Articles
50 Year Timeline
1971
Safari Club of Southern California evolved into Safari Club of Los Angeles, which formed Safari Club International. This new organization, SCI, was formerly incorporated as a non-profit the following year.
1973
SCI presented its first medallions for major awards at the Convention.
Safari Club International Conservation Fund (SCICF) was formed.
1975
SCI became involved in its first big advocacy campaign against CBS’ “Guns of Autumn” anti-gun “documentary.”
The American Wilderness Leadership School concept was launched by SCI Founder C.J. McElroy, with the help of three outfitters, each of whom hosted 20 to 25 students the first year.
1976
AWLS held a single session at the Box Y Ranch in Wyoming.
SCI President Andy Oldfield represented the United States at CITES.
SCICF and SCI Chapters presented the Mexican government two Toyota 4x4 vehicles for use by wardens and biologists in desert bighorn sheep work in Sonora.
1977
SCICF and SCI Chapters presented the Mexican government two 4x4 Ford Broncos for use in Baja California.
SCI Spain, the club’s first overseas Chapter, was formed.
SCI’s first environmental resolution was presented at an international wildlife symposium in Nairobi, Kenya protesting the countrywide ban on hunting.
SCI incoming President Carroll Mann met with U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus to discuss SCI’s objections to certain provisions of the Endangered Species Act.
1980
SCI formed its first Government Affairs Committee, and 27 of the 39 candidates supported by SCI-PAC in the 1980 elections won their races.
1982
SCI launched the Big Five Classic Masterpiece Collection of Rifles, elevating the value of custom firearms worldwide. Each year for five years, the amount paid for a Big Five rifle went up, from $41,000 the first year to $201,000 the fifth year.
1986
The first annual Awards issue of Safari Magazine was published.
1987
SCICF became involved with Becoming and Outdoors Woman.
1988
The International Wildlife Museum opened and served as SCI headquarters until they were moved to Washington, D.C. in 2018.
1991
Safari Times newspaper was founded.
1992
SCI held its first East Coast Convention at the Disney World Contemporary Resort in Orlando, Florida.
1994
Following hard work with Congress by SCI, U.S. President Bill Clinton signed into law amendments to the Marine Mammal Protection Act, allowing U.S. hunters to import legally taken Canadian polar bear trophies for the first time in 20 years.
1995
The SCI Convention News, a daily newspaper at the Convention, was approved.
1999
Safari Times Africa newspaper was founded.
SCI’s youth magazine Safari Cub began publication.
2002
SCI Founder C.J. McElroy died.
The SCIF/SCI Chancellor Washington Headquarters on Capitol Hill opened.
2003
HUNT FOREVER!, a full-color slick magazine to promote SCI’s hunter advocacy efforts to North American hunters was launched.
2004
Production began on SCI’s Expedition Safari television program.
2005
SCI launched the first global hunting effort to honor veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.
2006
Operation Freedom Safari was held in Botswana where SCI members Eric and Oksana Sparks joined Jim Zumbo in hosting wounded veteran Joe Tormala of Michigan.
Going into the midterm elections, SCI warned all hunters to be aware of deception involving a group that claimed to be mainline hunters and shooters. Such groups have come to be known as “decoy organizations” since they exist to decoy unassuming voters. Since then, there have been other decoy groups pop up from time to time.
2007
The United Nations voted to officially recognize SCIF as a non-governmental organization with consultative status.
2008
SCI filed a lawsuit challenging the listing of the polar bear as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act.
SCIF and several SCI Chapters transferred 56 wood bison from the Elk Island National Park in Alberta, Canada to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center to achieve the reintroduction of the wood bison to Alaska.
SCI initiates the annual Wildlife Law Course for lawyers at the Convention.
2009
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia addressed attorneys at SCI’s Second Annual Wildlife Law Course and then served as speaker for the Convention’s Saturday evening festivities.
SCI/SCIF prevented listing of the African lion as endangered after working with range states from southern and eastern Africa to defeat the proposal.
2010
SCI made its first foray into the U.S. Supreme Court in the matter of U.S. v. Stevens, a case testing the constitutionality of a federal law designed to criminalize depictions of animal cruelty. SCI filed an amicus (friend of the court) brief explaining how the law was so broadly written that it could actually criminalize videos of legal hunting activities. Not only did the U.S. Supreme Court agree with SCI’s position and vote 8-1 to strike down the law as unconstitutional, but the court specifically referenced SCI’s amicus brief as providing a key component of the basis for the court’s ruling.
Safari Times newspaper was made available online for members who wanted to read it in that format.
2011
SCI produced the Epic Outdoor Game Fair near Atlanta, Georgia.
2012
SCI Canada celebrated the end of the gun registry in Canada.
2013
Under the watchful eye of a live African lion, SCI raised more than $1.2 million in a single evening at the Convention to help fund efforts to save both the African lion and the hunting of that species.
SCI and SCIF celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the International Wildlife Museum in Tucson, Arizona.
2014
The United States Fish & Wildlife Service published a final rule that affirmed revisions made to existing regulations that control international trade in wildlife and plants protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). One of the many revisions included a new definition of the term “hunting trophy,” which characterized what is and what is not considered a hunting trophy by the United States.
Vicious attacks in social media against hunters hit new highs with efforts targeting SCI Member Kendall Jones, who received death threats, among many other threats. Such attacks continue, including a 2018 attack against SCI Member Brittany Longoria.
2015
Hunting and SCI were attacked viciously after an African lion that some called Cecil was killed by a bowhunter and SCI member in Zimbabwe.
2016
The SCI Record Book and World Hunting Awards Committee approved and then launched a new program called Game Birds of the World to encourage members to document their bird hunting adventures.
SCIF was formally accepted as a new member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the world’s largest environmental network and the global authority on species survival status.
2017
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke created the International Wildlife Conservation Council, which included a number of SCI officials and members.
2018
The SCI Board of Directors enthusiastically welcomed a new plan for Advocacy Communications that had been approved by the Executive Committee. The plan declared 14 specific principles to help enhance the effectiveness of SCI’s primary mission – protecting the freedom to hunt.
2019
The SCI World Heritage Rifle Series rifle honoring the Americas by John Bolliger’s Mountain Riflery brought $260,000 at the SCI Convention.
2020
COVID-19 pandemic set the world on its ear and negatively impacted hunting worldwide. SCI launched Share The Impact, an online effort that raised over a half-million dollars to help guides and outfitters who were devastated when entire hunting seasons were cancelled.
2021
Events across the country are cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. For the first time in its history, SCI is forced to cancel its annual convention.
The SCI Record Book records its 200,000th entry, making it the largest such documentation of species in the world at four times the size of the next largest book.