A Celebration of Hunting: 40th Anniversary Dallas Safari Club Show Draws Hunting Community Worldwide

It’s a Happy New Year for hunters in Dallas this week as we gather to support our passion and celebrate our hunting heritage at the 40^th Annual Dallas Safari Club Convention and Sporting Expo at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Center, Jan. 6-9. The first national hunting show since the pandemic, the event also marks a major milestone for the DSC as it rings in 40 years of conservation, education and advocacy initiatives around the world with more than $5 million raised over the past five years. Working hand in hand with the DSC is the DSC Foundation, which continues to make significant grants for conservation, education and advocacy needs for projects from Texas to Tanzania and benefit wild game from mule deer and bighorn sheep to leopard and rhino.

Visiting with hunters and outfitters worldwide, it is rewarding to think about how our hard-earned dollars support wildlife and see so many hunters under one roof who all care about hunting’s future and our way of life. Giving back and protecting the future of hunters and hunting is what the DSC and like-minded hunter-backed groups are all about as we hunters work to tell the story of hunters and hunting.

In telling that story, DSC President Amy Callander urges attendees to recognize and share how we are making a difference just by being here. “You are funding anti-poaching efforts around the globe. You are protecting the world’s wildlife in the wildest places. You are ensuring that we have a hunting legacy to pass along to future generations.”

Drawing tens of thousands of hunters, the DSC Convention and Sporting Expo is open Thursday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. There currently are no mask or social distancing mandates. In addition to visiting with outfitters and makers of guns and gear, be sure to check out the list of hunting seminars, auctions and fundraising banquets scheduled for the week.

So cheers to 40 years, DSC. Thank you for working to ensure the conservation of wildlife through public engagement, education and advocacy for legal, regulated hunting and sustainable use. As DSC CEO Corey Mason shared, “Our advocacy effort for legal regulated hunting and the need for science to determine wildlife management has continued to positively influence national and state-level legislation,” marking one of numerous DSC accomplishments over the past four decades. As we hunters look to the future, no doubt we can expect the DSC and DSC Foundation to deliver more of the same.