Today was a whirlwind of activity as the 38th Annual Safari Club International Hunter’s Convention kicked off to great fanfare as Governor Haley Barbour and SCI President Lawrence Rudolph cut the red ribbon and declared the convention open to the members. With over 25,000 members expected to attend this years convention the vendors, speakers and staff were abuzz with excitement.
This is my third trip to Reno as a press attendee to cover the convention floor and blog on the conservation issues that are effecting our hunting rights, heritage/traditions and wildlife across the world. Every year I am overwhelmed on the first day of the convention and this year was no different. After walking about a third of the event, I stepped off of the floor grabbed a great polish sausage and headed over to catch a seminar with Gil and Vicki Ash of ShotgunLife.com and I learned more about shotgun lead in 30 minutes then I have in a lifetime of shooting and do it yourself learning. I look forward to getting to spend some more time learning from Gil and Vicki and if you get the chance to see these two in action in a seminar or in one of thier great classes…Run dont walk… they are Exceptional.
Today was all about getting a feel for the show and getting to see some new products and vendors and tomorrow we will be sitting down and learning more and doing some interviews over the next couple of days. We did shoot some video today but the lack of firewire cable is preventing us from getting those videos posted until early next week.
We did get to spend a good amount of time in the Leupold Booth today playing with the new archery range finder the Vendetta. This great rangefinder attaches to your bow with a trigger and allows you automatically judge the distance with your top pin and then adjust accordingly so you never have to wonder whether you have the correct range. At a retail price of $299.00, I am hoping for one of these for my birthday. These are so new they are not even on the market yet.
We look forward to bringing you more SCI coverage and pictures as we make it through the week. We are having a blast living the Hunting Life!!!
