Rigby, Rungwa, Sable Trail Team For Mega-Auction Safari

John Rigby and Co., Rungwa Game Safaris, and Sable Trail Productions have teamed up to provide the ultimate Tanzanian Big Four Safari Package, and possibly the highest value donation package seen at SCI.

To celebrate the 275th anniversary of Rigby Rifles, Geoff Miller has donated a sidelock double rifle in .500 NE. World renowned engraver Lisa Jo Tomlin will engrave the rifle to the specifications of the winning bidder.

Additionally, a custom bolt rifle in .300 H & H, with quick detachable mounts has been made and fitted with two scopes. Both rifles will be housed in a custom-made oak and leather case, with tools and many more accessories.

Armed with these two beautiful rifles, Rungwa Game Safaris of Tanzania and its owner/operator Harpreet Brar has designed an adventure to maximize the opportunity for a truly successful Big Four Safari. Two Luxury Camps, one in Western Tanzania and one in the Selous, have been reserved at an optimum time (August 1 – 21, 2010) for the client’s use.

Starting in the West, the team will focus on lion and leopard, along with world-class sable, roan and east African kudu. Add a bait vehicle to assist in cat hunting, and the stage is set for a once in a lifetime experience. And there’s more!

Award-winning hunting personality, author and DVD producer Marc Watts has donated the use of his award-winning cameraman Kappie to capture on film the experience of a lifetime. Not only will a fully edited DVD be produced for the client, but much of the footage may be used for an upcoming television show. And that’s not it!

Marc will host the winner at his ranch outside of Chicago prior to the safari for an intense shooting session with the new rifles. This once in a lifetime Big Four Safari Package has a fair market value of $400,000.

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SCI Hunter’s Auction A Highlight Of Annual Convention

Every year Safari Club International contributes to dozens of conservation and hunter advocacy projects around the world through the success of the hunters’ auctions held each year during the annual SCI Convention. It is the world’s largest hunting auctions and one of the finest examples of the hunting and outdoor industry contributing to the future of their sport. All the proceeds from the auctions provide a major source of funding to conserve wildlife resources and habitat and protect the freedom to hunt.

Each year Convention exhibitors, donors, advertisers, and SCI corporate sponsors donate an incredible array of outstanding auction items. This year hundreds of items – ranging from dream hunts to fine artwork and jewelry to clothing and gear – valued at over $2 million are up for bidding at the SCI Annual Convention in Reno, Nevada, on January 20-23, 2010.

The auctions occur both day and night and they have something to offer any hunter and any budget. Leading the list of auction items for 2010 is a premier safari package offered by Rungwa Game Safaris. This package celebrates John Rigby & Company’s 275th anniversary and includes two new custom rifles, a 21-day Tanzania safari for lion, leopard, sable and roan. The winning bidder then moves to the Selous Game Reserve for elephant and buffalo. Award-winning hunting personality, author, and DVD producer Marc Watts of Sable Trail Productions will be on hand to film the safari. Estimated value of his package is $400,000.

There are also some great fishing trips on this year’s list of auction items. An 8-day trout and salmon fishing trip for two anglers in the Chilean Patagonia has been donated by Nomads of the Seas. Luxury accommodations are provided aboard the Atmosphere, one of the Nomads’ fleet that comes with a crew of thirty-two and serves as a mother ship for a Bell Ranger 407 helicopter, six Rogue jet boats, a Zodiac Hurricane 920 RIB, and more than fifty strategically located McKenzie drift-boats. This trip is valued at $35,700.

The SCI auctions always feature a variety of original artwork and jewelry and the 2010 Convention continues the tradition. Artwork includes original oil paintings and bronzed sculptures from notable outdoor artists and galleries. One of the premier items of jewelry has been donated by Winston’s Estate Jewelry. It is a lady’s 14 karat, yellow gold Madeira citrine quartz and diamond enhancer/pendant valued at more than $27,000.

The live and a silent auctions include a variety of more affordable items such as taxidermy gift certificates, guns, ammunition, optics and clothing with values as low as $30. No matter what a hunter’s budget or needs, there are some great values and bargains to be found at the 2010 Convention. All the proceeds from the auctions provide a major source of funding to conserve wildlife resources and habitat and protect the freedom to hunt.

For a complete listing and description of the auction items up for bid at the 2010 Convention, visit www.showsci.com. For anyone wanting to attend the Convention, complete information is also available at the SCI website, where you can find a complete of exhibitors, seminars and schedule of events.

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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SCI Feed the Hungry Feast Hosts 1,980 in Reno

The 38th annual SCI Hunters’ Convention opened Tuesday night with the 11th annual “Feed the Hungry Feast” at the Reno Events Center in downtown Reno. The Sportsmen Against Hunger (SAH) program helped to serve 1,980 meals of elk meatloaf, salad, mixed vegetables, mashed potatoes, bread and cake for dessert to the hungry of Reno. 800 pounds of Roosevelt elk and beef was provided by the SCI Northern Nevada Chapter and Multiple Use Managers.

Some 90 SCI volunteers, who arrive early each year, help to serve the food and work on the serving lines. SCI past president Merle Shepard was among those who spent the evening on the serving line providing food for the hungry.

The other 70-plus volunteers who helped to serve are from The Salvation Army Advisory Board, Wells Fargo, Kiwanis Sunrisers and Boy Scout Troop 152. The High Sierra Chefs Association helped to prepare the food for the evening’s event.

Sportsmen Against Hunger has worked with The Salvation Army since 1999 when it was held at the Reno Fairgrounds and served around 300 meals to the hungry. Over the years the event has grown tremendously and has become one of the major events to help the citizens of Reno.

Longtime sponsors who give every year are The Salvation Army, C& M Food Distributors, the Eldorado Hotel & Casino, Model Dairy, SportsServices, Truckee Sourdough, Sysco and the Reno Sheriff’s Department.

Anyone interested in helping next year, please contact Eva Wilson, SCI Foundation Humanitarian Services Manager at (520) 620-1220, Ext. 480 or e-mail ewilson@safariclub.org.

By Steve Rilenge
Sportsmen Against Hunger Co-Chair

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SCI Inks Deal with Reno for Convention in 2013, 2015

At a joint press conference Tuesday morning, Safari Club International and the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority announced that the SCI annual Hunters’ Convention will return to Reno in 2013 and 2015. The announcement was good news for the Reno-Sparks communities and for SCI.

Ellie Oppenheim, president and CEO of the RSCVA, opened the press conference by welcoming SCI back to Reno for the 8^th consecutive year for an event that is anticipated by everyone in the community from hotels and restaurants to shops and cab drivers.

“SCI is very excited that we’re coming back to Reno in 2013 and 2015,” said Larry Rudolf, SCI president. “We love this town and it has truly become our home away from home. It’s a great venue for our members, exhibitors and corporate sponsors.”

Reno was not the only venue that SCI was considering, but Skip Donau, SCI Site Selection Chairman, explained that through the efforts of the RSCVA and local business leaders “they made us an offer we couldn’t refuse, so we look forward to bring the Convention back here to Reno.”

Reno Mayor Robert Cashell thanked SCI for all the contributions it has made to the community and in particular the annual Sportsman Against Hunger Feast.  Sparks Mayor Geno Martini, echoed the sentiment and said, “It’s a great way to start 2010 and good news for the entire community.”

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Asian Conservation Projects Reported by SCIF

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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SCIF Conservation Report Highlights African Projects

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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