AH Get Together In Vegas During Safari Club International (SCI) Convention 2015

[spike.t]

princess rocky is now wetting herself laughing in the airline lounge at vegas airport!!! and she has just said whoever is the best chewbaka next year wins her......be

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Wow.....it sure is going to be a strange sight seeing Strauss walking around in a Chewbacca costume, he's ugly enough as is.

 

[spike.t]

Wow.....it sure is going to be a strange sight seeing Strauss walking around in a Chewbacca costume, he's ugly enough as is.

phil have you been taking brave pills

 

[BRICKBURN]

Funny how he waited until he was out of town before posting that one.

 

[Buff-Buster]

Confusing for Rocky? What'cha gonna tell Sandy?!

I ordered her the Princess Leahia (spelling?) Costume...she has a thing for Chewy...lol

 

[spike.t]

I ordered her the Princess Leahia (spelling?) Costume...she has a thing for Chewy...lol

HA!! princess rocky already has one

 

[Buff-Buster]

HA!! princess rocky already has one

Now see Mike, if I ever make it over to Takeri, I don't think I could get much hunting done. We'd spend all our time in the bar laughing our arses off...now that I think about it thats not such a bad idea...

 

[spike.t]

Now see Mike, if I ever make it over to Takeri, I don't think I could get much hunting done. We'd spend all our time in the bar laughing our arses off...now that I think about it thats not such a bad idea...

now whats this "if i ever make it" stuff???????????????????????

 

[35bore]

phil have you been taking brave pills

Jacko owns a mirror, he knows..

 

[Buff-Buster]

now whats this "if i ever make it" stuff???????????????????????

My bad...WHEN I MAKE IT! (We're bringing costumes! Ha!)

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

phil have you been taking brave pills

Funny how he waited until he was out of town before posting that one.

I didn't see the Chewy thing till today, besides he's in Harrisburg. Besides I was once in a limo at the north end when he sent out a southern wind, just ask @TOM, he was there. To describe that as ugly is a vast understatement.

 

[spike.t]

I didn't see the Chewy thing till today, besides he's in Harrisburg. Besides I was once in a limo at the north end when he sent out a southern wind, just ask @TOM, he was there. To describe that as ugly is a vast understatement.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

I was definitely the guy turning green, passed out before I could be the purple guy.

 

[BRICKBURN]

By the way, I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to Phoenix Phil for saving my Safari plans by generously searching the US Copper mines for those little Souvenirs I got to bring home. He found them, bought them and delivered them to SCI.

I now have the largest stock of Barnes 375 TTSX bullets in Canada.

I also added to the pile at the BARNES Booth. To my great surprise there was some for sale. A very pleasant surprise.

 

[matt85]

im a big fan of the Barnes TSX, i use them in my 416 RM and i will be using them in the 585 HE. i stopped by th Barnes booth and talked to them about potential future uses as well as effective velocities for the 750gr .585" TSX.

-matt

 

[Spooksar]

Well I'm finally home, it was a great time meeting with you all. Thanks for the beer Phil and Jaco its my treat next year. Matt your a bad influence I'll be getting a 585 Hubel.

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

All I can say is WOW! This was hands down the best year ever at SCI and that is a big one because my wife and I have been attending this show for 18 years and we have always had a great time. Of course there were all the bells and whistles that SCI has always had to offer, outfitters from across the globe, insane taxidermy, some of the most beautiful guns ever made and all of the expensive things that men can buy their wives to convince them that another hunting safari is something they should "allow", but this year had something even better...

What made this year such a stand out was not only did we get to visit with, and always enjoy, seeing the many friends that we have made throughout the years and connecting with the past clients who have hunted with us in Namibia (many of whom we also consider friends) but what really made this year so incredible was all of the people from AH on the show floor and at the meet up, not to mention socializing with every night. Yes we are exhausted but it was worth it!

What an amazing thing to come to this show and have so many new faces from AH, some of whom I feel like I know already through your posts, as well as those of you who "just follow the site, but never post". I was really glad that so many of you came up to me to say hello and to share with me what the site brings and means to you. You have no idea how happy it makes me feel when people tell me how much they love the site, that they look forward to catching up with the latest posts every morning with their coffee, that it helped them plan their first hunting safari and now they are heading back for another one, it is amazing to know that it reaches and helps and entertains so many hunters from around the world. It was great to meet so many new people, it just took it to another level.

As a side note: I hope that some of you non-posters will cross over and become active members of the site. There are silent masses of dedicated AH users who have never joined or never posted and I want to invite you to at least join and post in the introductions and greets even if that is all you ever do because you guys are really important to AH!

This year was a really different experience. I know that the site traffic has really exploded this year because I look at the statistics regularly, but at the show what that meant was that for the first time when I was meeting or talking to new people, I literally only met one guy who hadn't at least heard of the site or been on it. Very different from even last year and I can't wait to see what next year brings.

I will say something that occurred to me this year, as much as this site is an important resource and a great community to belong to or follow, I do believe that nothing online can really replace the camaraderie and enjoyment of being able to spend time face to face with likeminded people. Putting faces to names and having a laugh or making a memory with someone in real life is irreplaceable. That's why conventions like DSC and SCI are so important.

I know that some people think that SCI is a hunting club for rich guys, however I believe that most people who attend are just regular guys who love hunting. Some say that it is too expensive and for that one I agree, when it is in Vegas, as it will be for many years, it is expensive compared to Reno. I guess I think that even if it is just a once in a lifetime thing it's still worthwhile to go just for the experience, it is truly amazing. You might discover that a one time visit turns into looking forward to next years' show as my wife and I do every year.

The most fun I had this year was spending time with numerous AH members, visiting the booths of all of the site sponsors who were at the show and just having a good laugh. And then spending evenings with the likes of Spike T and his wonderfully entertaining wife, PHOENIX PHIL, Jaques Spammer, Jaco Strauss, Johnny Vivier and his crew, James Jeffery, Lori Spears and Jennifer Ginn, Robert and Rosella, all of the Frenchies (you know who you are) our new partners in crime Jesse and Cassi and many AH followers who do not post and lets not forget BRICKBURN who was always fun while also being there to make sure our behavior didn't surpass the boundaries of good taste, just as he does on the site, (BTW BRICKBURN thanks for that). Please do not be offended if I forgot to mention someone, because I'm sure I did. Sorry if that just sounded like an acceptance speech from an awards show...

The meet up was very well attended, honestly it was hard to know exactly how many people were there with AH. I think it would be safe to say that we had over 60 people who came, but our group merged out into the rest of the bar so it was hard to discern who was with us.
Needless to say we outgrew this space and we will be having a private meet up next year at DSC and SCI a real cocktail party with a dedicated bar and catering that way everyone can hang out longer and be able to mingle and get to know each other better.

Don't really know what else to write, except that an awesome time was had by all and I think that next year could possibly be even better. Mark your calendars SCI 2016 or bust! February 3rd to 6th in Las Vegas.

Looking forward to seeing some pictures of the meet up from BRICKBURN once he has had time to sort through the good ones and the blackmail/what stays in Vegas variety.

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

We had a minor issue with giving out the door prizes at the AH Get Together as it was too loud to announce the numbers of the tickets and my wife could not recognize many of you by name. She was able to find a couple of you but I need to send the other prize winners their gift certificate by mail.

Here below are the last names of the other winners, please email me at info@africahunting.com with your full name so I can confirm that it is you and address so that I can send you the prize. Any prize unclaimed by the end of the month, February 28, 2015, will be forfeited.

- BOYCOTT
- SHAMBLES
- BRIDGER
- MARSHALL (Congratulations! Thank you for contacting me)
- CARTER
- MARTIN (Congratulations! Thank you for contacting me)
- BROIDY (Congratulations! Thank you for contacting me)
- ROBERTS


Thanks again to all of our generous sponsors who support AH and make all of this possible!
____________________________________________________________

Johnny Vivier & Wiaan van der Linde
Wintershoek Safaris - South Africa & Zimbabwe
www.wintershoek.com
SCI BOOTH# 7 Booths from 1673 to 1685 --- DSC BOOTH# 3830 & 3832


___________________________________________________________

Lori Spears & Jennifer Ginn
Travel Express - AfricaHunting.com Exclusive Travel Specialists
www.TravelExpressAgency.com
SCI BOOTH# 600 --- DSC BOOTH# can be reached at +1 (800) 808.4868


____________________________________________________________

James Jeffrey
HuntingAgent.com - Exclusive hunting agent of AfricaHunting.com
www.HuntingAgent.com
SCI BOOTH# can be reached at +1 (281) 814.2398 --- DSC BOOTH# can be reached at +1 (281) 814.2398


_________________________________________________

Jacques Spamer
Hartzview Hunting Safaris - South Africa
www.hvsafaris.com
SCI BOOTH# 2158 --- DSC BOOTH# 4337


____________________________________________________________

Ricus de Villiers
White Lion Safaris - South Africa
www.WhiteLionSafaris.com
SCI BOOTH# 1027 --- DSC BOOTH# 825


____________________________________________________________

Global Rescue - Worldwide Emergency Evacuation and Field Rescue, Anytime Anywhere
1 (617) 459-4200 -- (800) 381-9754
www.globalrescue.com
SCI BOOTH# 4753 & 4755 --- DSC BOOTH# 3023 & 3024

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

By the way, I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to Phoenix Phil for saving my Safari plans by generously searching the US Copper mines for those little Souvenirs I got to bring home. He found them, bought them and delivered them to SCI.

I now have the largest stock of Barnes 375 TTSX bullets in Canada.

I also added to the pile at the BARNES Booth. To my great surprise there was some for sale. A very pleasant surprise.

View attachment 37092

Just paying it forward Wayne, Cliffy did the same thing for me a couple years ago when I needed some H4831 in a big way.

Not sure if it's true or not, but someone told me the copper that Barnes uses comes from a mine about an hour from where I live.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Well I'm finally home, it was a great time meeting with you all. Thanks for the beer Phil and Jaco its my treat next year. Matt your a bad influence I'll be getting a 585 Hubel.

No prob, I think if I hadn't you'd have waited another hour!