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It seems that more often than not the threads on AR that deal with SCI have some negative component to them, e.g., the decline in the quality of the Safari magazine, the lack of concern with the national management over issues experienced by exhibitors at the annual convention, concerns over how inclusive the organization is for all hunters, etc. I will be the first to concede that many of those gripes are legitimate and I have myself expressed those same views. But there is another side of SCI that all to often goes unnoticed. Today I spent the day at the SCI Houston Hunter Education course. In Texas all hunters born after a certain date have to go through a hunter education program in order to hunt unaccompanied by an adult. The SCI Houston course is a one and a half day course sponsored by the local chapter of SCI. SCI Houston completely underwrites the cost of the program, there is no cost to the attendees. Today there were approximately 200 attendees, ranging in age from pre-teens to adults. The attendees were served a catered barbeque lunch. There were caps, shirts, DVDs and gift cards that were given out at lunch through a drawing. During the breaks there was a sensory safari exhibit with mounts from all over the world for the students to look at, touch, photograph. Tomorrow a deer hunt and rifle, among other items, will be given away in a drawing. SCI Houston has done this for many years. This year I paid attention to it because I joined the board. In previous years I was blissfully ignorant of its existence. I am sure that other regional chapters are similarly engaged in local activities. I guess I would make two points based on the foregoing. One, if you are a member of SCI and would like to see things changed at SCI, get involved. The only way things stand any possibility of changing is through member involvement and action. Two, we need to remember when we are pointing out issues or concerns with SCI, that as Paul Harvey would say, there is always the rest of the story. In discussing issues, problems and concerns, let's not lose sight of the fact that the organization and its regional chapters really do give back to the sport. Mike | ||
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Mike: Good post. There is no doubt local chapters do good things and are filled with good people. But, the national headquarters does not give a crap about the membership--so getting involved will do nothing. How many members here on AR tried to contact the head office and were ignored? SCI national seems to be a club that rakes in volunteerism and money and they are happy with that. I would love to get involved with the local chapter but stay away as I have to join the national chapter, too. I wish the Alaska chapters would combine and drop out of the national SCI and go it on their own as did Houston and Dallas. Only with a loss of revenue with the national big wigs take notice. Cheers, mate. Cal _______________________________ Cal Pappas, Willow, Alaska www.CalPappas.com www.CalPappas.blogspot.com 1994 Zimbabwe 1997 Zimbabwe 1998 Zimbabwe 1999 Zimbabwe 1999 Namibia, Botswana, Zambia--vacation 2000 Australia 2002 South Africa 2003 South Africa 2003 Zimbabwe 2005 South Africa 2005 Zimbabwe 2006 Tanzania 2006 Zimbabwe--vacation 2007 Zimbabwe--vacation 2008 Zimbabwe 2012 Australia 2013 South Africa 2013 Zimbabwe 2013 Australia 2016 Zimbabwe 2017 Zimbabwe 2018 South Africa 2018 Zimbabwe--vacation 2019 South Africa 2019 Botswana 2019 Zimbabwe vacation 2021 South Africa 2021 South Africa (2nd hunt a month later) ______________________________ | |||
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Mike:  | |||
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Thank you Mike. As with most things in life, there is some good to be had if you look for it. Glad to hear of the positive things being done by the local chapters. LORD, let my bullets go where my crosshairs show. Not all who wander are lost. NEVER TRUST A FART!!! Cecil Leonard | |||
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Very nice Mike. Stand by for the flame storm coming from those who prefer to throw peanuts from the gallery instead of jumping into the ring themselves to sweat and bleed in an attempt to make improvements. Congrats to your chapter for the efforts they are making to increase our hunter base numbers and spread the word that hunters are the true conservationists. And kudos to you for getting personally involved. | |||
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I was proud of 2 players at CITES in Thailand early last year: SCI and The Canadian Government. I was surprised by he latter, but expected the former. Any other player's work there you found laudable? | |||
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Larry, get your head out of the sand, that is part of the reason why real meaningful change at SCI is likely to never happen -- members that are either apathetic or in denial. If you really believe that the activities of SCI are not dominated by US members and a predominately US executive committee, you are the one with something to learn about SCI. If international groups within the organization held any influence, one would suspect that the annual convention might be held somewhere other than in the US once every few years. SCI lists three international directors out of twenty two directors. I can call myself a genius but the sad reality is that does not make me one (evidence me arguing with you). Any group can claim to be "international", but judge them not by what they say but by how they operate. I stand by what I alluded to initially, in my view, it is the national organization of SCI that has lost sight of its mission and what is important to its members. Mike | |||
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Aren't the winners of the Wold Series and the Superbowl "World Champions"?  | |||
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Gents, For folk like those on this forum, the $65 annual membership or the $1000 Life membership is hardly an issue. The real question should be one of perceived value. Don't like the magazine? Donate it to any shool, library, or doctor's office that will take it. Don't like the Convention? Don't go, unless you are an exhibitor, in which case you have to do your own math and determine the personal cost/benefit scenario. But please tell me what other hunter-advocacy organization there is that has a year-round lobbying presence in D.C., and is a qualified NGO at both the UN and CITES? Granted, SCI does those things whether you are a member or not, but I refer back to the old saw from the '60s that says , "If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem." By all means, do your own thinking about the value of an SCI membership, but for me, the lobbying presence alone is worth far more than the membership cost. And, for the record, I don't personally like the mag's new direction, or the move to Vegas. Respectfully yours, Tim | |||
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I find SCI a positive organization for hunters and their interests in my area. I'm a member and I support them. I'm having a party this Saturday for a small group of SCI members. I'm looking forward to it. Companions with shared interests. | |||
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Larry, while I agree that SCI is an international organization, and that referring to the Tucson office as "National HQ" is wrong, you are just arguing semantics. I think its pretty obvious what or who the folks that complain of "National" are complaining about, whether or not the proper statement is "International HQ." The point is several members here (Cal being notable) are very vocal about how they feel the organization is being mismanaged. Mike is making a positive step and doing things "in the system," and hopefully he will get to sit on the board at some point and change things. I've been relatively vocal on my support for SCI. I do think they are having a PR problem here in the US by not being as transparent to the membership as we would like; a valid point, as is the one that states that if you want change, complaining at AR isn't going to have much effect. Like the grammar Nazi's tend to distract from a thread, so do the people who pick nits on the proper terminology. (clip/magazine, anyone?) | |||
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Exactly. Mike | |||
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Gentlemen, there is no doubt that SCI does a lot of good for the over all support of hunting world wide. For that reason alone I have been a continuous member almost since it’s founding as an international hunting organization. My only problem with SCI is it prices over 80 % of hunters out of participating in conventions by the very high cost of access to the convention, and closes it’s doors to those who are not members. This, IMO, negates the recruiting of new membership by the common deer hunter showing the wonders of world wide hunting to his youngsters, at less the $100 per day on the convention floor. In my opinion that alone makes SCI an elitist organization, at least at the convention by effectively cutting out the occasional hunter, as well as those that are on the fence about hunting. A person who is just on the fence isn’t going to pay the high door fee, and a $65 membership to simply have one day visit to the floor. While being on that floor may change him into a participating hunter, and spread the word for hunting, he is basically excluded. Though I have been a continuous member of SCI for more years that some hunters have been alive, I have never been to one of the conventions simply because I believe the requiring of membership, and the high price of admission is designed to exclude some folks. I can afford to go there but I will not because I don’t see any hunting organization that discriminates by class is not to my liking. Mike is right, if anything is to be accomplished on a local level with ordinary, every day hunters, it is with the local chapters. That is where folks like Mike and Todd can make the connection with local hunters, and other who are on the fence who are not millionaires, and simply by word of mouth can spread the word for hunting. This is the reason the DSC and HSC broke away from SCI years ago, and became a INCLUSIVE hunting organization! Cuss if you want, I will not respond! .....................................................................  ....Mac >>>===(x)===> MacD37, ...and DUGABOY1 DRSS Charter member "If I die today, I've had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"~ME 1982 Hands of Old Elmer Keith  | |||
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I agree with those that think SCI overall does a good job for all of us. It is a lot like the NRA, while I do not agree with some of their policies, overall they do a good job. Who else do we have to represent us? I am a life member of SCI and an endowment member of the NRA, so I do put my money where my mouth is. | |||
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Okay, thanks I will. It is nitpicking in the context of this discussion. Mike | |||
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