About the Seattle Sportsmen's Convention

A bit of history ... and where does it all go?
About 6 years ago a group from the Seattle Chapter of SCI, the Seattle Sportsman
Conservation Foundation (SSCF), FNAWS, Friends of the NRA and the National Wild
Turkey Federation came up with a great idea: each one supported one anothers annual
events and were working for the same ultimate goalsso why not combine these efforts?  
Why hold 5 different smaller events, requiring 5 times the administrative overhead, hotel
expenses, advertising and all the other overhead costs - and then have only about 100
people attend each event?  So the decision was made to combine these efforts and make
one big, mega event for the entire Pacific Northwest!  Since then weve been putting on
the biggest fund raiser, auction, and outfitter exhibitor event ever put on by a Northwest
non-profit - and its gotten bigger and more successful every single year! Weve now also
gotten a great deal of involvement from quite a few BC outfitters as well as outfitters from
other Canadian provinces!

This year's 08 event is booked for Feb 15th and 16th at the luxurious Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, Washington, 15 minutes East of Seattle.  We typically sell out both nights with a total attendance of approximately 1000 people over 2 days and continue to add seating capacity each year. We have bidders who spend $100,000 at the event and our top 10 bidders average around $25,000 each -resulting in an incredible investment in NW wildlife! We have bidders looking for a wide variety of adventures - coyote hunts, whitetail, elk, cape buffalo, lions - even Marco Polo rams. And best of all, the success of this program has allowed us to donate over $1,400,000.00 to Pacific Northwest Conservation Programs.  The event
has become well known for the raffle Wall of Guns; our exotic hunt, rifle and wildlife art auctions; our vehicle raffle; and this year a new limited edition 700cc EFI Yamaha Grizzly ATV with Power Steering is also being raffled off compliments of our SCI Sponsor Yamaha - with all proceeds going to NW wildlife! Now with a number of Governors tags
secured for this years auction as well, our goal is to raise $500,000 for wildlife in the
Northwest this year alone. Thats right, a half a million dollars in just 2 days to be raised for
Northwest Wildlife. What an event - and what an opportunity for you to get a super deal on
an incredible hunting or fishing trip considering the huge number of trips on the auction block!



Where does the Money Raised at the Event Go?
Our partnership in this event has funded quite a number of notable projects so far:

1)      Washington State Mountain Goat Surveys

2)      Blacktail Deer Hair Loss Studies

3)      Hunters for the Hungry donations

4)      Cougar DNA Study (cougar population density survey/population control studies)

5)      Support for Political Parties involved in Hunters and Gun owners rights

6)      Obtaining private checker board land parcels and donating them back to the state
to keep open for future hunting.

7)      Funding Aid for getting Grizzly hunting back in BC.

8)      Young Hunter Education, Youth Trap Shooting Training and other youth programs

9)      WA state Pronghorn Re-Introduction study (the first re-introduction in 20 years)

10)    Purchase of Infared hand-held tracking devices to assist Fish and Game to
successfully apprehend numerous poachers

11)    Funded Grizzly bear study and survey in British Columbia in GOABC

12)    Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep population survey in B.C.

13)    Bear project with the Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife to assist with
problem bear management

14)    Baja Desert Bighorn Sheep survey, optics and conservation project

15)    Special Government Tag sales funding specific wildlife management efforts

16)    Snyder Fish Hatchery & Olympic Peninsula Guides Association projects

17)    SE WA Bighorn Sheep collar project

18)    Mule Deer Genetic Study efforts and survey performed with Purdue University

19)    Bighorn Sheep Fencing Project to facilitate habitat restoration and isolation from
domestic livestock to prevent disease in SE Washington.

20)    Purchase of 10,400 acre critical range habitat in Tieton, WA

21)    Acquisition of critical winter range habitat in Asotin Creek, WA

22)    Mineralization habitat enhancement in Tucannon, WA

23)    Wildlife water supply enhancement in Umptanum, WA

24)    Wynoochee River drainage forage enhancement evaluation

25)    March critical rangeland acquisition in LaGrande, Oregon

26)    Pheasant Habitat projects in WA

27)    Sensory Safari Sponsored exhibit for education of visually impaired children

28)    Scholarships for boys and girls to the Youth Conservation Corps. Camp

29)    Sponsorship of the South Kitsap ROTC Shooting Team

30)    Roadside billboard education / advocacy program in WA.

31)    Sponsoring and assisting as volunteers with hunts for disabled hunters

... and MORE. Over $1.4 Million has been put back into Hunting,
Conservation, and Youth and Adult Education Programs in just 7 years -
too many to list here!