January 13, 2024 • 39 mins
James Lofton has spent the last 25 years as an ambassador for the hunting and shooting sports. In addition to being a member of HSCF, he is a Benefactor Member of the NRA, a Life Member of the North American Hunting Club as well as a member of the Congressional Sportsman Foundation and Gun Owners of America, among others. He has a passion for introducing new hunters to our sport and preserving our hunting and gun rights. James is eager to put his skills and passion to work for the HSCF.
James has a history of volunteering and leading charity events and groups. He was the founder and chairman of the DFW Oilman’s Tactical Shoot from 2009-2017, which donated proceeds to support military and veteran’s groups such as Combat Marine Outdoors. CMO takes purple heart recipients on hunting and fishing trips as part of their recovery process. Sharing a camp with these hero’s is one of the highlights of James’ hunting experiences. James also was the Chairman of the Shoot from the Heart Brazos Valley Sporting Clays Tournament from 2004-2007.
After graduating from Texas A&M, James spent the last 28 years in the oil and gas industry. He is a managing partner of JAN Resources, LLC, an oilfield service company that specializes in water treating and completion chemicals. He was a member of the FW SPE Board of Directors for 5 years, serving as President and Scholarship Chairman during that time. James and his wife Kathryn (HSCF Member also) were fortunate to win the bid on several of the hunts and items sold at the HSCF Annual Convention dinners and Gazelle’s Luncheon auctions, including 2 safaris in Namibia which they completed in the summer of 2019. He was also able to share this hunt with his father, who was instrumental in starting James’ passion for hunting. James learned from his father that the woods, prairies, mountains, lakes and rivers we all enjoy are a great place to teach others about life lessons and gain an appreciation for the outdoors.
James has a history of volunteering and leading charity events and groups. He was the founder and chairman of the DFW Oilman’s Tactical Shoot from 2009-2017, which donated proceeds to support military and veteran’s groups such as Combat Marine Outdoors. CMO takes purple heart recipients on hunting and fishing trips as part of their recovery process. Sharing a camp with these hero’s is one of the highlights of James’ hunting experiences. James also was the Chairman of the Shoot from the Heart Brazos Valley Sporting Clays Tournament from 2004-2007.
After graduating from Texas A&M, James spent the last 28 years in the oil and gas industry. He is a managing partner of JAN Resources, LLC, an oilfield service company that specializes in water treating and completion chemicals. He was a member of the FW SPE Board of Directors for 5 years, serving as President and Scholarship Chairman during that time. James and his wife Kathryn (HSCF Member also) were fortunate to win the bid on several of the hunts and items sold at the HSCF Annual Convention dinners and Gazelle’s Luncheon auctions, including 2 safaris in Namibia which they completed in the summer of 2019. He was also able to share this hunt with his father, who was instrumental in starting James’ passion for hunting. James learned from his father that the woods, prairies, mountains, lakes and rivers we all enjoy are a great place to teach others about life lessons and gain an appreciation for the outdoors.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
The Houston Safari Club Foundation is afive OHO one C three nonprofit organization that
supports the future of hunting and conservation. Wildlife and habitat conservation, youth education
and outdoor experiences, scholarships, andanti poaching efforts are just a few of
the programs supported by this organization.Monthly events, an annual convention, award
winning publications, networking opportunities, andvaluable resources for hunting knowledge are just a
(00:21):
few of the benefits of being amember of Houston Safari Club Foundation. If
you're searching for a group of peoplededicated to protecting the future of hunting,
look no further. Join Houston SafariClub Foundation today at we Huntwegive dot org
or call seven one three six twothree eight eight four four. Tradition,
conservation, family, the outdoors.It matters to you, It matters to
(00:47):
us. This is Hunting Matters,presented by Houston Safari Club Foundation. Here's
Joe Bitar. Good morning and welcomeback to Hunting Matters on KPRC nine fifty.
This is your host, Joe Bitar. I am ramon Roeblists. Good
Saturday morning to you. Can youhear me breathing when I'm not on the
mic, not talking like why youstopped up? Can you now? I'm
(01:08):
not breathing louder and I don't hearOkay, this is because my little VU
meter was moving while the intro wasplaying, and I'm thinking, oh my
am I one of those mouth breatherwhen they're not being talked to. Yeah.
I just wanted to make sure Iwasn't that. I don't think it's
just I have a wind screen andeverything. I don't think it's too You
could be getting sick or something.No, no, don't say that.
(01:29):
No, no, I don't needthat. This is our fun time of
year when it's seventy five degrees oneday and the next day it's nineteen when
you wake up. Let's see what'stoday. Today's the thirteenth. Yep,
it's going to be twenty eight degreeson Monday or something like that. Chance
of snow, Chance of snow?Really? Oh come on, no,
yeah, look at the weather.For the last time I saw it,
(01:49):
it was like nineteen but partly cloudy. Well, that's the thing about weather,
it's inexactly. What are we goingto do. We're gonna bump up
together and get the kids in thefamily and make a run to get some.
I've established that corner in our studioas the peak corner. Okay,
so that's where we gotta go business. That's where we're going. We got
a smokeless barbecue grill if we stayinside it, Okay. I filled the
bathtub with water and rum, I'llgrab a cup. Well, not in
(02:12):
that order. I'll grab a coupleof briskets. Will be set for a
week. Heaven forbid we should haveanother snowpocalypse like we did a few years.
But I don't say that that thattime. It wasn't so bad for
me selfishly, because I had awhole home generator. I have since moved
and I don't have the new place. I don't have a generator either right
now. Man, Just imagine Februarythat year of twenty one. We did
(02:34):
have it. We didn't have atthe end. I had a fireplace,
luckily, and so I kept thefireplace going. And then we had a
gas stove and we lit that.But we were seventy two hours. We
were It wouldn't too in bad,yeah, wrapped up with blankets, but
we had everything on I mean dryers, right, microwaves. We obviously we
invited the neighbors. Hey, comehere, up your formula or whatever you
need. We charged them for it. Don't get me wrong, We're no
(02:54):
fools. But yeah, whole homegenerator's way to go. Yeah, I
get it, get it. Myneighbor's got one. I hear kick on
all the time. But anyway,so there's a little thing coming up that's
going to be happening. So ohyeah, it's the Houston Safari Club Foundation
Worldwide Expo and Hunting Convention. Andthat's folks, if you haven't heard us
talk about it yet, that's Januarythe nineteenth or the twenty first at the
(03:15):
Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center. That annual convention has been held at
the Georgia Brown Convention Center downtown Houstonfor the last five years, but the
show is moving back out to theWoodlands. So we're excited about it and
to educate us on it and totalk all about it is our twenty twenty
four Houston Stari Club Foundation Convention ChairmanJames Lofton. James, welcome, Hi,
(03:37):
Thank you appreciate you being here.Man. Absolutely do we have to
stand when he entered the room,I'd prefer it. I saluted when he
came in. I don't know aboutyou. I was kind of embarrassed.
Well, I didn't know. Imean I only took this job on because
I thought i'd get like some sortof praise, prestige. Yeah, well
I thought i'd get more camping stuffwhen I took on this show. And
(03:59):
we're both disappointed. You, well, you've gotten a few good knives though,
you know what, You've gotten acouple of good stuff. Hey,
didn't didn't you get some game Wardenpants or something too? I am game
Warden something like that. Are youstill now? Now Carter Smith is retired,
he's the one that deputized you.So do we have to have a
repeat by by the new head ofParks Park to renew it, renew the
(04:21):
Hunter or it's like a knighthood?Are you always think so? You should
always? I'm going to go withthis. I'm going to do that,
Okay. Well, yeah, thethe uniform is quite fetching. I like
going up the fishermen and just makinga move over. Well, I think
Marmon got to show up at theconvention wearing his Outit nice and when it's
(04:42):
nineteen degrees outside, it'll be perfect. Yeah, it'll be perfect. So
James, let's talk a little bitabout your about your personal background and history.
You're what do you do for aliving? I am currently an executive
with a oldfield chemical company. Okay, So I've spent so almost thirty years
in the oldfield chemical business and currentlya partner in the company that I worked
(05:06):
for today. Okay, awesome.And so you joined Houston Spark Club Foundation.
We were talking before we got onair. You and I met at
the annual convention one year actually ata banquet. So how long have you
been involved with the Houston Sphark ClubFoundation and why did you choose to get
involved? So? I think wegot involved in being my wife Catherine and
(05:27):
I six seven years ago, andthe reason we got involved is I was
looking for a group in activity todo that really spoke to who I am
and hunting is a huge part ofmy life. And we had met a
friend of Catherine's, Matt Pyle,who started telling me about the club,
(05:51):
and so I showed up at theChristmas party and at the Christmas party I
got invited by the Simpsons from ConrodTech Germany to join their table at the
convention. The following month, sothat was my start, and I absolutely
love it surrounded by great people thatthat share common vision, that we can
talk the same kind of stories,that share the same passions that I have.
(06:16):
So be honest with me, whatwas your first impression the first time
you actually went to a banquet.I mean, I'm sure you've gone to
other outdoor shows and banquets and stuffbefore, but I've been to some old
field events, but nothing really quitelike what you were doing there at the
at the convention, and I thoughtit was awesome. Just a lot of
(06:36):
energy, a lot of excitement.Obviously a lot of great items up for
the auction, but getting to meetso many people that you know, enjoy
hunting, want to talk about hunting, that have a passion for the hunting
and conservation lifestyle, it was justa lot of fun. Yeah, it's
a fun group too, especially atconvention. There's a lot of people that
(06:58):
we see sporadically through the year.Mention is kind of like a family reunion
for us. I mean, thosewere the guys who are around fifty years
ago when the organization first started,and then the people that are new.
You know, people have their ownlives around things, but it's it's it's
pretty fun and it's neat to seeeverybody come together at that convention. It
is. It's it's kind of likea well, like a reunion, annual
reunion. Yep. Absolutely, Sotell us a little bit about your your
(07:23):
a little bit about your hunting journeyjourney. Have you hunted all your life
for the most part, yes,I remember, I think I was,
and I've probably started before this.But I remember at about three years old,
three to four years old, sittingin the bottom of a deer belind
while my dad was hunting, andwhen the deer would come out, he
(07:44):
would tell me and I'd crawl upon his lap and look out the window
and help him pick out which onethat he needed to shoot for us for
dinner or that weekend. So butyeah, as long as I can remember,
I've been hunting. Been very fortunate. I was took my first year
when I was seven years old,and that's just continued on ever since.
(08:05):
You know. I was just verygrateful and fortunate to have a dad who
hunting was a big part of hislife, and in fact, he had
to do it to help him havemeet on the table when he was a
young kid. So that really instilledthat passion for me to just continue to
do it and fortunately have had acareer that's allowed me to now be able
(08:30):
to go and hunt around the world. Awesome. All right, folks are
going to take a quick break here. We are joined our guest today,
James Lofton. James is the twentytwenty four Houston Sparklob Foundation Convention share person.
We'll be back after the break onHoneymatters KPRC nine fifteen. He don't
die here, you will probably justride away a dream nesic singers. I
(09:00):
have always been a real fuse family, but lately some of my ken both
have just owned of you others andme. I guess it's because I kind
of changed my direction. Lord,I guess I'm went in rod the family
(09:24):
tradition. Welcome back to Honeymatters onKPRC nine fifty. This is your host
Joe by Tar, I have RamonRobless and we were joining today by our
guest James Laughton. James is thetwenty twenty four Houston Fire Club Foundation Convention
chairperson. He also serves on theboard of directors and James, thanks once
again for joining us. Love it, love being here. It's the hardest
(09:45):
part about being in your position withthe Houston s Far Club or the thing
that you didn't expect you'd have todo as much, or you know,
something you didn't expect. You know, I would say, we have a
lot of people who are paying uhin the club, getting everybody kind of
coralled up and heading in the rightdirection sometimes and and you know, getting
(10:09):
people to channel that passion into reallyhelping to accomplish what we want to accomplish
in the club. You know,everybody is very busy with their own personal
lives, and so I think that'sprobably one of the biggest challenges. Uh.
But fortunately we have a lot ofpeople who are like me and really
have such a dedication and a passionto it that gladly you know, step
(10:30):
up. You know. You youknow, you always have out of any
large group, you always have asmaller, you know, percentage that wants
to take the lead and try tohelp push things along, but you know
a lot of people who will helpsupport it. Yeah, I agree that,
I too feel that Joe Bitar's deadweight. So I appreciate the way
you answered that kind of said that, Hey, I'm in the two percent
(10:54):
club on some of the podcasts.Maybe you've dragged him along or them.
Well, that's why I keep themaround. Soy, I'm a backer.
It makes me look good. Ohman. You know you talked a little
bit in the first segment. Youtalked a little bit about how you got
involved, and then when we startedthis segment, you talked a little bit
about, you know, passion forthings. You really do have to have
(11:16):
a servant's heart to be involved inan organization like this. If you're really
actively involved on the board or committeeof that sort of thing. How important
is it to you and how importantit do you think it it should be
to other people that love the huntingand the outdoors where it's hunting, fishing,
whatever, to be involved in thesetypes of organizations like Houston spar Club
Foundation. Well, I think ifit's something that you really love and you
(11:37):
cherish, and especially if it's somethingyou want to see passed down to your
children and future generations, it's criticallyimportant. If we don't keep these traditions
alive, we don't protect these traditions, we don't protect the things that we
love, they'll disappear, they goaway. If you don't show a passion
(11:58):
for it gonna be hard to expectyour kids to show a passion for it
and and understand it, and andand even not just our kids, you
know, I'm I. I've hadthe fortune to be a guide on some
Texas youth hunts where I get tohelp coach other kids who've never had the
opportunity to hunt, and they comefrom families that they don't hunt. And
(12:22):
watching the dads and the kids,uh step forward and be so willing to
learn and and and embrace what we'redoing, it's just it's incredible. It's
very fulfilling. And I think there'sa huge need, especially in the hunting
and conservation and the outdoors arena.There's a huge desire by a lot of
people that somebody needs to help fosterthat. And overmone you've you mentioned a
(12:50):
number of times you didn't grow upyou know, doing it or had limited
experience, and you know, andI think that there's uh, you know,
a huge opportunity unity, you knowfor those of us who do love
it to you know, share itwith others. And you know, that's
what's going to allow us to continueto protect it and see it, you
know, grow to its potential.Yeah, and That's one of the things
(13:11):
I like about the organization He's aSpork Club Foundation is that, you know,
we do have it at our core. We do have a servant's art,
whether it's the scholarship program, theconservation grants, or the youth education
and hunting program and that sort ofthing. And it does it does take
a special kind of person to wantto be involved in that. And we're
also busy, but you you know, if you really want to be part
of it and supporting the future ofhunting and conservation, you just carve out
(13:33):
the time to to make it happen. And uh, and there's a there's
a lot of kids out there thatwe h young adults and students and that
sort of thing that we can neverreach. You know, we we do
it to the best of our ability. But I know you've been involved in
a lot of projects, both inHe's a Spork Club Foundation and outside of
just personal stuff where you're just like, I'm just going to take these kids
hunting. And I know that's agreat passion for you and a great joy
(13:54):
to you. Yeah, it is, And and I get a lot of
fulfillment out of it too. AndI tell you know, my wife when
I come home, you know,like the hunt I do with those youth,
that's usually one of my most fulfillingand and cherished weekends each each hunting
season. You know, it's it'sit's almost more so than than you know,
(14:16):
some of the hunts that I take. You know, it's getting to
see you know that that first time, or take their their first animal,
and and and just be there andwatch the sunrise and watch the world come
alive and seeing how they enjoy it. If you were to if my kids
were able to get onto one ofthose things afterwards, would you judge them
for being kind of stupid? No? Okay, because sometimes they do.
(14:39):
And I think I might judge thema little bit for having to live in
your house. Yeah yeah, yeah, graded on a curve like well,
that's right. We do create exceptions, you know, understanding the environment that
they come from. Yeah. What'sthe thing that surprised you the most,
you know, being involved some ofthese youth hunts. I mean, I
I personally have experience with something thathappened to me years and years ago when
(15:00):
I first started doing youth hunts.What is it that if you can recall
a specific instance where you went Wow, that's shocking or surprising, or I
just obviously take that for granted orsomething like that. Well, and I'll
maybe go in a different direction thanwhat you were thinking. One of the
things that's actually been the most surprisingto me, and every year I'm still
(15:22):
amazed by it. In today's kidsworld, you know, technology being on
their phone. I mean you always, you know, you're out in public,
you always see them they're on theirphone, right, And I just
kind of had a vision when Iwas getting ready to go do this first
hunt. You know, is thiskid going to really enjoys he really going
(15:43):
to fully appreciate what he's getting theopportunity to do, or is he going
to be staring at his phone waitinguntil I tell him, you know,
hey, there's a deer out infront. And I think I've been doing
this for four years now for theyouth hunts, I have yet to have
a kid who's hat the or staringat his phone. In fact, the
only time really I see them lookingat their phone is if they're showing me
(16:07):
a picture, Oh, look atthe deer my buddy shot, yeah,
you know, or they're pulling itout to see what time it is to
see how much time they have leftright before we're going to head back to
camp, right, And and that'sthat's been very I really appreciate that you
know in them, that that thatthey're in the moment that and that it's
(16:32):
not just a sideline activity. Thatis surprising, that you know, change
of scenery, change of environment,opening up a whole new world of somebody.
I've witnessed that too on many occasionswhere the only time you see the
photo the phones come out is whenthey're taking photos of each other because they've
shot a pig or a dough orwhatever like that. Oh, yeah,
they're they're very eager to get theget the pictures, to start sending them
(16:53):
out as soon as they're successful.Yeah, it really is really is amazing
how how quickly it changes in thatphone, that little appliance in your hand
becomes less and less important when you'vegot so much more to look at,
or when you actually stare up,you know, you look up from a
from a phone or a tablet orwhatever. It's it's it's amazing how it
changes their perspectives. And you know, a lot of the programs are on
(17:15):
that we do is that our youthhunting programs that we do directly is not
only do we like to take themhunting and fishing, but also teach them
how to, you know, notonly harvest are anteal, but also to
how to clean it, how toprocess it, and that sort of thing.
Something one thing I had, aneye openingthing happened to me recently,
James. We took these kids ona deer hunt and and somebody said,
(17:36):
do you think you guys could payfor the processing of this meat? And
I'm like, of course we can. But that's that's something that popped out
at me, that they go homewith these quarters of deer meat, but
they they don't have the means toprocess them. So that's something we're going
to start doing as an organization tostart paying for the processing so they can
feed their families with it. Yeah, gonna have to take a quick break
here on hunting matters. Kp RCnine fifty will be back with our us
(18:00):
after the break. James Laughton,who is the twenty twenty four Houston Savarica
Foundation Convention chairperson and member of ourBoard of director, seeing on the other
side, folks, she's doing almosteverything, but sitting still. We loaded
(18:25):
up my station wagon with a tent, a coleman and sleeping bags, some
fishing holes, a cooler of cokes. Three days before we had to be
back. When you're seven year andseventh Heaven, when you go in camping
in the wild outdoors. Have weturned off phone? That off the road?
(18:48):
He looked at me and so Dawn, this could be the best day
of my life. I've been dreamabout the fun. Welcome back to the
Honey Matters O KPRC nine fifty.This is your host, Joe Bet.
(19:10):
I would have let that play ita little longer, I know, but
I was starting to a little tearyout, had some chills, so I
had to put an end to itbefore I started sobbing on the air robe
bless. Welcome back to our guest, James Lofton. James is the chairperson
of our twenty twenty four Houston SafariClub Foundation Convention and Worldwide Hunting Expo,
and he also serves on the boardof directors. Whatever possessed you to volunteer
(19:30):
to agree to be the convention chairperson, because I know the amount of work
that goes into it, James,You know I I I was question about
that is something I really wanted todo. No, I wanted to continue
to grow with the board and tocontinue to experience and help where I felt
(19:56):
that I could, you know,anywhere within the organization. I've worked with
several different organizations over the years,and ran my own charity for a while,
and and just have that desire to, Okay, what else can I
do? You know, I feellike I've kind of done this, I
want to do I want to dothe next thing now, right, And
(20:18):
so I just saw that as askind of one of the key pivotal roles
that we have in our organization anda key need, and I wanted to
be a part of it. Reallyalso to understand everything that goes into it,
so to be able to fully appreciatethe others that have done it and
that will do it in the future. Yeah, I think you had an
(20:40):
eye opening event happened this week whenyou were doing the hotel pre conference.
Oh yeah, it was certainly.You know, these big events, you
always know there's a lot of detailthat goes into it, But when you
sit there and start looking at pageafter page of the little things how a
room is prepared and where the tablesare laid out, what tables are there,
(21:00):
and what's set up and how manytrash cans or how many Yeah,
there's so many little things that Ithink as attendees we just take for granted.
Sure, and but but seeing youknow, somebody really has to dive
into the details on that. Andyou know, fortunately, I think we
have a great staff. You know, you and the staff have just done
(21:21):
a phenomenal job over the years andkind of have a lot of that really
kind of figured out and for meas a convention chair, make it pretty
easy, you know, for forsomeone like me, uh to not have
to figure all that out. Yeah, we are blessed our team, our
team at the office. Theres isI'll put I'll put our few people up
against your twenty any day, anyday of the week. They are phenomenal.
(21:45):
Yeah. Cage arm wrestling, Yeah, jellow eating, Yes, that's
probably maybe hot dog eating. I'min if I can participate. Maybe if
you can be our ringer, canmake it happen. What, uh,
what are you most excited about inregards to the upcoming convention? Can folks
if you haven't heard by now,listening to the show January nineteenth or the
(22:07):
twenty first at the Woodlands Waterway,Mariout and Convention Center. Go to we
hunt we give dot org. Youcan get your expo tickets there. You
can get your banquet tickets there.Just curious to find out what are you
most excited about. You know,I'm really excited. You know, we
were moving back to the Woodlands.The reception that we got from the hotel
staff was amazing. It's a greathotel, by the way. We just
stay there every time we're up inthe Woodlands. Yeah, and I think
(22:30):
that they're going to do everything theycan to make it a great show.
Our team is certainly creating a greatshow. I'm excited to see all the
new people that were able to bringin. You know, we're doing some
you know, interesting things this year. There are things that are a little
(22:51):
different, offering a membership to everybodythat attends, for example, So we
hope to bring in a lot ofpeople. We hope to generate a lot
of omentuh. And the auctions,Man, We've got some fantastic items in
our auction. So I love theauctions. I've bought a number of the
items, and in fact, thevery first convention I ever went to.
(23:11):
That's probably one of the reasons youyou met me too? Is I ended
up buying I think a couple ofhunts uh there at that first auction,
and and I have boughts something everh every year since. So yeah,
we we love it. Just someof the things that we have coming up,
(23:32):
uh entertainment, some great entertainment,uh, seminars. Uh. There's
a lot of things that we're doinguh this year that are a little different
or that we haven't done uh forthe last several years that I think are
going to set this uh this yearshow apart and bringing back, bringing it
(23:52):
back to the Woodlands. It's goingto be great. Joe tells me there's
going to be a team building momentwhere you walk on broken glass? Is
that true? If that's what ittakes to make the show a success,
I'm willing to do it. Okay, you heard it here, folks.
We've got it documented there, documentation. I have a witness FCC. Now
I may have some hard plastic clearplastic. Okay, well, well maybe
(24:14):
we'll just stut jump that big firepit that's out back behind the Maria.
Cold walking. I did the coldwalking once, but I did have shoes
on. I think the best wecan, hope for is trust falls some
falls. You talked a little bitabout entertainment. So this year we've got
a couple of unique entertainers lined upFriday night after the during the Bank with
(24:37):
his Sundance Head, who won oneof the seasons of the Early Boys competitions.
And then Saturday night we've got WilliamLee Martin, who's famous for He's
a cowboy comedian, was part ofthe Blue Collar Comedy Tour. Oh nice.
Yeah, so yeah, it's bothboth acts or Texas guys and and
they're both outdoor guys. Yeah,so you know that that's exciting too.
(25:00):
And and and really that was somethingthat I was hoping, you know,
that we could find too is entertainment, Uh, entertainers that also believed in
our cause. So for somebody who'snever been to the convention, you know,
I always I always see people atthe expo. They go They're like,
I'm like, are you guys goingto the banquet? Banquet? And
we've been putting this thing on foryears and years and years and years and
the Bank I didn't know, youguys are having a banquet tonight. So
(25:22):
if you wouldn't mind walk walk ourlisteners through kind of what a day,
let's say, you know, aday at Houston's Farco Foundation Convention could look
like from from start to the endof the evening. Well, I think,
you know, certainly most people aredrawn to the exhibitors and and to
try to find that, you know, somewhere to fulfill that dream that they've
had, you know, to toto go hunt in a far off land,
(25:45):
or to go fish in Alaska oryou know, bird hunt in Argentina.
I mean, there's there's so manydifferent options and opportunities to to look
at and to kind of help,you know, fill that bucket list.
But then there's so much more,you know, you get into the whether
it's the Friday night auction and dinneror or the Saturday Gazelle's or the Saturday
(26:10):
Night Gala. Those dinner auction eventsreally is where a lot, to me,
a lot of the fun happens,you know. That's that's where everybody's
having a great time, uh Andand that's where we're raising a lot of
the money that that we're trying toraise for the club is through having these
fantastic auction items, most of whichare fully donated, uh generously by exhibitors
(26:36):
and and uh, vendors from ourfrom our exhibit hall and you know,
but that's that's the real party atmosphere. So uh, you know, come
and show up and we usually havea cocktail hour and then and uh dinner
and live auction and all sorts offun games. It's a it's it's it's
(26:57):
a great event that honest. Thatis what really sold me on the club
is is you know, it's Christmas, the initial Christmas dinner. You know,
I got a kind of a feelfor it. I always loved going
to you know, the hunting expos, but really getting to that event where
(27:18):
I started to meet the people andfeel that connection and see the fun that
our club has. Yeah, andI think one thing that people need to
realize is that while the show hasmoved from downtown to the Woodlands, it
may be the expo part of itmaybe just a little bit smaller based on
space. We really strive this yearto work to get a good mix of
outfitters from all different places the world. So speak to that just a little
(27:41):
bit before we go into the break. Yeah, it was it was critical
for us to make sure that weare helping each person, as I said,
or be able to fulfill those itemsin their bucket list or those dreams.
So you know, we we werevery careful to select hunters from different
parts of Africa, from North America, from Canada, from South America,
(28:02):
Europe, anywhere you would you've dreamedof hunting in the world, we have
an outfitter that's going to be therethat can help you fulfill that dream.
And it's not just uh, youknow, hunting big game like I said,
you know, there's tons of birdhunting opportunities, there's fishing opportunities.
And for the ladies of course,there's always the jeers and the fir and
(28:25):
the and the people selling furs andlots of things for them. My wife
always walks over and looks and picksup the most expensive shotgun on the table.
That's what she's that's what she's driven. Ah, very good. Yeah,
yeah, but it's good. It'sgood that we're going to have a
you know, a good diverse mix. So if you're whether you're looking for
a hunting Texas, want to goshoot hogs or whatever, you want to
go to another country, that that'sdefinitely going to be out there and available.
(28:48):
All right, folks are going totake a quick break. Here in
Hunting Matters we background our guest Jameslofton the twenty twenty four Houstons Fire Club
Foundation Convention Chairman taking a break onHonting Matters KPRC nine fifty. Little boy
(29:12):
in a baseball hat stands in thefield with his ball in bad says,
I am the greatest player of themall. Puts his bad on his shoulder
and he tosses up his ball andthe ball goes up and the ball comes
(29:34):
down, swings as bad all theway around the world. So still you
can hear the sound of the baseballfalls to the ground. Welcome back to
Honeymatters on KPRC nine fifty. Thisis your host, Joe Bitar. I
am Ramon Robles. What are youlaughing about this song? This is the
second time I've ever heard it,really, and the first time I heard
(29:56):
it we played it on the othershow I work on it. We played
it all out and the end ofthe song got me. I thought,
Oh God, anyway, so I'msmiling because I know how the song ends.
Oh okay, so listen to itthis morning. Kenny Rodgers. Yeah,
yeah, it's called the Greatest Yeah, yeah, got it all right?
Folks back on hunting matters. HereJames Lofton, who is the twenty
twenty four Houston's Fire Club Foundation conventionchairperson, it's kind of enough to join
(30:21):
us today in between Roe Roan tryingto make us cry on air can you
play? Can you? But canI buy these shoes next? Yeah,
that'll be definitely send me over theedge there, James, thanks again for
putting up with us. Oh,it's pleasure. You know. The cool
thing I like about not only convention, but also just the organization Houston Spark
Club Foundation as in general, isif you need to learn something, there's
(30:44):
somebody there who's probably done it.Yes, even the little details of traveling
to Let's say you're going to goto you know, I use this example
a lot at least, say you'regoing to get a Tajikistan. Well,
who do I need to talk to? What's the paperwork? Where do I
need to fly into? That sortof thing. Tell us a little bit
about your experiences with that, youknow, and that is a huge part
of growing your group of friends thathave knowledge. I mean, because there's
(31:07):
a ton of things we were talkingabout earlier about teaching some of the youth
that haven't ever hunted, you know, and imparting our knowledge. But you
know, there's a lot of thingsthat we want to do that someone in
our club has been there and hasdone that, and that's that's been a
very I've appreciated it a lot.You know, we've we've been to Africa
(31:33):
on several trips and my wife andI just took our family to Africa back
in September, and through you know, some of the knowledge of friends,
you know, we got to dosome really unique experiences going and and interacting
with you know, rhinos and elephantsand lions, you know, really up
(31:56):
close and personal, I mean withinfifteen to twenty yards of each one of
these the animals and uh. Butbut finding out about that opportunity from someone
within the club, which is phenomenal. Yeah, it's really it's really cool
and it's something you mentioned that youalluded to this earlier. We're going to
have something that were new for usas we're going to be doing seminars.
Free seminars, so people that cometo the XBO can attend Saturday and Sunday
(32:17):
will have free seminars and you canfind the seminar schedule that we hunt we
give dot org folks just click onthe convention drop down. But things like
how to book your first African safari, how to how to plan to bow
hunt. One of the seminars isunderstood a Plan A and plan B hunting
eras, so, uh, whatto look for when you choosing them,
how to how to choose sport opticsnot scopes, monocular that sort of thing.
(32:39):
Uh, We've got a guy speakingon the history of Rigby, the
famed uh you know, rifle company, and then land management for quail and
planning your first hunting trip to Spain. So there's a lot of you know,
entry entry level of courses that arefree to people come incident and meet
with these outfitters and talk to himin a seminar classroom type situation, which
I think is very cool. Hey, and I want to speak real quick
(33:01):
about the bow hunting seminar for thoseof you that are bow hunters. I've
been a lifelong bow hunter. Istarted bow hunting when I was fifteen years
old, so I been bow huntingfor over thirty five years. You know,
I kind of felt like I knewit and I knew a lot.
Well, you can always learn more, right, I had the opportunity to
(33:22):
go hunt Kpe buffalo with a bow. And as I was preparing for that,
I realized, you know what,my knowledge of what I really need
to hunt buffalo is not really whatit should be when it comes to the
arrows. And Rob Nielsen, who'sgoing to be doing that seminar to a
fantastic job helping me design and prepareand build, you know, the right
(33:45):
set up and make sure that mybow and arrow was perfectly prepared to execute,
you know, a great shot andand you know, perform the way
it was supposed to. And soI was able to take my first and
second buffalo with a bow and andand here again. That's that's things,
(34:07):
you know, and I dreamed ofthem, you know, as a kid,
but really until I got involved inthis club to kind of start seeing,
you I could really do this,you know, and you talk to
people who have done it, Yeah, this is this is this is something
that I could really do. Butyou know, and I've mentioned Africa a
few times. One thing I wantto really make clear to our club.
(34:28):
Yeah, we have a lot ofmembers who you know, whether've gone to
Africa or South America or Europe oryou know, any of these many places
that you know have have just awesomeopportunities to hunt. We're not all about
We're not all people who just goand hunt around the world. Many of
our members have never left Texas ona hunt, and you know, we
(34:52):
welcome all the hunters. I mean, most of my lifetime, I didn't
go anywhere else outside of Texas.You know. I may have gone to
a couple of other states, youknow, on some really exotic cunts.
I went to Oklahoma or Colorado,you know. But I want to make
sure that you know, anyone listeningand anyone who's thinking about attending, understands
(35:14):
that we're for all hunters. Andyou know, it's just you know,
obviously many of us have had dreams. Whether we can actually you know,
achieve those dreams or not, youknow, or or can do it right
now, doesn't matter. You're goingto be around people who share the same
passion regardless of what we're chasing.I agree, And that's the very important
point that you bring up. Andon top of that, you know,
(35:34):
it's really about like I talked aboutearlier, about having that servant's heart for
the outdoors, whether it's hunting,fishing, wildlife, habitat whatever. I
mean, We're doing a thing asan organization coming up in February. We're
going to be out on Coastal Prairie, which is formerly the Kadi Peririer Conservacy,
doing a hands on day. We'rejust going to be out there cleaning
up areas, planting native grasses.That sort of thing has nothing to do
with hunting, which a conservation.But yeah, and I tell anybody I
(36:00):
have a discussion with about hunting who'snot really a hunter. Hunters are the
number one conservationists when you look everyyear, hands down, who contributes more
money, more time, more effortto conserving not only the animals that we
hunt, but animals in general.It's hunters and we have the passion for
(36:22):
the outdoors and nature. Yeah,and it's you know, the attacks is
based on sporting goods related to huntingthat are really helped to fund conservation in
this country through the Pittman Robertson Act. That's really the main source of conservation
funding here across the US and hasbeen for many, many years. And
that's because people who love the outdoorsare buying these products and the lying part
(36:44):
of their sales decks to go tothat absolutely. Yeah, it's pretty pretty
cool. The North American model ofwildlife conservation on attack. On top of
the way that we fund it andwe can always use more money and more
hands on efforts, but it's reallyit's a model that many many other countries
are starting to look at and seewhat can we do as well. A
few final details here in the lastcouple minutes we got about the show.
(37:07):
Got to we hunt, wegive dotorg. Check out the convention drop down
button learn everything about convention. Youcan buy your online expo hall passes there
or you can get them at thedoor for ten bucks or a weekend pass
for twenty five dollars. Free admissionfor children twelve and under and those with
an active military ID or first respondersthat get get in the door free.
So it's ten bucks, it's nothing. There's a lot of free parking out
there, a lot of things todo around there, so if you want
(37:30):
to step out and go shopping orgrab go, grab lunch or whatever,
there's so much to do around thehotel as well. But the other thing
you talked about earlier, so we'regoing to be doing the Ladies luncheon has
a big silent auction that they haveevery year. Yeah, absolutely, lots
of great items. Yeah, it'sreally fun. And the Ladies Luncheon,
which is on Saturday, is aboutfifty percent men in attendance. It's not
just the ladies put it. Theladies hosted. It's not a lady's event,
(37:51):
no, no. And then Fridaynight we have games and we have
a live auction as well, andthen we have a big raffle on the
floor throughout the weekend on the expofloor. So even if you don't go
to the bank, which you canbuy raffle tickets, We've got a lot
of really cool firearms that we're goingto be raffling off in a few hunts
this year on the Grand Raffle.But the uh, the big live auction
(38:13):
that the banquets that we have.We have live auctions Friday night, Saturday
night and the Gazelles launching, andthere's some really cool stuff this year.
You want to talk a little bitabout a couple of things that you yeah,
yeah, yeah, Well there's there'sa few things that I'm really proud
that really unique items that we werewe're really kind of blessed to get to
put in our auction this year.If you don't know, there's some states
(38:34):
that will offer tags out to outto different organizations to raffle off. So
we got tags from Nebraska in Californiaand Oregon from you know, the Oregon
for a mountain goat and deer tagsfor California and Nebraska. Those are really
unique tags and very valuable. Sothose are those are awesome. Of course,
then we got the President's rifle,which is always a really unique rifle.
(39:00):
President shouldn't have a rifle. That'sgood that you took it. Well,
our president, oh the country,but Neil, president of the club
or president of your household, certainlyfarms a lot of cool stuff. Folks.
Go to the website we give dotorg. You can click on there
even if you can't attend, andyou can go to online Hunting Auctions dot
com and you can participate in thoselive auctions from the comfort of your own
(39:22):
home. But we'd love to seeyou at the banquets. Thank you James
for being our guest. Folks,we will see you next week. We
are out of time Hunting Matters KPRCnine fifty
The Houston Safari Club Foundation is afive OHO one C three nonprofit organization that
supports the future of hunting and conservation. Wildlife and habitat conservation, youth education
and outdoor experiences, scholarships, andanti poaching efforts are just a few of
the programs supported by this organization.Monthly events, an annual convention, award
winning publications, networking opportunities, andvaluable resources for hunting knowledge are just a
(00:21):
few of the benefits of being amember of Houston Safari Club Foundation. If
you're searching for a group of peoplededicated to protecting the future of hunting,
look no further. Join Houston SafariClub Foundation today at we Huntwegive dot org
or call seven one three six twothree eight eight four four. Tradition,
conservation, family, the outdoors.It matters to you, It matters to
(00:47):
us. This is Hunting Matters,presented by Houston Safari Club Foundation. Here's
Joe Bitar. Good morning and welcomeback to Hunting Matters on KPRC nine fifty.
This is your host, Joe Bitar. I am ramon Roeblists. Good
Saturday morning to you. Can youhear me breathing when I'm not on the
mic, not talking like why youstopped up? Can you now? I'm
(01:08):
not breathing louder and I don't hearOkay, this is because my little VU
meter was moving while the intro wasplaying, and I'm thinking, oh my
am I one of those mouth breatherwhen they're not being talked to. Yeah.
I just wanted to make sure Iwasn't that. I don't think it's
just I have a wind screen andeverything. I don't think it's too You
could be getting sick or something.No, no, don't say that.
(01:29):
No, no, I don't needthat. This is our fun time of
year when it's seventy five degrees oneday and the next day it's nineteen when
you wake up. Let's see what'stoday. Today's the thirteenth. Yep,
it's going to be twenty eight degreeson Monday or something like that. Chance
of snow, Chance of snow?Really? Oh come on, no,
yeah, look at the weather.For the last time I saw it,
(01:49):
it was like nineteen but partly cloudy. Well, that's the thing about weather,
it's inexactly. What are we goingto do. We're gonna bump up
together and get the kids in thefamily and make a run to get some.
I've established that corner in our studioas the peak corner. Okay,
so that's where we gotta go business. That's where we're going. We got
a smokeless barbecue grill if we stayinside it, Okay. I filled the
bathtub with water and rum, I'llgrab a cup. Well, not in
(02:12):
that order. I'll grab a coupleof briskets. Will be set for a
week. Heaven forbid we should haveanother snowpocalypse like we did a few years.
But I don't say that that thattime. It wasn't so bad for
me selfishly, because I had awhole home generator. I have since moved
and I don't have the new place. I don't have a generator either right
now. Man, Just imagine Februarythat year of twenty one. We did
(02:34):
have it. We didn't have atthe end. I had a fireplace,
luckily, and so I kept thefireplace going. And then we had a
gas stove and we lit that.But we were seventy two hours. We
were It wouldn't too in bad,yeah, wrapped up with blankets, but
we had everything on I mean dryers, right, microwaves. We obviously we
invited the neighbors. Hey, comehere, up your formula or whatever you
need. We charged them for it. Don't get me wrong, We're no
(02:54):
fools. But yeah, whole homegenerator's way to go. Yeah, I
get it, get it. Myneighbor's got one. I hear kick on
all the time. But anyway,so there's a little thing coming up that's
going to be happening. So ohyeah, it's the Houston Safari Club Foundation
Worldwide Expo and Hunting Convention. Andthat's folks, if you haven't heard us
talk about it yet, that's Januarythe nineteenth or the twenty first at the
(03:15):
Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center. That annual convention has been held at
the Georgia Brown Convention Center downtown Houstonfor the last five years, but the
show is moving back out to theWoodlands. So we're excited about it and
to educate us on it and totalk all about it is our twenty twenty
four Houston Stari Club Foundation Convention ChairmanJames Lofton. James, welcome, Hi,
(03:37):
Thank you appreciate you being here.Man. Absolutely do we have to
stand when he entered the room,I'd prefer it. I saluted when he
came in. I don't know aboutyou. I was kind of embarrassed.
Well, I didn't know. Imean I only took this job on because
I thought i'd get like some sortof praise, prestige. Yeah, well
I thought i'd get more camping stuffwhen I took on this show. And
(03:59):
we're both disappointed. You, well, you've gotten a few good knives though,
you know what, You've gotten acouple of good stuff. Hey,
didn't didn't you get some game Wardenpants or something too? I am game
Warden something like that. Are youstill now? Now Carter Smith is retired,
he's the one that deputized you.So do we have to have a
repeat by by the new head ofParks Park to renew it, renew the
(04:21):
Hunter or it's like a knighthood?Are you always think so? You should
always? I'm going to go withthis. I'm going to do that,
Okay. Well, yeah, thethe uniform is quite fetching. I like
going up the fishermen and just makinga move over. Well, I think
Marmon got to show up at theconvention wearing his Outit nice and when it's
(04:42):
nineteen degrees outside, it'll be perfect. Yeah, it'll be perfect. So
James, let's talk a little bitabout your about your personal background and history.
You're what do you do for aliving? I am currently an executive
with a oldfield chemical company. Okay, So I've spent so almost thirty years
in the oldfield chemical business and currentlya partner in the company that I worked
(05:06):
for today. Okay, awesome.And so you joined Houston Spark Club Foundation.
We were talking before we got onair. You and I met at
the annual convention one year actually ata banquet. So how long have you
been involved with the Houston Sphark ClubFoundation and why did you choose to get
involved? So? I think wegot involved in being my wife Catherine and
(05:27):
I six seven years ago, andthe reason we got involved is I was
looking for a group in activity todo that really spoke to who I am
and hunting is a huge part ofmy life. And we had met a
friend of Catherine's, Matt Pyle,who started telling me about the club,
(05:51):
and so I showed up at theChristmas party and at the Christmas party I
got invited by the Simpsons from ConrodTech Germany to join their table at the
convention. The following month, sothat was my start, and I absolutely
love it surrounded by great people thatthat share common vision, that we can
talk the same kind of stories,that share the same passions that I have.
(06:16):
So be honest with me, whatwas your first impression the first time
you actually went to a banquet.I mean, I'm sure you've gone to
other outdoor shows and banquets and stuffbefore, but I've been to some old
field events, but nothing really quitelike what you were doing there at the
at the convention, and I thoughtit was awesome. Just a lot of
(06:36):
energy, a lot of excitement.Obviously a lot of great items up for
the auction, but getting to meetso many people that you know, enjoy
hunting, want to talk about hunting, that have a passion for the hunting
and conservation lifestyle, it was justa lot of fun. Yeah, it's
a fun group too, especially atconvention. There's a lot of people that
(06:58):
we see sporadically through the year.Mention is kind of like a family reunion
for us. I mean, thosewere the guys who are around fifty years
ago when the organization first started,and then the people that are new.
You know, people have their ownlives around things, but it's it's it's
pretty fun and it's neat to seeeverybody come together at that convention. It
is. It's it's kind of likea well, like a reunion, annual
reunion. Yep. Absolutely, Sotell us a little bit about your your
(07:23):
a little bit about your hunting journeyjourney. Have you hunted all your life
for the most part, yes,I remember, I think I was,
and I've probably started before this.But I remember at about three years old,
three to four years old, sittingin the bottom of a deer belind
while my dad was hunting, andwhen the deer would come out, he
(07:44):
would tell me and I'd crawl upon his lap and look out the window
and help him pick out which onethat he needed to shoot for us for
dinner or that weekend. So butyeah, as long as I can remember,
I've been hunting. Been very fortunate. I was took my first year
when I was seven years old,and that's just continued on ever since.
(08:05):
You know. I was just verygrateful and fortunate to have a dad who
hunting was a big part of hislife, and in fact, he had
to do it to help him havemeet on the table when he was a
young kid. So that really instilledthat passion for me to just continue to
do it and fortunately have had acareer that's allowed me to now be able
(08:30):
to go and hunt around the world. Awesome. All right, folks are
going to take a quick break here. We are joined our guest today,
James Lofton. James is the twentytwenty four Houston Sparklob Foundation Convention share person.
We'll be back after the break onHoneymatters KPRC nine fifteen. He don't
die here, you will probably justride away a dream nesic singers. I
(09:00):
have always been a real fuse family, but lately some of my ken both
have just owned of you others andme. I guess it's because I kind
of changed my direction. Lord,I guess I'm went in rod the family
(09:24):
tradition. Welcome back to Honeymatters onKPRC nine fifty. This is your host
Joe by Tar, I have RamonRobless and we were joining today by our
guest James Laughton. James is thetwenty twenty four Houston Fire Club Foundation Convention
chairperson. He also serves on theboard of directors and James, thanks once
again for joining us. Love it, love being here. It's the hardest
(09:45):
part about being in your position withthe Houston s Far Club or the thing
that you didn't expect you'd have todo as much, or you know,
something you didn't expect. You know, I would say, we have a
lot of people who are paying uhin the club, getting everybody kind of
coralled up and heading in the rightdirection sometimes and and you know, getting
(10:09):
people to channel that passion into reallyhelping to accomplish what we want to accomplish
in the club. You know,everybody is very busy with their own personal
lives, and so I think that'sprobably one of the biggest challenges. Uh.
But fortunately we have a lot ofpeople who are like me and really
have such a dedication and a passionto it that gladly you know, step
(10:30):
up. You know. You youknow, you always have out of any
large group, you always have asmaller, you know, percentage that wants
to take the lead and try tohelp push things along, but you know
a lot of people who will helpsupport it. Yeah, I agree that,
I too feel that Joe Bitar's deadweight. So I appreciate the way
you answered that kind of said that, Hey, I'm in the two percent
(10:54):
club on some of the podcasts.Maybe you've dragged him along or them.
Well, that's why I keep themaround. Soy, I'm a backer.
It makes me look good. Ohman. You know you talked a little
bit in the first segment. Youtalked a little bit about how you got
involved, and then when we startedthis segment, you talked a little bit
about, you know, passion forthings. You really do have to have
(11:16):
a servant's heart to be involved inan organization like this. If you're really
actively involved on the board or committeeof that sort of thing. How important
is it to you and how importantit do you think it it should be
to other people that love the huntingand the outdoors where it's hunting, fishing,
whatever, to be involved in thesetypes of organizations like Houston spar Club
Foundation. Well, I think ifit's something that you really love and you
(11:37):
cherish, and especially if it's somethingyou want to see passed down to your
children and future generations, it's criticallyimportant. If we don't keep these traditions
alive, we don't protect these traditions, we don't protect the things that we
love, they'll disappear, they goaway. If you don't show a passion
(11:58):
for it gonna be hard to expectyour kids to show a passion for it
and and understand it, and andand even not just our kids, you
know, I'm I. I've hadthe fortune to be a guide on some
Texas youth hunts where I get tohelp coach other kids who've never had the
opportunity to hunt, and they comefrom families that they don't hunt. And
(12:22):
watching the dads and the kids,uh step forward and be so willing to
learn and and and embrace what we'redoing, it's just it's incredible. It's
very fulfilling. And I think there'sa huge need, especially in the hunting
and conservation and the outdoors arena.There's a huge desire by a lot of
people that somebody needs to help fosterthat. And overmone you've you mentioned a
(12:50):
number of times you didn't grow upyou know, doing it or had limited
experience, and you know, andI think that there's uh, you know,
a huge opportunity unity, you knowfor those of us who do love
it to you know, share itwith others. And you know, that's
what's going to allow us to continueto protect it and see it, you
know, grow to its potential.Yeah, and That's one of the things
(13:11):
I like about the organization He's aSpork Club Foundation is that, you know,
we do have it at our core. We do have a servant's art,
whether it's the scholarship program, theconservation grants, or the youth education
and hunting program and that sort ofthing. And it does it does take
a special kind of person to wantto be involved in that. And we're
also busy, but you you know, if you really want to be part
of it and supporting the future ofhunting and conservation, you just carve out
(13:33):
the time to to make it happen. And uh, and there's a there's
a lot of kids out there thatwe h young adults and students and that
sort of thing that we can neverreach. You know, we we do
it to the best of our ability. But I know you've been involved in
a lot of projects, both inHe's a Spork Club Foundation and outside of
just personal stuff where you're just like, I'm just going to take these kids
hunting. And I know that's agreat passion for you and a great joy
(13:54):
to you. Yeah, it is, And and I get a lot of
fulfillment out of it too. AndI tell you know, my wife when
I come home, you know,like the hunt I do with those youth,
that's usually one of my most fulfillingand and cherished weekends each each hunting
season. You know, it's it'sit's almost more so than than you know,
(14:16):
some of the hunts that I take. You know, it's getting to
see you know that that first time, or take their their first animal,
and and and just be there andwatch the sunrise and watch the world come
alive and seeing how they enjoy it. If you were to if my kids
were able to get onto one ofthose things afterwards, would you judge them
for being kind of stupid? No? Okay, because sometimes they do.
(14:39):
And I think I might judge thema little bit for having to live in
your house. Yeah yeah, yeah, graded on a curve like well,
that's right. We do create exceptions, you know, understanding the environment that
they come from. Yeah. What'sthe thing that surprised you the most,
you know, being involved some ofthese youth hunts. I mean, I
I personally have experience with something thathappened to me years and years ago when
(15:00):
I first started doing youth hunts.What is it that if you can recall
a specific instance where you went Wow, that's shocking or surprising, or I
just obviously take that for granted orsomething like that. Well, and I'll
maybe go in a different direction thanwhat you were thinking. One of the
things that's actually been the most surprisingto me, and every year I'm still
(15:22):
amazed by it. In today's kidsworld, you know, technology being on
their phone. I mean you always, you know, you're out in public,
you always see them they're on theirphone, right, And I just
kind of had a vision when Iwas getting ready to go do this first
hunt. You know, is thiskid going to really enjoys he really going
(15:43):
to fully appreciate what he's getting theopportunity to do, or is he going
to be staring at his phone waitinguntil I tell him, you know,
hey, there's a deer out infront. And I think I've been doing
this for four years now for theyouth hunts, I have yet to have
a kid who's hat the or staringat his phone. In fact, the
only time really I see them lookingat their phone is if they're showing me
(16:07):
a picture, Oh, look atthe deer my buddy shot, yeah,
you know, or they're pulling itout to see what time it is to
see how much time they have leftright before we're going to head back to
camp, right, And and that'sthat's been very I really appreciate that you
know in them, that that thatthey're in the moment that and that it's
(16:32):
not just a sideline activity. Thatis surprising, that you know, change
of scenery, change of environment,opening up a whole new world of somebody.
I've witnessed that too on many occasionswhere the only time you see the
photo the phones come out is whenthey're taking photos of each other because they've
shot a pig or a dough orwhatever like that. Oh, yeah,
they're they're very eager to get theget the pictures, to start sending them
(16:53):
out as soon as they're successful.Yeah, it really is really is amazing
how how quickly it changes in thatphone, that little appliance in your hand
becomes less and less important when you'vegot so much more to look at,
or when you actually stare up,you know, you look up from a
from a phone or a tablet orwhatever. It's it's it's amazing how it
changes their perspectives. And you know, a lot of the programs are on
(17:15):
that we do is that our youthhunting programs that we do directly is not
only do we like to take themhunting and fishing, but also teach them
how to, you know, notonly harvest are anteal, but also to
how to clean it, how toprocess it, and that sort of thing.
Something one thing I had, aneye openingthing happened to me recently,
James. We took these kids ona deer hunt and and somebody said,
(17:36):
do you think you guys could payfor the processing of this meat? And
I'm like, of course we can. But that's that's something that popped out
at me, that they go homewith these quarters of deer meat, but
they they don't have the means toprocess them. So that's something we're going
to start doing as an organization tostart paying for the processing so they can
feed their families with it. Yeah, gonna have to take a quick break
here on hunting matters. Kp RCnine fifty will be back with our us
(18:00):
after the break. James Laughton,who is the twenty twenty four Houston Savarica
Foundation Convention chairperson and member of ourBoard of director, seeing on the other
side, folks, she's doing almosteverything, but sitting still. We loaded
(18:25):
up my station wagon with a tent, a coleman and sleeping bags, some
fishing holes, a cooler of cokes. Three days before we had to be
back. When you're seven year andseventh Heaven, when you go in camping
in the wild outdoors. Have weturned off phone? That off the road?
(18:48):
He looked at me and so Dawn, this could be the best day
of my life. I've been dreamabout the fun. Welcome back to the
Honey Matters O KPRC nine fifty.This is your host, Joe Bet.
(19:10):
I would have let that play ita little longer, I know, but
I was starting to a little tearyout, had some chills, so I
had to put an end to itbefore I started sobbing on the air robe
bless. Welcome back to our guest, James Lofton. James is the chairperson
of our twenty twenty four Houston SafariClub Foundation Convention and Worldwide Hunting Expo,
and he also serves on the boardof directors. Whatever possessed you to volunteer
(19:30):
to agree to be the convention chairperson, because I know the amount of work
that goes into it, James,You know I I I was question about
that is something I really wanted todo. No, I wanted to continue
to grow with the board and tocontinue to experience and help where I felt
(19:56):
that I could, you know,anywhere within the organization. I've worked with
several different organizations over the years,and ran my own charity for a while,
and and just have that desire to, Okay, what else can I
do? You know, I feellike I've kind of done this, I
want to do I want to dothe next thing now, right, And
(20:18):
so I just saw that as askind of one of the key pivotal roles
that we have in our organization anda key need, and I wanted to
be a part of it. Reallyalso to understand everything that goes into it,
so to be able to fully appreciatethe others that have done it and
that will do it in the future. Yeah, I think you had an
(20:40):
eye opening event happened this week whenyou were doing the hotel pre conference.
Oh yeah, it was certainly.You know, these big events, you
always know there's a lot of detailthat goes into it, But when you
sit there and start looking at pageafter page of the little things how a
room is prepared and where the tablesare laid out, what tables are there,
(21:00):
and what's set up and how manytrash cans or how many Yeah,
there's so many little things that Ithink as attendees we just take for granted.
Sure, and but but seeing youknow, somebody really has to dive
into the details on that. Andyou know, fortunately, I think we
have a great staff. You know, you and the staff have just done
(21:21):
a phenomenal job over the years andkind of have a lot of that really
kind of figured out and for meas a convention chair, make it pretty
easy, you know, for forsomeone like me, uh to not have
to figure all that out. Yeah, we are blessed our team, our
team at the office. Theres isI'll put I'll put our few people up
against your twenty any day, anyday of the week. They are phenomenal.
(21:45):
Yeah. Cage arm wrestling, Yeah, jellow eating, Yes, that's
probably maybe hot dog eating. I'min if I can participate. Maybe if
you can be our ringer, canmake it happen. What, uh,
what are you most excited about inregards to the upcoming convention? Can folks
if you haven't heard by now,listening to the show January nineteenth or the
(22:07):
twenty first at the Woodlands Waterway,Mariout and Convention Center. Go to we
hunt we give dot org. Youcan get your expo tickets there. You
can get your banquet tickets there.Just curious to find out what are you
most excited about. You know,I'm really excited. You know, we
were moving back to the Woodlands.The reception that we got from the hotel
staff was amazing. It's a greathotel, by the way. We just
stay there every time we're up inthe Woodlands. Yeah, and I think
(22:30):
that they're going to do everything theycan to make it a great show.
Our team is certainly creating a greatshow. I'm excited to see all the
new people that were able to bringin. You know, we're doing some
you know, interesting things this year. There are things that are a little
(22:51):
different, offering a membership to everybodythat attends, for example, So we
hope to bring in a lot ofpeople. We hope to generate a lot
of omentuh. And the auctions,Man, We've got some fantastic items in
our auction. So I love theauctions. I've bought a number of the
items, and in fact, thevery first convention I ever went to.
(23:11):
That's probably one of the reasons youyou met me too? Is I ended
up buying I think a couple ofhunts uh there at that first auction,
and and I have boughts something everh every year since. So yeah,
we we love it. Just someof the things that we have coming up,
(23:32):
uh entertainment, some great entertainment,uh, seminars. Uh. There's
a lot of things that we're doinguh this year that are a little different
or that we haven't done uh forthe last several years that I think are
going to set this uh this yearshow apart and bringing back, bringing it
(23:52):
back to the Woodlands. It's goingto be great. Joe tells me there's
going to be a team building momentwhere you walk on broken glass? Is
that true? If that's what ittakes to make the show a success,
I'm willing to do it. Okay, you heard it here, folks.
We've got it documented there, documentation. I have a witness FCC. Now
I may have some hard plastic clearplastic. Okay, well, well maybe
(24:14):
we'll just stut jump that big firepit that's out back behind the Maria.
Cold walking. I did the coldwalking once, but I did have shoes
on. I think the best wecan, hope for is trust falls some
falls. You talked a little bitabout entertainment. So this year we've got
a couple of unique entertainers lined upFriday night after the during the Bank with
(24:37):
his Sundance Head, who won oneof the seasons of the Early Boys competitions.
And then Saturday night we've got WilliamLee Martin, who's famous for He's
a cowboy comedian, was part ofthe Blue Collar Comedy Tour. Oh nice.
Yeah, so yeah, it's bothboth acts or Texas guys and and
they're both outdoor guys. Yeah,so you know that that's exciting too.
(25:00):
And and and really that was somethingthat I was hoping, you know,
that we could find too is entertainment, Uh, entertainers that also believed in
our cause. So for somebody who'snever been to the convention, you know,
I always I always see people atthe expo. They go They're like,
I'm like, are you guys goingto the banquet? Banquet? And
we've been putting this thing on foryears and years and years and years and
the Bank I didn't know, youguys are having a banquet tonight. So
(25:22):
if you wouldn't mind walk walk ourlisteners through kind of what a day,
let's say, you know, aday at Houston's Farco Foundation Convention could look
like from from start to the endof the evening. Well, I think,
you know, certainly most people aredrawn to the exhibitors and and to
try to find that, you know, somewhere to fulfill that dream that they've
had, you know, to toto go hunt in a far off land,
(25:45):
or to go fish in Alaska oryou know, bird hunt in Argentina.
I mean, there's there's so manydifferent options and opportunities to to look
at and to kind of help,you know, fill that bucket list.
But then there's so much more,you know, you get into the whether
it's the Friday night auction and dinneror or the Saturday Gazelle's or the Saturday
(26:10):
Night Gala. Those dinner auction eventsreally is where a lot, to me,
a lot of the fun happens,you know. That's that's where everybody's
having a great time, uh Andand that's where we're raising a lot of
the money that that we're trying toraise for the club is through having these
fantastic auction items, most of whichare fully donated, uh generously by exhibitors
(26:36):
and and uh, vendors from ourfrom our exhibit hall and you know,
but that's that's the real party atmosphere. So uh, you know, come
and show up and we usually havea cocktail hour and then and uh dinner
and live auction and all sorts offun games. It's a it's it's it's
(26:57):
a great event that honest. Thatis what really sold me on the club
is is you know, it's Christmas, the initial Christmas dinner. You know,
I got a kind of a feelfor it. I always loved going
to you know, the hunting expos, but really getting to that event where
(27:18):
I started to meet the people andfeel that connection and see the fun that
our club has. Yeah, andI think one thing that people need to
realize is that while the show hasmoved from downtown to the Woodlands, it
may be the expo part of itmaybe just a little bit smaller based on
space. We really strive this yearto work to get a good mix of
outfitters from all different places the world. So speak to that just a little
(27:41):
bit before we go into the break. Yeah, it was it was critical
for us to make sure that weare helping each person, as I said,
or be able to fulfill those itemsin their bucket list or those dreams.
So you know, we we werevery careful to select hunters from different
parts of Africa, from North America, from Canada, from South America,
(28:02):
Europe, anywhere you would you've dreamedof hunting in the world, we have
an outfitter that's going to be therethat can help you fulfill that dream.
And it's not just uh, youknow, hunting big game like I said,
you know, there's tons of birdhunting opportunities, there's fishing opportunities.
And for the ladies of course,there's always the jeers and the fir and
(28:25):
the and the people selling furs andlots of things for them. My wife
always walks over and looks and picksup the most expensive shotgun on the table.
That's what she's that's what she's driven. Ah, very good. Yeah,
yeah, but it's good. It'sgood that we're going to have a
you know, a good diverse mix. So if you're whether you're looking for
a hunting Texas, want to goshoot hogs or whatever, you want to
go to another country, that that'sdefinitely going to be out there and available.
(28:48):
All right, folks are going totake a quick break. Here in
Hunting Matters we background our guest Jameslofton the twenty twenty four Houstons Fire Club
Foundation Convention Chairman taking a break onHonting Matters KPRC nine fifty. Little boy
(29:12):
in a baseball hat stands in thefield with his ball in bad says,
I am the greatest player of themall. Puts his bad on his shoulder
and he tosses up his ball andthe ball goes up and the ball comes
(29:34):
down, swings as bad all theway around the world. So still you
can hear the sound of the baseballfalls to the ground. Welcome back to
Honeymatters on KPRC nine fifty. Thisis your host, Joe Bitar. I
am Ramon Robles. What are youlaughing about this song? This is the
second time I've ever heard it,really, and the first time I heard
(29:56):
it we played it on the othershow I work on it. We played
it all out and the end ofthe song got me. I thought,
Oh God, anyway, so I'msmiling because I know how the song ends.
Oh okay, so listen to itthis morning. Kenny Rodgers. Yeah,
yeah, it's called the Greatest Yeah, yeah, got it all right?
Folks back on hunting matters. HereJames Lofton, who is the twenty
twenty four Houston's Fire Club Foundation conventionchairperson, it's kind of enough to join
(30:21):
us today in between Roe Roan tryingto make us cry on air can you
play? Can you? But canI buy these shoes next? Yeah,
that'll be definitely send me over theedge there, James, thanks again for
putting up with us. Oh,it's pleasure. You know. The cool
thing I like about not only convention, but also just the organization Houston Spark
Club Foundation as in general, isif you need to learn something, there's
(30:44):
somebody there who's probably done it.Yes, even the little details of traveling
to Let's say you're going to goto you know, I use this example
a lot at least, say you'regoing to get a Tajikistan. Well,
who do I need to talk to? What's the paperwork? Where do I
need to fly into? That sortof thing. Tell us a little bit
about your experiences with that, youknow, and that is a huge part
of growing your group of friends thathave knowledge. I mean, because there's
(31:07):
a ton of things we were talkingabout earlier about teaching some of the youth
that haven't ever hunted, you know, and imparting our knowledge. But you
know, there's a lot of thingsthat we want to do that someone in
our club has been there and hasdone that, and that's that's been a
very I've appreciated it a lot.You know, we've we've been to Africa
(31:33):
on several trips and my wife andI just took our family to Africa back
in September, and through you know, some of the knowledge of friends,
you know, we got to dosome really unique experiences going and and interacting
with you know, rhinos and elephantsand lions, you know, really up
(31:56):
close and personal, I mean withinfifteen to twenty yards of each one of
these the animals and uh. Butbut finding out about that opportunity from someone
within the club, which is phenomenal. Yeah, it's really it's really cool
and it's something you mentioned that youalluded to this earlier. We're going to
have something that were new for usas we're going to be doing seminars.
Free seminars, so people that cometo the XBO can attend Saturday and Sunday
(32:17):
will have free seminars and you canfind the seminar schedule that we hunt we
give dot org folks just click onthe convention drop down. But things like
how to book your first African safari, how to how to plan to bow
hunt. One of the seminars isunderstood a Plan A and plan B hunting
eras, so, uh, whatto look for when you choosing them,
how to how to choose sport opticsnot scopes, monocular that sort of thing.
(32:39):
Uh, We've got a guy speakingon the history of Rigby, the
famed uh you know, rifle company, and then land management for quail and
planning your first hunting trip to Spain. So there's a lot of you know,
entry entry level of courses that arefree to people come incident and meet
with these outfitters and talk to himin a seminar classroom type situation, which
I think is very cool. Hey, and I want to speak real quick
(33:01):
about the bow hunting seminar for thoseof you that are bow hunters. I've
been a lifelong bow hunter. Istarted bow hunting when I was fifteen years
old, so I been bow huntingfor over thirty five years. You know,
I kind of felt like I knewit and I knew a lot.
Well, you can always learn more, right, I had the opportunity to
(33:22):
go hunt Kpe buffalo with a bow. And as I was preparing for that,
I realized, you know what,my knowledge of what I really need
to hunt buffalo is not really whatit should be when it comes to the
arrows. And Rob Nielsen, who'sgoing to be doing that seminar to a
fantastic job helping me design and prepareand build, you know, the right
(33:45):
set up and make sure that mybow and arrow was perfectly prepared to execute,
you know, a great shot andand you know, perform the way
it was supposed to. And soI was able to take my first and
second buffalo with a bow and andand here again. That's that's things,
(34:07):
you know, and I dreamed ofthem, you know, as a kid,
but really until I got involved inthis club to kind of start seeing,
you I could really do this,you know, and you talk to
people who have done it, Yeah, this is this is this is something
that I could really do. Butyou know, and I've mentioned Africa a
few times. One thing I wantto really make clear to our club.
(34:28):
Yeah, we have a lot ofmembers who you know, whether've gone to
Africa or South America or Europe oryou know, any of these many places
that you know have have just awesomeopportunities to hunt. We're not all about
We're not all people who just goand hunt around the world. Many of
our members have never left Texas ona hunt, and you know, we
(34:52):
welcome all the hunters. I mean, most of my lifetime, I didn't
go anywhere else outside of Texas.You know. I may have gone to
a couple of other states, youknow, on some really exotic cunts.
I went to Oklahoma or Colorado,you know. But I want to make
sure that you know, anyone listeningand anyone who's thinking about attending, understands
(35:14):
that we're for all hunters. Andyou know, it's just you know,
obviously many of us have had dreams. Whether we can actually you know,
achieve those dreams or not, youknow, or or can do it right
now, doesn't matter. You're goingto be around people who share the same
passion regardless of what we're chasing.I agree, And that's the very important
point that you bring up. Andon top of that, you know,
(35:34):
it's really about like I talked aboutearlier, about having that servant's heart for
the outdoors, whether it's hunting,fishing, wildlife, habitat whatever. I
mean, We're doing a thing asan organization coming up in February. We're
going to be out on Coastal Prairie, which is formerly the Kadi Peririer Conservacy,
doing a hands on day. We'rejust going to be out there cleaning
up areas, planting native grasses.That sort of thing has nothing to do
with hunting, which a conservation.But yeah, and I tell anybody I
(36:00):
have a discussion with about hunting who'snot really a hunter. Hunters are the
number one conservationists when you look everyyear, hands down, who contributes more
money, more time, more effortto conserving not only the animals that we
hunt, but animals in general.It's hunters and we have the passion for
(36:22):
the outdoors and nature. Yeah,and it's you know, the attacks is
based on sporting goods related to huntingthat are really helped to fund conservation in
this country through the Pittman Robertson Act. That's really the main source of conservation
funding here across the US and hasbeen for many, many years. And
that's because people who love the outdoorsare buying these products and the lying part
(36:44):
of their sales decks to go tothat absolutely. Yeah, it's pretty pretty
cool. The North American model ofwildlife conservation on attack. On top of
the way that we fund it andwe can always use more money and more
hands on efforts, but it's reallyit's a model that many many other countries
are starting to look at and seewhat can we do as well. A
few final details here in the lastcouple minutes we got about the show.
(37:07):
Got to we hunt, wegive dotorg. Check out the convention drop down
button learn everything about convention. Youcan buy your online expo hall passes there
or you can get them at thedoor for ten bucks or a weekend pass
for twenty five dollars. Free admissionfor children twelve and under and those with
an active military ID or first respondersthat get get in the door free.
So it's ten bucks, it's nothing. There's a lot of free parking out
there, a lot of things todo around there, so if you want
(37:30):
to step out and go shopping orgrab go, grab lunch or whatever,
there's so much to do around thehotel as well. But the other thing
you talked about earlier, so we'regoing to be doing the Ladies luncheon has
a big silent auction that they haveevery year. Yeah, absolutely, lots
of great items. Yeah, it'sreally fun. And the Ladies Luncheon,
which is on Saturday, is aboutfifty percent men in attendance. It's not
just the ladies put it. Theladies hosted. It's not a lady's event,
(37:51):
no, no. And then Fridaynight we have games and we have
a live auction as well, andthen we have a big raffle on the
floor throughout the weekend on the expofloor. So even if you don't go
to the bank, which you canbuy raffle tickets, We've got a lot
of really cool firearms that we're goingto be raffling off in a few hunts
this year on the Grand Raffle.But the uh, the big live auction
(38:13):
that the banquets that we have.We have live auctions Friday night, Saturday
night and the Gazelles launching, andthere's some really cool stuff this year.
You want to talk a little bitabout a couple of things that you yeah,
yeah, yeah, Well there's there'sa few things that I'm really proud
that really unique items that we werewe're really kind of blessed to get to
put in our auction this year.If you don't know, there's some states
(38:34):
that will offer tags out to outto different organizations to raffle off. So
we got tags from Nebraska in Californiaand Oregon from you know, the Oregon
for a mountain goat and deer tagsfor California and Nebraska. Those are really
unique tags and very valuable. Sothose are those are awesome. Of course,
then we got the President's rifle,which is always a really unique rifle.
(39:00):
President shouldn't have a rifle. That'sgood that you took it. Well,
our president, oh the country,but Neil, president of the club
or president of your household, certainlyfarms a lot of cool stuff. Folks.
Go to the website we give dotorg. You can click on there
even if you can't attend, andyou can go to online Hunting Auctions dot
com and you can participate in thoselive auctions from the comfort of your own
(39:22):
home. But we'd love to seeyou at the banquets. Thank you James
for being our guest. Folks,we will see you next week. We
are out of time Hunting Matters KPRCnine fifty
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