Attendees from around the world gathered in the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, Texas, to celebrate hunting and wildlife conservation. The latest DSC Convention and Expo continued its record-breaking ways with more than 60,000 attendees during the four-day event. The convention featured 1,836 booths with 4,900 people representing 980 companies.
“Our convention serves not only as a way to gather like-minded people under one roof, but to help raise money to fund our conservation and education efforts,” said DSC Executive Director Ben Carter. “The DSC convention has grown steadily each year and this year was no exception. We raised more than $7 million dollars to fund our mission to save wildlife and wild spaces. We would like to thank all those that attended and donated to our cause.”
The DSC Convention added around 360 new members and 250 renewals, of which 29 made the commitment to become Life Members. Nightly banquets experienced record turnouts with the Saturday night banquet and Ladies Luncheon being sold out. The convention also hosted approximately 75 media members to cover the convention and book hunts for future editorial needs.
The DSC Convention also serves to honor those who share DSC’s mission and vision of a future that includes wildlife and hunting. Several awards were presented during nightly banquets throughout the convention. DSC honored the following:
Peter Hathaway Capstick Hunting Heritage Award: Larry and Brenda Potterfield
DSC Outstanding Hunting Achievement Award: Bobby Davidson
Weatherby Award: Ken Barr
Conklin Award: Renee Snider
Dixie Yeatts Award of Excellence: John Patterson
Dave Baxter Literary Award: Ken Heard
Educator of the Year: Danny Wilcox
Colin Caruthers Young Hunter Award: co-winners Dalton Findley and Cole Findley
Malek Award: Jay Furney
Outfitter of the Year Award: Chifuti Safaris
Artist of the Year Award: Peter Blackwell
The DSC Convention and Expo returns next year to the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, Jan. 4-7, 2018, with even more attendance and fund-raising records expected to be broken as hunters and conservationists again rally to defend wildlife and habitat around the world.
Sponsors of the 2017 DSC convention include Sports Afield, Hornady, Bass Pro Shops, Zeiss Sport Optics, Midway USA, Shikar Safaris, Trijicon, EuroOptic, Boyt Harness Company, Yamaha Motor Corporation, Lone Star Outdoor News, Blaser, Capt. Peacock Yachts and Expeditions, Chattaronga, Capital Farm Credit, Global Rescue, Rock Island Auction Company, Legendary Consortium, Rungwa Game Safaris, RAD RIDES, Wildlife Partners LLC, Vogt Silversmiths, Triple G Group, Michael Mantheakis Safaris, David R. Oakes – CIMA, Sporting Classics and many others.
