The Shooting Village at Safari Club International Foundation and Quail Unlimited’s EPIC Outdoor Game Fair will offer unique and broad hands-on opportunities for Game Fair participants. Headlined by Shooting Sportsman Magazine, Beretta, Laser Shot and John Rigby & Co, the shooting sports program will fulfill every aspect of the event’s goal to foster Education, Participation, Instruction, and Competition. The EPIC Outdoor Game Fair will run from September 23-25, 2011 at the Foxhall Resort & Sporting Club outside of Atlanta, GA.

Legendary shotgunner and sporting clays course designer, Marty Fischer, is helping to organize the shooting components of EPIC Outdoor Game Fair and is designing the new, 15-station championship sporting clays course at Foxhall. The shooting village will cater to every level of shooting sports enthusiasts. From complete novices who will receive an introduction to the shooting sports from some of the top shotgun instructors, to experts looking to shoot a Marty Fischer course, to gun collectors and wingshooters searching for unique shooting opportunities, this event will have it.

“The course that I’m designing at Foxhall will truly be first class and will be one of the finest courses in the country – and I’ve built a bunch of them,” Fischer stated. “With this course, the Beretta 5-Stand and Wobble Trap areas and the Laser Shot simulators, as well as the unique capability to test fine guns that will be available in the Shooting Sportsman Fine Guns and Wing Shooting Pavilion, we are creating one of the most comprehensive shooting areas open to the public at any sportsmen’s show.”

Equally enthusiastic is Shooting Sportsman magazine that will headline the Fine Guns and Wing Shooting Pavilion within the shooting village. Featured within that Pavilion will be some of the top fine gun manufacturers, including John Rigby & Co., as well as wing shooting lodges from around the world. Associate Publisher, Terry Bombeke, says that the ability to work with such well-established groups as SCIF and QU were his draw to taking a lead role on the event.

“Our goal was to consolidate the wing shooting and fine gun area so that all of these companies can exhibit together in one defined space featuring the best in guns and wing shooting opportunities around the world,” Bombeke commented. “We believe that combining our brand, that brings a readership of over 60,000, with the broad memberships of SCI and QU, will make EPIC Outdoor Game Fair a one-of-a-kind, must-attend event.”
“The EPIC Outdoor Game Fair’s goal of introducing the next generation to sporting traditions, and ensuring our future in the outdoors, is important. Rigby fully supports the new EPIC concept, and we’ve been pleased to be able to watch this idea develop and be put into action,” said John Reed, President of Rigby Ventures. “The Game Fair is designed to add new dimensions of participation to sports shows, where attendees can touch, feel, and even use a variety of sporting products instead of just seeing them on the store shelf. We are pleased to be able to bring a little ‘Rigby Tradition’ to this fine event.”

Although Game Fair participants will be allowed to bring in their own, cased guns to shoot the courses, Beretta U.S.A. will be providing shotguns at the wobble trap and 5-stand areas for those who would like to try something different. In addition, Beretta will be featuring its Trident Program that rates lodges around their world for their sporting amenities by bringing in some of its accredited lodges to exhibit at the event.

“Beretta is excited to be a part of the EPIC Game Fair and continue its partnership with SCIF,” said Carlton Nether, Shoots and Events Manager for Beretta USA. “We look forward to making this one of our premier events every year.”

Beyond traditional shotgunning opportunities will be a simulator area, sponsored by Laser Shot, Inc., where Game Fair attendees will have the chance to virtually “hunt” on some of the most challenging (and basic!) computer simulations. Laser Shot is renowned for its hunter education as well as military and tactical training simulators.

“Laser Shot is excited about the opportunity to participate in the Epic Outdoor Game Fair Event with SCIF and QU as a sponsor showcasing new laser detection technology and games,” concluded Alan Winslette, Laser Shot Vice-President & COO.

More information about the event and sponsor opportunities is available on the EPIC Game Fair website, www.epicgamefair.org or our blog, epicgamefairblog.org.

Safari Club International Foundation (SCIF) is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that funds and manages worldwide programs dedicated to wildlife conservation, outdoor education, and humanitarian services. Since 2000, SCIF has provided $47 million to these causes around the world. Visit www.safariclubfoundation.org for more.

Quail Unlimited® is the oldest national, nonprofit conservation organization dedicated to the management of America’s wild quail. Known as “America’s Leader In Quail Conservation SM,” our overall vision is to restore America’s quail populations for future generations. Our core values include the wise stewardship of our land and its resources, and the continuation of our proud heritage of conservation, therefore, leaving a legacy and firm foundation for our youth and families to build upon. Visit www.qu.org.

In the last decade, Safari Club International has spent $140 million on protecting the freedom to hunt through advocacy, research and education to ensure that the hunting heritage is accessible for future generations. These programs benefit hunters throughout North American, and the majority of the work is funded with proceeds from its Annual Hunter’s Convention,  January 20-23 in Reno, Nevada.

Through direct involvement and partnerships with other conservation organizations, SCI contributes to dozens of projects in the United States and Canada every year. Earlier this year, Safari Club International Foundation (SCIF) and Mossy Oak joined forces to help ensure healthy white-tail deer populations throughout North America. They have provided funding for white-tailed deer research at the University of Georgia and the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study.

The project will investigate reasons for expansion of epizootic hemorrhagic disease viruses (EHDV) and bluetongue viruses (BTV), better define the impacts of these viruses on deer populations, and then develop recommendations to control and curtail spread of the diseases if possible. The research findings will be shared with the hunting public and wildlife professionals to better maintain healthy white-tailed deer populations throughout North America.

On the West Coast, SCI’s efforts also contributed to the successful vote by the California Fish and Game Commission against extending the current lead ammunition ban for big game hunting to the hunting of small game and upland birds in so-called condor “range.” SCI filed comments that agreed with the finding of the California Fish and Game Department that the extension of the ban was not supported by the science.

The participation of Safari Club International (SCI) in a federal lawsuit has helped ensure that hunters in Idaho and Montana can continue hunting wolves under state seasons. The Montana federal court denied a preliminary injunction requested by Defenders of Wildlife and other plaintiffs who sued to stop the hunting season, and to challenge the delisting of Idaho and Montana’s wolves.

SCI was also instrumental in successfully challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s ban on the import of polar bears from Canada. When the FWS listed the polar bear as threatened in May 2008, it also determined that imports of polar bear legally hunted from approved populations in Canada would no longer be allowed, as they had been for the previous 12 years. In June, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rebuffed the FWS’s attempt to have SCI’s lawsuit dismissed without full briefing on the merits.

Another key research project funded by SCI involves the decline of woodland caribou in northern Quebec and Labrador. The caribou herds are vital to the local Inuit and Cree Indians who hunt them for subsistence, but also rely on income generated from guiding and outfitting hunters. Early indications have shown that loss of habitat and predation by black bears are two crucial factors that need to be addressed in order to preserve this resource and hunting opportunity.

These are just a few examples of the conservation efforts in North America that are made possible through the generous support of its Convention exhibitors, donors, advertisers, members and corporate sponsors. For more information on these and other conservation projects in North America, visit the SCI web site at www.safariclub.org.

SCI-First For Hunters is the leader in protecting the freedom to hunt and in promoting wildlife conservation worldwide. SCI’s approximately 190 Chapters represent all 50 of the United States as well as 18 other countries. SCI’s proactive leadership in a host of cooperative wildlife conservation, outdoor education and humanitarian programs, with the SCI Foundation and other conservation groups, research institutions and government agencies, empowers sportsmen to be contributing community members and participants in sound wildlife management and conservation. Visit the home page www.safariclub.org or call (520) 620-1220 for more information.

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The Safari Club International Foundation (SCIF) issued a report during the SCI Convention on its conservation, education, and humanitarian projects around the world. Among the highlights were Asian projects benefiting the snow leopard, saiga antelope, and argali sheep.

Snow Leopard

The SCIF snow leopard project was initiated to estimate snow leopard abundance, population age structure, recruitment, survival and causes of mortality, home range and movement patterns, food availability and other variables in the Altay-Kayan-Sayan region of Siberia. Now in the third year of the project, the Russian Academy of Science has partnered with the project and is up-scaling the research effort. New information will be collected from ARGOS satellite collars that will be put on captured snow leopards. The project will also
produce an environmental assessment for snow leopard habitat quality to determine whether management of natural resources or game species is necessary to improve snow leopard habitat.

Argali Sheep

SCIF completed its scientific review of argali sheep, testing DNA and using morphometrics (body size measurements) to properly classify species of sheep and to validate the extent and composition of surveyed sheep subpopulations. The taxonomic status of many sheep populations in central Asia was unclear and controversial, and this research has provided a clear way to classify different sheep species. As it turns out, the most useful body measurements taken to differentiate between species are of the lacrimal pit depth, the direction of horn twisting, and the presence of the first premolar.

Efforts continue to work with central Asian countries on issues related to argali sheep management, including hunting. We have confirmation from the Tajikistan government that they will endorse SCIF’s argali survey efforts and SCIF will be finalizing research plans in the next few months. This success is largely due to Safari Club’s Washington, DC staff developing a working relationship with the Embassy of the Republic of Tajikistan in Washington, DC.

SCIF recently partnered with Grand Slam Club/Ovis to support a survey of argali in Mongolia by researcher Mike Frisina of Montana. Field work has been completed and a report is being prepared.

Saiga Antelope

SCIF concluded its support of the saiga antelope project. For many years, poachers and the commercial sale of saiga horn were blamed for the regional decline of the species. The decline is one of the most dramatic in all land mammals. Results from habitat studies now show that poaching was only a small part of an ecosystem problem.

Changes in saiga habitat are now thought to be the leading cause in the decline. Nutritionally poor plant species such as needle grass and feather grass have replaced the plant species saiga rely on for food. These species now comprise 70-90% of the above ground plant biomass in saiga habitat. The sudden shift in plant species, large-scale fires in the grassland steppe, and dry summers have deprived saiga of adequate forage. In addition to this stress, high poaching levels dramatically reduced the number of mature males in the population. These factors compounded, among others, and the saiga population crashed.

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Safari Club International Foundation, which funds and manages wildlife conservation projects, outdoor education, and humanitarian services worldwide, reported on its projects in Africa during the SCI Convention in Reno. Among the highlights of the report:

Rhinoceros

SCIF is working to connect hunting with conservation and enhancement of black rhinoceros. Namibia has the most progressive black rhino management program in Africa and has the CITES-approved ability to auction 5 (five) black rhino hunts as part of their management program. In 2009, an American hunter took one of these hunts, thus creating a need for the USFWS to approve the importation of the first black rhino trophy into the United States in decades. This issue is significant because the black rhinoceros is listed as Endangered on the Endangered Species Act, and thus would require the hunter to demonstrate that the harvest of the animal enhanced the species.

SCIF assisted the Government of Namibia to provide critical information about their rhinoceros management program to the USFWS to show how the hunting of a single rhinoceros can enhance the black rhinoceros population. SCI and SCIF submitted official comments to the USFWS in support of importing the black rhinoceros. Also, SCIF’s DC staff worked to garner support from twenty-six like-minded organizations on the request to import the black rhinoceros hunting trophy. If the importation is approved, it will be the first recognition by the USFWS that the taking of an animal can enhance a species. This issue demonstrates how the use of a natural resource promotes the betterment and sustainability of that resource. Many other species will benefit from success in this issue.

African Lion

As researchers completed a SCIF-funded population survey and review of national lion status in Mozambique, plans were already underway to conduct a similar project in Tanzania. Efforts to attract conservation partners to the project were successful, and funding was obtained for the entire project as the result of generous contributions from SCIF, Tanzania Game Tracker Safaris, Gerald and Eric Pasinisi of Tanganyika Wildlife Safaris, and the SCI NC Triangle Chapter.

While the SCIF Tanzania Lion Project continues, SCIF is working to help Mozambique complete the remaining step, which is to finalize a national lion management plan. SCIF sponsored and participated in Mozambique’s national lion workshop which intended to produce the plan and will sponsor Tanzania’s workshop when they are ready to develop their plan.

AWCF

The 8th annual African Wildlife Consultative Forum (AWCF) was attended by fourteen countries including the USFWS, six NGOs, and nine professional hunting associations to focus on African lion, leopard, and CITES issues. Since the meeting was held in November, after the submission deadline for listing proposals, all proposals being considered for action at the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP15) to CITES in March were available and discussed.

Significant at the meeting were CITES proposals on elephants and rhinoceros. Tanzania and Zambia are trying to downlist elephants from CITES Appendix I to Appendix II, and Kenya, Ghana, Congo and others are proposing to ban all trade in elephant ivory for the next 20 years. Kenya is also proposing stricter rhinoceros enforcement measures. Also significant at the AWCF meeting were range state presentations on the management of leopards, another cat species that has attracted the attention of conservation groups. Progress reports were given on all work regarding the African lion. It appears that SCIF’s continued population surveys and efforts on lion conservation and management plans have paid off; no CITES listing proposals concerning the African lion were submitted.

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