The Houston Safari Club Foundation (HSCF) stands as a powerful force in conservation, education, and hunting advocacy. Despite what its name might suggest, this organization isn't exclusively for safari enthusiasts—it welcomes hunters of all backgrounds and experience levels who share a passion for wildlife conservation and outdoor traditions.
Founded in the early 1970s, HSCF has evolved into an organization with a clear mission encapsulated in its tagline: "We Hunt, We Give." This philosophy drives everything they do, from raising funds through memberships and events to distributing those resources through grants and scholarships. To date, HSCF has contributed over $4 million in conservation grants and nearly $4 million in scholarships, making a substantial impact on both wildlife habitats and future conservation leaders.
One of HSCF's flagship initiatives is the Dan L Duncan Scholarship Program, which supports students pursuing degrees in wildlife management, range management, biology, and related fields. What makes this scholarship unique is that funds go directly to students rather than institutions, ensuring immediate impact for those who have demonstrated their commitment to wildlife and habitat management through a rigorous application process.
Beyond financial support for students, HSCF provides conservation grants both domestically and internationally. These grants fund diverse projects ranging from anti-poaching initiatives in Africa to wildlife relocation efforts in Texas. The organization also runs youth education programs that take children hunting and fishing, with plans to expand these offerings to include classroom presentations for 4-H and FFA groups—reaching young people from various socioeconomic backgrounds to foster the next generation of conservation advocates.
What truly sets HSCF apart is its community aspect. Members don't just receive a quarterly magazine and newsletter; they gain access to a network of like-minded individuals who share experiences and resources. Monthly events—including shooting competitions, hunting excursions, and speaker presentations—create opportunities for members to connect, learn, and enjoy their shared interests. This networking aspect has proven valuable not just for hunting advice but also for business connections, with many members forming professional relationships through their HSCF involvement.
The annual HSCF Worldwide Hunting Expo & Convention is scheduled for January 23-25, 2026 and will transform the Woodlands Waterway Marriott into a hub of activity with exhibitors, auctions, banquets, and educational opportunities spread across multiple floors. Located just outside of Houston, the family-friendly event includes free admission for children under 15 and various entertainment options for accompanying family members who might prefer to explore the surrounding community's restaurants, shops, and attractions.
Membership ranges from an affordable $50 digital membership (which includes electronic access to the quarterly Hunter's Horn magazine and newsletters) to lifetime memberships. HSCF prides itself on welcoming members at whatever level works for them, with the understanding that all contributions support their conservation mission. FYI - Convention attendees receive a complimentary digital membership!
Don't forget to also check out over 230 episodes of the HSCF Podcast "Hunting Matters".
As Executive Director Joe Betar emphasizes, HSCF "wouldn't exist if it weren't for the people that support us." From individual members to corporate partners and exhibitors, every contributor plays a vital role in sustaining the organization's conservation work.
Learn more at WeHuntWeGive.o
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hey Joe, welcome to the podcast.
How are you doing today, man?
Good, George, Good to see you.
As always, you as well.
I'm really excited to talk toyou all about the Houston Safari
Club Foundation, the conventioncoming up.
But you know, with a lot of myguests I like to kind of give
people a little bit ofintroduction on who you are.
So I want to go back to thebeginning, Tell us a little bit
about where you're born andraised and kind of where you got
(00:35):
your zest and love for theoutdoors, and then we'll kind of
, you know, fill in the blanksfrom there.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Sure, sure.
So I grew up in a small town innortheast Louisiana known as
Monroe, or Funrow as we used tocall it, literally right across
the river from the Robertsonfamily, the Duck Commander, duck
Dynasty guys, and so I'vealways been aware of those guys.
And I lived in centralLouisiana for several years and
(01:03):
then we moved up to where mygrandparents lived in Northeast
Louisiana and yeah, so I myfoundation was more so in around
fishing and frog gigging andduck hunting and that sort of
thing and never was reallyinvolved in deer hunting and big
game stuff as a kid.
So actually my mother, who wasa single mom at the time,
introduced me to the outdoors.
She grew up on a farm and sheit was always puzzling to her.
(01:24):
We'd be driving down the road,I'd be sitting in the back seat
and I'd look out the window andshe used to always tell me she
said I don't know what it wasabout you, but you would always
look out the window and go thatlooks like a good place to go
hunt, that looks like a goodplace to go fishing, and I'd
never done it as a young, as ayoung child, and so it finally
(01:46):
got a kid.
I had a mom that worked two jobs, but on Friday afternoons
during the summer and spring,when I came home the car was
loaded with crickets and wormsand fishing poles and we went
out and fished all you knowFriday afternoons.
And as I got older she startedasking some of the men in the
neighborhood hey, you know,would you take my kids squirrel
hunting, or whatever rabbithunting, and picture, you know,
(02:07):
a 10-year-old me walking throughthe swamps of Louisiana wearing
white shrimping boots becausethat's all I had and chasing
squirrels and rabbits until Igot to the point where she would
drop me off on a you knownatural gas pipeline and drop me
off in the morning with a lunchand a breakfast and pick me up
at sundown and I'd come out witha sack full of rabbits and
squirrels.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
That is awesome.
What a great intro, and I knowthat area is very game rich, so
that was very exciting.
So you, you, you have this love, you kind of family, help to to
nourish that and foster that.
And I mean now you're at thispoint where you're helping to
nurture and foster that forpeople all across Texas with the
Houston Safari Club Foundationin multiple facets.
(02:47):
But I kind of wanted to maybealso bridge that idea of like,
how did you get into working inthis outdoor sector and then how
did you eventually findyourself working as the
executive director with HoustonSafari Club Foundation?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yeah, it's a weird story.
I'm actually.
A lot of people don't know this, but I'm actually a registered
nurse.
I started in the medical field.
I did mostly dealt with cardiacpatients during my medical
career and I always had a visionthat, you know, nursing changed
when I first started nursingyears and years ago.
You know, you had nurses andyou had aides on the floor, so
(03:21):
nurses could spend time with thefamilies and actually take care
of patients and the aides dideverything else as far as
feeding and daily care.
That changed, you know, withnursing shortages and the way
hospitals did things and I kindof.
From that point, I was like,well, if I can't really be a
nurse and give my patients, youknow, no-transcript for 10 years
(04:13):
.
And this is again.
This is a global, internationalcompany.
And I was just talking to thisgentleman and I said, hey, I
heard you're involved with thisorganization, tell me about that
.
And he said, well, actually Ibought it and so it was a
whitetail-based organizationbased here in Texas.
And I said, oh well, that'scool.
And he called me up one day andsaid I need you to go over here.
I just bought this company andI'm looking for somebody to go
(04:36):
and kind of clean it up, make itmore profitable and run it.
And I said, well, that soundspretty cool.
And I said, well, I'll thinkabout it.
He goes.
No, he said I need you to go dothis.
So it was kind of an ultimatum,if you will, and it was a great
entryway for me to move fromwhat I did professionally in my
background in marketing, salesand operations to apply to the
(04:58):
outdoor world.
So I did that for several yearsand that was kind of how I got
into it and then eventuallyended up here in 2014 as the
executive director of HoustonSafari Club Foundation.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
And so for those who aren't really familiar, maybe
hearing about it for the firsttime, I'd love for you to kind
of walk us through really.
What is the Houston Safari ClubFoundation, some of the tenants
and kind of main structuralpoints of you know reference of
like what you do?
I mean, because there's youtheducation, there's grants,
there's so many things going on.
We got the convention butthere's a lot of awareness,
(05:30):
education, conservation, that atits core, and I mean a
wonderful organization.
I want you to kind of give alittle bit of a one-on-one, just
kind of, and then we can kindof dive deeper a little bit from
there.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Right, so the name is somewhat of a misnomer.
Houston Safari Club Foundationhas been around since the early
70s.
You know we were actually achapter of Safari Club
International and way before mytime this chapter broke off and
said they wanted to do thingsyou know independently.
And so the name is a little bitmisleading in that, you know, a
lot of our members have neverbeen on safari.
(06:06):
We have a lot of members thatjust hunt quail in Texas, or
dove or whitetail or ducks orwhatever, and I have people that
approach me and go oh, you workfor a hunting organization.
Well, I have to correct that inthat I work for an organization
that gives back.
We are focused on conservation,education and promoting the
future of hunting.
The affinity of our membership,of course, is hunting.
(06:29):
All of our members love to hunt.
They're diehard hunters andconservationists and I like to
use those terms in tandembecause you know, hunters are
the best.
As you know, more than anybody,hunters are some of the best
conservationists world.
They're the ones who get active, they're the ones who spend
money to support wildlife andhabitat management and those
sorts of things.
So the name is a little bit of amisnomer If you've never been
(06:52):
on safari.
If you've never planned ongoing to Africa, never been to
Africa, it doesn't matter.
We welcome hunters of all skillsets, of all levels of their
hunting journey and what we areabout is giving back.
In fact, you know our taglineis we Hunt, we Give.
If you go to the website, it'swehuntwegiveorg and it takes you
(07:17):
to our website, and so we raisemoney to give it away, like
most nonprofits.
And where we give it away is wedo conservation grants at home
and abroad.
We buy everything frommotorcycles for anti-poaching
patrols to moving sheep in WestTexas and the mountains of West
Texas, and so we do a lot ofdifferent conservation grants
and youth education grants.
And then we have our own youtheducation program where we
actually take kids hunting andfishing and we're expanding that
(07:39):
over the next year.
We've actually hired afull-time person on staff here
and we're going to expand thatprogram to not only be taking
kids in the field but presentingeducational modules in the
classroom in front of 4-H groups, in front of FFA groups and
that sort of thing, because wewant to reach as many kids as
possible from differentsocioeconomic backgrounds and
(07:59):
different upbringings.
And then kind of our benchmarkprogram, george, is our
scholarship program the Dan LDuncan Scholarship Program it's
our name of our scholarshipprogram was founded by a
gentleman who was one of theearly founders of Houston Safari
Club Foundation and he wantedto support students that are
majoring in outdoor educationrelated majors wildlife
management, range management,biology and help them with their
(08:21):
education.
So that's our benchmark program.
We scholarship 25 studentsevery year, typically at the
master's and PhD level, but someundergrads, and they get a
check in their hand.
It doesn't go to the university, it goes to that student.
They've completed a stringentreview process.
They've completed applications,they've got their academic
advisors that provided referrals.
(08:41):
So we know they are dedicatedto habitat and wildlife
management as part of theirfuture careers and that's
something we're really proud of.
All of our outreach programs,that's probably one that we're
more known for and so, yeah,it's pretty cool.
We raise money any which way wecan to give it back in those
three areas.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Well, and I'd love to talk about the idea too of how,
when someone comes in and getsinvolved, there's a lot of
different levels of being ableto be a member, right, and I
kind of want to walk throughthat and give people the option,
because whatever level you getinto even at the very base,
lowest level there in thatdigital membership, there those
(09:21):
money is really going towardssome amazing cause.
I mean there's millions ofdollars in grants and
scholarships that you guys havedone.
I mean it's incredible.
But I'd love to kind of talkabout that for someone who wants
to get in and maybe just tryout, you know, one of those
lower level memberships or thosewho may want to do a
partnership and sponsorshiplevels that are higher up.
If you can kind of walk throughthose tiers and maybe what that
represents as membership, yeah,so you hit it there.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
You know we've done over 4 million in grants.
We've done over three millionalmost four million in
scholarships now, and then wehave a.
We have a pretty robustconservation or grants budget as
well.
But we wanted to be able toreach We've actually kind of
restructured our memberships inthe past several years.
We wanted to reach everybody atevery level that wants to be
part of who we are.
So, you're right, we have adigital membership in which you
(10:07):
get the magazine.
We have a beautiful magazinethat we produce quarterly, but
you get the magazine, ournewsletter and all the other
benefits of membership.
Being a digital member, that's50 bucks.
You know that's for a full year.
If you want to step that up,there's one, three, five year
memberships.
There's there's corporatememberships where if you and a
(10:34):
buddy have a company and youwant joint memberships, we do
two memberships like that andall the way up to life
memberships, which run about1500 a year.
So you can get involved atwhatever level you want to or
whatever level you care to payfor.
The cool thing that I hear fromtime and time again about this
organization is that people joinit because they want to learn
more about hunting orinternational hunting.
Some of them join it becausethey want to network.
There's a lot of people thathave made really good business
contacts in this organization.
So they'll talk to somebody andBill owns a pool company and
(10:57):
this guy owns a home remodelcompany, and then they partner
or they refer business to eachother or people pick up clients.
So it's really a.
It's really a I hate to use theterm family, but it's really.
You know, once you start tomeet members and come to monthly
events and volunteer, takingthat membership to the next
level not just being a memberand getting a magazine, but get
involved, you know.
And if you live far away, youdon't have to be involved, just
(11:19):
come to convention once a year,whatever.
But we do something typicallyevery month, whether it's a
shooting event, a hunting event,a speaker event there's always
something happening going on.
Speaker event there's alwayssomething happening going on.
But it's a great way to connectand network with other people
who've done things maybe youdidn't do, who have resources,
maybe that you need, and or viceversa.
And also we don't do an outfitor referral service, but I can't
(11:41):
tell you how.
Time and time again I've heardstories, horror stories, where
people go.
I spent all this money.
I flew halfway across the worldand it was a nightmare, and so
that network that we have withthe Safari Club Foundation
allows people to talk to otherpeople and go.
I'm going to go to New Zealandfor the first time.
Who are some outfitters youwent with and what were your
experiences so they can savethem a lot of headache?
Or what are the permits, whatdo I have to do to get there,
(12:03):
that sort of thing?
So it's really a prettycomprehensive opportunity for
people to get connected on somany different levels.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Good point, man, and that's so true that there's a
lot of organizations where I'vebeen a part of them too.
You write that check, you getmembership.
Maybe you get the newsletterdigital, you know magazine or
whatever and that kind of feelslike it.
But there is, I think.
You know, when you said likemaybe you didn't want to use the
word family, but that is anapproach and something that I
see within this.
There's a community that comestogether where you can share
(12:31):
those types of resources, thosekinds of friendships, being able
to go and do one of the youknow, like some shooting out of
the range together and theseevents where you like, learn
together and with each other.
And I think that's a very hugefoundational thing for this
organization is that there'salways something going on,
there's a heartbeat to thisright, and that's another thing
too, like the newsletters thatare get that they come out like
(12:53):
that's huge.
At the very least, everyoneneeds to go and sign up for
those on the on the website.
But then you also have a podcast.
I heard you have an amazinghost that you guys have there,
uh, hunting matters, and I'dlove for you to chat about that
too here in a second.
But these are things that youknow.
A lot of organizations, there'sa I mean, there's such an
(13:16):
educational platform to all ofthis and there's a lot of
different ways to get it.
You can get the Hunter's Hornmagazine.
You can get you can turn intoHunting Matters the podcast, the
newsletters, these events, theconvention there's something for
everyone and I think that thereis a magnitude of information
that will be beneficial foranyone who decides to be a
member, and I think that's oneof the key things that drew me
in and has drawn so many offriends and people I know in the
(13:37):
industry to being supporters ofthe Houston Safari Club
Foundation.
So if you will maybe just talka little bit about the podcast
too, for a second, and kind of,you know when did you know how
long have you been involved inthat?
And you know kind of a littleone on one on that, if you
wouldn't mind, sure we.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
So I did want to point out because you made me
think of something.
So the digital membershipspeople get a digital copy of the
magazine, no-transcript.
(14:12):
And to be quite honest with you, I'm old school.
I like a good, beautifulmagazine, I like a book in my
hand and we're very proud of ourmagazine.
It's a very high qualitymagazine.
It's award winning.
We've won multiple awards fromMarcom and all kinds of
different organizations andwe're very proud of that.
(14:35):
I'm proud of the team and staffthat puts that together.
But if you're a digital kid,I'm an analog kid in the digital
world from some perspectives.
But yeah, we try to reach outand communicate with people on
all different levels magazinenewsletter and the cool thing
about the magazine it's not justfirst-person hunting stories.
I like to do medical.
I like being a nurse.
I like to have a medicalarticle.
I like to hear about members'stories.
I like to do medical.
I like being a nurse.
I like to have a medicalarticle.
I like to hear about membersstories.
I like to give legislativeupdates.
We like to do a culinaryarticle.
(14:56):
We like to do travel articles.
Even if you're going to country, you're like, be cool if I
could pair a hunt with, you know, an excursion for a week off in
some part of the country.
So we do all those things andthe magazine's a little more,
you know, comprehensive, tooffer people, you know,
information on a variety ofdifferent topics.
The podcast we've been doing forquite a while now.
(15:17):
I think we're at 230 plusepisodes.
It's a weekly one hour podcast.
We interview people from allover the world, all walks of
life.
I interviewed a guy you knowwho's actually rowing a boat
across the Pacific Ocean toraise money and I interview
outfitters.
I interview people who arechefs.
We had one young lady on whohas overcome tremendous
(15:44):
obstacles that she incurred as ahigh school student in a car
accident and she's hunting outof a wheelchair.
So you know we talk to peoplefrom all walks of life on the
podcast, that anythingaffiliated with the outdoors
we'd like to talk to them.
And you know I'm like you, Ilike to hear the human interest
stories.
So yeah, we're proud of that.
We've been doing that for over230 episodes and it's on all the
major podcast platforms and wedo audio and video as well.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Oh, and it's very entertaining and educational,
which is kind of right at thesweet spot for everything I want
to learn.
I want to learn something andwalk away from it, but I want to
have that heartbeat and thatfeeling of being able to kind of
connect with those people andthe guests.
And you guys do a tremendousjob.
It's a wonderful podcast, somake sure everyone can tune into
that, and I'll have all thelinks below to everything we're
talking about too.
So if you guys are trying towrite something down or you're
(16:28):
in a car, don't worry, justcheck out the show notes for
that, you know.
Moving forward, I want to talkabout the annual convention,
because today, when this drops,it'll be a six month mark until
the convention doors open.
People flood in all someamazing exhibitors, events,
galas.
Let's just walk through, man,for those who have not been to
(16:48):
one of the conventions with theHouston Safari Club before, tell
them what is it that they're,you know, going to experience,
you know, and I mean it's superaffordable.
You guys have some really greatthings.
I think it's like free for kids15 and under, really family
focused, but yeah, like justwalk us through that to kind of
give people an idea of what toexpect there.
Yeah, like just walk us throughthat to kind of give people an
idea of what to expect there.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
So convention next year is January 23rd through the
25th 2026.
It's in the Woodlands, texas,which is just outside of Houston
.
If you're flying in for it,you're literally 30 minutes from
Bush International Airport outto the venue.
We have it in north of Houstonbecause the Woodlands is a
really cool community.
(17:26):
If you want to bring yourfamily to it and they don't want
to go to the Expo all day orthey want to go out and do
something else during theweekend, you walk out the doors.
There's probably 30, 40 pubs,restaurants, shopping, so really
cool walking shopping centerand things to do.
It's all right there and it's avery safe community.
So we do our convention in ahotel Expo Hall type venue at
(17:50):
the Woodlands Waterway Marriott.
So the expo is on two floorsand then your hotel room is
right there in the venue.
So you really never have toleave if you don't want to.
But if you want to go out,there's tons of stuff to do in
that area.
You can park your car for theweekend and you're done.
You can walk around everywhereand so the different components
of you know we start really westart moving in.
(18:10):
For people who don't understandexpos, we start moving in.
I think the hotel staff movesin on Wednesday.
We have exhibitors come in onWednesday, thursday and Friday
morning set up.
The expo runs Friday morningall day, saturday and Sunday
until three, and then at nightwe have banquets.
So Wednesday night we have anexhibitor an exhibitor.
(18:31):
We love our exhibitors so wereally like to do stuff to make
it worth their while and they'rereally great supporters of ours
.
So Wednesday night we do anexhibitor, volunteer exhibitor
and volunteer appreciation partyat Conroe Taxidermy, not too
far, and we shuttle people toand from the hotel.
There's food, there's drinks,it's just a big social get
together.
Thursday night is our annualhunting and photo awards.
(18:52):
Friday night's a little morecasual, laid back, kind of
country Western theme.
We do a dinner.
We usually have some sort ofentertainment, we do a couple of
talks and things like that.
Oh, let me back up.
Thursday night we've got akeynote speaker that's coming in
.
We're going to announce thatsoon but you guys need to go to
the website to stay tuned forthat and entertainment updates.
(19:13):
But Friday night's laid back,casual.
We have food, we have drinks,we have a live auction.
We try to minimize the mic timebecause people are there to
have a good time.
So we try to get all that stuffkind of out of the way on
Thursday night and do all of ouracknowledgement awards then.
And then Saturday, our ladiesgroup, the Gazelles, have a
(19:33):
brunch and luncheon.
It starts at 1030, ends aroundtwo and it sells out every year.
People come in, they grab acocktail, there's a big sign
auction, a live auction.
Usually entertainment it's puton by the women, but there's men
and women there that fill theroom up.
And then Saturday night is whatwe call our gala.
It's a black tie optional gala,a little more formal, but
(19:56):
listen, formal in our world.
I've seen camouflage tuxedos,I've seen all sorts of things.
We're not stuffy, it doesn'tmatter, just come and have a
good time.
And then that's the night.
We do our big live auction thereas well.
So there's auctions every eventand we have big cocktail
receptions beforehand and we dosomething kind of unique as far
(20:18):
as fundraising.
On the floor of the Expo Hallall weekend there's a big grand
raffle.
You can buy tickets.
All weekend we're doing speedraffles this year where there's
going to be one item we're goingto raffle off just that day,
each day of the expo, and thenat night we do speed raffles
before we open the doors to thebanquets, like a really cool gun
or something that we only sell100 tickets for, and we usually
(20:39):
sell them out at those events.
And so we don't do auctions allday, every day, live auctions.
So we don't do auctions all day, every day, live auctions.
We really want the focus to beon our exhibitors and the
traffic on the floor and we wantour exhibitors to get clients,
to be honest with you, to bookhunts and buy merchandise and
that sort of thing.
And then Sunday morning we kindof wrap up with a little mini
(21:01):
get-together.
We do a life member breakfast,so if you're a life member,
you're invited to come.
That we usually have an updateon the organization, maybe have
a guest speaker and that sort ofthing.
So it's full man, it's, it'sall weekend long.
And then, uh, sunday night whenwe're finally done, we um, we
actually, uh, myself and thestaff take off and sleep for two
days.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
I can imagine Well, I mean, this is a whole year in
the works.
You know, we start planning.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Yeah, the day that, the day that one's over the
Wednesday after, we're alreadyplanning for the next year.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Yeah, no doubt.
I mean there's so much that'sinvolved and so many great
different exhibitors.
Uh, you know, I've I've seenall the different speakers and
the people you have come out inthe keynotes before.
I'm really excited for anannouncement.
Make sure you guys go and staytuned for that on the website
and you know this is.
It's really great and it's veryaffordable.
I think it's a wonderful place.
(21:48):
I love the community all aroundthe Woodlands, like you said,
safe.
There's a great pulse.
There are so many things to do,so you can just get lost every
day at the convention or you cango and move around as well and
kind of have that balance withyour family.
But very family-friendly man,bring the kids, bring everyone
in your family, cause there'ssomething for everyone.
(22:09):
There's a lot of games andthings for kids too.
I mean, what a wonderful thing,man.
So I'm really looking forwardto that.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
I'd be remiss.
I got to mention something here.
I know you're not going to plugit, so I am.
You're going to be with joiningus this year and so you're
going to be there the entireweekend and we're fired up about
that Cause you're going to bedoing some interviews there live
from the site and and uh and uh.
Yeah, I mean, if you guysobviously you got, you have a
big fan base, so if you guys arefans of George, you should
absolutely come down and sayhello to him.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Well, yeah, I'm very excited about it.
I mean teaming up with the besthere.
Man, I'm, I'm, I'll be doinglive interviews.
I'll be going around to theexhibitor booths and kind of
taking photos and videos, shortinterviews.
We'll be doing a lot of livepodcasts there and you know, as
you mentioned that too, this isthe six month mark out from the
convention and every monthleading up to the convention I
(22:55):
will be hosting a podcast, aninterview with whether it's
maybe a partner that you guysare working with, maybe it's one
of the big sponsors.
You know, there's so manydifferent organizations that you
guys have worked with, and andexhibitors and and great
companies all around, so we'regoing to dig in deep and chat a
lot with those and kind of giveyou guys a better sense of
(23:16):
what's going to happen at thisconvention every single month.
Because you guys can go and getyour tickets today and I
strongly suggest you do can goand get your tickets today, and
I strongly suggest you do Goover and check out the website
and again, links are down belowbecause, man, it's moving
forward and you want to makesure you get one of those spots,
especially if you're anyexhibitors that are on the fence
.
If you haven't already signedup, get out there and get
involved.
This is the best of the best.
It's a wonderful convention andI'm just excited to be playing
(23:39):
a small part in this man.
It's very, very exciting for me.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
We're excited you're going to be part of it.
And you mentioned exhibitors.
You know we our deadline forcutoff for exhibitor
applications was July 1st.
I mean you got to kind of, yougot to have a deadline that we
can work to, but exhibitors canstill apply.
You know we haven't placed ourbooths yet.
We'll be doing that in the nextcouple of weeks.
But the thing I, when I askexhibitors why they come to the
show, they're like you knowthey're like well, listen, you
(24:05):
guys aren't the biggest.
I mean, there are shows outthere with, you know, 500
exhibitors plus.
And we want all the outdoorconservation groups to do well
for their conventions.
To be quite honest with you,because if one of us doesn't do
well, none of us do well.
We all have goals of awarenessand wanting to give back to the
outdoors.
All have goals of awareness andwanting to give back to the
(24:27):
outdoors.
But the thing our exhibitorswill tell us, the ones that come
back year after year, is youput numbers through the door,
you put good quality buyers inthe room, they bought our
donations at auction and thenthey came and booked and they
booked other hunts with us orthey referred other people, or
they were back the next threeyears in a row.
So I think that the audiencethat we provide the exhibitor is
a qualified buying audience.
(24:48):
You're going to have tirekickers, just like you do at
every show, sure, but theirfirst timer is coming out
looking to book their first biggame hunt.
All the way to people who'vehunted all over the world.
They're looking for somethingnew and unique.
So I'll just say this toexhibitors If you haven't put an
application in, you should doit.
Don't hold back.
Do it now, because in a coupleof weeks we're going to be
placing and we really try to.
(25:08):
Of course, we have a prioritypoint system where we have
exhibitors you know they've beenwith us for 20 years, have
certain points because they'veaccumulated them over the year
but what we try to do, not onlyfor the exhibitors but for the
attendees, is we try to mix, wetry to have a good mix.
We don't, you know, we don'twant somebody to come in and
(25:29):
walk down an aisle and it's 20exhibitors from the same part of
the world.
We try to have a good mix fromuh, that's representative of all
types of hunting, from alltypes of the world and
merchandise and guns and allthose sorts of things.
So you know, if you're anexhibitor and you're listening
to this or watching this podcast, you know put your application
in.
I mean, you know it's, it's,it's not only is a great show,
it's a fun show.
And we also provide lunchtickets for our exhibitors.
We have some really cool foodtrucks.
We park in front of the hotelso we feed our exhibitors too.
(25:51):
Hey, that's, that's the key,right?
If you're working hard, you gotto have the fuel.
You can't go to the restaurant.
I mean, run outside with yourfood truck ticket, grab some
food.
Most of them give you a buzzer.
When your order's ready, yourun out there and grab it again
and go back in.
You never lose a step whenyou're working.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
There you go, everyone.
I don't know how else you cansell that the right way.
I mean, it's food to the belly,right?
No, it's good stuff.
Man know decades and you knowthe people who are.
You know, maybe on that on thatfence in the first time, hey,
I'm thinking about going to theconvention, but they're not a
(26:32):
hundred percent sure.
Why don't you go ahead and justclose it out?
And you know, let us know yourfeelings on those.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Well, we wouldn't exist if if it weren't for the
people that support us.
Everybody, from members to oursponsors, our corporate partners
, our exhibitors all thosepeople are vitally important to
helping us maintain what we cando.
At the end of the day, wecouldn't do it without those
(26:57):
people contributing in some formor fashion.
It's really cool to be part ofan organization that gives back,
and that's why I do what I do.
And so, if you're thinkingabout coming, just come to
convention and check us out.
We also give.
We do convention giveaway everyyear to all of our attendees.
Last year we gave away ammo cans.
This year I wish I had minewith me Actually it's probably
in my truck Last year.
(27:17):
This year we're giving away therifle rest bag.
So I mean, you're going to geta free gift when you come to
convention, and you know it'swell worth the time to come in
and see what's happening tosupport an organization such as
ours.
And so I encourage you ifyou're an exhibitor, you want to
get in.
If you're, if you're thinkingabout becoming a member, come on
down.
But uh, you know, just come ondown and say hello and check us
out and see what we're about.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
So Nice and correct me if I'm wrong, but if you come
into the convention, you alsoget a digital membership for the
entire year, right?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Yeah, we're going to give away.
When you go to the booth andget your freebie, you're going
to get a free digital membership, but that doesn't mean you
can't stop by the membershipbooth and sign up for one, three
, five year lifetime membershipas well, Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
I think that is super important.
I mean, like you said, gettingthe magazine in your hands, man.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
It's important and there's there's all sorts of
digital membership to thebrother-in-law.
You don't like and go and getyourself a full voting
membership, yeah, there you gohere, I'm going to help you
become a better hunter I'm goingto get the good stuff, you know
, hey, it works all around,absolutely.
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Well, joe, thank you so much for joining me today.
I cannot wait to continue towork with you and, uh, you know,
kind of give people a firsthandaccount of what's going on in
the convention.
For those who can't make it andjust you know, for those who
can't make every single momentthere, I will be documenting it
all, all the different galas,the events that are going on.
So make sure you follow my page, make sure you go over to
(28:36):
wehuntwegiveorg.
Join today, go ahead and getyour tickets, reserve your rooms
and if you're an exhibitor, goahead and go ahead, sign up, get
this thing going, be a part ofthis, because what a wonderful
organization and what a greatconvention.
I cannot wait, sir.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Thanks, george, I appreciate your time.
I'm looking forward to seeingyou here in Houston.
All right, you too, you takecare, you too, man.
All right, bye-bye.
Hey Joe, welcome to the podcast.
How are you doing today, man?
Good, George, Good to see you.
As always, you as well.
I'm really excited to talk toyou all about the Houston Safari
Club Foundation, the conventioncoming up.
But you know, with a lot of myguests I like to kind of give
people a little bit ofintroduction on who you are.
So I want to go back to thebeginning, Tell us a little bit
about where you're born andraised and kind of where you got
(00:35):
your zest and love for theoutdoors, and then we'll kind of
, you know, fill in the blanksfrom there.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Sure, sure.
So I grew up in a small town innortheast Louisiana known as
Monroe, or Funrow as we used tocall it, literally right across
the river from the Robertsonfamily, the Duck Commander, duck
Dynasty guys, and so I'vealways been aware of those guys.
And I lived in centralLouisiana for several years and
(01:03):
then we moved up to where mygrandparents lived in Northeast
Louisiana and yeah, so I myfoundation was more so in around
fishing and frog gigging andduck hunting and that sort of
thing and never was reallyinvolved in deer hunting and big
game stuff as a kid.
So actually my mother, who wasa single mom at the time,
introduced me to the outdoors.
She grew up on a farm and sheit was always puzzling to her.
(01:24):
We'd be driving down the road,I'd be sitting in the back seat
and I'd look out the window andshe used to always tell me she
said I don't know what it wasabout you, but you would always
look out the window and go thatlooks like a good place to go
hunt, that looks like a goodplace to go fishing, and I'd
never done it as a young, as ayoung child, and so it finally
(01:46):
got a kid.
I had a mom that worked two jobs, but on Friday afternoons
during the summer and spring,when I came home the car was
loaded with crickets and wormsand fishing poles and we went
out and fished all you knowFriday afternoons.
And as I got older she startedasking some of the men in the
neighborhood hey, you know,would you take my kids squirrel
hunting, or whatever rabbithunting, and picture, you know,
(02:07):
a 10-year-old me walking throughthe swamps of Louisiana wearing
white shrimping boots becausethat's all I had and chasing
squirrels and rabbits until Igot to the point where she would
drop me off on a you knownatural gas pipeline and drop me
off in the morning with a lunchand a breakfast and pick me up
at sundown and I'd come out witha sack full of rabbits and
squirrels.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
That is awesome.
What a great intro, and I knowthat area is very game rich, so
that was very exciting.
So you, you, you have this love, you kind of family, help to to
nourish that and foster that.
And I mean now you're at thispoint where you're helping to
nurture and foster that forpeople all across Texas with the
Houston Safari Club Foundationin multiple facets.
(02:47):
But I kind of wanted to maybealso bridge that idea of like,
how did you get into working inthis outdoor sector and then how
did you eventually findyourself working as the
executive director with HoustonSafari Club Foundation?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yeah, it's a weird story.
I'm actually.
A lot of people don't know this, but I'm actually a registered
nurse.
I started in the medical field.
I did mostly dealt with cardiacpatients during my medical
career and I always had a visionthat, you know, nursing changed
when I first started nursingyears and years ago.
You know, you had nurses andyou had aides on the floor, so
(03:21):
nurses could spend time with thefamilies and actually take care
of patients and the aides dideverything else as far as
feeding and daily care.
That changed, you know, withnursing shortages and the way
hospitals did things and I kindof.
From that point, I was like,well, if I can't really be a
nurse and give my patients, youknow, no-transcript for 10 years
(04:13):
.
And this is again.
This is a global, internationalcompany.
And I was just talking to thisgentleman and I said, hey, I
heard you're involved with thisorganization, tell me about that
.
And he said, well, actually Ibought it and so it was a
whitetail-based organizationbased here in Texas.
And I said, oh well, that'scool.
And he called me up one day andsaid I need you to go over here.
I just bought this company andI'm looking for somebody to go
(04:36):
and kind of clean it up, make itmore profitable and run it.
And I said, well, that soundspretty cool.
And I said, well, I'll thinkabout it.
He goes.
No, he said I need you to go dothis.
So it was kind of an ultimatum,if you will, and it was a great
entryway for me to move fromwhat I did professionally in my
background in marketing, salesand operations to apply to the
(04:58):
outdoor world.
So I did that for several yearsand that was kind of how I got
into it and then eventuallyended up here in 2014 as the
executive director of HoustonSafari Club Foundation.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
And so for those who aren't really familiar, maybe
hearing about it for the firsttime, I'd love for you to kind
of walk us through really.
What is the Houston Safari ClubFoundation, some of the tenants
and kind of main structuralpoints of you know reference of
like what you do?
I mean, because there's youtheducation, there's grants,
there's so many things going on.
We got the convention butthere's a lot of awareness,
(05:30):
education, conservation, that atits core, and I mean a
wonderful organization.
I want you to kind of give alittle bit of a one-on-one, just
kind of, and then we can kindof dive deeper a little bit from
there.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Right, so the name is somewhat of a misnomer.
Houston Safari Club Foundationhas been around since the early
70s.
You know we were actually achapter of Safari Club
International and way before mytime this chapter broke off and
said they wanted to do thingsyou know independently.
And so the name is a little bitmisleading in that, you know, a
lot of our members have neverbeen on safari.
(06:06):
We have a lot of members thatjust hunt quail in Texas, or
dove or whitetail or ducks orwhatever, and I have people that
approach me and go oh, you workfor a hunting organization.
Well, I have to correct that inthat I work for an organization
that gives back.
We are focused on conservation,education and promoting the
future of hunting.
The affinity of our membership,of course, is hunting.
(06:29):
All of our members love to hunt.
They're diehard hunters andconservationists and I like to
use those terms in tandembecause you know, hunters are
the best.
As you know, more than anybody,hunters are some of the best
conservationists world.
They're the ones who get active, they're the ones who spend
money to support wildlife andhabitat management and those
sorts of things.
So the name is a little bit of amisnomer If you've never been
(06:52):
on safari.
If you've never planned ongoing to Africa, never been to
Africa, it doesn't matter.
We welcome hunters of all skillsets, of all levels of their
hunting journey and what we areabout is giving back.
In fact, you know our taglineis we Hunt, we Give.
If you go to the website, it'swehuntwegiveorg and it takes you
(07:17):
to our website, and so we raisemoney to give it away, like
most nonprofits.
And where we give it away is wedo conservation grants at home
and abroad.
We buy everything frommotorcycles for anti-poaching
patrols to moving sheep in WestTexas and the mountains of West
Texas, and so we do a lot ofdifferent conservation grants
and youth education grants.
And then we have our own youtheducation program where we
actually take kids hunting andfishing and we're expanding that
(07:39):
over the next year.
We've actually hired afull-time person on staff here
and we're going to expand thatprogram to not only be taking
kids in the field but presentingeducational modules in the
classroom in front of 4-H groups, in front of FFA groups and
that sort of thing, because wewant to reach as many kids as
possible from differentsocioeconomic backgrounds and
(07:59):
different upbringings.
And then kind of our benchmarkprogram, george, is our
scholarship program the Dan LDuncan Scholarship Program it's
our name of our scholarshipprogram was founded by a
gentleman who was one of theearly founders of Houston Safari
Club Foundation and he wantedto support students that are
majoring in outdoor educationrelated majors wildlife
management, range management,biology and help them with their
(08:21):
education.
So that's our benchmark program.
We scholarship 25 studentsevery year, typically at the
master's and PhD level, but someundergrads, and they get a
check in their hand.
It doesn't go to the university, it goes to that student.
They've completed a stringentreview process.
They've completed applications,they've got their academic
advisors that provided referrals.
(08:41):
So we know they are dedicatedto habitat and wildlife
management as part of theirfuture careers and that's
something we're really proud of.
All of our outreach programs,that's probably one that we're
more known for and so, yeah,it's pretty cool.
We raise money any which way wecan to give it back in those
three areas.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Well, and I'd love to talk about the idea too of how,
when someone comes in and getsinvolved, there's a lot of
different levels of being ableto be a member, right, and I
kind of want to walk throughthat and give people the option,
because whatever level you getinto even at the very base,
lowest level there in thatdigital membership, there those
(09:21):
money is really going towardssome amazing cause.
I mean there's millions ofdollars in grants and
scholarships that you guys havedone.
I mean it's incredible.
But I'd love to kind of talkabout that for someone who wants
to get in and maybe just tryout, you know, one of those
lower level memberships or thosewho may want to do a
partnership and sponsorshiplevels that are higher up.
If you can kind of walk throughthose tiers and maybe what that
represents as membership, yeah,so you hit it there.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
You know we've done over 4 million in grants.
We've done over three millionalmost four million in
scholarships now, and then wehave a.
We have a pretty robustconservation or grants budget as
well.
But we wanted to be able toreach We've actually kind of
restructured our memberships inthe past several years.
We wanted to reach everybody atevery level that wants to be
part of who we are.
So, you're right, we have adigital membership in which you
(10:07):
get the magazine.
We have a beautiful magazinethat we produce quarterly, but
you get the magazine, ournewsletter and all the other
benefits of membership.
Being a digital member, that's50 bucks.
You know that's for a full year.
If you want to step that up,there's one, three, five year
memberships.
There's there's corporatememberships where if you and a
(10:34):
buddy have a company and youwant joint memberships, we do
two memberships like that andall the way up to life
memberships, which run about1500 a year.
So you can get involved atwhatever level you want to or
whatever level you care to payfor.
The cool thing that I hear fromtime and time again about this
organization is that people joinit because they want to learn
more about hunting orinternational hunting.
Some of them join it becausethey want to network.
There's a lot of people thathave made really good business
contacts in this organization.
So they'll talk to somebody andBill owns a pool company and
(10:57):
this guy owns a home remodelcompany, and then they partner
or they refer business to eachother or people pick up clients.
So it's really a.
It's really a I hate to use theterm family, but it's really.
You know, once you start tomeet members and come to monthly
events and volunteer, takingthat membership to the next
level not just being a memberand getting a magazine, but get
involved, you know.
And if you live far away, youdon't have to be involved, just
(11:19):
come to convention once a year,whatever.
But we do something typicallyevery month, whether it's a
shooting event, a hunting event,a speaker event there's always
something happening going on.
Speaker event there's alwayssomething happening going on.
But it's a great way to connectand network with other people
who've done things maybe youdidn't do, who have resources,
maybe that you need, and or viceversa.
And also we don't do an outfitor referral service, but I can't
(11:41):
tell you how.
Time and time again I've heardstories, horror stories, where
people go.
I spent all this money.
I flew halfway across the worldand it was a nightmare, and so
that network that we have withthe Safari Club Foundation
allows people to talk to otherpeople and go.
I'm going to go to New Zealandfor the first time.
Who are some outfitters youwent with and what were your
experiences so they can savethem a lot of headache?
Or what are the permits, whatdo I have to do to get there,
(12:03):
that sort of thing?
So it's really a prettycomprehensive opportunity for
people to get connected on somany different levels.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Good point, man, and that's so true that there's a
lot of organizations where I'vebeen a part of them too.
You write that check, you getmembership.
Maybe you get the newsletterdigital, you know magazine or
whatever and that kind of feelslike it.
But there is, I think.
You know, when you said likemaybe you didn't want to use the
word family, but that is anapproach and something that I
see within this.
There's a community that comestogether where you can share
(12:31):
those types of resources, thosekinds of friendships, being able
to go and do one of the youknow, like some shooting out of
the range together and theseevents where you like, learn
together and with each other.
And I think that's a very hugefoundational thing for this
organization is that there'salways something going on,
there's a heartbeat to thisright, and that's another thing
too, like the newsletters thatare get that they come out like
(12:53):
that's huge.
At the very least, everyoneneeds to go and sign up for
those on the on the website.
But then you also have a podcast.
I heard you have an amazinghost that you guys have there,
uh, hunting matters, and I'dlove for you to chat about that
too here in a second.
But these are things that youknow.
A lot of organizations, there'sa I mean, there's such an
(13:16):
educational platform to all ofthis and there's a lot of
different ways to get it.
You can get the Hunter's Hornmagazine.
You can get you can turn intoHunting Matters the podcast, the
newsletters, these events, theconvention there's something for
everyone and I think that thereis a magnitude of information
that will be beneficial foranyone who decides to be a
member, and I think that's oneof the key things that drew me
in and has drawn so many offriends and people I know in the
(13:37):
industry to being supporters ofthe Houston Safari Club
Foundation.
So if you will maybe just talka little bit about the podcast
too, for a second, and kind of,you know when did you know how
long have you been involved inthat?
And you know kind of a littleone on one on that, if you
wouldn't mind, sure we.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
So I did want to point out because you made me
think of something.
So the digital membershipspeople get a digital copy of the
magazine, no-transcript.
(14:12):
And to be quite honest with you, I'm old school.
I like a good, beautifulmagazine, I like a book in my
hand and we're very proud of ourmagazine.
It's a very high qualitymagazine.
It's award winning.
We've won multiple awards fromMarcom and all kinds of
different organizations andwe're very proud of that.
(14:35):
I'm proud of the team and staffthat puts that together.
But if you're a digital kid,I'm an analog kid in the digital
world from some perspectives.
But yeah, we try to reach outand communicate with people on
all different levels magazinenewsletter and the cool thing
about the magazine it's not justfirst-person hunting stories.
I like to do medical.
I like being a nurse.
I like to have a medicalarticle.
I like to hear about members'stories.
I like to do medical.
I like being a nurse.
I like to have a medicalarticle.
I like to hear about membersstories.
I like to give legislativeupdates.
We like to do a culinaryarticle.
(14:56):
We like to do travel articles.
Even if you're going to country, you're like, be cool if I
could pair a hunt with, you know, an excursion for a week off in
some part of the country.
So we do all those things andthe magazine's a little more,
you know, comprehensive, tooffer people, you know,
information on a variety ofdifferent topics.
The podcast we've been doing forquite a while now.
(15:17):
I think we're at 230 plusepisodes.
It's a weekly one hour podcast.
We interview people from allover the world, all walks of
life.
I interviewed a guy you knowwho's actually rowing a boat
across the Pacific Ocean toraise money and I interview
outfitters.
I interview people who arechefs.
We had one young lady on whohas overcome tremendous
(15:44):
obstacles that she incurred as ahigh school student in a car
accident and she's hunting outof a wheelchair.
So you know we talk to peoplefrom all walks of life on the
podcast, that anythingaffiliated with the outdoors
we'd like to talk to them.
And you know I'm like you, Ilike to hear the human interest
stories.
So yeah, we're proud of that.
We've been doing that for over230 episodes and it's on all the
major podcast platforms and wedo audio and video as well.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Oh, and it's very entertaining and educational,
which is kind of right at thesweet spot for everything I want
to learn.
I want to learn something andwalk away from it, but I want to
have that heartbeat and thatfeeling of being able to kind of
connect with those people andthe guests.
And you guys do a tremendousjob.
It's a wonderful podcast, somake sure everyone can tune into
that, and I'll have all thelinks below to everything we're
talking about too.
So if you guys are trying towrite something down or you're
(16:28):
in a car, don't worry, justcheck out the show notes for
that, you know.
Moving forward, I want to talkabout the annual convention,
because today, when this drops,it'll be a six month mark until
the convention doors open.
People flood in all someamazing exhibitors, events,
galas.
Let's just walk through, man,for those who have not been to
(16:48):
one of the conventions with theHouston Safari Club before, tell
them what is it that they're,you know, going to experience,
you know, and I mean it's superaffordable.
You guys have some really greatthings.
I think it's like free for kids15 and under, really family
focused, but yeah, like justwalk us through that to kind of
give people an idea of what toexpect there.
Yeah, like just walk us throughthat to kind of give people an
idea of what to expect there.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
So convention next year is January 23rd through the
25th 2026.
It's in the Woodlands, texas,which is just outside of Houston
.
If you're flying in for it,you're literally 30 minutes from
Bush International Airport outto the venue.
We have it in north of Houstonbecause the Woodlands is a
really cool community.
(17:26):
If you want to bring yourfamily to it and they don't want
to go to the Expo all day orthey want to go out and do
something else during theweekend, you walk out the doors.
There's probably 30, 40 pubs,restaurants, shopping, so really
cool walking shopping centerand things to do.
It's all right there and it's avery safe community.
So we do our convention in ahotel Expo Hall type venue at
(17:50):
the Woodlands Waterway Marriott.
So the expo is on two floorsand then your hotel room is
right there in the venue.
So you really never have toleave if you don't want to.
But if you want to go out,there's tons of stuff to do in
that area.
You can park your car for theweekend and you're done.
You can walk around everywhereand so the different components
of you know we start really westart moving in.
(18:10):
For people who don't understandexpos, we start moving in.
I think the hotel staff movesin on Wednesday.
We have exhibitors come in onWednesday, thursday and Friday
morning set up.
The expo runs Friday morningall day, saturday and Sunday
until three, and then at nightwe have banquets.
So Wednesday night we have anexhibitor an exhibitor.
(18:31):
We love our exhibitors so wereally like to do stuff to make
it worth their while and they'rereally great supporters of ours
.
So Wednesday night we do anexhibitor, volunteer exhibitor
and volunteer appreciation partyat Conroe Taxidermy, not too
far, and we shuttle people toand from the hotel.
There's food, there's drinks,it's just a big social get
together.
Thursday night is our annualhunting and photo awards.
(18:52):
Friday night's a little morecasual, laid back, kind of
country Western theme.
We do a dinner.
We usually have some sort ofentertainment, we do a couple of
talks and things like that.
Oh, let me back up.
Thursday night we've got akeynote speaker that's coming in
.
We're going to announce thatsoon but you guys need to go to
the website to stay tuned forthat and entertainment updates.
(19:13):
But Friday night's laid back,casual.
We have food, we have drinks,we have a live auction.
We try to minimize the mic timebecause people are there to
have a good time.
So we try to get all that stuffkind of out of the way on
Thursday night and do all of ouracknowledgement awards then.
And then Saturday, our ladiesgroup, the Gazelles, have a
(19:33):
brunch and luncheon.
It starts at 1030, ends aroundtwo and it sells out every year.
People come in, they grab acocktail, there's a big sign
auction, a live auction.
Usually entertainment it's puton by the women, but there's men
and women there that fill theroom up.
And then Saturday night is whatwe call our gala.
It's a black tie optional gala,a little more formal, but
(19:56):
listen, formal in our world.
I've seen camouflage tuxedos,I've seen all sorts of things.
We're not stuffy, it doesn'tmatter, just come and have a
good time.
And then that's the night.
We do our big live auction thereas well.
So there's auctions every eventand we have big cocktail
receptions beforehand and we dosomething kind of unique as far
(20:18):
as fundraising.
On the floor of the Expo Hallall weekend there's a big grand
raffle.
You can buy tickets.
All weekend we're doing speedraffles this year where there's
going to be one item we're goingto raffle off just that day,
each day of the expo, and thenat night we do speed raffles
before we open the doors to thebanquets, like a really cool gun
or something that we only sell100 tickets for, and we usually
(20:39):
sell them out at those events.
And so we don't do auctions allday, every day, live auctions.
So we don't do auctions all day, every day, live auctions.
We really want the focus to beon our exhibitors and the
traffic on the floor and we wantour exhibitors to get clients,
to be honest with you, to bookhunts and buy merchandise and
that sort of thing.
And then Sunday morning we kindof wrap up with a little mini
(21:01):
get-together.
We do a life member breakfast,so if you're a life member,
you're invited to come.
That we usually have an updateon the organization, maybe have
a guest speaker and that sort ofthing.
So it's full man, it's, it'sall weekend long.
And then, uh, sunday night whenwe're finally done, we um, we
actually, uh, myself and thestaff take off and sleep for two
days.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
I can imagine Well, I mean, this is a whole year in
the works.
You know, we start planning.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Yeah, the day that, the day that one's over the
Wednesday after, we're alreadyplanning for the next year.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Yeah, no doubt.
I mean there's so much that'sinvolved and so many great
different exhibitors.
Uh, you know, I've I've seenall the different speakers and
the people you have come out inthe keynotes before.
I'm really excited for anannouncement.
Make sure you guys go and staytuned for that on the website
and you know this is.
It's really great and it's veryaffordable.
I think it's a wonderful place.
(21:48):
I love the community all aroundthe Woodlands, like you said,
safe.
There's a great pulse.
There are so many things to do,so you can just get lost every
day at the convention or you cango and move around as well and
kind of have that balance withyour family.
But very family-friendly man,bring the kids, bring everyone
in your family, cause there'ssomething for everyone.
(22:09):
There's a lot of games andthings for kids too.
I mean, what a wonderful thing,man.
So I'm really looking forwardto that.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
I'd be remiss.
I got to mention something here.
I know you're not going to plugit, so I am.
You're going to be with joiningus this year and so you're
going to be there the entireweekend and we're fired up about
that Cause you're going to bedoing some interviews there live
from the site and and uh and uh.
Yeah, I mean, if you guysobviously you got, you have a
big fan base, so if you guys arefans of George, you should
absolutely come down and sayhello to him.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Well, yeah, I'm very excited about it.
I mean teaming up with the besthere.
Man, I'm, I'm, I'll be doinglive interviews.
I'll be going around to theexhibitor booths and kind of
taking photos and videos, shortinterviews.
We'll be doing a lot of livepodcasts there and you know, as
you mentioned that too, this isthe six month mark out from the
convention and every monthleading up to the convention I
(22:55):
will be hosting a podcast, aninterview with whether it's
maybe a partner that you guysare working with, maybe it's one
of the big sponsors.
You know, there's so manydifferent organizations that you
guys have worked with, and andexhibitors and and great
companies all around, so we'regoing to dig in deep and chat a
lot with those and kind of giveyou guys a better sense of
(23:16):
what's going to happen at thisconvention every single month.
Because you guys can go and getyour tickets today and I
strongly suggest you do can goand get your tickets today, and
I strongly suggest you do Goover and check out the website
and again, links are down belowbecause, man, it's moving
forward and you want to makesure you get one of those spots,
especially if you're anyexhibitors that are on the fence
.
If you haven't already signedup, get out there and get
involved.
This is the best of the best.
It's a wonderful convention andI'm just excited to be playing
(23:39):
a small part in this man.
It's very, very exciting for me.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
We're excited you're going to be part of it.
And you mentioned exhibitors.
You know we our deadline forcutoff for exhibitor
applications was July 1st.
I mean you got to kind of, yougot to have a deadline that we
can work to, but exhibitors canstill apply.
You know we haven't placed ourbooths yet.
We'll be doing that in the nextcouple of weeks.
But the thing I, when I askexhibitors why they come to the
show, they're like you knowthey're like well, listen, you
(24:05):
guys aren't the biggest.
I mean, there are shows outthere with, you know, 500
exhibitors plus.
And we want all the outdoorconservation groups to do well
for their conventions.
To be quite honest with you,because if one of us doesn't do
well, none of us do well.
We all have goals of awarenessand wanting to give back to the
outdoors.
All have goals of awareness andwanting to give back to the
(24:27):
outdoors.
But the thing our exhibitorswill tell us, the ones that come
back year after year, is youput numbers through the door,
you put good quality buyers inthe room, they bought our
donations at auction and thenthey came and booked and they
booked other hunts with us orthey referred other people, or
they were back the next threeyears in a row.
So I think that the audiencethat we provide the exhibitor is
a qualified buying audience.
(24:48):
You're going to have tirekickers, just like you do at
every show, sure, but theirfirst timer is coming out
looking to book their first biggame hunt.
All the way to people who'vehunted all over the world.
They're looking for somethingnew and unique.
So I'll just say this toexhibitors If you haven't put an
application in, you should doit.
Don't hold back.
Do it now, because in a coupleof weeks we're going to be
placing and we really try to.
(25:08):
Of course, we have a prioritypoint system where we have
exhibitors you know they've beenwith us for 20 years, have
certain points because they'veaccumulated them over the year
but what we try to do, not onlyfor the exhibitors but for the
attendees, is we try to mix, wetry to have a good mix.
We don't, you know, we don'twant somebody to come in and
(25:29):
walk down an aisle and it's 20exhibitors from the same part of
the world.
We try to have a good mix fromuh, that's representative of all
types of hunting, from alltypes of the world and
merchandise and guns and allthose sorts of things.
So you know, if you're anexhibitor and you're listening
to this or watching this podcast, you know put your application
in.
I mean, you know it's, it's,it's not only is a great show,
it's a fun show.
And we also provide lunchtickets for our exhibitors.
We have some really cool foodtrucks.
We park in front of the hotelso we feed our exhibitors too.
(25:51):
Hey, that's, that's the key,right?
If you're working hard, you gotto have the fuel.
You can't go to the restaurant.
I mean, run outside with yourfood truck ticket, grab some
food.
Most of them give you a buzzer.
When your order's ready, yourun out there and grab it again
and go back in.
You never lose a step whenyou're working.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
There you go, everyone.
I don't know how else you cansell that the right way.
I mean, it's food to the belly,right?
No, it's good stuff.
Man know decades and you knowthe people who are.
You know, maybe on that on thatfence in the first time, hey,
I'm thinking about going to theconvention, but they're not a
(26:32):
hundred percent sure.
Why don't you go ahead and justclose it out?
And you know, let us know yourfeelings on those.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Well, we wouldn't exist if if it weren't for the
people that support us.
Everybody, from members to oursponsors, our corporate partners
, our exhibitors all thosepeople are vitally important to
helping us maintain what we cando.
At the end of the day, wecouldn't do it without those
(26:57):
people contributing in some formor fashion.
It's really cool to be part ofan organization that gives back,
and that's why I do what I do.
And so, if you're thinkingabout coming, just come to
convention and check us out.
We also give.
We do convention giveaway everyyear to all of our attendees.
Last year we gave away ammo cans.
This year I wish I had minewith me Actually it's probably
in my truck Last year.
(27:17):
This year we're giving away therifle rest bag.
So I mean, you're going to geta free gift when you come to
convention, and you know it'swell worth the time to come in
and see what's happening tosupport an organization such as
ours.
And so I encourage you ifyou're an exhibitor, you want to
get in.
If you're, if you're thinkingabout becoming a member, come on
down.
But uh, you know, just come ondown and say hello and check us
out and see what we're about.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
So Nice and correct me if I'm wrong, but if you come
into the convention, you alsoget a digital membership for the
entire year, right?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Yeah, we're going to give away.
When you go to the booth andget your freebie, you're going
to get a free digital membership, but that doesn't mean you
can't stop by the membershipbooth and sign up for one, three
, five year lifetime membershipas well, Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
I think that is super important.
I mean, like you said, gettingthe magazine in your hands, man.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
It's important and there's there's all sorts of
digital membership to thebrother-in-law.
You don't like and go and getyourself a full voting
membership, yeah, there you gohere, I'm going to help you
become a better hunter I'm goingto get the good stuff, you know
, hey, it works all around,absolutely.
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Well, joe, thank you so much for joining me today.
I cannot wait to continue towork with you and, uh, you know,
kind of give people a firsthandaccount of what's going on in
the convention.
For those who can't make it andjust you know, for those who
can't make every single momentthere, I will be documenting it
all, all the different galas,the events that are going on.
So make sure you follow my page, make sure you go over to
(28:36):
wehuntwegiveorg.
Join today, go ahead and getyour tickets, reserve your rooms
and if you're an exhibitor, goahead and go ahead, sign up, get
this thing going, be a part ofthis, because what a wonderful
organization and what a greatconvention.
I cannot wait, sir.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Thanks, george, I appreciate your time.
I'm looking forward to seeingyou here in Houston.
All right, you too, you takecare, you too, man.
All right, bye-bye.
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