By Sven K. Lindquist, SCI President
With the pandemic pretty much in the rear-view mirror, we can now all celebrate the beginning of the safari season in the Southern Hemisphere. For the past couple of years, international hunting has been hamstrung by everything from quarantines to interrupted air travel. This is the time to break out and begin the trip back to “normalcy,” whatever that means to each member. We hunters are at our best when we are hunting and when we are fighting anti-hunters. This means that now is the time to be out hunting, to be planning a hunt, or both.
It is crucial that we support the hunting industry around the world. Face it, absent SCI, international hunting today would not be what it is. SCI was the impetus that expanded global hunting into a major industry and SCI is here to help keep that proud tradition alive.
Many of the guides and outfitters around the world have suffered tremendously from the pandemic, which literally halted most, if not all, hunting in many areas around the world.
The way all members can help hunting overall, and guides and outfitters directly, is to go hunting. As the world opens up, go on that dream hunt. It is a way for each member individually to do something that is enjoyable and that will help our friends and colleagues, the guides and outfitters, get back on an even keel.
As I mentioned at the outset, the second way we hunters are most effective is when we are fighting the anti-hunters who want to end our way of life. SCI fights for hunters’ rights every single day, everywhere in the world.
To do this, SCI operates with a combination of volunteer leadership and a supporting professional staff. We are deliberate, thorough and efficient in supporting our mission to protect the freedom to hunt and promote wildlife conservation worldwide.
It is at our Board of Directors meetings during the year that the future of this organization is decided. Strategies to save hunting and conserve wildlife are decided by the Board of Directors and then the operational tactics to put them in place are executed by the professional staff.
The May Board of Directors meeting each year is where a lot of the official business of SCI is addressed — everything from the election of officers to approval of the annual budget.
SCI Board of Directors meetings are open to all SCI members. I invite all members to attend at least one Board of Directors meeting to be able to understand better how this magnificent organization really works.
And I invite all members to become more active in SCI. Whether it is locally with a Chapter or internationally via the Board of Directors, your help is both needed and appreciated.
SCI’s real strength is its membership. When we all work together toward common goals, we can achieve great things. And saving hunting while conserving wildlife are great things.
Regardless of what you do between now and next February, plan to attend the SCI Convention on February 22-25, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. We’re looking forward to having a great time in Music City.
