Lobby Day in Richmond on Monday. I was in Las Vegas at Industry Day at the Range. Secondly, I am not an expert on crowd estimation.
Numerous mediareports have said the attendance at Lobby Day was 22,000. They break it down to 7,000 within the fence and the remainder outside.
From VCDL Facebook Page
I spoke to both friends of mine that attended and Stephen Gutowski of the Free Beacon who have described the size of the crowd. On that estimate of 22,000, I am raising the BS flag.
Gutowski described to me some of the crowds in the side streets. One street was filled sidewalk to sidewalk for three blocks deep. Another 2-3 side streets had were packed similarly 1-2 blocks deep.
From VCDL Facebook Page
Officials in the Northam administration and their allies in the media would like you to believe the crowd really wasn’t as big as it actually was. If you throw out an exact number like 22,000, it sounds authoritative and the gullible media will go with it.
This is the converse of when the Demanding Moms and other gun control groups have events. There they stage photos to make the crowd look larger than it really is. The prime example is the NRA Annual Meeting that was held a few years ago in Nashville. The late Bob Owens called them out on it. They said 500 attended which the media reported and Bob showed how they staged the photo which actually had about 150 people in it.
From VCDL Facebook Page
I think when all is said and done, the crowd of gun rights supporters attending Lobby Day on Monday probably was double the official figure and approached 50,000. Whether Democrat legislators in Virginia will take notice and temper their plans is the real question.
One of the nation’s largest gun manufacturers, Remington Arms, has looked at sites around Nashville for a potential corporate relocation or expansion that would likely include hundreds of manufacturing jobs.
The Madison, N.C.-based company, which is part of the nation’s largest firearms company and has its largest plant in Ilion, N.Y, has scouted sites near Nashville’s airport, Lebanon and in Clarksville, Tenn.
Why Nashville?
According to the story, a plant in Middle Tennessee would place it between their plants in Lonoke, AR and Mayfield, KY. Moreover, it would only be a 2 hour drive to their technical and research center in Elizabethton, KY. They also have a distribution center run by a third party in Memphis.
Reports about Remington’s search for sites come as owners of large tracts of land and economic development officials said they’re seeing more corporate relocation and other prospects in Middle Tennessee. Within the past two months, local real estate investor and developer Bert Mathews has encountered unidentified prospects at his 180-acre Buchanan Point site near Nashville International Airport off Interstate 40.
They include a 50-acre user, a 10-acre user and other users that had sought space for a 250,000-square-foot building. “Everybody’s looking at Nashville,” said Mathews, also a past chairman of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.
Local and regional economic development officials were mum when asked about Remington’s search. “It is the policy of the Clarksville-Montgomery County Economic Development Council to refrain from discussing business recruitment projects, whether they be rumored or real,” said spokeswoman Robin Burton.
If Remington chooses to relocate operations from New York, it would add to the list of companies doing or planning to do so in part to protest stricter gun laws.
I should emphasize that these are only rumors but I doubt The Tennessean would have run a story specifically naming Remington Arms unless they had a solid source confirming the visits by Remington.
On the face of it, Middle Tennesse makes sense. You have engineering programs at Vanderbilt and Tennessee State along with engineering programs at Tennessee Tech, the University of Tennessee, and the University of Memphis which are within easy driving distance. You have a transportation hub with the intersection of Interstates 24, 40, and 65 and a good airport. And you have a gun-friendly, business-friendly right-to-work state.
What’s not to like about all of that if you are in the firearms industry?
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