Winter is a time for planning those bucket-list adventures, and there’s no better place to sample first hand the tremendous variety of the world’s hunting opportunity than the Safari Club International Convention, being held February 4–7 in Las Vegas. Expect to see unbelievable taxidermy and the best in outdoor art and jewelry, and get a chance to speak personally with hunting experts from around the globe. What is SCI and how does it compare as a hunting organization for Americans? Jason Reid does a great job of depicting SCI’s critical hunting advocacy role in this post from Ammoland.

Like many of you, I’ve seen the Safari Club International (SCI) advertisements, I’ve watched SCI’s Expedition Safari on Outdoor Channel, and the Shockey clan’s adventures on their own show.

I have had an external understanding of what SCI does for all of us for a long time and have held admiration and respect for the organization.

However, in order to best serve the organization and its members at the annual show next month as a press member, I needed to have to gain a deeper understanding of SCI, what they do globally and how they serve their members and others around the world.

After looking through the website, I realized quickly, there was no way to report the entire reach and impact of SCI in one blog. But I did realize, they mean what they say: “First For Hunters”.

From the Safari Club International About page, the organization started at a grass roots level between a group of people in Los Angles and Chicago in the early 70’s which now encompasses 190 global chapters and around 55,000 members. As someone who works in sales and marketing, the importance of starting at the grass roots level resonates with me.

The grass roots beginning means a strong sense of loyalty and driven purpose from the core leadership which extends to everyone apart of the organization.