All hunters are invited to attend the free seminar Travel with Guns, featuring a panel of experts who will discuss how to navigate the many challenges of air travel with firearms when hunting. The seminar is organized and hosted by SCI’s Travel with Firearms Subcommittee Chair Bob Keagy, who has worked with SCI’s Europe Committee to get clarification from Lufthansa on recent carriage policies around firearms and helped direct SCI’s advocacy efforts to get the United States Office of Management and Budget to remove the troublesome expire date from the US Customs Form 4457. Keagy will moderate a wide ranging panel of experts on traveling with firearms to provide SCI members with the information they need to ensure their guns arrive with them at their hunting destination, no matter where in the world they are going.
The seminar takes place during the SCI 51st Annual Convention in Nashville, TN, on Wednesday, February 22, 2023, from 3:30 to 5 pm at the Music City Center in room 201 AB.
The panelists include:
Outdoor journalist Craig Boddington – Boddington is an experienced hunter and writer, with more than 4,000 published magazine articles; 25 authored books on hunting, shooting, and conservation; and more than 500 television episode appearances. Having hunted on six of seven continents, Boddington is highly experienced at traveling with firearms.
SCI’s Hunter Information Service Liaison Barbara Crown – As an SCI member benefit, the Hunter Information Service assists members with issues related to hunting travel, from researching outfitters to applying for trophy import permits. Helping members understand their hunting travel options, the hidden pitfalls and where to find services and resources for assistance is part of the information Crown provides. She often refers members to hunting travel agents and firearm transfer experts such as those on the panel.
Anne Gaines-Burrill of Hunters Support – Based in South Africa, Gaines-Burrill is with the licensed and authorized charter service company Air 2000, which operates the “Hunters’ Support” service. In this capacity, Gaines-Burrill provides hunters with a comprehensive range of services to ensure a smooth arrival in Africa, trouble-free transfers to hunting camps, pre- and post-hunt travel arrangements, and a comfortable departure at the end of the hunt. Gaines-Burrill is well versed in arranging Firearm Import Permits, meet and greet services at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo or Cape Town International Airports, airport/hotel transfers, and, of course, air charter services. Dealing with firearms transfers on a daily basis, she is well versed in the carriage policies of major airlines and which transit destinations to avoid around the world.
Jacky Keith of Esplanade Travel – Keith recently celebrated her 55th anniversary at Esplanade, so she has decades of experience booking travel for adventurers like international hunters. Esplanade Travel focuses on international luxury travel, and unique custom-designed trips. Hunting destinations in Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and Asia are among Keith’s specialties.
Past President of SCI and SCIF John Monson – Monson is a life-long international hunter who has experienced his fair share of difficult transit destinations on his way to a hunt. Missing connecting flights while negotiating his way through tense discussions over hunting equipment with customs agents, in countries where he did not know the language, are just some of the experiences he draws travel wisdom to share with fellow hunters.
