AHC#19 Welcome to SCI | african-hunter

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"Welcome to SCI"

By Tanganhamo

“Some of these Clark Gables are so “Rambo'd up” in their safari gear that it would not surprise me in the least if I spied one of the “well knowns” ambling around the convention with their trusty double balanced nonchalantly over a shoulder!”

If you are a hunter, and you've never attended a Safari Club Convention, then you're missing out on a truly memorable show. It is well worth seeing. From a safari operator or professional hunter's perspective – you're out there meeting people. You're talking to your old clients, you're talking to potential new clients, you're talking to booking agents, and you're talking to other operators with whom you may be able to do business – you're out there in a buzzing, moving mass of hunters. Our people. From the sportsman hunter's perspective – you could be there to purchase a safari. Maybe you're there to meet up with your PH and just visit. Maybe you're there to collect your “Second level medal with fifty-third pin of your Golden Pinnacle achievement double diamond award” – you've come to be recognised!

It's some show this, I tell you. It's said that more than twenty five thousand people attend this show. Apart from the safari
outfitters selling hunts and excursions, there's a huge selection of quality products on display. New gadgets, guns, artwork, clothing, vehicles, curios, books – the list is endless. It's all there. Expensive, but its all there.

I swear that I have seen one fellow lecturing a group of staring potential clients, whilst wearing a leather “shooting glove” on his left hand! Oh how we laughed.

And here's another winner – hunting shirts with the sleeves ripped off! Beautiful! I wonder where the “sleeveless shirt” look started. I mean, you can purchase a good sleeveless jacket if you want one – why on earth would you tear your sleeves off your perfectly good hunting shirt? Of course if you're not only a professional hunter, but a weightlifter too, then you will need to display those serious guns of yours – and what better place to do it than at the convention! “Hey Jim, why don't you book your hunt with Joe here, look at his muscles! Man I'm telling you, he's some hunter.”

Well, maybe this is a tiny bit embellished. But not much.

This brief description of some of the things you might see at the convention prompts me to mention two things. First, that the SCI Show is wonderful. Its gaudy, it's over the top. It's American. It's also perfectly organised, its run with precision and it brings together the biggest group of hunters on the planet. It's well worth a visit.

And the people! What an interesting colourful, moving herd. A herd comprising the seriously wealthy, the wealthy, the upper middle income, and of course the rest of us. One of the aspects of the convention which I always look forward to, is the entertainment gleaned by observing this kaleidoscopic herd move by. If you have ever been to a reunion of your old military unit, or if you've ever attended a meeting at your local MOTH shell-hole, then you will have seen the old medals, the old campaign caps, the occasional worn out old combat jacket or smart beret which has been called out of retirement, dusted off, and seated reverently on the white head of an old campaigner. (You may have even donned some of these yourself!) And so it is at the hunting convention. Safari gear gets dusted off and brought out for the big day. You're in Las Vegas, in the good ol’ US of A, in the middle of winter, in one of the biggest, glitziest convention centres many of us have ever seen – and here come the hunters. Splendid zebrabanded veldt hats! Natty green bush jackets complete with bullet loops! Trendy top-of-the-line jungle boots! Eighty percent of the folks here are wearing khaki of some description. There is more khaki on display here than the Anzacs wore in Gallipoli! It's wonderful! There goes a leopard! Sorry, no, it's a lady – a perfectly groomed knockout in a leopard print dress.

I believe that many potential first-time safari clients have the completely wrong idea about Africa and its professional hunters. Many of the PH's they meet at the various shows are big name extrovert “Hollywood” PH's. And these folks need to know that there is another completely different kind of character out there. He doesn't tear his sleeves off, he's not a body builder, he wears normal everyday work clothes – maybe he was at the convention, but he was in jeans and golf shirt. Maybe he looked like someone who lives down the street from you and you didn't notice him.

But he's been out there in the bush a long time. He's not the loud man at the fire. He's not the one with the inexhaustible string of jokes. He doesn't wear jewellery, and he doesn't claim to be the biggest or the best. But without him, African safaris would be a very different thing. He is the resilient backbone of the African safari tradition. And there are many of him. He just needs to be found.

So next time you're sitting down at the fire after a long hard day in the bush, full of fun, and adventure and excitement, and you've poured yourself a reward, take a moment to drink a small toast to the Rob Oostindiens of Caborra Bassa, the John Hunts of Gwanda, the Alex Ishabakakis of Tanzania. There's many of them out there, the quiet men of Africa. We salute you.

But it's not only the hunters having fun parading their safari gear. Oh no. The operators, the agents, the professional hunters, they're out there too, all dressed up (or some of them are anyway!) as if they've just stepped down from the old Cruiser, or maybe down off the veranda at Riley's in northern Botswana. And this is the part I love. Some of these Clark Gables are so “Rambo'd up” in their safari gear that it would not surprise me in the least if I spied one of the “well knowns” ambling around the convention with their trusty double balanced nonchalantly over a shoulder! If it were legal, I'm absolutely certain that we would see it – I can see him now, stalking through the aisles, ready for the charge, you can almost hear the cameras running as they record our hero's noble movements!

Okay, maybe they don't carry their doubles at the show. But everything else. Elephant hair bracelets, big gaudy ivory bangles, hippo hide bangles, camouflage bandannas, lion claw necklaces. Man, this is impressive stuff.

The second thing is the “forgotten” professional hunter. That's not the right word. Let's say – professional hunter who is not well known – who operates well away from the limelight.

In any business, there are numerous ways in which a product can be marketed. It's no different in hunting. Brochures, DVD's, websites, slide shows, presentations, eye-catching advertisements in magazines, booths at shows, photo albums, repetition of names in record books – many different ways. Some hunters (like those mentioned previously) utilise what some of us call “the Hollywood affect”. They're eye catching, they're different, they're “in your face” their operation is the biggest and the best, they rely on a constant barrage of high profile behaviour to stay in the focus of attention. And I say hats off to them. If this helps them stay at the top of the pile, if it helps them in their business – I say well done. If some of these guys are seen having to feed an insatiable ego, so what? We're all different. And there are folks out there who “feed” off “celebrities”. They crave to be seen with the big names, they need to be able to drop a few famous names into conversation when chatting with their friends. So it follows then these people are drawn like filings to a magnet to the “Hollywood” hunters.

But watching this whole merry-go-round at work reminded me of a very succinct paragraph which I read in the outstanding book “African Hunter 11” written by Craig Boddington and Peter Flack. Near the beginning of that book there is a section about booking a safari. In that section, the writer covers all the pitfalls, the smoke and mirrors, and gives many pertinent words of advice.

The paragraph that stuck in my mind, reads, “Do keep in mind that some of the best outfitters go about their business quietly, seldom showing up at self-aggrandizing hunting shindigs or in magazines or The Hunting Report nor do they need to give out freebies or discounts to gun writers or owners of hunting newsletters. They are too busy hunting. They fill their season, year in and year out, by word of mouth and repeat customers.”