Purpose And Passion
By W. Laird Hamberlin
Originally published in the 2025 March edition of Safari Times.
This is the time of year when SCI and its members around the world put purpose into their passion and passion into their purpose.
Between important meetings and some hunting, it’s the kind of mix of activities that sees the remaining months of SCI’s fiscal year through June fly by.
For example, this month Cinegética will be held March 20-23 in Madrid, Spain. This is the biggest hunting show in that country, and it is destined to grow even bigger via the joint venture SCI has entered with the originators of that show.
The SCI European Committee will meet during Cinegética. The European Committee has become a powerful force for hunting on that continent. Never has SCI’s presence there been bigger or more important.
SCI’s involvement in Cinegética is an integral part in our expansion efforts in Europe and throughout the rest of the world. We have created an umbrella organizational structure called Sporting Conservation International that weaves Safari Club International and aligned organizations into a cohesive tapestry of pro-hunting, pro-sustainable use conservation into a very large and increasingly influential global conglomerate.
Hence, SCI will mean both Safari Club International and Sporting Conservation International. Under the greater SCI umbrella will be all our wholly owned organizations, like Texas Trophy Hunters Association as well as our partnerships like Cinegética.
By speaking with a unified voice through a combination of outlets, SCI will represent the largest and strongest organization of hunters the world has ever known.
As I stress continually, the future of both SCI and hunting rests on six pillars: Advocacy, Convention, Hunting, Chapters, Membership and Conservation. SCI’s mission of protecting the freedom to hunt and promoting sustainable use wildlife conservation worldwide will be accomplished under the SCI umbrella.
Meanwhile, it is time for members to plan to attend Lobby Day on May 15 and the SCI Board of Directors on May 17 in Washington, D.C. During Board meeting week, there are other activities like important committee meetings and social activities at SCI’s world headquarters, which is also known as the Hunters’ Embassy.
All members are welcome and encouraged to be there in May, especially for Lobby Day because that’s when members visit the offices of Congressmen and Senators to encourage votes for items that help hunting and against items that harm hunting.
Between now and the meetings in D.C. in May are the many wild turkey hunting seasons in North America. These are among a relatively few open hunting seasons this time of year and, as hunters, we are true to ourselves when we’re out in nature, actively hunting. Gobble, gobble. Bang, bang.
Also, between now and the D.C. activities in May, many SCI Chapters will hold their annual fundraisers. I look forward to what is known as fundraising season because it is an opportunity for me to meet members in their local communities.
I invite all members to join local chapters and to support their activities because Chapters are the local face of SCI and the work chapters do to help hunting, conserve wildlife and help fellow humans is critical for the future of hunting worldwide.
Together we win and when we win, hunting wins. I thank all members for your dedication to SCI and hunting.