Sports Afield: HUNTING CONVENTIONS SCHEDULED

Fun events to banish winter blues

It's the season, once again, for outdoor conventions. Several major hunting organizations are holding expos and conventions during the winter months. The year's first event is held by the Dallas Safari Club, with its annual convention and sporting expo in Dallas, Texas, January 6-9. This year's event, "Hatari! Let Your Adventure Begin," is open to the public. It features more than six hundred exhibitors, daily seminars, and banquets every evening with auctions and live entertainment. Information is available at the group's Web site: biggame.org.

Safari Club International (scifirstforhunters.org) will hold its annual extravaganza in Reno, Nevada, January 26-29. The members-only event, billed as "the ultimate hunter's market," will showcase more than 1,300 vendors, including purveyors of guns, sporting art, hunting equipment, and outfitters from fifty-six countries. Activities include seminars, auctions, and nightly entertainment featuring luminaries including country star Clay Walker and former Secretary of State James Baker.

The Venetian Resort and Casino in Las Vegas will host the inaugural Global Sporting Expo (globalsportingexpo.com) on January 23 and 24. The new event is advertising itself as an intimate event with an "ambience of elegance," and will feature an international gathering of the finest juried exhibitors and products. Auction items will include one of only two chairman's tags for a White Mountain trophy bull elk.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (rmef.org) holds its twenty-first annual convention in Portland, Oregon, February 24-27. And the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep (fnaws.org) holds its wildlife and hunting expo in San Antonio, Texas, March 2-5.